Rory's not the only shining star that outgrew Stars Hollow High. Three years before Rory's arrival at Chilton, Noelle Hastings' dreams of Ivy League halls brought her to the daunting doors of Chilton.
Spending less and less time in Stars Hollow, No...
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From a young age, all Noelle knew was Stars Hollow. Her parents uprooted to the cosy town after a spontaneous proposal and moved into their little yellow home after they had eloped. And later came Noelle.
The two bedroom, daffodil coloured house was Noelle's home. The fresh linen smell that wafted throughout the house. That was home. Even the smell of burnt toast at 6am because her dad had fallen asleep while making their breakfast. That was home.
If she had to describe her safe haven, that's what she would have said. Up until she was seven, that is.
One November evening when her dad was getting her ready for bed, the phone rang throughout their home and everything that she once knew changed.
Her mom was in a car crash and there was nothing they could do.
That's one thing that she remembers hearing a lot that year. Her little seven year old brain couldn't process what was happening but it retained one thing. The constant reiterings of, "there's nothing you could have done."
Her hypothesis is that, that is what broke her father. The helplessness of the situation. He lost the love of his life, and he couldn't do a damn thing about it.
She stayed in that same house, in that same town for a few more years, but nothing was really the same. The fresh linen smell faded, as did the daffodil paint. The paint chipped and cracked away until it was covered in a dull grey. One afternoon she got home from school and could barely recognise the house, nor the man outside it, sitting in his paint covered pyjama's.
Her life changed once again when she got to high school. She worked furiously to achieve good grades in the hope to one day leave the awful town that held nothing but bitter memories. She'd heard of a preparatory school near her grandparents in Hartford and when her life in Stars Hollow had finally got too much, she'd hopped on a bus and pleaded for her grandparents' help. And that was that.
She got an acceptance letter a month later and within the week she had packed up her bedroom, bid goodbye to her friends at Star Hollow High and shipped herself off to live with her grandparents.
Chilton had been the best thing to happen to Noelle. She became fast friends with a bubbly brunette, Grace, who introduced her to a whole new life. With a new outlook on life she was ready to leave her tragic past behind her, until one day it came busting through the doors in the form of one Rory Gilmore.
