One Word From You: A Pride and Prejudice Adaptation (3 page)

I stepped back, then circled Chantelle. I was taking in every inch of her outfit, from the hand stitched embellishments, to the expensive pearls sewn across the bust. It was a beautiful dress, but that didn’t stop me from saying, “No, I think you can look bad without my help.”

She was about to snap at me, but was silenced by the arrival of another young man. He didn’t look happy about being there. In fact, he and Chantelle looked pretty good next to each other. They both had the same disdain for other people, although he was markedly better looking than her.

“
Chantelle, how long do we have to stay here?” he asked, “If one more desperate girl asks me to dance, I’m going to be sick.”

“
Are you related?” I asked before I could stop myself.

“
Who are you?” he asked.

“
Beth Blake. I’d say it’s a pleasure, but I’d be lying.”

“
Likewise. William Davies. Congratulations on being one of the few sane people in this asylum.”

“
I try,” I smiled briefly at him, “If you’ll excuse me, I’d rather not be here when decide to projectile vomit in rage all over the next poor girl to speak to you. Bit of advice, though? Try not being a dick to everyone. They might seem like stupid girls to you, but keep in mind we’re better than boys at getting blood out of things. Ciao, ciao.”

I wasn’t going to give him the time to work out that I’d made a period joke, or a death threat. Well, I’d just sort of made a death implication. That wasn’t anywhere near as bad. Rather than stand around alone like a complete loner, I sought out Jenny and Charlie again. I hung back when I saw how well they were getting along. Although she wasn’t saying a lot, I knew from the way she smiled that she was fast developing a crush on the boy.

“
Hey, loser.”

I jumped, and turned quickly to face the petite Asian girl who’d spoken behind me. I didn’t hesitate to hug her joyfully, “Georgia! I missed you!”

“
I missed you, too! I’m so sorry I didn’t get to see you over summer, but with Grandma -”

“
It’s totally fine, we have a million lunch breaks together before the end of the school year to make up for it, and I want to hear all about Japan.”

“
You bet. And I brought you back some sweets, like I promised.”

“
You’re the best!” I held her hands in mine, “So, what’s the gossip? If anyone knows, it’s you.”

“
About what?” she asked coyly.

“
About the mouth breathers sharing our air in here. Come on, which boys should I be keeping an eye on this year?”

“
Ohh, that,” she grinned, “You know that guy talking to Jenny?”

“
Charlie? Yeah...”

“
That boy is
minted.
Well, his parents are. And you’ll never guess who his sister is.”

“
Someone famous?”

“
Chantelle Brackenwood.”

“
You’re
joking!
But he’s so nice! I mean, like, he smiles and everything! Is he adopted?” I asked.

“
No, I swear.
Blood
relatives. And he transferred over here with their childhood friend. He’s called -”

“
If you say William Davies, I might actually cry.”

“
How did you know?”

Typical.

“
I know because I just threatened him a bit. But he was being really rude! You’ll never guess what he said -”

“
What who said?” Charlie asked, beaming away at us, utterly smitten with Jenny already.

I opened and closed my mouth a few times, and looked at Georgia for help. She held her hands up and shook her head. There was no way she was going to walk out into the minefield with me. I fished for a plausible response, “I - I was just saying how your friend William didn’t seem all that happy about the party. He - he might be tired, maybe?”

“
Will just doesn’t know how to have fun,” Charlie laughed, “And he hates dancing. My sister’s the only one who can make him do it.”

“
Oh, your sister goes here?” Jenny asked, “Do I know her?”

“
It’s Chantelle,” I said, “Chantelle Brackenwood.”

“
Oh.
Oh.
Well, she’s civil to - I mean - nice. She’s nice…”

Actually, Chantelle
was
nice to Jenny.

She just didn’t like me all that much.

Jenny’s family had old money, and they were pretty respectable. Hell, even Lisa’s family could make the same claim. I had a broken home, a flighty mother, and a father with a full time job. We couldn’t boast country estates on three continents, or private helicopters.

We were just normal.

As normal as we could manage, anyway.

That meant there was nothing to be gained from anyone being friends with me, save a meaningful relationship and a bit of fun. Therefore, Chantelle deemed me to be a waste of space.

“
How about I introduce you to William?” Charlie offered Jenny, “He’d be really happy to meet you.”

I nodded in encouragement so she wouldn’t feel guilty about leaving us. I’d much rather have spent the rest of the night with Georgia, anyway. She could tell me all about her summer, and I wouldn’t turn into one of the girls still struggling to get the attention of the members of the opposite sex.

Of course, if I found out that William had treated Jenny with the same disrespect he had the other students, I might have to make good on that threat.

“
I think I achieved something tonight,” I told Georgia when we were alone, “World record for the worst first impression on a person ever.”

Chapter Three

He is remarkably agreeable.

“
So?” I asked expectantly as Jenny settled into the seat beside me.

She set down her books, and took a pen from her bag. It didn’t matter how long she tried to put it off. I was going to have all of the gossip from her, whether she liked it or not. Eventually she turned to look at me, and confessed, “He’s really nice, okay?”

“
Nice? You can’t even tell me that you like his arse, or anything?”

“
No!” she hissed, “No, I can’t!”

“
But you do.”

Jenny groaned, “Yeah, but he’s just – I don’t know. He’s not like I thought he’d be. I mean, aren’t most boys our age really stupid?”

“
Yes. Girls can be too, though. But we grow out of it faster.”

“
He just doesn’t seem like the boys you see on television. He’s polite, and funny, and he was really attentive.”

“
Please tell me you’re going to ask him out.”

“
Shouldn’t he ask me?”

I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth, “What century are you living in,
Jane Austen?
You can ask him just as easily.”

Sometimes I forgot that most of the girls had been at the institute since they were four years old. The school liked to take them in as early as possible in their education, and keep the students until they were ready to be released into the real world at eighteen. It was a little like zoos that bred endangered species before reintroducing them to the wild. Except in this case they were intelligent, wealthy young women, ready to take on high society. Very few left early for other schools, and even fewer joined mid-way through the process.

I was happy I’d been exposed to the ways of the world before I’d been thrown into the asylum, otherwise I might be just as starry-eyed in the face of the new students. Boys had large enough egos without us pandering to them. They’d be easily inflated among gaggles of girls who didn’t know better, clawing each others eyes out for the sake of claiming a boyfriend from among them.

It had struck me that Jenny might be thought of as one such girl if she was to make a move on Charlie too quickly. It was probably better for them to get to know each other before she made a decision about her opinion of him. I cautioned, “Don’t come on too strongly at first. But don’t fake being his friend for the sake of a romantic relationship either.”

“
Why not?”

“
Seats, everyone!” Mr. Hargreaves called as he entered the room. He hurried people to their desks, even though he was running later than the rest of us. It was only as the boys began filing into the room after him, and were directed to seats beside blushing girls, that I realised our classes would be mixed. I didn’t know why, but I’d thought at first they’d want to keep us divided, and introduce us slowly.

I had to stop watching wildlife documentaries.

“
I’ll tell you another time,” I whispered, making a mental note that Jenny needed educating in the mythical place referred to as
The Friend Zone.

In my head, I pleaded with whatever God might be listening, that I didn’t want William to come into the room. Georgia had reliably informed me that the boy I’d threatened was, not only a family friend of Charlie’s, but also the son of a woman who had a prominent position on the school’s board of directors. Should I cause too much trouble, they were the people who would happily give me the boot from the school.

But God wasn’t on my side, and nor was any other deity.

In strolled William, shoulder to shoulder with Charlie. Chantelle led the way. She was a native, and was sort of like the Sherpa to these brave explorers. They really looked the part. All they were missing were a couple of yaks.

Jenny blushed at the sight of them. I wished I could be as overjoyed by their presence as she was. After the way William and I had been introduced, I wasn’t inclined to spend any more time with him than I really had to. That was my fault, but he hadn’t really been all that likeable. We’d both made a bad first impression on each other. In my experience, those were the most important moments when it came to defining a relationship. If from the start two people couldn’t find some civility in their address, then it was likely they never would.

“
Hi,” Charlie greeted, as if ignorant of any bitterness between his friend and I, “Can I sit with you?”

Jenny motioned to the seat at her other side. He nodded to me in greeting, and I spared him a small wave of my hand. I was distracted by the need to find someone to sit on the other side of me before his friend dared to take the seat.

William was fast approaching. With every step, I felt like some timer was ticking down to a critical point of no return. When the door opened again, and Meg stepped through, I realised I’d never been so happy to see a person in all my life. The boy cleared his throat, oblivious to my panic, and asked, “Is that seat taken?”

“
Yes, it is. Meg!” I called over to her, and flailed my arms in desperation towards the vacant seat, “Remember, we have to study the thing together. You know, the
thing?
”

“
Miss. Blake, will you be quiet?” Mr. Hargreaves snapped at me. Happy that he’d muted me, he turned his back on the room, and continued to cast his illegible scrawl across the blackboard.

Meg hurried over, and upon noticing the way William was looking at the chair, she asked meekly, “Were you sitting here?”

“
I was hoping -”

“
No, he wasn’t,” I said, and pulled the seat out for her, “I was saving it for you.”

He cleared his throat again, “I wouldn’t hate sitting here.”

“
I appreciate that,” I said, working hard to keep my voice even lest it betray my annoyance, “But Meg’s already sitting here. Why don’t you sit with Chantelle? If she glares over at me any harder, she’s going to burn holes in my face.”

Meg hovered over the chair, and I reached out to pull her down into it, all without breaking William’s gaze. It was for him to do that, when he retreated and joined Charlie’s sister. She greeted him with a smile, and looked over at me with an expression of triumph. It was as if she believed she’d just won a prize in taking him as a neighbour in the classroom. I thought it was the other way around. She was more than welcome to him.

Snobs.

I helped Meg to get her things out of her bag, and moved my chair a little closer to hers. It wasn’t so that I was avoiding Jenny, but I figured she’d want just a little bit of privacy with Charlie. She was quiet at the best of times, and he seemed as though he would be timid around a girl he liked. If the pair of them were locked in a room together, they’d probably pass the time in total silence, both too shy to utter a word.

And, poor Meg.

She was just as quiet, but it wasn’t for lack of an interesting personality. With the amount of books she read, and her level of intelligence, Meg was always good for a lively conversation. It was just next to impossible to get her to open her mouth in the first place. Always so immersed in whatever she was reading or studying, she barely noticed my attempts to whisper to her, or to make her giggle during the lesson.

Eventually, I gave her up as a bad job, and dared a few furtive glances in Jenny and Charlie’s general direction. On the surface, it appeared as if they were focused on our teacher. But I spied a few stolen smiles, and subtle blushes when their eyes met, each chancing a look at the other when they thought they might not be caught.

It was adorable, and so old fashioned.

At such a pace, they wouldn’t mention the word
love
until they were at an age to retire from society.

As I turned my head, meaning to see what on Earth Mr. Hargreaves was babbling about, I happened to catch the attention of someone I hadn’t expected. William’s eyes met mine for a moment. He opened his mouth, as if he was going to call out to me, and I forced my gaze away sharply. Whatever William Davies had to say, I wasn’t interested. He’d made his feelings about our school, and me, perfectly clear already.

I couldn’t imagine he could make a worse impression.

I worked hard to avoid looking in his direction again until the bell rang. In fact, I’d been so determined to focus on the lesson, I hadn’t taken in a single thing Mr. Hargreaves had said. That was until he announced, “And this will be on the next test! So make sure you learn it!”

“
What’s going to be on the what?” I asked Meg.

“
Weren’t you listening?”

“
I - I wasn’t
not
listening.”

“
That’s a double negative.”

I groaned, “Okay, I wasn’t paying any attention. Are you happy now?”

“
I’ll help you later,” she said in a hushed tone.

I wondered why she’d lowered her voice. That was, until I realised Charlie was towering over us. He smiled, and said, “I was thinking that it’d be good to get a tour of the school when classes finish later.”

“
Didn’t you - didn’t you have that already?” Meg asked sheepishly.

I elbowed Meg gently. She didn’t get the hint, and just looked moderately offended that I’d assaulted her. Rather than explain it with diagrams, I said, “Jen’ can show you around. Meg and I need to study, sorry.”

“
We can invite your friend,” Jenny said, “Don’t you think?”

I groaned internally. It wasn’t much of a date if William was going to be with them. Honestly, the girl had no sense about her at all when it came to that sort of thing. Did she think that she needed a chaperone? No, she was probably thoroughly convinced that it was the right thing to do. I imagined she was concerned that William might also get lost wandering around in the school.

“
Charlie?” Chantelle asked, wasting no time in coming to her brother’s rescue. At least, she probably thought she was saving him if it meant taking him away from me. She didn’t break character, and smiled at him sweetly while William was waiting on her. She continued, “Are you coming with us to the next lesson?”

“
Yeah - uh - Jenny and I were just talking about a tour of the school.”

“
Really?” she took one of Jenny’s hands in hers, “Then, how about we all go together? It’ll be fun! I mean, just the four of us.”

“
Well, if Beth and Meg want to -”

“
It’s fine,” I cut Jenny off so she wouldn’t suffer a verbal backlash from Chantelle, “We’re busy later, right, Meg? Studying for the test.”

“
Don’t feel as if you’re not welcome,” Chantelle said. I couldn’t tell from the way her eye twitched that she was struggling to keep up the kind facade in front of me, “I won’t stop you if you want to join us.”

“
I have no objection to it, either,” William added.

“
Let’s go, Meg,” I said, “Before Chantelle strains something.”