FOOL'S GOLD
CHAPTER TWO
ANNIE LOVED TUTORING. She loved learning, at least when it was a subject she enjoyed like history. She was good at all subjects, great in fact but history was the only one she could spend hours reading about. She had stacks of biographies and textbooks on The Cold War and Mary Queen of Scots and the Italian-German unification. She loved learning the stories of other people's lives.
She had become a master of all subjects but she enjoyed very few. One of the one's she despised with English. Each essay was like trudging a dead body through the desert. She hated it. She didn't connect with fictional reading and she despised analysing every word that Shakespeare wrote as if he intentionally used the word "thee" instead of "the". But none the less, she worked hard to master the craft and put herself through hours of torture to get that A. And now she had to teach it. Which was just as tedious.
Tracy Edgell was a fine student. She tried. That was the main thing. She had an average of C's and B's which wasn't bad at all but she only here because her parents forced her too and she made that apparent which she couldn't be bothered to do her work.
The two of them sat in Luke's diner, a very frequent spot for the majority of the Stars Hollow population. It was the only diner along the main street. There was one other diner in town, Jojo's burgers whose food was significantly worse and cheaper. No local every ventured there. They knew where the good food was.
Annie was an usual customer at Luke's. Her and Trin came her every Friday night for double cheeseburgers. Luke would kindly give them half off on every last Friday of the month. But when ever they needed a cup of coffee or a donut, the nipped in nearly four times a week.
Today, Annie brought Tracy to Luke's. Normally they would study at the library but Annie couldn't handle the thought of biting her tongue in a quiet library as she fought the urge for a cigarette. At Luke's she could at least distract herself with food. So as Tracy went over the many corrections that Annie had marked on her essay about The Merchant of Venice, Annie stuffed her face with nachos.
"Why would Antonio even agree to give up a pound of flesh? Can he not just gamble money like everyone else?" Tracy asked.
Annie nursed a forming headache. "I do not expect return / Of thrice three times the value of this bond "
"What?" Tracy asked and Annie held back a loud groan. She wondered if Tracy had read the play at all. She knew it was positively dull but it was sacrifice to be made for the grade. Annie knew that Tracy didn't care about English. She didn't even care about her grades. She had a habit of skimming texts and guessing the answer based on words that popped out but Annie told her that she needed to start paying attention if they were going to get anywhere. To be fair as long as Tracy needed tutored, Annie was going to keep earning money but how much money could pay for the slow insanity of having to repeat the same questions over and over again just to have Tracy snap.
Annie's head hung over the chair. She couldn't even stand the sight of Shakespeare at the moment. It bored her to tears and she couldn't do anything until Tracy finished her essay.
The bell that hung over the door to Luke's rang, signalling that someone had entered not that it would alert Luke to turn on his customer service voice or anything. He would act just as grumpy with a customer as he would with his closest friend.
Even upside down, Annie could recognise Jess. Maybe because his moody face played on a loop in her head all day. Her head pinged up. Annie watched him shuffle round the tables, not looking anyone in the eye or showing interest in his surroundings. He has a destination and never wavered. He made a beeline for the back stairs. Annie knew that the stairs led to Luke's apartment but no one ever dared to enter.
Annie quickly stood up from her chair, so quickly that Tracy lifted her head from her paper. Annie rushed over to the counter where Luke was grumpily making coffee. How someone could make coffee grumpily was unbeknownst to Annie but Luke made it work. "Luke! Who is that?"
"Who? My nephew?"
Annie was beyond shocked. She hadn't expected that. "Your nephew?"
Luke looked at her through his eyelashes with an already annoyed expression. "You know what a nephew is, don't you?"
"I didn't know you had a nephew." Annie pondered for a second. "Actually I didn't know you had a...well anything."
"I wasn't made from machine parts." Luke told her. Annie held her tongue. Could've fooled me.
"He lives with you?"
"Are you going to keep asking me stupid questions?"
Annie inhaled. "Tell me Luke on a scale of 1 to 10 how likely is your nephew going to like me as much as you?"
"I don't like you." Luke denied.
Annie could've cackled. She craned her head with a smile that didn't believe him. "Yeah you do."
"Jess doesn't like people."
"But it's me."
"All the more reason." Annie let the comment roll off her back. She wasn't good with insults. Usually when someone took a dig at her it manifested in her brain and she couldn't get it out but with Luke she knew everything he said was just his persona. It was his way of communicating. It never bothered her like Jess bothered her. Luke gestured to the stairs. "If you don't believe me go up and see for yourself."
"Go up? To your apartment? Where you sleep? And bathe? and change?" Annie asked. It felt like an invasion of privacy. She couldn't know Luke on such an intimate level.
"Don't be weird Annie."
"Okay fine." Annie held her head high. She stared at the doorway, almost intimated by what lay behind it. She refused to show trepidation. She confidently walked up the stairs. She came to the top of the stairs, meeting the door that read William Hardware that was already open. Annie took a deep breath and knocked on the doorframe. "So you're a Danes. Really didn't see that one coming. Well I guess now that I think about it you both have that hard shell exterior thing going on."
Jess who was seated on a mattress surrounded by boxes and towers of books, shot up. "Did you follow me?"
"It's hardly following. I was downstairs."
"What do you want?"
Annie clasped her hands together. "I want to apologise."
"For what?"
Annie paused for a moment. "Well I don't know actually. Being too pushy I think."
Jess furrowed his brows. "What?"
"This morning. I tried to help you and you said no."
Jess crossed his arms over his chest with an exasperated expression. "And you think showing up at my apartment is the opposite of pushy?"
Annie opened and closed her mouth. He had a point. "I think we are on a very wrong foot and I just want you to know that I was genuine when I offered my help."
"And I was being genuine when I said I didn't care."
Annie shook her head. "You don't have to pretend with me. I know being the new kid can be scary."
Jess could've laughed, he could've gotten angry. He couldn't believe this was happening. He had never met anyone like Annie Hartley. No one had ever tried so hard for his approval and quite frankly he hated it. He wanted her to leave. "I'm not pretending, I just don't like you."
"That's not possible. Everyone likes me." Annie laughed. She observed his expression. The crossed arms, the blank stare, the absence of amusement. Annie's face dropped. "You don't even know me."
Jess shrugged. "And I don't want to."
"You're serious." Realisation dawned on Annie like a dark cloud. "But why?"
"Because I don't."
"That's not a reason."
"Can you just leave me alone?" Jess begged. He was starting to get aggravated.
Annie exclaimed. "No. No this was not supposed to happen. You are the broody, grumpy 'I hate everyone' city boy and I am the sunshine country girl that's supposed to melt your heart of cold. It is literally written."
Jess stepped back, feeling the intensity of her emotion and it was freaking him out. "You are insane."
"Yes!" Annie agreed. "Yes I am. But it's endearing."
"It really isn't."
Annie's face dropped. She couldn't believe this. "You seriously don't like me."
"And it becomes stronger by the minute."
"Oh." Was all she could say. This has never happened. Annie didn't spend the past decade perfecting her existence for it to fail on Jess Mariano of all people. It wasn't supposed to fail for anyone. Annie knew she was loud and stubborn and uptight and insane but she managed to convince everyone she met that these were good things, great things. Why didn't it work for him?
Annie took a step back. She apologised for her intruding and she left his apartment and Luke's altogether. Tracy was still at their table when she left. She had given up on her essay and was chatting up some girl that came in.
Annie didn't say goodbye, she just left dejected, questioning her whole life as it had been tipped on its side.
☆☆☆
"Can you actually believe he said he didn't like me? How can he not like me?" Annie asked Trin. She immediately went to Trin's straight from Luke's. She could've gone home but she couldn't fathom facing her sister and dad at the moment. Trin sat on the edge of her bed as Annie paced in front of her. She couldn't wrap her head around the situation but she listened regardless. Annie looked at Trin. She had a weird expression. Like she understood. Annie pointed an accusatory finger. "You know why he doesn't like me."
Trin took a big intake of breath. She leaned forward with the best smile she could muster to soften the blow she was about to take. "Annie, you are lovely and kind and charming. but sometimes that can be a little overwhelming for some people."
"Overwhelming? I thought people liked nice people. You're telling me that being nice is wrong?" Annie asked. She didn't understand. She was freaking out.
"It's not wrong. It's just some people don't take to it as kindly as others. It comes off a bit fake." Trin answered as kindly as she could.
Annie laughed. "Fake? I am not fake I am a very nice person."
"Why waste your time on him? There's just some people in life who won't like you."
"That is mathematically impossible."
"You don't have to be everyone's favourite person Annie." Trin's words stopped Annie's pacing.
"Your words are literally foreign to me." Annie told her. Trin sighed with an eye roll. She really didn't understand this. She always knew that Annie craved control but she didn't think it was this bad. "I can fix this. Jess and I just didn't get off to the right foot. But I can be better. I just need to know him."
"Annie-"
"What? What is so wrong with wanting to be liked?"
Trin looked at her best friend sympathetically. Trin could see the innocent intent behind Annie's actions but she had to know this was wrong. She had to understand what she was doing to herself by doing this. Trin sighed softly. "He's not worth it."
Annie knew Trin was right. Of course she knew. But it wasn't that simple. It was never that simple. "Let me decide that."