Unpopular opinion (maybe): Luke's ultimatum at the end of Season 3 inadvertently reinforced Jess's choices that stopped him from finishing high school in the first place.

Disclaimer: The intent here isn't to attack Luke for how he handled things. The overall effect of Luke's presence in Jess's life is undoubtedly positive and instrumental to where Jess ended up. Luke was put in an unfair position that he wasn't prepared for, he genuinely cared and tried his best with the knowledge he had, and it would have been well within his rights to say no to Liz to begin with or to Jess when he came back after the car accident.

From what Jess tells Rory in "Teach Me Tonight," it sounds like he never had much academic support from adults, which is of course why Rory's belief in him will end up meaning so much. Details about Jess's childhood that are revealed once Liz is around suggest that Jess didn't have trustworthy adults in his life and had to learn how to be self-sufficient early. Even though we as the audience can see that Luke is responsible and trustworthy through his own actions and his relationships with people who have known him for many years, Jess doesn't have the same history with him, and it can take a long, long time to unlearn those survival instincts. Additionally, Jess's Walmart manager, as gregarious and pro-corporate as he seems to be, doesn't appear to engage in the practice of pressuring introverts to socialize (which happened to Rory at Chilton) and allows Jess to do something constructive and work toward a tangible reward. Some people get these benefits from going to school, but Jess didn't. Then there's a layer of youthful hubris here because Jess really did seem to think that he could manage all of this and go to school just enough to graduate based on what he tells Rory in S3 E17, Luke in S3 E18, and the principal in S3 E19. With of all this information in mind, it's really not surprising that Jess would prioritize work above school. His logic is self-destructive but understandable, and his fatal flaw ends up being that he committed to more responsibilities than a person could reasonably handle. This isn't the standard media portrayal of ditching school.

Luke's approach to being Jess's guardian is fairly hands-off. After Luke's "laying down the law" talk in the first episode Jess is in, the only requirement we see enforced is that Jess has to work at the diner, which Jess complies with. Luke didn't know Jess was working at Walmart at all until Jess bought his car, he didn't know Jess was eventually working more than full-time hours, and he didn't know Jess was missing as much school as he was. (This last one suggests a significant oversight at the school, which is another story.) When the extent of Jess's work hours is brought to his attention and Lorelai speculates about what is going on, he tells Lorelai that there is no way Jess would skip school and doesn't investigate further. When he realizes Jess is working some days instead of going to school, he offers to pay Jess more at the diner (and later steals his car) to prevent him from working at Walmart (the place he worked before he had a car to earn the money to buy it???) but doesn't press him about what is really going on.

So after all of that, it turns out Jess didn't go to school enough to graduate. Luke does give Jess the option to stay in Stars Hollow and keep going to school, but I could never blame someone for not being able to have a rational conversation immediately after a stranger randomly shows up, claims paternity, and runs out. The emotional damage of that incident really can't be divorced from what happens here. Luke is of course also in crisis mode. Jess didn't graduate because he worked too much, so now he's in a position where his consequence is to keep doing what got him into trouble, only this time he doesn't have anyone looking after him. This isn't what Luke is intending, but his ultimatum basically reinforces Jess's mindset of prioritizing work (i.e. short-term financial security) above school and his reluctance to trust other people, and it reinforces Jess's family history (ironically not including Luke) of abandoning difficult situations (in this case, the aftermath of the fight with Dean) and relationships (in this case, Rory) instead of facing them. Jess ends up on his own with the money he had from work that he was saving for a different car, so he probably thinks it's a good thing he worked as much as he did, and he ends up without adult guidance or restrictions to help him sort all this out and repair the harm he caused. This could have turned out much more darkly than it did, and it's really a miracle that Jess got to where he was by the time he was 21.

When Jess is with Jimmy in California, he acknowledges that he's failed and doesn't know where to go from there. It probably isn't outlandish to think that Jess was earning more as a full-time forklift driver than what he is earning during Season 4. Factoring in the lower cost of living in Stars Hollow or somewhere nearby compared to New York, he probably could have been able earn a decent living if he stayed at Walmart (even if he wouldn't have been better off in the long run). That's probably why Luke's "I'm sorry I didn't think driving a forklift for the rest of your life was good enough for you" stung. It was likely a much better situation than whatever Jess is in mid-Season 4.

In late Season 4, Jess seems resigned to where he is. He doesn't complain or blame anyone else for his circumstances, even when Luke repeatedly mocks him in New York. (Even mid-Season 4, Jess doesn't express anger toward Luke about anything other than Luke stealing his car until Luke provokes him multiple times.) Maybe Jess was already thinking about writing a book or studying for a GED during Season 4, but his posture and mannerisms seem to suggest defeat more than anything else. At this point, Jess might not be envisioning anything other than what he has. It is only after Luke accepts Jess for who he is, and stops seeing him as a failed project, ("You are who you are. I cannot change that, and I'm going to stop trying.") that Jess really starts to move forward. Although Luke isn't even very positive in how he says this, it's still the sort of affirmation Jess always needed and maybe never received from a family member before. Then, he's honest with Luke about his emotions, he's receptive to Luke's advice, he expresses appreciation for what Luke did for him, he offers Luke a way to stay in contact, and he makes a commitment to pay him back even though Luke says he doesn't have to do so. He tries (and fails, for the time being) to make amends with Rory, and after all of these things happen, he progresses into the version of himself that returns in Season 6. Jess pursues a path that Luke doesn't quite understand but has accepted and is proud of (it's also a path that Rory does understand and is proud of, and both forms of support are so important).

Oh Boy have I made a discovery

Rory liked Dean but she didn’t love him. She liked going on dates with him. She liked that he’d spend time with her and watch movies with her and get along with her mother. But there was no fire, no matter how much she wanted there to be one. She couldn’t burn like she did for exploring the world and the written word. She couldn’t burn for him.

Rory loved Logan but she didn’t like him. She loved his freedom, his adventurous spirit, his lust for life. She loved how she could let herself go with him, put faith in something dangerous and not shatter. But she didn’t like how cruel he could be to others. She didn’t like how dismissive he was, of responsibilities, of consequences, of people’s hurt. She didn’t really like him.

Rory liked Jess and she loved him. She liked that he liked the same stuff as her, liked that he’d help out his uncle without bragging, and talk with her friends, and throw literary challenges at her because he genuinely wanted her opinion. She loved his honesty, his integrity, how he’d leave her speechless with his gaze and breathless with his kisses. How he looked at her, all of her, and never made her feel like she was lacking. She liked and she loved him. And it scared her shitless.

The narrative of "Jess is so rude to everyone in town! 😱" will never not be funny to me.

The kid barely talks to anyone? Unless he's working a shift at Luke's, Jess tries very hard to avoid all human beings. Literally walks around with a book blocking his face so that other humans won't even see him. But I guess he doesn't smile much and he says "huh" a lot so... that's unspeakably rude?

In a town with multiple adults (Luke, Mrs. Kim, Taylor, Michel) who are irritable and loudly rude to everyone that crosses their path, it's so silly that Jess is somehow the one crossing the line.

Anyone who says "Rory should have married Logan" or that Emily and Richard were a good influence on Rory or that they weren't "that bad" of parents to Lorelai just DO NOT GET IT and "it" being literally the entire messaging of the whole show.

Rory started at chilton when Lorelai left (literally Rory had her birthday party in ep 6 and her first day of chilton is ep 2)

They have the exact same name, look the same and it's said countless times that Rory is just like her mother. So, Rory is picking up in Lorelai's "correct life path" (according to Richard and Emily) exactly where Lorelai left off when she had her and left home, continuing at the "good schools" going to an ivy league college, has a coming out party, joins the D.A.R. etc. Rory has the life Lorelai's parents always wanted for Lorelai AND YET!!!

Rory still doesn't marry "her christopher" aka Logan, but is having his baby and is choosing to be a single mom while Jess is her endgame because Luke is Lorelai's endgame and Jess is Luke and Rory is Lorelai.

Literally the ENTIRE POINT of the show is that everything that Emily and Richard were so worked up about and prioritized all of Lorelai's life about her life choices and how she "threw her life away" because she got pregnant, moved out and became apart of the working class and didn't go to any ivy league college and marry Christopher do not matter and the idea that she "threw her life away" and wasted her potential is absolute bullshit. Because Rory does all the things Lorelai didn't get to do and the results were IDENTICAL except Rory wasn't a teen mom and she would likely continue to live at home with Lorelai and Luke when her baby is first born breaking the those specific Lorelai/Emily cycles because Lorelai did her best to meet her daughter's emotional needs and therefore was able to have a infinitely better relationship with her and Rory is always willing to accept her help and support because it doesn't come at the emotional cost that Lorelai getting help from her parents took because they are literally emotionally abusive and controlling parents - they aren't just bad parents they are abusive (that's a whole other post but there are people who are just human and make mistakes like most of the other characters in the show and then their are abusive ones and Emily especially but also Richard emotionally abuse their daughter even though they help with money and aren't completely horrible 100% of the time that doesn't make them not abusive and while that is never explicitly stated we see and hear how horrible all of the other chilton parents and Logan's circle of friends parents are to their kids demonstrating just how horrible parents in Emily and Richards social circle truly are and it has nothing to do with Lorelai "being difficult or stubborn" as Emily tries to claim but I digress...)

That point of, what Emily and Richard prioritized their entire lives is all bullshit, is literally driven home by Emily's speech at the end of AYITL that "all of this is bullshit!" Emily acknowledges - once Richard is gone and therefore no longer fits into her society like she used to as a wife and married woman - that playing along with all of the societal norms and her ultra-wealthy social circle is SOUL SUCKING and bullshit! She is SO HAPPY to have a home deed with HER NAME ON IT. She has an interested suitor but it's clear she never plans to marry him and she gets a job at a museum as a tour guide for crying out loud!! The old Emily would be horrified by that - she's literally making choices so similar to Lorelai's by the end showing Lorelai's choices WERE THE RIGHT ONES. Moving away from an environment that hurt you and misunderstood and abused you and fighting and working your ass off to build a life that's yours. Even building a loving community with her housekeepers family that moves in with her!!!

All of Luke's "rantings" about the wealthy and corporate greed, owning and operating a diner even though he's shown to have the cooking skills and know-how to do "more". Taking something he inherited from his father but making it his own by turning it into a diner instead of keeping it a hardware store. Whereas by the end of AYITL Christopher is working within his family's business, staying on the path his parents wanted for him and it's the same with Logan - marrying the woman his parents want him to marry and working for his father - The show tells and shows us over and over again, not just doing what society tells you you should do with your life but knowing yourself well enough to decide for yourself and taking the time to find out is what is best and you shouldn't let anyone else dictate that for you. The show is very pro "break out of the boxes society tries to shove you into"

There is a whole other convo to be had about privilege that comes with being white and thin and pretty and coming from money that more easily enables your ability to do so as well as Lorelai having a community in Stars Hollow that has always supported her which allowed her to leave home at 16 with a newborn and build a great life for herself because if she failed she wouldn't end up homeless because her support system and her parents provided a safety net so the message is very much only aimed at the characters within the show that have the ability to make your own way in life but that is what Rory and Lorelai do (Rory's really starts with rejecting Logan's marriage proposal when she graduates and taking a grueling, low paying campaign job instead of using any of her many connections to get her a more prestigious and stable position whereas before she was absolutely on the "conveyer belt" described by the "other daughter" of the wealthy family of Harvard alumni who helped Rory with all her college application questions, who chose not to go to college like her two other siblings) as well and Luke and Jess both make their own way and build a life that best suits their passions and skills. Which is why Luke/Lorelai and Jess/Rory are endgame because you can't have a relationship between someone who fits into their societal mold and one who broke out, it just doesn't work. Logan's affair with Rory shows he has the desire to break out of his mold but never has the strength to do so, just like Christopher which is why they could never truly keep up with the Gilmore Girls.

The show does have flaws in it's execution of this message because of internalized misogyny, white supremacy, and fatphobia that we are still struggling to get out of writers rooms to this day so don't think this post is me saying everything about the show or Rory and Lorelai is perfect because they absolutely are flawed characters who makes questionable decisions and mistakes but to me they are all very realistic of 2 pretty white women in the early 2000's dealing with all of the trauma that came from Richard and Emily's abuse and Rory being raised by a teen mom and a completely unreliable father for most of her childhood.

Anyway Team Jess, Team Luke and Team Rory receives entirely too much hate because of misogyny and her trauma is completely overlooked because she so rarely shows how much hurt she's endured in her young life and is carrying the weight of the world and her entire family's expectations and "legacy" on her young shoulders. Emily and Richard never being able to let go Lorelai getting pregnant and leaving home and SHOWING THAT/SAYING IT around Rory made her feel responsible for all the issues between Lorelai and her parents, her grandparents pain and disappointment and to "fix" all her mother's "mistakes" - her burn out/break down in AYITL makes COMPLETE sense and her choice to allow herself to be "just like her mom" by keeping her baby and being a single mom is the start of her shedding those burdens she's carried her entire life and letting her just be herself even if that looks a lot like her mother who her grandparents and everyone in their world has been telling her for decades is a failure and a disappointment. Rory has always tried to please her grandparents and having to tell her grandmother she's going to be a single mom is basically the worse thing she could do in Emily's eyes (at least the old Emily who knows how post AYITL might react because she's stopped caring and therefore stopped trying to be so controlling but her revelation might not be enough to counter news like that that hits a wound that she literally never even tried to heal). Radical self acceptance despite what society aka her grandparents and their world thinks is what is meant for both Lorelai and Rory and choosing Luke/Jess over Christopher/Logan is apart of that acceptance.

MORE JESS MARIANO WARDOBE ANALYSIS

So despite having 10,000 jackets, Jess wears the same watch from his first appearance in s2 all the way through his last in s6 (He wears a different one in AYITL :(()

Don't worry I have better photos LOTS OF THEM

It is a leather (probably fake) batch watch, one with a watch face over a leather wristband on his left wrist (Jess/Milo is probably right handed). Starting in s3 and through s4 he wears a thin wristband on his right wrist as well

Here he is in s4 putting on his watch and switching the face around BECAUSE

Up until 3x04 Jess wears the face of his watch on the outside of his wrist, like most people do

Then starting in 3x05

and through s4 he always wears his watch with the lock face on his inner wrist

But WHY??? Initially I thought it was because he reads with a book in his left had and it lets him look at the time quickly, but Jess typically holds one-hand books in his right hand (see above and below)

So why???

Wearing a watch with the clock face on the inside of your wrist is associated with the military community, and Jess does have some style influences from there (see the camo shirt he keeps wearing, and the Staff Sergeant patch sewn onto his basic hoodie in the first pic).

The change in the watch starts and ends when Jess begins working in manual labor, did he start doing it to protect a watch he clearly values from any bumps at work?

Is it a sensory thing? He is a sensitive little guy, it could be. Is it to be cool? To quote Jess

WHAT'S GOING ON??

Nothing to see here, just Rory and Jess holding the phones to their hearts after talking to each other

The first picture represents the moment Rory finally begins thinking about acting on her feelings for Jess, and the second one, her resolve to let go of them. It’s Jess who calls on both occasions, but Rory is the one ultimately making the decisions. Of course, she already liked Jess way before she goes to see him in NYC, and will go on loving him long after declaring it’s over (and that she’s not going to pine!), but it all starts and ends with a call.

nobody:

me, aloud to the void: Jess Mariano should have been into Steinbeck, not Hemingway

i’ve seen a lot of takes lately about rory isn’t cut off to journalism and how she should’ve accepted teaching at chilton in ayitl and i don’t think people are getting it.

rory is a journalist. her dream was traveling the world and be a journalist, which was realistically and even achievable in the 90s when she was a kid, because the internet wasn’t even a real thing back then.

but since then, the internet became a thing. we seen it taken over even in the show, especially in season 4 when jason brings richard a laptop and we get a bit of a glimpse of how the world around the gilmores changing. richard gilmore walking in his home with a laptop!

and when rory graduates yale, it’s 2007. by june of 2007, the first iphone was introduced. sure, it wasn’t much to offer at the time but it was a huge game changer in the way people thought what phones could accomplish, and soon, how we - as a society - consume our news. from morning newspaper we went to apps, from a title on a news paper we went to 20 minutes video with a clickbait on youtube + 15 minutes out of it is ‘thank for the sponsor of this video…’ kind of thing.

the print journalism is dying. of course, people still buy newspapers but we barely even consume our news trough a news paper. you get notifications on apps. you google stuff. you consume your news over on tiktok by memes and jokes and dare i say it - the world of journalism is constantly changing around rory, and i think she feel lost and confused in ayitl.

when she has that interview in ayitl about that newspaper thing and the lady asks her “what kind of articles i can expect from rory gilmore if you start working here?” is very beezfeed environment and less newsroom in yale kind of thing.

so rory editing the stars hollow gazette was a huge deal for her to realize she still has it, print journalism isn’t dying because in stars hollow everyone is consuming their news trough out the gazette and, most importantly, she can do what she does best - telling stories by writing her book.

it wasn’t that rory gilmore isn’t cut off for journalism, is it that journalism is constantly changing and the way the audience consumes it changes as well in the past decade, and it’s more than okay to be confused about it.

I feel like ASP fundamentally misunderstands circular storylines and why it doesn’t really work for Rory to be pregnant at the end of the show (and it certainly doesn’t work by the time the revival comes around) because Lorelai’s mistake wasn’t that she got pregnant but that she got pregnant at 16 and dropped out of high school. Having a child is not automatically a life ruining thing or a tragedy as long as having kids is something you want. It’s Lorelai’s age that caused the issue. Once Rory is out of high school, she’s largely unable to actually repeat that mistake. For Rory to do so would have required her to get pregnant in high school or even college (but before she graduated). For example, at the end of season five instead of stealing a yacht she could have found out she was pregnant and that was the catalyst for her dropping out. To wait until the end of the show you have Rory at 22 (almost 23) with a college degree. That is very far removed from 16 and a high school dropout. Sure, many people aren’t going to feel ready to be a parent at 23, but you are a lot more ready than a teenager. And yeah, she still has to get her career off the ground, but she has the necessary degree to do that. Some of her options will be limited as she has to make sure she’s making enough to support herself and her child, but she’s not going to be living in a potter’s shed with her baby. She is better prepared to be a mother than her mother was. But if she gets pregnant while in high school, that would have been repeating Lorelai’s mistake. It also would have been very true to life as the children of teen moms are more likely to become teen moms themselves. The show could have been about a teen mom dealing with the fact that her daughter is about to become a teen mom herself. Don’t misunderstand me, this is not what I want to have happened. I’m just saying, that this would be the story ASP claims she wanted to tell. Waiting until Rory was about to start grad school (as was originally planned) or until she is 32 doesn’t work for that storyline.

To add on to what I was saying about Jess not calling situation. I definitely do think it was more of a minor offense and definitely a miscommunication issue. The thing though that I love about Jess though is that even when he does mess up he always tries to do better the next time. He is always learning from his mistakes. He doesn't try to gaslight Rory or invalidate her feelings he takes it as it is and learns what to do better next time. Like after listening to her voicemail he starts making plans with her and scheduling dates. When he makes a horrible first impression with Emily, he eventually comes to his sense and says he will go again. Jess isn't perfect and made mistakes with Rory some big ones but he always tries to learn from them. After he left without a word, he doesn't expect anything from Rory he just tells her he loves her and gives her the space to think things over. When she rejects him after he comes to her dorm he tells her she can count on him now and instead of just using his words his actions follow. He then still continues to show her that she can trust him again by showing her that he has changed, and by standing by her as a friend even when it's killing him because he does love her and wants to be with her. Where Dean will use intimidation and his possessive behaviors until she is feeling so guilty she is blaming herself. With Logan he will gaslight her and invalidate her feelings until she is feeling confused and ends up blaming herself. I love that Jess takes accountability for his actions even when he does mess up and learns from those behaviors and tries to do better. This is one trait about Jess that stands out for me opposed to the other two and what makes him a good partner!

You know what just painfully occurred to me for the first time?

At the end of s3 when Rory says ‘I think I may have loved you but I just need to let it go’ and then pauses for a moment and starts to cry, I always read that as being her realising it’s really over and just feeling the weight of those words but today I was watching edits and it hit me that part of why she starts to cry there might also be that she’s just basically said ‘I love you’ and he STILL says nothing and that HURTS

Don’t mind me I’m just thinking about how Rory almost destroyed her life and definitely destroyed her sense of self trying to please everyone around her not because they explicitly demanded it of her but because she grew up with a deep rooted unadressed view of her own existence as the destruction of Lorelai and Christopher’s lives, causing her to be constantly mindful of what the world might expect of her and desperately trying to not just meet those demands but a whole lot more no matter the cost because that’s the only way to make up for the fact that she exists and is alive

Another thing that just occurred to me yesterday, upon my (approximately) one millionth viewing of this scene:

This moment occurs directly after the disaster of a welcome dinner. During which Rory certainly overheard Luke and Lorelai arguing about Jess' rude remarks. (And she most likely received numerous Lorelai rants about the topic, too.) She is well aware that the adults - especially her mother - are MAD at Jess. And WORRIED that he's an irredeemable mess.

But Rory is nothing but warm toward Jess here. This isn't one of her patented Rory Lecture Moments (of which she has MANY with Jess, so it's not like she's shy about expressing her opinions). Rory is just kind. She indicates it was no big deal he bailed on dinner, giving him the easy out with her "too cool for school" comment. She's not mad at him for leaving the dinner - she gets it.

This is a big deal, right? At this point she doesn't know Jess at all, as they've had one 90-second conversation. Despite a long-standing history of Rory being heavily influenced by Lorelai's opinions, in this instance Rory is immediately ignoring the bulk of what Lorelai says. She's going to make up her own mind about Jess, separate from what the adults tell her.

Why is that? Did she get a favorable impression of Jess during that brief meeting? Could she tell he was anxious underneath the bravado? Did she immediately pick up on the fact that Lorelai's reaction to Jess was severely overblown? Does she know enough about Jess' history to develop empathy for him? All of the above?

Whatever the reason, I LOVE HER for this.

I don't normally feel bad for Dean, because he's not that sympathetic a character, but like... imagine going through this for real.

You meet a girl and you really like her, and you get super lucky and she likes you back. Yay! Almost immediately you have to deal with Tristan though, this attractive, rich brat that is super into your brand new girlfriend and is not letting up on going after her. Annoying. But like, a year and a half of this later, Tristan gets sent to military school and is out of y'all's lives for good. Yay! One less problem!!

But, what you don't know yet is that your girlfriend was introduced to this new guy a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, that guy fell in love at first sight and he is going to go after your girlfriend SO HARD. Like, you're gonna miss the days of Tristan so bad. Also, this time, they're mad compatible too. Whomp whomp.

JESS ANGST SCHOOL ANGST COMPLEX TRAUMA ANGST

In Keg Max! Principal Merton tells Jess he has missed 31 days of school. Now that makes him a chronic truant for sure, it means he's missed more than 10% of the school year, the standard school year is 180 days. Let's say there's 10 days left in the school year.

That's a LOT of school to miss. Young people improbably here, do not miss that much school

But relative to what we're being told about Jess, it's a weirdly low number? Jess never goes to school!!!! He's working 10000 hours at Walmart instead of going to school no school never heard of him!

That means that Jess attended school 139 days. Most schools I've worked with define that as a certain number of hours attended, more than half the day. So even if he was skipping that's 139 days he went to more than half the day NOT GOOD AT ALL BUT

Even after he was eighteen (early in the school year) he still laced up his boots and showed up somewhere he hated at saw no point in going to WHY!!????

First of all this is actually a ridiculously overcommitted young person let's at least acknowledge that.

He works before school at Luke's, and he works in the evenings too, closing up at 11:30 in one episode. Not just filling coffee mugs anymore. By season 3 he's closing alone, keeping tabs on the delivery schedule and capable of (furiously) running the morning rush alone.

AND he's working 45 hours a week at Walmart doing physical work, AND (poorly) maintaining a romantic relationship, AND reading obsessively, AND YES GOING TO SCHOOL! Jess starts working at Walmart in November (if you treat the air date as the canon date with the show roughly does), combined with Luke's it's probably 60-65 hours a week and still went to school 139 days!

He's making ridiculous choices because he is a tiny little fool but also has a trauma soaked brain

Jess chooses to be maxed out every minute of his life because he cannot tolerate being unoccupied, like a lot of people with complex trauma (and ADHD and Autism and more all of which could apply to Jess but rn I am talking about complex trauma)

When someone is used to chaos in their environment they actually feel less safe when things are quiet and still. It leads to someone who needs to have their RAM at 100% every waking AND sleeping moment

So they work 65+ hours, go to school most days, and they

cannot relax without extreme stimulation AKA needing the music on to sleep

Walk while reading because walking and looking ahead isn't enough is not occupied enough need more occupied

and starts reading the second he's stops talking to someone or using his hands to do something else. Reading as default in any given second.

He reads compulsively, no matter how chaotic the environment.

Reading ALSO isn't enough must be annotating and analyzing too passive reading is NOT ENOUGH

So Jess would rather show up at school for 139 days where other people are moving around, where there are fights to get into and classes to move to and from, even after he's an adult and Luke wouldn't find out that he isn't showing up. He'll show up to a test just to be in the classroom, not to take it.

This is not mentioning what I'm too lazy to screencap, that he's always doing something. that especially when he's talking to Luke Jess is constantly and doing things with his hands constantly.

There's really only one time we see Jess sitting still doing almost nothing

But not really nothing because smoking really is something.

My dude needs to be as occupied as possible from the time he wakes up all the way up to and including when he falls asleep to stay occupied and all that he's got on hand is going to a school that says the pledge of allegiance in six different languages then he will go! It's 100%%% occupation or the horror of possibly relaxing and WHAT WOULD HAPPEN THEN