Delight danced across as Kit's face as they sat at the immaculate table, the duck they were having was particularly delicious. The conversation had turned from how was school' to Nazis and that when Kit stopped paying attention to the blue nail polish she'd only been wearing on the weekends. Chilton did have a strict dress code, even though she'd seen a few upperclassman bend those rules daily. Kit was still the new girl and she didn't want to cause any more unwanted attention between Paris and her minions, Tristan the village idiot and Rory's audition for America's most crazed student the school was feeling crowded.
"Oh wait - Rudolph Gottfried." Their grandmother said.
"No, a Nazi that we knew. I'd forgotten. We stayed with him once in Munich. Nice old man. Interesting stories."
Taking a sip of lemonade to stop herself from chocking at her Grandmothers comment, she took another to stop herself from outright laughing as she noticed the glint in her eye.
"Mom you socialized with a Nazi? That's despicable! That's heinous!"
"No, dear, that was a joke." She smirked causing the twins to chuckle.
Kit could hear Rory before she entered the kitchen messenger bag slung across her shoulder.
"All of the parents pitch in so this is really really important. You know that, right?" Rory screeched.
"Your sister isn't freaking out.." she said as Kit grabbed a cup of coffee. "Why aren't you freaking out sweetheart"
"Because you can't bake!" She said taking a seat next to her mother, wondering why her sister was playing Rancid this early in the morning.
"You see one of the perks of having a mother who runs an inn is that it comes with a brilliant chef who makes the best sugar cookies."
"Smart child..," she said to Kit before turning to Rory.
"I have it covered! Get your stuff and hit the stereo - we're late."
"It's not me." He sister said crossing the kitten to her bedroom. Opening the Gilmore saw a small Korean dancing.
"Where does your mother think you are?" Lorelai asked as Kit grabbed her blue peacoat, thanking God it was Tuesday so she didn't need Cello as much as she loved it lugging it to and from on a bus was becoming challenging.
"Oh, on a park bench contemplating the reunification of the two Koreas." Lane said. Their small best friend had been working her way through the catalogue of rock since 6th grade when she heard Metallica for the first time. If it wasn't for Lane Kit never would have found her love for Blondie, she would have stuck with Bach or YoYo Ma.
"So not skanking to Rancid?" Kit smirked.
"School!" Their mother called out.
Saying their goodbyes to Lane as she ran off towards Stars Hollow High, they themselves ran into their neighbours Babette and Morey walked by pushing their cat in a carriage which honestly wasn't the strangest thing she'd seen them do it should have been though she sure of it.
"Wow, Cinnamon, riding in style," Rory commented while Kit just whistled along.
"Yeah, Morey made it. Cinnamon's not walking well these days but she still likes her passeggiatas. That's Italian for 'a nice walk.'" She short woman said of her overtly tall husband.
"Passeggiata," Morey said rolling his tongue in an Italian accent.
"Oh God, he makes it sound so sexy." Rory and Kit shared a look the couple was truly adorable.
"What's that?" Their mother asked pointing to the enclosed space in the gold covered wagon.
"Oh, it's Cinnamon's private area." She told them as if it was obvious.
"Sometimes she likes to be alone. She's just like Morey in that sense." She said before turning to her husband and asking.
"I can't do it on command, Babs." He says, shades on cool as anything.
"Oh, he's blushin'. God, I love a man that blushes!" She says before they walked away pulling their cat in a wagon behind them.
"I love them" Kit smiled before kissing her mother goodbye.
"Okay, our town is just weird," Rory commented.
"I'll see you later at school," Rory said her voice a touch higher in her worried state.
"For what?" Joked their mother acting as if she didn't know what her sister was talking about.
"Mom, the bake sale!" Rory yelled, her eyes wide, her forehead creased.
"Ha! I got the vein in the forehead. Whoo!"
"Sadist," Rory called after her. Readjusting her bag, Kit grabbed hold of her sister's shoulders, pulling her towards their destination.
"Come on you little worrier or we're going to miss the bus." Her sister turned her, frowning before saying
It took the twins about 45 minutes to get to Hartford from Stars Hollow. Seating on the bench at the bus stop Rory was reading one of the 3 books she always carried with her while Kit was nearing the end of Crime and Punishment, the Russian edition was a lot easier to read that she'd thought once she got into it, she did have to stop herself from skimming some of the longer passages but Dostoyevsky was beautiful in its original language. When the bus arrived the twins got on usually Kit stood up in order to lean against her cello but today she sat next to her sister, lucky the bus wasn't too crowded.
"Yблюдок" Bastard. "Aah! Morning." The twins yelled at the boy behind them.
"I don't know yet," Rory told him, Kit smiled at her sister as she blushed a little.
"I saw you standing in line so I thought I'd say hello."
"Hello," Rory said sheepishly.
"Hi, I'm Kit," she said offering him her hand over her seat which he shook "This is my twin sister Rory, which I'm sure you knew."
Rory was holding her bag tightly, not looking at either her sister or the boy.
The conversation paused as the bus started to move, Kit watched as Rory blushing reached her ears.
"So how do you know Rory..?" Kit asked turning to face him. "Wait what's, what's your name?"
"Dean." He answered looking back at Rory who had yet to move.
"Oh, she helped me get a job at the store. I mean it's not a career or anything but it's got me solvent."
"Solvent's good." Rory finally added.
"Your the new boy" Kit said, not quite meaning it to come out as an accusation.
"Yeah, uh, are you always this serious?" He asked Rory, Kit smiled as she returned to her book.
"No" "Yes" she muttered under her breath.
"So, uh, how long does it take you to get to school?" He asked.
"Um...forty minutes if the bus driver's focused but longer if he's trying to win something on the radio," Rory said.
"Hey, this bus is going to Hartford!" she yelled.
"But you go to school here. You have to get off the bus!" Rory began to panic before calling out to the driver "Hey, he has to get off the bus!"
"Wait. You're forgetting something." He said leaning closer to her.
"Buses make stops. Good-bye Lorelai Gilmore." And with the cute boy in the leather jacket got off the bus.
"Oh god." Kit said unable to contain her smile. "You like him."
"No, I don't," She told her twin, shaking her head with a smile that was about to reach her eyes.
"You do, you did before.. you were all... I don't wanna got to Chilton, who needs read books when I can stare his cute face all day" she impersonated, as poked and prodded her sister's sides.
"I did not," Rory told her sister firm, blushing a little more than Kit had ever seen as she smoothed out her school uniform.
"He cute.." Kit told her trying back to Dostoyevsky "...he obviously likes you." Which caused the sides of her sister's smile to increase.
The school day passed relatively fast and before they knew it was bake sale time. Kit was a little surprised when she found out a school like Chilton was going to have a bake sale. The courtyard was littered with tables with a variety of different selection of cakes on them.
"OK- we've got our French fantasies" Sookie started "American treats and our Italian taste sensations. Well, what do you think?"
"Incredible." The Gilmore girls commented.
"It is good, isn't it? Well, final touch." She smiled pulling out a blow torch to light the swan-shaped dessert on fire.
"Oh, can I do that?" Rory asked
"Whoa, honey, this is a more delicate procedure than you might think, OK?" Sookie told her lighting the torch.
"Ok" she replied, while Kit went in search of something with peanut butter in it.
"It takes an expert hand." she heard Sookie say as she turned around, walking backward a voice behind her called.
"Eh, the one pouring lemonade on the desserts.." she said looking towards her mother and Sookie.
"So are your parents here?" She asked the shorter girl.
"No.. my father is in London and my mum lives in Chicago," Hazel told her. Kit and Hazel had become friends over the last couple of weeks. They only had one class together but it was nice having a companion in the orchestra.
"So. Are home alone?" Kit asked her as they walked past tables filled with deserts that didn't quite look homemade.
"No my brothers with me." Kit paused.
"You have a brother." She asked looking around.
"No... he doesn't go here. He has been kicked out of a few too many schools to go here." She told her.
"Oh... is he your only brother?" Kit asked. Once they found a table with what seemed to be peanut butter brownies, Kit brought three and one for Hazel.
"Yes.. we have same parents but I have 4 half sisters and a step-sister."
"Yeah, my parents are worse than Ross Geller when it comes to marriage."
"That's good... or not" Kit said handing her a brownie.
"My mum has a set of twins."
"They're identical though... so they have this whole creepy shinning thing going on." The freckled girl told her, playing with the bracelets stacked on her wrist, her shirt sleeves pulled up the elbow.
"We've done that.. it was fun.. well not fun but we got to scare Kirk." She said as they laughed their way back to her sister, Sookie and her mother.
Lying across her bed, listening to Beethoven's Cello Sonata no. 3 she was putting off her chemistry homework. The afternoon light dancing across her bedroom floor, when Rory burst through the door. Kit sat up rapidly and shot her she looked at her with confusion.
Kit blinked twice and was about to asked her sister why she brought a head of lettuce with such urgency when they heard a siren coming up the drive. The twins shared a looked before they raced to the window, trying not to disturb the small plant she kept there, as they opened it to get a better look. Out the window, a van from the Stars Hollow veterinarian clinic pulls up next door.
"Go get mum she's at Luke's." Kit asked her.
Inside Babette's house, Cinnamon's body lay covered with a sheet while the vet examined her. She had just finished when Rory and Lorelai arrived Kit was sitting with Morey.
"Oh, Lorelai. Rory Come in, come in." The small blonde told her mother as she adhered them inside.
"She's gone. Cinnamon's gone."
"Is there anything we can do for you, Morey?" Kit asked trying to comfort the fellow musician as Rory sat next to her.
"This is life, Girls," he told them "It breaks your heart." The girls both hugged him while Babette told them what happened to Cinnamon.
"She looked like she was sleeping. I thought she was asleep so I nudged her and she didn't wake." She told them getting more and more upset.
"I gave her a push and she rolled off the couch and since I waxed the floor she went shootin' across the room and then she knocked over the lamp and she still didn't move. I knew it was over." When she cried "Oh, God, my baby." Lorelai hugged her to comfort her.
"Tell me it wasn't the -." He started before clamming up with grief.
"Oh, Morey, don't do this to yourself. He thinks it was the clams."
"She saw me eating them and she gave me that 'hey, man, what's up?' look and -."
"It wasn't the clams. Morey, in human years this cat was 260 years old." The vet told them.
"That's a good, long life." Their mother told them
"Listen, why don't you let me take her out to the van and then I'll get out of your way." The vet suggested.
"Oh, no, stay," she said before turning to the rest of them
"All of you, please stay. Cinnamon would want you here.
"We'll stay as long as you want," Rory said.
"I'll never eat clams again."
"Me either." The twins said.
A funeral for a cat may not seem that strange, if you are eight and have need to say goodbye to your first pet but its more often than not a private affair in the backyard next to the oak tree, however in a town such as Stars Hollow with a Cat like cinnamon a wake is required. The Gilmore twins were trying to keep themselves occupied while their mothers organise ed greeting the mourners, calling both Luke and Sookie and comforting Babette. Kit was trying very hard not to think about the chemistry homework she had put off in favour of relaxation. What a stupid teenage mistake because you never know when your neighbour's cat will die, and you'll have to put it off in favour of a wake for said cat. She wondered briefly if 'my neighbour's cat died" was on the same par as 'my dog ate my homework. How did that phrase even start, Kit wondered who was the first to start it, was it a movie or a book. She swore to look it up later as she's pulled out of her thoughts by Lane who said
"They said that they rolled her body into a lamp." as they walked through Babette barn style house, Kit pursed her lips as Rory nodded in answer.
"Did you laugh?" Kit had to concentrate on not laughing at this moment, it not that she thought it was funny, Its just tragedy plus time equals comedy and one day this will be funny, probably sooner rather than later. Her mother had a terrible track record with pets including two hamsters and a turtle. How she killed a turtle Kit will never know. Rory being far more polite than her sister just shook her head at her best friend.
"Did you want to?" Kit sniggered at her, her hand quickly finding her mouth as she composed herself, Rory gave her a sharp look only for it fall into a smile as she nodded yes.
"But it's sad," Rory told them, as they walked into the living room.
She lost Rory in the crowd of people, after a short conversations in which miss Patty informed her that birthday kissed are a special kind of magic, and only after Kit promised to always remember that she left the dance teacher in search of her sister and a mug of hot chocolate, if she played her cards right she could have it spiked with peppermint, because it never too early for something festive.
"Do you know him?" she heard her mother ask, Rory's ears flushing in the way they seemed to when leather jacket boy was around. Kit found her mother looking in the direction of the kitchen where he was headed, a creates of soda bottles in his arms.
"Yes." Kit said joining the conversation, Lorelai looked between her daughters one blushing, one smirking.
"Well, he goes to my old school, so I see him there sometimes," Rory told them quickly.
"but I.. we go to Chilton now." Kit giggled at her sister's misfortune.
When their mother left the leather jacket boy suddenly returned, before Kit could save her sister from her flustered lack of conversational skills, their conversation was over, when he smiled sweetly and said
"Oh, sure, ill see you later."
As she watched her sister watch him leave she pulled on her shoulder and said.
"Okay, we need to make a plan, otherwise that boy is never going to know how many triple word score words you know...I'm thinking step 1. Talking." It wasn't untill she was ready to click her finger in her sister's face that she noticed just what she was staring at, like Rory all words seemed to fail her, as her mother returned. It was Rory who asked.
"That's Mr. Medina." Kit said as she pointed to towards the dark haired man standing on their front porch.
"You were expecting him." Kit asked looking towards her mother.
"Well, am I in trouble? is Kit. Did the school call or something?" Rory asked just as confused by the sudden appearance of their English teacher.
"No, no you're great. Both of you" Lorelai started. She paused trying to find the words. "I - um - let me just come back in just one second."
"Wait - what's going on?" Rory asked.
"Let me tell you in a minute."
"Tell us now." Kit all but demanded.
"Max?... You're calling him Max." Kit staggered.
"Max is here to pick me up."
"Pick you up.." Kit repeated.
"I'm gonna go talk to him real quick and I'm gonna be right back." Both the girls walked inside faces far more appropriate for the occasion.
"Are we alright with this?" Kit asked her sister, as she was being pulled through Babette house and out the other door into the garden, Kit giggled as Rory sat amongst the circle of red-hatted garden gnomes as if she was conducting a meeting of the UN.
"Are we," she answered, Kit let out the breath she was holding and thought about it. Unable to come up with a quick conclusion she too sat down and joined the meeting.
The conversation had been laps with neither teen quite sure how they felt about the possibility of their mother dating their teacher, but more importantly, their mother who shared everything, too much some would say didn't tell them until he was standing right in front of them. In fact. She hadn't told them anything at all. Kit couldn't help but think about all the ways in which this could go wrong, they were new at Chilton, she just wanted to keep her head down and get through this semester not be known as the girl who mother is dating her English teacher.
"Hey." A voice called behind them, Kit watched as Rory jumped, a little startled herself. As soon as she saw who it was, a smile appeared.
"You just keep popping up, don't you." Kit said, as she picked up one of the gnomes, wanting to give them some privacy but now ready to leave the circle just yet.
"Yeah, uh, look. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry."
"Well, I've been kind of bugging you lately. Uh, I thought - I don't know." Kit attention was now on the pair of them not they noticed.
"I thought that maybe you liked me. But it's obvious that you're not interested so I just wanted to say that I get it and I'm not gonna bother you anymore."
Rory looked hurt as she glanced at her sister in desperation, Kit eyes widen as she silently told her to say something, anything as he started to walk away.
"Wait! I AM interested," she yelled as she jumped up. Maybe not that Kit thought.
"Yes. I gotta go." And with that Rory bolted towards the house leaving her sister, the boy in the leather jacket and her meeting of gnomes. Putting the gnome who looked like he was named Samson back in his position the tall teen stood up and said to the boy watching her sister leave with a smile on his face.
"She's better when she had the chance to write a second draft."
"Goodnight leather jacket boy."
"Oh! Finally. I've been looking everywhere for you." Lorelai said as she found the girls on the front porch.
"Well, you found us." Kit snipped.
"Listen, I have some explaining to do. OK. Okay." she started.
"So sit down in that tiny little bench and I'm gonna do it right now." the twins looked towards each other and silently agreed to listen to their mother. They squeezed together on the little bench and waited for an explanation.
"That man on the porch was your teacher." she started.
"Fully aware of who he is Mom, we have him for an hour of English, 5 days a week."
"So - um - he and I were going to sort of hang out together," she told them
"No, on a" Kit raised her eyebrows at her mother
"Something that could appear like a date to the untrained eye."
"You mean like your daughters or the guy at the bank, or to anyone. Really." Kit added, the brand of sarcasm she only reversed for her parents dating choices, their father only slightly worse than their mother when it comes to the length of time their relationships last.
"It was a date." she defeated.
"How long have you been dating him?" Rory asked, her eyebrows doing their 'trying to be as sassy as her sister' thing.
"I haven't. This was gonna be the first time."
"Right." Kit mumbled trying to wrap her head around this.
"And when were you planning on telling us about this - your wedding?" Rory asked.
"No - by the rehearsal dinner at least." Their mother joked. Neither twin was amused.
"He's our teacher." Kit said after a beat of silence.
"He teaches us things every day in a very small classroom with a lot of other kids who probably won't be high-fiving us when they find this out," Rory said as she stood up, her hands letting go of the sleeve of her jean jacket.
"I know, sweetie, and I told him this was one of the things I was concerned about," she told them.
"And he thought we could be discreet."
"You do realize we're in high school. You remember that it was that thing you meant to be doing when we were conceived" Kit snapped.
"Alright. Because I'm dating him?"
"A little. I think." Kit said standing up, as she leaned against the house, she waited for Rory to speak.
"Because you lied to us."
"I kept information from you." She said, unable to meet her eye.
"Information that we should have had." Kit told her, standing next to her sister, her arms folded.
"Information that would have come out eventually," she said her hands waving in front of her as she tried to dismiss this issue, in a true Gilmore fashion. "Like the Iran-Contra scandal."
"So you're Oliver North." Rory huffed.
"Well, she was much prettier." she joked.
"I just can't believe that you didn't tell us about this." Kit said, sitting back down, trying to work out if she was okay with her mother dating her English teacher and whether in the end, it mattered.
"Why wouldn't you tell us?"
"'Cause I thought you were going to take it bad. Thank God I was wrong."
"Its pretty justified." Kit snipped.
"OK, OK. Listen, I'm sorry. I won't date him. I promise."
"I'm not saying that you can't date him. It's just.." Rory started.
"Weird... It's weird." Kit finished.
"Yeah, I mean - there's a million guys in this world and you end up with Mr. Medina," Rory said.
"You think I don't get the weirdness factor? Believe me, the last thing I intended to do was date your teacher."
"I believe you," Rory said while Kit kept quiet.
"I really like him, girls. I can't help it. And it's been a really long time since I've felt like this. You can't always control who you're attracted to, you know." Their mother told them unable to control the smile on her face.
"I think the whole Angelina Jolie/Billy Bob Thronton thing really proves that. And I know you don't understand this now but you will someday. You'll meet some great guy and he'll make your head all foggy and you won't know what to do with yourself."
"Oh, girls, I won't keep anything from either of you again. OK? I promise. From now on every aspect of my life is an open book to you both."
"That's alright." Kit mumbled.
"Really, I'm not even going to get dressed until I tell you what I'm thinking of wearing."
"OK, tomorrow I'm thinking the purple tiger top, the black leather skirt, the panda bear underwear."
"But of course I'm totally open to suggestions."
"Here's one: get some help." Rory integrated.
Once the goodbyes where said the girls made their home, the phone started ringing as soon as they opened the door. Their mother reached for it, while Kit stripped off her mustard sweater, as she listened to her mothers conversation.
"Well, there are no messages on the machine, Mom."
Both Kit and Rory looked at their mother with annoyance, shaking their heads and all but waving their arms.
"It was for the neighbours -"
"-cat." Kit smacked her hand against her head, her mother looked at her and mouthed 'What', to which the girls just shocked their heads.
"I just wanted to be honest with you, Mom. Silly me."
"Yeah, a cat. It was a cat's funeral." she continued.
"Not my cousin, mom. My father's grandmother's sister's girl who I've never -" the girls left their mother to her own mother.
"French and then Chemistry." Kit told Rory when she asked what Homework she had.
"Plus English, which ill leave for last I think. I should probably start with Chemistry." Kit moaned as she filled the coffee filter.
"Aaagh! She's working for a sedative manufacturer. Keeping that demand sky-high." Lorelai moaned in the same tone as Kit as she entered the kitchen.
"You shouldn't have told her," Rory said, pouring herself a glass of lemonade.
"Well, I don't know what to tell and what to hide."
"So we never did quite settle the whole dating-your-teacher issue." their mother started. Looking between her two teenagers as they stood on either side of the room.
"You're a grown up. You can date whoever you like."Kit said before turning back to her coffee.
"Well I'm certainly not going to go out with him 'cause that would be really weird," Rory said.
"But I mean it. I won't see him if you don't want me to."
"Huh." Kit mumbled as she poured her coffee.
"You know, if there's anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, big or small, then he's out of there."
"Good to know," Rory stated.
"Because you know it's not like I'm desperate. I mean, there are plenty of other guys out there."
"And it's not like I have to ask permission from my teenager daughters. I mean, this is a courtesy."
"Thanks." Kit said as she reached the stairs.
"OK, so I'm going to be up for a while if you want to get back to me on this," Lorelai yelled so both she and Rory behind her closed door could hear.
"Got it." Kit yelled down the stairs as she reached her bedroom, put the cup of coffee on her messy bedside table, and fell on to it only for a second before she reached for her school bag and pulled out her homework.
