YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN, KID » GILMORE GIRLS

ONE ➵ AVONLEA IS NOT A GILMORE

"The world calls them its
singers and poets and artists and storytellers;
but they are just people who have
never forgotten the way to fairyland."
- LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY,
"ANNE OF GREEN GABLES"

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AVONLEA IS NOT A GILMORE. No, she's merely on the same family tree as them, and no matter how hard one may try, being on the same family tree as a Gilmore just wasn't good enough.

Especially not when they're basically a fill in for the true Gilmores lost.

Avonlea is a Basilio. Her mother, Rachel, was Emily Gilmore's neice. Rachel's mother—and Avonlea's grandmother—was Emily's cousin: Sarah. 

If Lorelai ever thought she grew up as the black sheep of the family, Rachel had her one-upped: she was half Filipino and had a baby out of wedlock. Sarah, who had been under scrutiny herself when she had a Filipino baby that ended up being Rachel did not hesitate to accomodate her daughter and her granddaughter, despite the feelings she may harbor towards the situation. But Sarah passed away almost seven months after Avonlea was born. 

Nosy Emily must always step in. Maybe it was because she had to fill a void once Lorelai ran away with Rory or maybe she did just feel a familial obligation to help Rachel and little Avonlea. Maybe she felt like they would be better off with a village, and that village being her.

And somehow, one black sheep of the family bolted while another two moved right into the Gilmore manor. Emily even had Avonlea raised to call her grandma, and she just thought Avonlea was the darn cutest little thing. 

Her new perfect granddaughter who does well in school, goes to Chilton, and attends the occasional D.A.R meeting. Rachel, the perfect new Lorelai who won't disobey Emily or keep Avonlea far, far away in quaint little towns to be raised out of an inn. 

Rachel and Avonlea Basilio, the perfect project for Emily to throw herself into fixing and helping and dressing and scheduling.

But what Avonlea would hear for the rest of her life is how she is not a Gilmore.

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Avonlea knew Rory and Lorelai, of course. They still occasionally saw each other during parties and holidays. But Avonlea knew there was tension between her mother and Lorelai. From the stories she heard from Grandma Emily was that Lorelai and Rachel were once the best of friends, Rachel only being four years older. 

There are a lot of photos of Avonlea and Rory together as babies. Avonlea was seven months older, so she was quite bigger than Rory. But as time passed, the amount of photos of the two grew fewer. Now, to Avonlea, Rory was just one of those cousins you bump into at parties.

Except, she wasn't just some cousin. She was Emily and Richard's real granddaughter. Her mother's room still sat in their large house untouched from when she was sixteen.

Rory was a Gilmore.

There was a knock on Avonlea's bedroom door, followed by a sing-sung, "It's me."

Emily.

"Come in!" 

The door opened and Emily walked inside. Avonlea was at her bedroom desk with her headphones on her head, so she took them off and let them fall to her shoulders. She put down the pen that was in her hand. 

Emily had a pleased look about her, with a tight, closed lip smile and her cheekbones higher than normal. She was happy about something.

"Your Aunt Lorelai was just here, she tells me to say 'hello' to you, so, hello," Emily told her, folding her hands in front of her. She peers around the room, swaying just in the slightest. There was more to what she wanted to say. "And your cousin Rory will be going to Chilton with you."

Avonlea tilted her head to the side and tried her hardest to conceal the initial displeasure on her face with a tight lipped smile of her own, except that her was forced.

"Oh, yeah?" Avonlea asked. "W-why?" She blinked rapidly and kept that forced smile on her face hoping that Emily didn't catch her tells.

"Well, because it's the best college prep school in the state, silly," Emily said matter-of-factly. 

"Right." Avonlea nodded once in agreement, sucking both of her lips into her mouth between her teeth, biting on them. She had to think of what to say next. "Her, uh, her commute! It'll... it'll be long. What is that? An hour if she took the bus?"

"Forty minutes, give or take." Of course Emily knew the actual approximate. She shook her head as if she had gone off track from what she originally wanted to say. "Anyways, she and your Aunt Lorelai will also be coming here every Friday for dinner. You know, since they'll already be in town."

"Right, since they'll already be in town," Avonlea agreed.

"Tell your mother, since she'll be home late tonight, and we both know you don't go to sleep at a reasonable hour," Emily added, turning on her heels to walk out the door. "I'll see you in the morning for breakfast. Goodnight, Avonlea."

"Goodnight, Grandma Emily."

Emily paused for a second. It was almost unnoticeable, but she did. A genuine smile that Avonlea would never see crept onto her face as she ventured into the corridor, shutting the door behind her.

Avonlea turned in her seat, leaning her head back as she stared up at the ceiling. So, the true Gilmores return, huh? A sigh escaped her lips.

On top of being Emily's perfect little granddaughter was also the desire to be anything but. She didn't choose this town, this house, or this family—but she knows that no one ever really chooses their family. She could host all the parties with Emily, attend all the D.A.R meetings in the world, and nothing would ever change the fact that she dreams of getting out. Out of Hartford, out of the shadow of Gilmores lost.

She's heard people at parties whispering about her and her mother. Emily, Richard, and Rachel may turn check and pretend like they were a normal, happy little family of four, but Avonlea's already heard it all.

That girl shouldn't have a single stake at anything Richard's.

Those girls aren't even Gilmores.

Emily just pretends they're Lorelai and Rory, and Richard lets her.

What would her life be like if she hadn't grown up in the Gilmore household, and would she feel like she didn't need to scheme and eat out of Emily and Richard's hands to get them to love her?

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a/n: i'm filipino, so i don't do the whole "second/third cousins" stuff. anyone the same generation as my mom is my aunt and anyone the same generation as me is my cousin, and so forth.

also!! follow the tiktok i made to make edits on this story: dsprsos.wp