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Summary: There's a cheater at Chilton.

The Cheater
by Megan Reilly
eponine119@worldnet.att.net
May 16, 2001

Colonel Haywood was in the midst of a lecture when the runner from the 
principal's office arrived. It took the runner several moments to get 
the Colonel's attention, waving the pink slip of paper back and forth 
under his nose. Finally the older man stopped droning about the 
socioeconomic impact of the cotton gin and pulled the glasses from the 
pocket of his white blazer. "Several of you are needed in the office," 
he said, seizing the pink piece of paper. The runner headed out.

Minutes passed. No one moved. "I suppose I should tell you who," noted 
the Colonel with a bit of a laugh. Then he began to read off the 
names.

Tristan.
Madeline.
Louise.
Paris.
Rory.

"Well?" asked the Colonel.

Rory got up from her chair. Except for the time she'd been hit by a 
deer, she'd never been in any trouble. If she was in trouble now, 
she'd know it, right? But she couldn't think of any time someone had 
been called to the principal's office for doing something good. 
Headmaster Charleston wasn't like that. She glanced at the others, 
gathering their things, and they all looked as puzzled as she did.

There was dread building in the pit of her stomach as she walked out 
into the hall. Teachers continued their lessons, but through the open 
classroom doors, students peeked out. As though they already knew 
something. Staring at the five students who were clearly in trouble.

They didn't speak to each other as they walked down the long hallway 
to the principal's office. Outside, there was a wooden bench. It only 
had room for three. Madeline sat down. Louise sat next to her, of 
course. Paris, Tristan and Rory eyed each other.

"Ladies first," Tristan said. His eyes were on Rory.

Rory shook her head. She didn't want to sit down. She wanted to know 
what was going on. After another minute, Paris took the spot on the 
bench. "I just want everyone to know, I didn't do anything."

"Of course not," Louise said.

"You never do anything. Everyone knows that," Madeline added.

Paris just looked more vexed. As though her reputation as a grind 
wasn't all it'd cracked up to be.

"This has to be your fault." Paris glared at Rory.

"How could it be my fault? I don't even know why we're here," Rory 
said. "Maybe it's not something bad."

"It's bad," Tristan reported.

"You've been to the principal's office," Madeline said to Tristan. 
"Give us the scoop."

"It's an office. It has a desk. Furniture." Tristan was annoyed. Rory 
found that interesting. She wasn't quite sure why it was of note. It 
just was.

"But what's the inside story," Louise prodded.

"Depends on what you did," Tristan snapped.

"I didn't do anything," Paris repeated.

"We know!" Rory roared at her.

"Guess we'll find out," Tristan said as the door to Headmaster 
Charleston's office opened. The older man didn't say anything. Just 
looked disapproving as he stood there, holding the door, as one by one 
they crossed the threshold into his office. There were only two chairs 
and at first no one wanted to take them. Finally Tristan sat down. 
Madeline sat next to him, shooting him what she must have imagined to 
be a seductive look.

Paris and Rory exchanged a glance regarding Madeline's behavior. It 
must have struck them both as being completely ridiculous.

"An answer key is missing," Headmaster Charleston said.

No one said anything.

"Are you aware of the code on cheating at Chilton?" he continued.

No one said anything. Finally, Paris cleared her throat a little and 
said, "It's grounds for immediate, permanent expulsion."

"That's right," said Headmaster Charleston.

"But why would any of use need an answer key?" Rory asked. "We're all 
on the list of top students at this school."

When Charleston looked at her, Rory knew she shouldn't have said 
anything. A chill flowed through her and she fought the urge to 
stammer apologies until she dissolved into blubbering idiocy.

"All students at Chilton are held to the highest academic standards," 
their principal said, his voice demeaning. "Perhaps the stress was too 
much for you." He didn't mean the general you. He was looking directly 
at Rory.

"Whose was it?" Tristan asked. "Whose answer key?"

"That's precisely the problem," Charleston said. "As you know, Mr. 
Sloan is known as one of the top biology teachers in the country. As 
such, he has been entrusted to be on the panel for the advanced 
placement test this year."

Madeline gasped. "Someone stole the answers for the AP test?"

It was shocking. There was no other word for it. But Rory couldn't 
help wondering what they were doing there. None of them would have 
done it. They were all good students. She just couldn't stop thinking 
that. And Paris's words bouncing around in her brain, "immediate, 
permanent expulsion."

"Don't other people grade the AP test? Wouldn't they have answers 
too?" Paris asked.

"Yes, but Mr. Sloan is the only one whose answer key is missing," 
Headmaster Charleston pointed out snottily.

"Oh." Paris had effectively been silenced.

"I still don't understand why you think any of us would cheat," Rory 
said. "We're all getting A's in Mr. Sloan's class."

"There's more value in an answer key than just the answers," 
Headmaster Charleston said. "Selling it on the black market to less 
stellar students wouldn't be out of the question, would it, Miss 
Gilmore?"

If she said yes, it would sound like a confession. "You have a point," 
Rory said carefully.

The door opened and two uniformed policemen stepped in.

"You've got to be kidding," said Tristan. "The police?"

"This is no laughing matter, Mr. Dugrey," said Headmaster Charleston. 
He looked at the group of students carefully. "You first." He was 
glaring at Louise. "The rest of you, wait in the hallway."

Slowly, Madeline, Paris, Tristan and Rory trooped out into the 
hallway, back to the forbidding wooden bench. The three girls 
exchanged nervous glances. "What are you doing? Phones aren't allowed 
in school," Paris snapped at Tristan.

"Calling my lawyer," Tristan said.

Rory wanted to laugh, 'You have a lawyer?' but none of the others 
seemed to think anything of it. These kids weren't like her, she 
thought. And it's the outsider who always gets blamed. She reached 
into her bag for her cell phone, putting her finger against her ear to 
block out the noise of Tristan's insistent voice. Rory's call to her 
mom went unanswered. She was probably in a meeting or something. Rory 
didn't leave a message. She didn't want to worry her. She hadn't done 
anything. Everything would be fine.

"I wonder what they're doing in there," Madeline asked.

"I wonder who did it," Paris said, and her eyes were on Rory.

"Don't look at me," Rory protested.

"Headmaster Charleston said the motive was money, " Paris pointed out. 
"And you are the only poor student in the school."

"I am not poor," Rory informed her. "I may have a different life than 
you and your big house and fancy car, but I'm honest."

"Oh, that's right, your grandparents pay for your school," Madeline 
said.

Rory was reminded of everything she hated about these people. They 
were small minded and petty and mean. "Your grandparents gave your 
parents all the money they have, so what's the difference?" 

"That's called an inheritance, it's an accepted form of society," 
Paris said, digging in deeper.

"Well mine's called a loan and it's the basic form of banking!" Rory 
pointed out, her voice getting louder. "I can't believe I'm even 
having this stupid conversation with you." She turned away from Paris 
and Madeline and found Tristan watching them with a smirk. "What are 
you looking at?" Rory demanded, walking further down the hall, her 
head down. She couldn't take much more of them.

"You're beautiful when you're angry," Tristan said.

"Stuff it," Rory replied.

"Methinks the lady protests too much," Tristan prodded.

"Methinks the lady will punch you in the nose if you don't shut up!" 
Rory cried. 

Of course that was when Headmaster Charleston opened the door. Louise 
slid out. She looked upset. "You're next," he told Rory, pointing and 
accusatory finger at her.

Rory walked into his office, telling herself she could handle this. 
They weren't going to shine a bright light in her face or give her 
truth serum. That was just in the movies. And she hadn't done 
anything. She had nothing to worry about. She glanced at the policemen 
as she sat down.

"Where were you last night between six and ten?"

"Home. Studying," Rory answered.

"Did anyone see you there?"

"My mom," Rory said.

"Anyone else?" Headmaster Charleston asked as though her mother wasn't 
good enough to be a witness in his little crime drama. "Were you 
planning on taking the biology advanced placement test this year?"

"Yes," Rory said.

"Have you ever been in Mr. Sloan's office?"

Rory nodded. "I had a question about the assignment last week."

"And you went to Mr. Sloan's office."

Rory nodded again. "After school. He told me what I needed to know."

"Was that the only time you'd been in Mr. Sloan's office?"

"Yes," Rory said.

"What about last Wednesday?"

Rory frowned. "What about last Wednesday?"

"Didn't you go to Mr. Sloan's office last Wednesday after school?"

Rory thought for a second. "I wanted to ask him my question but his 
door was locked. I guess he'd already gone home."

"His door was locked," Headmaster Charleston said.

"Yes," Rory said, the word coming out more slowly. Not as confident. 
As though she'd just walked into a trap and was waiting for the net to 
fall on her head.

"Did you knock?"

"I think so. I mean, yes," Rory said.

"Which is it?" Headmaster Charleston demanded. "You think so, or you 
did?"

"I did."

"Mr. Sloan's door can only be locked from the inside."

Rory didn't know what she was supposed to say. It wasn't a question. 

"If you'd knocked, wouldn't he have opened his door? If he wasn't 
there, the door wouldn't have been locked," Charleston pointed out.

"Maybe he was in the middle of something important and didn't want to 
be disturbed," Rory speculated. After all, that was why doors had 
locks.

"Mr. Sloan left school directly after work on Wednesday. He had an 
abcessed tooth. We're nearly certain that was when the answer key was 
stolen." Headmaster Charleston said.

"The door was locked," Rory said. She didn't know what else to say.

Charleston nodded. "You're suspended."

"What?" Rory cried. "You can't just suspend me! I didn't do anything!"

"Keep your voice down, Miss Gilmore. All the suspects are being 
suspended until we can determine who the culprit is."

"You can't punish us until you've proven we're guilty," Rory said. And 
realized it didn't exactly sound good.

"Innocence until proven guilty is part of the constitution. It is not 
a part of Chilton," said Headmaster Charleston. "You're suspended 
until further notice."

"I'll come to school anyway," Rory declared.

"And if you do, you'll be breaking your suspension and will be 
punished."

Rory realized there was no way to win. Headmaster Charleston came 
around the desk and opened the door for her and she went into the 
hallway. Tristan and his lawyer went in next. Madeline was gone.

"This is crazy," Rory said, angry.

"What happened in there?" Paris asked.

"He's suspending all of us," Rory said. "Until he finds out who really 
did it."

"He can't do that!" Paris cried, jumping up from where she'd been 
slouching on the bench. "There's a midterm in Trig tomorrow and 
there's no makeup test!"

"Tell it to the judge," Rory said, starting for the door.

"Where are you going?" Paris demanded.

"Home," Rory said. Even as she said it, she felt like she was going to 
cry. She hadn't done anything. She'd never been suspended; she'd never 
even had detention. And now it felt like she was giving up, but how 
could you fight the principal of the school? Her mom would know. 
Maybe. She walked out of Chilton, feeling like she might never walk 
back in again.

_ _ _

Rory'd ordered a burger for dinner, but she wasn't eating. She was 
staring out the window. 

Luke came over to the table to put the check down. He noticed Rory and 
looked curiously at Lorelai. "I think she's expecting something to 
happen," Lorelai said. "Or maybe she's seeing something we can't see."

"Like invisible friends," Luke suggested conspiratorily.

"Rory used to have the cutest invisible friend when she was a kid," 
Lorelai said.

"If he was invisible, how do you know he was cute?" Rory asked, 
turning away from the window.

"She speaks!" Lorelai said. Rory shot her mother a dark look. "She 
growls, too!"

"You want me to wrap that up, you can take it home?" Luke indicated 
Rory's untouched meal.

"I'm not hungry."

"I'll recycle it," Luke offered.

"I hope he's kidding," Lorelai said, loudly enough for him to hear.

"You're not the only one who can tell jokes," Luke called from behind 
the counter. Lorelai tried not to smile. Rory wondered when the two of 
them were going to stop teasing each other like they were in fifth 
grade.

"Seriously, kid, what's wrong with you?" Lorelai asked as they headed 
down the street toward their house.

"Did you ever get in trouble when you were in school?"

"Did I get in trouble? I was a juvenile delinquent. Are you planning 
something? Can I help?" Lorelai offered.

Rory shook her head and stared at the ground. She was not going to cry 
over stupid Chilton.

"Rory, what's wrong?" Lorelai asked. "Rory?" She stopped walking and 
stood in front of her daughter. "Rory, talk to me."

"I got suspended," Rory sniffled.

"What did you do?" Lorelai asked.

"Nothing!" Rory cried.

Lorelai frowned, because she didn't know what do. She hated to see 
Rory unhappy. "Oh, honey." She put her arm around her and they 
finished the walk home. Then Lorelai released her. "Can you talk about 
it?"

"Stupid AP test answer key went missing and Headmaster Charleston 
suspended everyone he considers a suspect, after questioning everyone 
like he was Joe Friday or something," Rory said.

"It's missing? It wasn't just misplaced?"

"Mom, you can't fix this. It's stupid and it makes no sense, just like 
Chilton!" Rory snapped. "I might as well just go back to Stars Hollow 
High. I won't get into Harvard after being suspended."

"Rory," Lorelai said.

"It's true, isn't it? And he had police there. I'm probably going to 
go to jail, because they all think I did because I'm the outsider and 
I'm poor, like I'm some stupid scholarship student who can't even 
afford Kleenex." Rory wandered through the living room as she raved, 
trying to find something to blow her nose on.

"Honey, we're out. Just get some toilet paper," Lorelai suggested.

"And maybe I am," Rory said when she came out of the bathroom. "Maybe 
I am what they say."

"Are they saying that you're beautiful and smart and amazing?" Lorelai 
asked.

"No."

"Then you're not what they say." She sat down on the couch next to her 
daughter, and Rory leaned against her like she used to when she was a 
little girl. "It's all going to be a misunderstanding or a mistake. 
Even if it's not, it's going to be okay," Lorelai promised.

"Sorry," Rory said.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for, baby."

"For crying and whining and just being such an annoying Chilton girl. 
I sounded just like Madeline. Or Paris," Rory said.

"You have every right to be upset," Lorelai said. "You're really 
suspended?"

Rory nodded and Lorelai could see how hard she was trying not to be 
miserable.

"Then you can come with me to the mall tomorrow. It's my day off and I 
can hear it calling to me. 'Oh, Lorelai! I have some shoes for you!'" 
Lorelai looked at Rory. "It's gonna be okay, kiddo. Go on up and get 
some sleep. The mall opens early."

Rory nodded and headed up the stairs. Lorelai reached for the phone.

_ _ _

"Mom, what are we doing here? I'm violating my suspension," Rory said.

"No, you're not," Lorelai said, checking to make sure the door was 
locked and then checking to make sure there was nothing in her teeth 
by grimacing at her reflection in the Jeep's window.

"So I'm not suspended?" Rory asked hopefully.

"I set up a meeting with Headmaster Charleston," Lorelai explained.

"Mom!" Rory cried.

"What? We need to talk about this."

"We do. Yes. But not you. You're just going to make it worse. You 
called him "Il Duce.'"

"I won't do it again," Lorelai promised. "Come on." She dragged Rory 
into the headmaster's office, where the other parents she'd contacted 
were waiting. Paris wouldn't meet Rory's eyes.

"I'm missing a very important meeting for this," Mrs. Gellar said.

"I thought your mom didn't work," Rory murmured to Paris.

"She had a hair appointment," Paris admitted.

"Stand up straight!" Mrs. Gellar pointed to Paris, as though the sound 
of her daughter's voice had reminded the mother of the child's 
existence.

"We need to present a united front. It's the only way to win the war," 
Lorelai said.

Headmaster Charleston walked in. "I see you've raised a mob of the 
townspeople," he said to Lorelai.

"What makes you think I'm behind this?" Lorelai asked. "I mean, I am 
behind this, but I was just wondering what clued you in?"

"Maybe it was the telephone call to my home at ten-thirty last night."

"I thought when no one picked up that I had the wrong number," Lorelai 
cringed. "Sorry about that."

"I can't listen to this," Rory mumbled and fled. She went down the 
hall to the drinking fountain and guzzled the really bad tasting 
water. Why didn't drinking fountains ever have water that tasted good? 
She wondered.

When she turned, Paris was standing outside the door. "They kicked me 
out. So they could talk like adults," she said. "I think we were the 
most mature ones in the room."

Rory nodded.

"So who do you think did it?" Paris asked.

"Paris!"

"What?"

"That's not fair," Rory pointed out. "Those are your friends."

"They're your friends too."

"Not exactly," Rory said.

"I think this has Tristan written all over it," Paris declared.

"Why would Tristan take the answer key?" Rory asked. "He doesn't even 
care about biology, or his grades."

"This is exactly the kind of thing he'd do. Stir up trouble. To get 
attention. Did you see his father was in there?"

"So?" Rory asked. Everyone's parents were in there.

"So, your mother had more success in getting Tristan's father to 
listen to her than Tristan's ever had. Do you think his father's ever 
been to parents' night or teacher conferences or graduations?" Paris 
asked.

"That's sad," Rory said, genuinely feeling sorry for Tristan.

Paris nodded.

"You really think he'd do this just for attention? Get all of us 
suspended? Wouldn't he just confess?" Rory asked.

Paris shrugged, having gone into enigmatic mode without warning. They 
sat there waiting in silence, wondering what was going on behind the 
doors.

_ _ _

When the doors did open, the parents looked very serious as they 
emerged. "Paris, you're going to class," Mrs. Gellar ordered.

"I don't have my uniform," Paris protested.

"It doesn't matter."

"So I guess suspension's over?" Rory asked Lorelai.

Lorelai nodded. "They'll count this as a sick day for you. Come on."

"I want to have a sick day!" Paris informed her mother, watching Rory 
and Lorelai go.

"What happened in there?" Rory asked as she followed her mother 
quickly to the door.

"This isn't the place," Lorelai said, sounding frightening like her 
own mother. "We'll talk about it at lunch."

But when they walked outside, it was hard to miss Madeline's parents 
yelling at her simultaneously. Rory looked at Lorelai, who nodded. 
They got into the Jeep. "Why?" Rory asked.

"She didn't say."

"Madeline?" Rory asked, still flabbergasted. "Did she get expelled?"

"No."

"Why would she do something so stupid?"

"I guess she needed money for something," Lorelai said, as though she 
had some idea of what that something was. But Rory didn't ask. She 
didn't want to know, really. She didn't fit in with the society crowd 
at Chilton, but that was fine with her. She liked herself, and she 
liked her mother, and she liked her small-town problems, the ones the 
other kids couldn't really understand. She even liked they couldn't 
understand them. And if she didn't understand Madeline, or the others, 
it was probably just as well.

"Thanks," Rory said.

"I hope you don't feel like you have to keep your problems from me," 
Lorelai said to Rory.

"I don't!" Rory was surprised her mother would say that.

"Good," Lorelai said, nodding. "So, ice cream?"

"I thought we were going to the mall," Rory pointed out.

"We can do both," Lorelai said.

"How indulgent," Rory teased.

"And we can put on expensive perfume samples at the department store," 
Lorelai added. "And then we can have lunch. And then..." The list of 
indulgences wasn't likely to stop, each one even less indulgent than 
the last.

End.

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