❝𝙳𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚎,
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚒𝚜 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐.
𝙸 𝚜𝚊𝚢 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚋𝚢𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜,
𝚂𝚘 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚝,
𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸'𝚖 𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎.
𝙸'𝚖 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚝 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎,
𝙳𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚎,
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚒𝚜 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐.
𝙸 𝚜𝚊𝚢 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚋𝚢𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜,
𝚂𝚘 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚝,
𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝙸 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚍𝚒𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚢𝚎𝚜.❞
𝚂𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 – 𝙳𝚒𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚍 𝙴𝚢𝚎𝚜 (𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚖-𝙻𝚊𝚢 𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚖-𝙻𝚊𝚢 𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚖)

When Thea woke up in the morning, the day felt off. Whatever it was, Thea couldn't quite put her finger on what was causing the feeling, but it was there.

After getting dressed in the Chilton uniform, and putting on her two lockets, something that both sets of her grandparents had gotten for her.  

Sure, it made her look obnoxious wearing both at the same time, but no one said anything, especially not over the stack of yellow friendship bracelets that she wore.

Her female friends, River Sinclair and Emika Aoki, had matching bracelets, but River's was blue and Emi's was purple.

After getting dressed, and brushing her hair, she left her room.

She headed downstairs, went past the sitting room, and into the kitchen. She went over to her grandmother, Emily, at the head of the table and kissed her on the cheek, "Good morning."

Emily smiled at Thea, "Good morning."

Thea sat down at her side of the table and Richard came into the dining room. He said, "Good morning, Emily." He kissed Emily's cheek, before he went over to Thea, dropping a kiss on her head.

"Good morning, Grandpa," Thea greeted him with a smile.

"Good morning, Thea," Richard replied back with a smile, before going to sit down at his end of the table.

While the cook, Thea was sure the woman's name was Jacqueline, came out with the food, which was strawberry blintzes, lemon-blueberry puff pastry tarts, and orange juice.

Richard asked, "So, what's going on at school today, Thea?"

Thea thought about it, before replying, "We have a test in math, reviewing for a quiz in English next week, and we have archery practice today after school."

Sure, archery wasn't a sport at Chilton, but Emily managed to make it become one through her friend, Bitty, who was the headmaster's wife.

Thea wanted to become 'captain' of the team, but another girl, Ryleigh, wanted to be captain too, so Thea decided to step aside and let Rachel be captain instead of competing for the title.

Emily asked, "Anything else?"

Thea thought about it some more, "Not as far as I know."

"If anything changes, let me know," Emily told Thea.

"I will," Thea replied back.

She was sure that nothing would change. Wake up, go to school, do archery practice, or study with her friends, River, Emika, and their male friends Cassidy "Cass" Callahan and Ashton Morgan. It felt like her routine never changes. Sometimes it felt like she was stuck in a rut.

Sometimes Ashton held parties to spice up their boring lives, but that was a few here and there.

After breakfast was over, Thea went back to her room to go to the bathroom to brush her teeth and brush her hair. She considered applying eyeliner, eyeshadow, and lip gloss or lipstick, which was the only makeup she wore, before deciding not to wear any, since makeup never really suited her.

She grabbed a messenger bag and her green floral backpack. The messenger bag was to hold her notebooks and writing implements, while the backpack was for her binders. Sure, she had three backpacks because it was hard to choose, but she liked to rotate them every now and then.

She went downstairs to the kitchen to fill up a thermos with coffee before leaving for school.

School was school. It was okay. Thea caught up on a few notes from Paris, her sort-of friend. She and Paris got along decently because they respected each other. While Paris aspired to go to Harvard, Thea planned on going to Yale and Thea really had no desire to become valedictorian or being a part of the Franklin.

Thea also had no desire to date Tristan, since she knew about Paris's unrequited feelings for the guy, because Thea found Tristan to be a bit repulsive. Something about that guy made Thea's skin crawl, so Paris didn't see Thea as a 'threat'.

Paris asked, "What castle are you doing your project on for Mrs. Ness?"

"Čachtice Castle," Thea replied.

"Elizabeth Báthory?" asked Paris.

Thea nodded, "Yeah."

"Interesting choice," Paris told her.

Thea smiled, "Thanks." Before she could ask Paris what castle she was doing her project on, Thea's friend (and unrequited crush) Ashton came over.

Ash had one hell of a time growing up. Apparently his mom, Angela, was physically abusive, she would lock him in the bathroom every time he got too loud and she made him and the girl next door dance naked with each other when they were ten just for humiliating purposes, not for sexual purposes (Thea hoped). Apparently Ashton's mother would also have him stand outside naked for hours (even in the snow) or make him roll around in mud (also naked).

Since Angela had Ashton in a one-night stand, she had gotten custody of him because Ashton's dad was busy traveling because was a rock star. Sometimes Ashton would visit his dad, Tony, would have him be in the music videos (like in a school setting, Ashton would be the one that would end up looking out the window and 'daydreaming' or running in a field with a toy airplane with his younger half-siblings.)

Tony ended up meeting Ashton's step-mom, Marianne, who was an actress, on the set of the music video when Ashton was four, because Marianne was supposed to be the love interest, which didn't pan out, because Marianne ended up throwing her drink on him. 

Supposedly that lovestruck look in the music video was actually real because that was the first time Tony had seen her, but Tony had to dispel those rumors because he had seen her before when they had to meet up to shoot the video, but people loved the romantic angle of it.

So, both of them retired from their respective jobs and Tony opened up some multi-million company and Marianne worked as an executive for a makeup brand, also popping out Ashton's younger half-siblings, Bridget who was twelve, Cassidy who was ten (the girl really thought that she and boy Cassidy were 'twins" because their names were the same), Dominic who was nine, and twin girls Sutton and Sawyer who were both seven (Thea suspected that Tony and Marianne were hoping for Sutton and Sawyer to become lawyers because combined, their names sounded like a law firm).

When Ashton was twelve, he finally got taken away from Angela because Angela went into a manic episode because she refused to get treated for having bipolar and left him behind. Once the school found out that he had been 'abandoned' he got taken away from Angela and was dropped in the house with half-siblings who he barely knew. 

After being in a hypomanic state and sinking into a depression, it turned out that Ashton had bipolar 2, which he kind of figured out because he and Angela (Ashton never referred to Angela as mom) used to have screaming matches for hours, because Angela would interrupt him doing one of his various hobbies and how dare she interrupt his work. While Ashton sank into a depression after yelling at Angela, Angela would go into an even worse manic episode, that results in them plunging into debt and Angela getting like ten more tattoos.

No, Angela wasn't abusive because of her bipolar. Ashton was pretty sure she was just an awful person despite her being bipolar.

Thea looked at Ashton, "How are you feeling?"

Ashton threw his backpack onto the ground, "I'm a stressed, depressed mess."

"So, every day?" asked Cassidy, as he walked up to them.

There really wasn't much to say about Cassidy. 

His parents, Kimberly and Daniel, were big Grateful Dead fans and met at a concert when Kimberly went to punch a man in the face because the man was harassing her best friend, Lisa. However, she punched Daniel in the face and realized her mistake and went to punch the actual guy. Then Kimberly bought Daniel a beer as an apology and for his black eye.

Apparently, Daniel knew from the moment after Kimberly punched him, he was going to marry that woman.

Kimberly and Daniel later on had Cassidy, then his younger sister Cherise, or as she was called, Cherri when Cassidy was three, and then another younger sister, Corrina, when Cherri was four and Cassidy was seven.

Lisa had moved in with Kimberly and Daniel at some point during Kimberly and Daniel's marriage, because for as long as Cass could remember, Lisa was there.

When Corrina was four, Lisa had triplets, Sadie, August, and Isaac (August and Isaac were identical boys), who were also seven and were actually friends with Sutton and Sawyer.

Thea was hoping that Sadie, August, and Isaac opened up a law-firm with Sutton and Sawyer so their initials can spell SASSI.

However, Emi and River had found it weird that Lisa had kids, despite apparently not having a boyfriend hanging around or Lisa mentioning any guys.

Cass had said that it wasn't any of their business what Lisa does or who she sleeps with.

Since Lisa was an author, she could've taken off while Kimberly and Daniel were both working. Kimberly was a financial services and owned a lingerie brand on the side. Daniel owned a top makeup business.  

The thing was, Thea at the time, didn't know what books Lisa wrote. She had assumed romance books, then she took a book off Lisa's bookshelf and cracked it open, getting an eyeful.

Erotic thrillers – that was what Lisa wrote. Well, she wrote erotic thrillers under the pseudonym "Candy Sugarcane" and wrote horror and normal thrillers under a different name "Velvet Bytheway".

River came up to them, pulling her dreadlocks into a ponytail. "What's up?"

"Ash is a stressed, depressed mess again," Thea told River.

"What do you mean by 'again?'" asked River. "He's always like that." She and Cass started laughing at that.

River's parents, Annika and Martin 'Marty' were high school sweethearts. Annika's mom was on the basketball team, even though she hated being on the basketball team because she found it stereotypical because she was Black. However, Annika played anyway because her friends were on the team, and she was good friends with the male basketball team. The male basketball team had found her cool and all right. However, according to Marty, Annika could've had anyone in the school but Annika, however, wanted the 'calculus nerd' Marty. because he had moved to Hartford and was new. The way Marty focused on his classes was oddly attractive to Annika.

According to Marty, one day he had closed his locker and jumped because Annika was leaning against the locker in the 'stereotypical jock pose' like from the movies.

Annika was the one to ask Marty out and then she was the one who got down on one knee and asked him to marry her. Marty also took Annika's last name because his last name was 'embarrassing'. Also, he said that it was also the women taking the men's last name and he had no problem becoming 'Mr. Annika Sinclair."

He never said what it was and he refused to divulge that information.

River had a younger sister named Serenity and their cousin, Amity, lived with them, because her mother, Marty's sister, was a drug addict and Amity got taken out of her living situation. Amity's mother thought that Amity's living situation was better and visited her on occasion.

Annika was a doctor and Marty was a dentist.

Emi came up to them.

Emi's parents met when they both got in trouble for cheating off of each other in class. Emi's dad, Daiki, reportedly said, "Why would you cheat off of me? I'm dumb. That's why I was cheating off of you."

And Emi's mother, Akane, said, "Well? I'm stupid too."

"Great," Daiki said. "We're both idiots together for copying off each other."

The teacher had said, "You're two halves of one whole idiot."

They both became fast friends while being tutored. Throughout school, they stayed friends, even encouraging each other to date and befriending each other's significant others. They even moved into a house together, still being friends and opened up a Japanese restaurant, Ramen Rituals, together.

As they got older, they realized something. They hadn't been in a very serious relationship, dating was starting to be a hassle, they've never been married, no kids, they were getting older...

They decided to marry each other.

Their first wedding was in Las Vegas by an Elvis impersonator. Then they had a second traditional wedding for their families, but they claimed their Vegas wedding was the real one.

They had Emi and then Emi's younger brother Issei together.

Emi was sure that their parents were thinking 'finally', but Emi was sure she knew the truth. She was sure that her parents weren't even in love considering that her parents had seperate bedrooms, but she was sure that they loved each other platonically, describing each other as 'best friend'.

Thea honestly saw the difference between Akane and Daiki's relationship and the others' relationship. Akane and Daiki did seem strictly platonic, there was no compared PDA compared to the others. Thea had seen her friends' parents kiss each other or had their hands on each other, or petnames being used. Akane and Daiki had playful insults and again, no PDA. They seemed more like close friends than anything.

Thea's parents, on the other hand, were teenagers when they had her and her twin sister, Rory. While Lorelai, who named Rory after herself, Christopher named Thea, Theodosia, after a family member whose twin was murdered, who was a dancer, according to Francine, Christopher's mother.

A year later, Lorelai had enough of Richard and Emily, split town, leaving Thea behind, taking Rory with her. There were times when Thea wondered what life would've been like if she had lived in Stars Hollow.

While Thea didn't have much of a relationship with Lorelai, Thea had somewhat of a relationship with Rory. They called each other on occasion and sent each other birthday presents and cards. All Lorelai could manage was a 'happy birthday' and give her a birthday present and card, and even a Christmas present. It was more than Thea ever got out of Christopher, who didn't even acknowledge her or sent a birthday or Christmas present.

While Thea had asked Rory if she could spend the night in Stars Hollow, Lorelai would say no. If Rory asked Lorelai if she could spend the night in Hartford, Lorelai still said no. Apparently Lorelai wanted her two worlds to stay separate, only visiting on holidays when the banks were closed.

Thea felt a bit out of place with not having much of a bond with her own twin compared to Ashton, Cass, Emi, and River who were close to their own siblings. She saw how close Sutton and Sawyer were to each other, how close Sadie, August and Isaac were.

The bell rang, and Emi had taken Thea's shoulder. "Hey, come on. Let's get to class."

River looked at Thea, "What's going on with you?"

"I feel like the day is off," Thea responded. "It's weird."

All throughout the day, Thea forgot about the weird feeling she woke up with.

When she got home, Emily said to her, "Rory got into Chilton. She starts on Monday."

"Good for her," Thea replied. Sure, she felt for Rory, but... "How is Lorelai paying for Chilton?"

"Your mother and sister will be joining us for dinner on Friday Night," Emily said.

"Why?" asked Thea, confused. "There's no holiday this month where the banks are closed."

"Well, we agreed to pay for Rory's tuition and she agreed to have Friday night dinners with us," Emily explained.

Thea turned and went upstairs. She could handle Rory, but to have Lorelai here?

And there it was.

It was what Cass called The Fuckening. He described it as 'When your day is going too well, but when shit finally goes does, there it is. The fuckening.'

Well, Thea just experienced that.

A/N: Sorry about the introduction chapter where not much has happened. I just wanted to get their introductory backstories out of the way before getting into the story.