GOLD RUSH
CHAPTER TWO, CHILTON OR HELLTON?

Blair woke up earlier than usual and made her way to Stars Hollow to see Nate and Maeve before making her way to her mom's. Venus opened the door and smiled at the girl who was standing in her Chilton uniform. "Nate and Maeve are in the kitchen," the teen told her and opened the door wider for her walk into the house. The girl took her shoes off and placed them on the shoe rack along with her bag.

"Why is V opening your door and where's your mom?" Blair asked the siblings when she got into the kitchen.

Maeve looked the girl up and down, her face twisting into disgust, "What's with the skirt?"

"What's with the uniform?" Nate asked.

"I got into Chilton," she replied while she sat down next to Maeve.

The Lockwood's shared a look before looking to Venus who had a proud smile on her face. "You got into Chilton?" they asked in unison.

"Yes?" she nodded slowly. "Why is that so surprising?"

"Told you, you could do it," Venus squeezed her shoulder.

"It's not, it's just Chilton doesn't seem like your school," Nate told her. "Coffee?"

"Don't use coffee as a way to hide the fact you just insulted me but yes," she passed him the cup as he walked by and squeezed her shoulder. "And I'm also moving back in with my mom so you'll see me a lot more."

"Really?" Maeve squealed and leant over to hug the girl.

"Isn't your grandparents closer to Chilton?" Nate questioned, placing the cup down in front of her.

"Yeah but I've been wanting to move back into my mom's for a while," she took a sip of the coffee.

"Can you plait my hair while I finish eating then we can go?" Maeve asked the girl breaking the eye contact between Blair and her brother.

"Yeah, Nate go get me a hair brush please," she flashed him a smile. The boy got up with a huff and made his way to the drawer that was full of hair stuff and threw the brush at the girl. "Ow!"

"You're fine," he rolled his eyes. Blair ignored him while Venus glared at him so Blair could finish doing Maeve's hair so they could stop at Lorelai's before the Lockwood's and Venus went to their separate schools.

"What time is it?" Maeve asked her brother.

Nate looked and pointed at his watch, "Time you got one of these."

Blair tapped his head before grabbing his wrist, "It's quarter to seven. See that wasn't so hard was it?"

"Not for you because you have a watch," he replied smugly, the girl pointing to the turtle where the spare key was for him to grab.

"Mom? Rory?" Blair called, walking further into the house, looking around to see Rory in the living room. "Is mom up yet?"

"I think so," Rory replied, smiling at the Lockwoood's and Venus who were standing behind her sister.

Blair was sat trying to wrestle the travel mug of coffee off Nate when Rory exclaimed, "Mom's not awake!"

"Then go wake her," Blair told her, once again looking at Nate's watch. "It's ten past seven."

"We're going to be late!" the twins exclaimed in unison looking at each other wide-eyed. Rory rushed off to wake Lorelai while Blair went to check that Maeve wasn't drinking coffee.

Blair cleared her throat to gain the attention of Maeve who turned her with a sheepish look on her face, "What you got?"

"Soda," Maeve replied.

"In a mug?"

"Couldn't reach your glasses," she shrugged watching the teen get closer to her. "Taste it," she pushed the mug towards the girl.

"No, I trust you," she shook her head. "Coffee pot was empty anyway, I was only joking."

"To answer your question earlier about my mom and dad. Mom forgot what day it was and slept in and dad's hungover so Nate got me up and ready and then he rang Venus to watch me while he got ready," Maeve smiled at the teen but the smile turned into a confused look when she saw the teen's frown. "What?"

"Nothing," Blair shook her head. "Let's go."

Lorelai and Rory came back down the stairs, Maeve put her mug in the sink and gave Blair a hug. "I'll see you when I get home, alright?" Blair told the girl, kissing the top of her head and moving her to her brother who was standing in the living room waiting to see the look on Blair's face when she saw what her mom was wearing. "What are you wearing?" she asked, looking at her mom's pink t-shirt and denim shorts.

"All my clothes are at the dry cleaning," Lorelai replied. Blair's eyes widened momentarily before following her mom to the car.

By the miracle that was Lorelai's speeding, the girl's made it on time for their first day and she parked the car right outside the entrance. "Did it always look so mediaeval?" Blair asked.

"It does look very "off with their heads," Rory agreed while nodding.

"Yeah," Lorelai exclaimed, tilting her head to the side, looking up at the belltower.

The teen had tuned out her mom and sister's conversation, too busy on her phone texting Nate to see if it calmed her nerves. She was smart, really smart hence why she got into Chilton in the first place but she didn't know how to show it.

Blair's phone lit up with a text from Nate, "You'll be fine, I promise. Maeve says good luck and that she loves you."

"Thank you, tell her I said I love her too," she typed back before she had to go.

"Ring me if you need me."

─•~❉᯽❉~•─

The three of them walked down the stairs, Blair a bit behind as usual but not looking where she was going so she also didn't see the blonde and redheaded girls that was staring judgingly at her mom and sister and then her when she walked into her. "I'm so sorry!" she apologised but it went ignored by the girl. "Bitch," Blair rolled her eyes at her ignorance. The last text went unread by the brunette teen since she was now standing inside the Headmaster Charleston's office and didn't want to make an even worse bad impression than her resting bitch face had already made for her but not only was the Headmaster there but so was Emily Gilmore.

"Miss Gilmore, I'm Headmaster Charleston," he shook the woman's hand.

"Hi. Wow. It's really nice to meet-" she cut herself off when she noticed the other person in the room. "Mom? What are you doing here?"

"I came to wish my granddaughters luck on their first day of school," she replied as she walked straight past the brunette and up to the twins, more specifically Rory. "You two look wonderful in that uniform!"

"You didn't have to come all the way out here mom," Lorelai chuckled awkwardly.

"Well this gave me a chance to make sure that Hanlin here takes good care of the girls," she replied as she held on to Rory.

"You're Hanlin?" Lorelai pointed to the headmaster once again with an awkward smile.

"Hanlin Charleston," he confirmed with a smile.

"Hanlin's wife and I are in the Symphony Fundraising Committee together," Emily informed them.

"Wow. That's great."

"Your father and I are golf rivals. We're still fighting it out to see which is worse," everybody laughed at the Headmaster's joke but Lorelai and Blair who just gave him a tight lipped smile.

"Oh, yes. We're all old friends," Emily smiled towards the headmaster.

"Well there's nothing like old friends..." Lorelai smiled. "Especially if they're old. Ones."

Blair closed her eyes while Rory looked down and the headmaster looked taken aback momentarily. "Well, would you like to take off your coat and have a seat?" he asked.

Lorelai's eyes widened, "Oh no. No, I'm fine."

"I'm afraid they were a little overzealous with the furnace this morning. It's quite warm in here."

"I like it warm," the woman nodded.

"Lorelai, take off your coat and sit down. You don't want Hanlin to think you're rude," Emily told her in a condescending tone of voice. The woman then took her coat off revealing her outfit, Blair bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing again.

"Laundry day," she whispered.

"Hanlin, did you know that Rory has a 4.0 grade average?" Emily asked, taking the attention away from Lorelai and over to Rory.

"I'm sure he does mom but so does Blair."

"This is a very special girl, you take good care of her," she went on ignoring both Blair and Loralai.

"We'll do our best, Emily."

"Rory's not going to be a problem. She's totally low-maintenance. You know like a honda," the woman laughed. "You know. They're just easy, just..." she cut herself off. "Nice office."

Blair stood behind her sister's chair wondering why on earth she was even there if all the attention was going to be on Rory and no one even acknowledged her presence.

"Well, I don't think we should take up any more of your precious time. Hanlin, it was lovely to see you. Give Bitty our love," Emily shook his hand and kissed his cheek.

"Tell Richard I'll see him at the club Sunday," the man said and Emily nodded.

"Have a wonderful day, girls. I want to hear all about it. Do you need a ride or is your horse parked outside?" Emily teased Lorelai who rolled her eyes.

"It's so nice to meet you," Lorelai said to the Headmaster before following her mother outside after coming back for her coat.

Once the two women had left they sat on their chairs in silence, waiting for the Headmaster to start by opening their records. "You're obviously both very bright. Good grades. Teachers like you. Not a lot of social activities, though," he frowned as he flipped through the files.

"Oh. Just living in Stars Hollow is kind of a social activity, actually," Rory replied.

"Nothing in your school appealed to you?"

"We sometimes work at our mom's inn after school," Blair told him. "I was also in the French club."

"I was in the German club for a while but there were only three of us left. Then two left for the French club after seeing "Schindler's list," Rory told him.

"What are your aspirations?" he questioned the girls. Blair sat and thought about her answer because she genuinely didn't know.

"I want to go to Harvard and study journalism and political science," Rory told him.

"And you Blair?"

"I want to go to Harvard and study medicine," she replied.

"Interesting," He spoke but the girls could tell he didn't seem very interested. "I've known your grandparents for quite some time."

"We know," Rory spoke for the both of them.

"In fact, I was at a party at their house just last week where I had the most delicious lobster puffs I've ever eaten. I'm very fond of them."

"That's nice," the twins spoke in unison.

"None of this, however, will be of any benefit to you. Chilton has one of the highest academic standards of any school in America. You may have been the smartest girls at Stars Hollow, but this is a different place. The pressures are greater, the rules are stricter and the expectations are higher. If you make it through, you will have both received one of the finest educations one can get and there should be no reason why you should not achieve all your goals. However, since you are starting late and are not used to this highly competitive atmosphere, there is a good chance you will fail." Blair felt his gaze on her once again and yet again she ignored him. "That is fine. Failure is a part of life... but not a part of Chilton. Understand?"

"So you liked the lobster puff, huh?" Rory said to soften the atmosphere.

The man hid his smile by handing them papers and saying, "Take this to Miss James in the Administrations Office across the hall."

They went to the Administrations Office where they found Miss James and finally got their schedules which were mainly the same.

─•~❉᯽❉~•─

"And while French culture was the dominant outside cultural influence, especially for Russia's moneyed class, English culture also has its impact. Tolstoy's favourite author, for instance, was..."

"Dickens," this girl was constantly raising her hand, answering everything correctly. Blair saw it was the same girl who she bumped into earlier and was ignored when she apologised. Did Blair find her intimidating? Yes.

"Yes. And of course last week we covered Dostoevsky's main authorial influences..."

"George Sand and Balzac," Paris answered again.

"Good. As Tolstoy commenced writing both 'War and Peace' and 'Anna Karenina', Count Leo would turn to..."

"David Copperfield," Blair answered before Paris could get there. The blonde turned to her with a glare which Blair responded by giving her a smile.

"Correct. He would turn to David Copperfield for inspiration."

The door opened and a tall, blond headed boy walked in and everyone turned to look at him.

"Ah, Mr. Dugray."

"Sir," he handed the professor a note.

"Nice to have you back. I hope your grandfather's better."

"Much better, sir."

"Good. Take your seat, please."

The only empty seat was right behind Blair who was already sat beside the redhead from earlier. The girl rolled her eyes when she caught a glimpse of his grin.

"Who's the new girl?" he whispered to his friend.

"There's two," his friend whispered back. "Twins."

Blair turned her head, "That's the common name for two people born on the same day. Idiot."

The bell rang and Blair couldn't have been happier. "Class dismissed," the professor spoke and everybody ran out the door.

"Looks like we got ourselves a Mary and a Magdalene," Tristan told his friend as they were leaving, giving Blair another glance earning another eye roll.

"Miss' uh Gilmore. Could you both come up here, please?" When the girls reached his table, he handed them a huge folder. "Here's our last week's study materials. There'll be a test on them tomorrow, but since you're new, you can take a makeup test on Monday. Will that be sufficient time?"

"Monday? Sure that's fine." Rory replied while Blair nodded.

"That's just an overview. It will be very helpful to you to borrow one of the other student's personal notes. They tend to be more detailed," he told them while writing on the piece of paper he had in his hand.

"Sorry? More detailed? Then this?" Blair asked.

"It seems daunting right now, I know."

"No, it's alright," she shook her head, although her voice told a different story.

"Remember to get those notes. They'll be a lifesaver," the professor reminded them as they left the classroom.

Blair was too focused on messing with her bracelet to once again notice the blonde and redheaded girls she was about to bump into again. "I'm so sor-" she cut herself off when she saw who it was.

"I'm Paris. This is Fallon. We know who you are, too," the girl was speaking directly to Blair. "Blair Gilmore from Stars Hollow."

"Well done you know my name," she gave her a tight lipped smile before the blonde moved onto Rory.

"And you're Lorelai Gilmore from Stars Hollow."

"You can call me Rory."

"Are you going out for 'The Franklin'?" Paris repeated herself.

"The what?" they asked in unison, equally as confused as the other.

"Nice innocent act. At least I know you're not going out for drama club," Paris spoke.

"I'm confused."

"I'm extremely confused," Blair added.

"To dumb it down for the both of you, 'The Franklin' is the school paper," Fallon looked at Blair with a teasing smirk.

"Exactly," Paris agreed with a nod. "So, are you going out for it?"

"I don't know. I have to find my locker first," they tried to walk away but Paris stopped Rory while Fallon stopped Blair by each of them standing in front of them.

"I'm going to be editor next year, you know. I'm also the top of the class. I'm also the top of the class and I intend to be valedictorian when I graduate."

"Well it's good to have dreams and aspirations but we're going now," Blair told the blonde and grabbed Rory's arm pulling her towards the lockers.

However, Paris still has the opportunity to say, "You'll never catch up. You'll never beat me. This school is my domain, and The Franklin' is my domain. And don't you ever forget that."

"Even if we did forget, I'm sure you would remind us at every given second. France was it?"

"Paris," the blonde corrected the bruentte.

"Right, well either we're leaving and you both should just back off."

"And if we don't?" Fallon questioned, leaning against the lockers. "Aren't you the twin who picks parties over studying? How did you even get in?"

Blair raised her eyebrow making her way back over to the redhead while Rory sighed knowing this wouldn't end well for Fallon, "To say you're nicknamed, "The Chilton bitch." You're not all that bitchy. And for the record just because I picked parties over studying doesn't mean I haven't worked twice as hard to get where I am because I have and it clearly paid off or I wouldn't be standing here arguing with you."

Paris looked between Fallon and Blair since the redheaded teen decided to keep her mouth shut. "What? No more insults?" Blair asked after the silence. "Next time you want to argue with someone, pick someone who will stand and let you insult them."

"B, come on," Rory placed her hand on her sister's shoulder.

"Well they seem fun," Blair spoke sarcastically once they were out of earshot.

─•~❉᯽❉~•─

Blair walked down the corridor by herself when she collided with a body and apologised for being so clumsy and began walking away once again until she heard footsteps getting closer. "Magdalene. Hey, Magdalene," Tristan was calling for her.

"Oh, great," she sighed, her eyes closing momentarily as he fell into step with her. "It's you. You know, you are very cliché. Private school boys calling sluts Magdalene and saints Mary. So, uh, which one am I?"

"Are you a slut or a saint?"

"I'm a bitch but also a human so call me Blair," she told him.

"I'm Tristan," he told her. "So, are you new?"

"Well have you ever seen me before now?" she asked him, rolling her eyes.

"No but if I did I'd remember."

"So there you go, you have just answered your own question. Yes I'm new and so is my sister. She's called Rory and not Mary. I would also appreciate it if you called me by my name which is Blair and not Magdalene."

"I apologise for my behaviour and I hope you can forgive me, Blair."

The girl narrowed her eyes at the emphasis on her name, "I could if you lend me your notes for Remmy's class."

"Yes, I can even help you study if you want, Blair."

"That would be helpful and it would also be helpful if you stop putting emphasis on my name, Tristan."

"I can give you the notes after lunch. They're in my locker. Meet me next to the atrium around two pm."

"Where is that?" she asked.

"Forget it. I'll give them to you after school. Do you know where the exit is, right?" he was joking, but she actually wasn't sure where it was.

"No?" she trailed off. "Is it the same place as the entrance?"

"It is," he nodded with a smile.

"Good," she nodded. "See you at two." She began to walk away before turning back around, "You know it's a shame you're a douche because you're pretty hot."

Tristan raised his eyebrows at her boldness but his eyes didn't leave her figure was out of sight. Fallon glared at the brunette teen that was walking away.

"He's mine," she spoke to the brunette after she caught up with her.

"Didn't realise he was an object," Blair replied, focusing on the steps so she didn't fall.

"Well, he seems to believe you're a slut hence the nickname so I suppose what I'm asking is, are you actually a slut?"

"No. I'm not. Are you?"

"No."

"Well that was a good talk," the brunette nodded slowly and sarcastically. "But I'm afraid I'm going now. You're welcome to keep talking to yourself though." Fallon didn't give the brunette the satisfaction of a reply before she walked away leaving her on the top of the stairs by herself.

─•~❉᯽❉~•─

Blair stood beside Rory as the latter tried to open her locker but gave up. "You try?" she asked the girl standing beside her.

Blair pulled the locker way too hard and fell backwards. "Watch-" Rory cut herself off when she realised it was too late and Paris' project was smashed all over the floor.

"Oh, no. I am so sorry," Blair apologised as both her and Rory attempted to help the blonde pick up the pieces. "Paris, please. I am so sorry. It was an accident."

"She didn't mean it," Rory apologised for her sister. "My locker-"

"Get away from me."

Once Paris had entered the classroom the older Gilmore twin let out a sigh, "Why couldn't you have picked a different person to make your enemy?"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Blair defended herself while Rory placed her things in her locker. "Besides she hated you more than me until now and Fallon hates me more than anyone I think."

"Excuse me, I need Mrs. Ness, history?" Rory asked a boy who walked past her.

"It's behind you," he pointed to the classroom that they had just seen Paris enter.

"Brilliant," Blair sighed.

"Of course it is," Rory closed her locker and followed her sister.

"Ignore her. We'll be fine," Blair told her sister.

"You hope we will be fine. You just broke her project," Rory reminded her as they stood in the doorway.

Blair had ignored Tristan when he called her Magdalene but could still feel his eyes on her which Fallon wasn't too happy about.

"We left our projects off on Friday with Mr Gaynor. So today we will pick up with Miss Geller," the teacher spoke to the class and Paris stood up making Blair cringe as the blonde spoke.

"I don't have my project."

"Miss Geller, did you have sufficient time to complete your project?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"And yet you don't have it done?"

"No."

"Alright, you will receive an incomplete for this project."

"Technically she has it done just in many pieces outside," Blair spoke up, Paris and Rory both looking at her.

"What are you doing?" the blonde hissed.

"Who are you?" the teacher asked.

"Blair Gilmore and it's my fault she doesn't have it. I accidentally wrecked her project."

"Shut up," Paris warned.

"You wrecked Paris' project when?"

"Just before class. I know that sounds convenient but she hates me so I wouldn't be doing her any favours and she did do it. I was opening Rory's locker and I lost my footing and then I fell back into her and she dropped it and smashed."

"Stop it."

"Well, Miss Gilmore, since you say you wrecked Miss Geller's project then you may help her fix it. You have until tomorrow."

"Fine," she nodded.

"No," Paris refused.

"No?"

"No. I don't want your help."

"Miss Geller, if you don't want Miss Gilmore's help then you may have until tomorrow. If it's not done, then you will receive an incomplete. Is that understood?"

"Yes," Paris replied as she sat down, sending a glare towards Blair.

The bell rang after the lesson and before Blair could grab her things, Paris towered over her. "Stay out of my way. I will make this school a living hell for you," she warned.

After school Blair made her way to the exit where Tristan was waiting for her with his notes in hand. "Thank you," she smiled and took him from his grasp, well attempted to.

"Did you mean what you said earlier?" he asked, pulling the notes back.

"Give me the notes and I'll tell you," she bargained to which he gave her notes as soon as she finished her sentence.

"I guess you'll never know because my mom's over there," she winked, walking away with his notes in hand. Tristan shook his head with a small smile at her antics.

─•~❉᯽❉~•─

"How was Chilton?" Venus asked Blair as the brunette laid on Maeve's bed.

"You said Hellton wrong," she muttered while turning on her side. "Let's see, I got called Magdalene and made two girls hate me so not good."

"You know what it means if they call you Magdalene don't you?" Nate's voice travelled from the doorway.

"That they think I'm a slut trust me I've been told," she sighed. "Did you actually go to school today?"

"I did!" Maeve exclaimed from her desk. "Then V picked me up because Nate was still at school. He got a detention."

"What did you do now?"

"Fighting. Again," Venus informed her while checking Maeve's work.

"Nothing new then," she mumbled. "You have to stop the fights because I'm not there to help you anymore."

"It was one fight. You're so dramatic."

"Two," the blonde corrected.

"Shut up," he glared at the blonde before his tone went soft to speak to his sister. "Mae go get ready for bed now."

Once the girl was out of earshot Nate looked between the two as Blair started speaking. "You will be no use to Maeve if your dad finds out that you're barely getting through school and you're constantly getting into fights."

"We'll be fine. Stop worrying and go to sleep."

"I can't stop worrying about you," Blair placed her hand over Nate's.