GOOD LUCK, CHARLIE!
( season 4, episode 2 )

EAST HAVEN, CONNECTICUT
august 2003

CHARLIE'S car drove peacefully down the long, winding road that leads to her future.

the sound of her mother's voice calling from god knows where in europe assures charlie that the inside of her car wouldn't achieve the same peace.

since her parents divorce, her father had been in new york, throwing himself into work, and her mother had been running around lavish hotels in italy with men half her age.

charlie was just impressed her mother had even remembered what today was and mustered up enough care to call.

"the moving men should already be there" she informs her daughter "and remember to talk to your dean if you're unhappy with the dorm arrangements. i tried to get you a private dorm but apparently a stack of cash won't get you anywhere these days" she sighes dramatically.

"i'm sure it'll be fine, mom" charlie reassures her.

"oh" her mom adds "and remember that the preston's son is starting this year too. you remember edward, right?"

"no" charlie shakes her head.

"oh come on, we spent that summer with them in martha's vineyard" her mom continues.

"oh, him" she nods "mom, i haven't seen him in like eleven years, he probably won't even remember me."

"well just make sure you say hi" her mom presses "anyway, good luck charlie!" she exaggerates before hanging up.

charlie flips her phone shut and tosses it into her pocket, looking at her surroundings as she drives through the big, fancy gates of yale university.

her car sits directly behind a green truck filled with black garbage bags and a mattress, clearly someone's obnoxious mother trying to take the last open spot left.

after moment or two, she gives up on waiting for another spot to free up and turns around to look for a car park, eventually finding one with an open space.

when she gets out the car, charlie is greeted by her older sister, elizabeth, a yale alumni who despite being only a year out of the school, already has a shiny rock on her finger.

"what took you so long?" her sister snaps.

"i'm sorry, the speed limit slowed me down" charlie answers dryly to her already annoyed sister.

elizabeth scoffs as she walks quickly through the campus, charlie having to keep up a light jog just to stay at her level.

her sister was only there since she was meeting with a friend for coffee after, charlie was pleasantly surprised she even bothered to show up. she knew it would be a dropping off and leaving situation, but something's better than nothing.

"the movers are already in your room, i got you a map and there's a building tour for durfee girls at 12 which you've already missed since you were late, but whatever, you'll find your way around, id photos are today so fix... this" elizabeth stares her sister up and down "but mostly don't embarrass yourself, and more importantly don't embarrass me."

"noted" charlie mutters as she follows her into the large building and through a hallway before she stops in front of a door.

"room 5, this is you" her sister tells her as the pair walk in together, it's a nicely sized lounge room with five doors of the side, one clearly being labelled as the bathroom. the suite appears to be empty.

elizabeth scans the doors before spotting a sticky note 'c.b.' stuck to a door next to the window.

charlie follows her into the room, it's not big but it's not tiny, it has a desk, bed, and a cutely placed window looking out onto campus, the boxes stacked in the corner insinuates the movers have already been.

"not too bad" elizabeth observes "could've done better though" she shrugs.

"i like it" charlie smiles, sitting down on the end of her bed and looking out the small window.

elizabeth rolls her eyes a little, charlie always knew she was different to her sisters, although she couldn't pinpoint why.

she got perfectly good grades, had never gotten into too much trouble throughout schol, was always a delight at parties, and yet there was just something that gave her the ability to earn an eye roll out of anyone in her family from just talking.

her sisters were never plain nasty to her, but they were never warm. her parents were never abusive to her, but they were never there.

"i have to go" elizabeth looks at her "i'll see you sometime, yeah?"

charlie nods "yeah. thanks for coming."

her sister opens the door to leave, but turns her head back to her "new people" she mouths before heading out.

charlie pops her head out from around the door to see a girl around her age and another one slightly older, she hesitantly walks out to go introduce herself.

"hi" she smiles politely, the two girls turn their attention to her.

"hi" the older of the two smiles back.

"i'm charlie."

"i'm lorelai, this is my daughter, rory" she introduces them, rory shyly nods "hi."

"hi" charlie repeats.

the moment is followed with an awkward silence, the weight of the fact that this is the person they would be living with for the next year weighing down on them heavily.

charlie spots a guy from outside the room carrying a mini fridge "that guy has a mini fridge" she says, wanting to add anything to this dreadfully silent moment.

lorelai turns around to see it and gasps "i want one."

"go get one" rory suggests.

"no for you. i want one for you" she turns to the two girls.

"we don't need one" rory chuckles.

"for sodas and stuff when things are closed - late night cram sessions!" lorelai explains.

rory turns to charlie, almost as if asking her approval. charlie shrugs "it would be pretty useful."

"let's go see what the other rooms are doing" lorelai pulls the two girls across the hall "mom-" rory tries to interrupt, but it's too late. lorelai's already peaking through the door opposite.

"a rug!" she exclaims "for your room to make it cozy! and a vase of flowers."

"the flowers would just die" rory reasons.

"they have a vase of the most beautiful fake flowers i've ever seen" lorelai argues "trash cans!"

"oh, you're right" charlie nods.

"and a fan! i have been remiss!"

"trust me, you really haven't" charlie laughs a little.

"i have another trip to make today" she says with a determined look in her eye.

"no, mom, you've done enough today" rory bargains.

"you two need to be outfitted for your first night or else you'll just be those girls who are always asking people for things because they have nothing!" she exclaims.

"we can get it all later" rory explains.

"no" lorelai shakes her head "now go unpack the skimpy amount of the stuff i've gotten you so far and i'll be back in a couple of hours. do you need anything from target?" she turns to charlie, who shakes her head with a light laugh "i'm good, thank you."

"okay" she nods "copper boom" she tells the girls before placing a kiss on rory's cheek and leaving.

charlie furrows her brows "copper boom?"

"it's hard to explain" rory sighs "sorry, she's a lot" she says as the girls walk back to their room.

"oh please, my moms idea of a proper send off was a five minute call" charlie laughs softly "you're lucky."

rory nods "yeah, she's pretty great."

as they get back to the suite, they both walk back to their retrospective rooms.

"so i'll see you around" charlie smiles "definitely" rory nods.

just as they're about to close their doors, charlie speaks up.

"rory?"

"yeah?"

"are you nervous?"

"oh yeah" rory breathes out with a nod, sending her a comforting smile.

charlie finishes unpacking her last box when she hears a knock at the door "come on in!"

the door opens to reveal a young looking girl with curly hair pulled back into a ponytail "hi."

"hi" charlie smiles, there's a moment of awkward silence "i'm adopted" the girl blurts out.

"oh" charlie nods "um, i'm sorry, who are you?"

"tana schreck. i'm your suit mate."

"charlie" she smiles politely, holding her hand out to shake it, noticing how young the girl looks she asks "how old are you?"

"sixteen" tana replies.

"sixteen?" charlie's eyes widen.

"on tuesday" tana adds.

"happy birthday" charlie says dryly, tana's lips turning to a wide smile "thank you!"

"there's another suitmate here" she tells her.

"rory?" charlie asks, tana shakes her head "no. she's a little weird, i've already forgotten her name, i'm a disaster with names."

"that's okay" charlie assures her.

"it's the name of a city. athens or rome or something" tana explains.

that piques charlie's attention, then from the outside room she hears her.

"no, no, no" charlie mutters under her breath, praying then we she steps outside she wouldn't she her.

paris geller. of course.

paris had gone to middle school with charlie, she had even briefly shared a room with her in 6th grade, before charlie begged her houseparent to let her move.

"charlie!" she smiles widely "give me a hug. wait?" she turns back to the slightly older man behind her, who nods "give me a hug!"

paris pulls her into a bone crushing hug "wow. this is a massively big surprise" charlie laughs nervously.

"imagine telling twelve year old us that we'd be suitemates in college!" paris smiles.

"oh twelve year old charlie may have shot herself" charlie nervously blabs, playing it off as a joke.

"this is terrance" paris introduces the man "it's nice to meet you, charlie" he says the name as though he's heard it many times before.

"terrance is my life coach" paris explains.

"your life coach?" charlie raises an eyebrow.

"don't judge" paris snaps, charlie shakes her head "i'm not" she defends.

rory hesitantly steps out her room "hi paris" she forces a smile.

"isn't this great? i went to middle school with you and high school with you, and now we're all gonna be roommates!" paris laughs, pulling the two girls in for a hug.

rory and charlie laugh nervously, not sure how to act around this 'new and improved' her.

"so weird coincidence that you're in a suite with both of us?" charlie asks.

"not really" paris shakes her head "i told terrance all about my history with both of you and he felt very strongly that our life journey was not complete. so my dad made a call" she smiles before skipping off into her room.

charlie and rory look at each other with fear, turning around to see a creepily smiling terrance.

after an hour or so of paris unpacking her stuff and now making a 'craft table', lorelai finally comes back.

"is that?" lorelai asks the two girls.

"if it's not then that means there's two of them. which would mean it's the end of the world" charlie mutters.

"that's terrance, her life coach" rory explains, lorelai gasps "like on oprah?"

"yes" rory nods.

"no!" lorelai breathes out sharply.

"they're setting up her crafts corner" charlie tells her.

paris spots lorelai "lorelai!" she smiles, giving her an unexpected hug "terrance, this is lorelai" she tells terrance.

terrance nods "nice to meet you, finally."

"finally?" lorelai questions.

"you and i have a bit of a journey to finish of as well" paris explains.

"i'll clear my schedule" lorelai nods.

"i'm setting up my crafts corner, some mosaic beads, some tiles, still kind of kid's stuff but terrance showed me how using my hands can help with my nerves" she smiles proudly.

"um, where are we're gonna put the couch?" tana asks timidly.

"why don't you-" paris snaps quickly, scaring the four girls "paris" terrance puts an arm on her shoulder to calm her down.

"two steps forward, three steps back" he attempts to sooth her nerves "she was baiting me!" paris defends.

"fish can choose not to bite" he reminds her.

she breathes slowly "we'll figure it out" she nods, walking off to gather her thoughts as tana bolts back to her room.

the door opens, an older man in a shirt and a backwards baseball hat peers around "is this the place?"

rory nods "luke this is charlie, we're gonna be suitemates. charlie this is luke, he runs the local dinner."

"hi" charlie nods politely.

as lorelai begins to argue with him about the mattress, charlie turns to rory "so it's not even a little weird that he's just here? no? okay" she nods.

the two girls walk back over to paris, who's yelling about her glue gun leaking into her macaroni.

"paris, compartmentalize" terrance reminds her calmly.

paris breathes slowly before calming down.

"can you live with us always?" charlie turns to terrance.

charlie ran out to find some good coffee on campus, but so far had no luck.

she walks back to the building with her perfectly average coffee, spotting a familiar face in a 'yale' shirt standing on the stairs talking to some friends.

his eyes snap her to her's for a second. edward preston.

she waves politely at the childhood friend, although he doesn't return it. he doesn't really show any sign of remembering the girl he had once sworn to marry, more just stares blankly at her face.

charlie turns around and into her suite, where paris, rory and tana are still eating, having made a mini globe with all they places the four girls had tried in just that night.

"the place next to c block is drinkable, but i'm sure there's better out there" charlie reports her coffee findings to the girls.

"that sounds like a problem for tomorrow morning" rory says between a mouthful, charlie nods in agreement.

lorelai comes in "i've got balinese" she smiles, holding up yet another takeaway bag "where does bali go?"

"we're still putting everything in geographical order. east to west" paris explains as charlie plops herself down on the couch and helps herself to a takeout box.

"that's the system" lorelai nods "where is bali?"

"indonesia" rory tells her.

"is indonesia easy or west of the philippines?" paris asks.

"east" rory responds "no west."

"we've got singapore somewhere over here" lorelai says.

"find sri lanka" tana adds "it's a bit over from that."

"no it's above malaysia" charlie responds "or maybe below."

"we haven't got any malaysian food" lorelai reasons.

"just put it by vietnam" rory shrugs.

"that feels politically incorrect" charlie mutters, stuffing a fork full of food into her mouth.

"is vietnam east or west of the philippines?" paris asks again.

"boy, you guys really need to go to college" lorelai breathes out as she sets the bag down on the middle of the table.

"we ordered too much food" rory's voice is muffled from the mouthful.

"um hello? the point? we need a wide cross section for our local takeout test" lorelai reminds the girls.

"i can still smell glue from your glue gun" tana tells paris.

"you're rich, you know that?" paris snaps.

"wait wait" lorelai looks at the takeout "you've eaten indian food before, yet i see nothing but indian food on the chart."

"we'll get to it" rory tells her "it's just easy because everyone likes indian food" charlie adds.

"the whole point of getting everything within delivery distance is so we can judge the quality of food, speed of service and cuteness of delivery guys on a scale of one to ten. we cannot work from memory on this."

rory hears a phone buzz "where's the phone?"

"under mexico" paris responds "no, chile" charlie argues.

"i bet it's the pizza, come help" lorelai says, nudging rory, who nods and gets up to go help.

after a few moments, they hear lorelai from outside "hello, durfee girls. there's food and tons of it in suite five. bring your appetites, bring your opinions, and hey someone bring some music, but if it's evanescene, you'll be severely mocked. enter, rejoice and come in!"

it had been the perfect first night at yale, just girls being girls, talking and laughing over ridiculous amounts of food while lorelai sung an off key can't hurry love.

charlie walked back to the room, coffee in hand, going to pick up rory for freshman assembly, when she sees lorelai leaving, she had spent the night due to rory feeling a little homesick.

"are you heading out?" she asks, lorelai nods "yep. back to stars hollow."

"it was nice that you stayed" charlie says genuinely "like really nice."

lorelai shrugs it off "it's just what moms do for their kids. you can call me too if you need anything, you know that?"

charlie smiles "thank you, lorelai. and by the way, i found good coffee, finally" she proudly holds up her coffee cup.

"kiosk by the library?" lorelai grins.

"ugh you found it first" charlie laughs "i'll see you around."

"bye" lorelai smiles as she walks off.

DIRECTOR'S NOTES 𐙚. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁🎧ྀི° ᡣ𐭩 . ° .

chapter one ahhhhhhhh. sort of hate this chapter but we live love laugh.

it's officially 12am on christmas where im writing this from so merry christmas everyone!!!!!!!

super super excited to start writing ted chapters i hope you guys will love him as much as i do.