One Word From You: A Pride and Prejudice Adaptation (12 page)

“
Blake,” she said with a false smile, “I heard that you've been talking with Gideon Wilson.”

“
Yes, Chantelle. He's a teacher. It's hard to avoid at school, you know?”

She didn't take offense to my tone, regrettably. In fact, I could have sworn that my annoyance only served to please her. She placed a hand on my shoulder in a consoling fashion, “I don't really like you, Blake.”

“
No! Really?”

“
But
I will give you some free advice. Don't believe everything Gideon Wilson tells you. I don't know all the details, but I know that there's a damn good reason he didn't keep his last job. And he's not even rich or anything. His parents worked for William's father. From what I've heard, they weren't so bad, but he's nothing like them.”

“
So – basically – I should ignore him because he's poor, and his parents were employed by someone? He told me all of that, and I didn't turn my nose up at it. Do you know why? Because I'm not a total snob.”

She narrowed her eyes, and pulled her hand away slowly, “Fine. Don't take my advice. I was just trying to help.”

“
I seriously doubt that.”

Chapter Eleven

The folly which he must have witnessed.

I wished I could have boasted that the evening improved after I separated myself from William and Chantelle. Being away from them both was a step in the right direction, to be sure, but it didn't mean the ordeal was quite over. I felt bad about taking Jenny away from Charlie, but I needed her more than he did at that moment. Besides, he had to talk to his other guests, and he'd be accused of neglecting them if he didn't leave her side all night.

“
Did you ask him anything?”

She shook her head, “Nothing really in depth. I don't think Charlie knows anything about what happened. Just that William did the right thing regarding Gideon.”

“
The right thing?” I asked, “Look, I get that he's going to believe his friend, and it's great that he's so loyal. That does Charlie a serious amount of credit. But that doesn't mean William hasn't lied to him about what happened.”

“
You're not going to change your opinion, are you?”

“
Nope.”

Jenny let out a short, frustrated breath through her nose. I was too stubborn over things, but in this case I was convinced that Gideon had really suffered because of William's childishness. And he was so cruel, that he'd lied to his best friend about what he'd done. Charlie was going to be furious when he found out. I'd have told him myself if I thought it was my place to do so.

Wyatt soon tracked us down, and asked me loudly over the music, “That boy you were dancing with, was that William Davies?”

“
Yes...”

“
Is he related to Mum's new husband?”

“
Er... I think so,” I said, as I recalled what Gideon had told me, “Not closely, though. Why?”

“
I should introduce myself to him. His aunt is high up in society, and the last time I met her, she seemed impressed with me.”

“
I really don't think he would care, Wyatt. Leave him alone.”

As much as I hated William, I wasn't going to subject him to the idiot in the middle of a party.

“
No, he would definitely want to meet me.”

“
If I
pay
you, will you stay away from him?” I pleaded.

Apparently not.

Wyatt ignored me for the first time, and strode to William. I couldn't stand to see the spectacle he was about to make of himself. The guy was going to be left feeling like a total idiot, and I'd have to share in the second hand embarrassment of it. I had no doubt that he'd tell William we were related, even though we weren't. I took a firm hold of Jenny's hand, and begged, “Dance with me? I can't watch this happen.”

Whether I wanted to or not, I was still going to hear it. Not that I could make out specific words, but Wyatt's voice was unmistakable. I threw myself into dancing with Jenny. It was a fast paced song, and that really helped. I was hardly the best dancer in the world, but even I knew how to throw up my hands and shake my hips. Lisa and Chrissy were still racing around, bumping into people, and shrieking with laughter like a couple of children. The only one of us who appeared to be behaving was Meg. She was walking around in a daze as usual, her headphones in as she listened to whichever audio book she was into at the time.

I just wished she'd learn to look where she was walking.

Without any hesitation at all, she wandered straight into Chantelle. It might not have been so terrible, had she not been holding a glass of punch at the time. The drink was upset all over her beautiful white dress, leaving an ugly red stain across her chest. Meg jumped out of her skin when she saw what she'd done, and scuttled away before she could be shouted at. Other guests fussed over Chantelle, and Meg came to cower behind Jenny and I.

“
Maybe it's time for us to leave,” I said to my friend, “I don't think it's possible for us to ruin this night any more than we have already, but I'd rather not take the risk.”

Jenny nodded in agreement. Finding Chrissy and Lisa wasn't hard. We just had to follow the sound of complete idiocy. Convincing them to go was more difficult, but when they saw the state of Chantelle, they were quick to join us in our opinion that the night was over. I called us a cab in the hall, and it was soon waiting at the gates. I was glad my friends were rich, because I had no way of paying for the ride back to school.

“
That was a total disaster,” I lamented in the back of the car as we made our getaway, “I'm never doing that again.”

“
Dancing with William, you mean?” Lisa asked.

“
You
danced
with him?!” Jenny asked, “When did that happen?”

“
While you were all over Charlie,” Chrissy said, “I saw it.”

“
I wasn't all over him! We were just talking, that's all,” she said.

“
Yeah, and you were about the only one of us that didn't make a total prat of herself.”

“
I didn't,” Meg said quietly.

“
Until you ruined Chantelle's dress, you mean?” I asked.

Meg blushed, “I didn't mean to.”

“
I know,” I looped an arm around her shoulders, and hugged her against my side, “But you still did it. Whatever, I'm just glad we're going home. Wyatt was driving me nuts.”

“
He's so clingy to you. Maybe he likes you?” Chrissy suggested.

Lisa flapped her hands at this revelation, “Oh my
God!
That has to be it! Eww, Wyatt likes you!”

“
Eurgh, don't even joke about that,” I warned, “He thinks of me as a little sister.”

“
I don't know,” Jenny mused, “He does follow you around a lot, and he wanted to dance with you. I don't think brothers are usually like that.”

“
They're definitely not,” Chrissy said, “My brothers don't want anything to do with me.”

“
Your brothers are both in Primary school,” I reminded her, “Of course they don't want to talk to you. They think girls have germs.”

“
Well, I'm sure he does,” Lisa said, “You'll see.”

“
I'd rather not. Oh, and sorry you couldn't say goodnight to Charlie properly,” I said to Jenny when it dawned on me that we'd totally ignored him when we'd left, “We should apologise to him tomorrow.”

“
For a lot of things,” she said, and looked pointedly at Lisa and Chrissy.

“
What did we do?” they asked in unison.

“
Nothing,” I said, “Besides acting like you were six years old. You were running around like you were in a zoo or something. What was that about?”

Lisa smirked, “Just having fun.”

“
And showing us up.”

“
Oh, please! It's not like you're meant to control what we do,” Lisa said, “We're not family, right?”

Maybe not, but we were about as close as five friends could come to sisters. And that meant if one of us did something stupid, the rest of us had to suffer for it. I was sure I'd hear about Chantelle's stupid dress for a really long time. I could handle that. Meg would go into hiding if it was known that she did something to her. The snide comments wouldn't roll off her back like they did with the rest of us.

And I was right to be concerned about the aftermath.

I anticipated Chantelle giving us all the cold shoulder, even Jenny. William wasn't our biggest fan anyway, so the loss of his company didn't really impact me, or anyone else for that matter. But I thought Charlie had a little more integrity than the others. Whatever he felt towards the rest of us, he shouldn't have taken issue with Jenny. And yet, when we saw him in class, he completely blanked us. Instead, he went to sit with his sister and friend, and didn't even glance at us throughout the lesson.

Rather than face the problem head on, as would have been wise, I decided to avoid it. Naturally, I made sure the other girls did as well. Chrissy and Lisa weren't at all bothered by the change in attitude. They'd been polite to Charlie, but he was more a friend of me and Jenny than the others. Still, Meg joined the pair of us in hiding in the music room during our lunch break that day. I strummed listlessly on the strings of an acoustic guitar, all while Jenny prodded the keys of the grand piano.

“
Ladies,” Wyatt greeted as he entered the room, “Do you think I could talk to Elisa privately for a moment?”

“
No, they don't,” I said sternly.

Meg got to her feet quickly, “I need to go for a walk,” she said quietly, and practically bolted out of the room.

Coward.

“
Don't you dare,” I warned Jenny.

“
Sorry,” she said, “But I think it would be good for me to talk to Chantelle. I'll catch up with you in the next class, okay?”

No, it really wasn't okay. But she was gone before I could stop her. I jumped up from my perch with the intention of following them, but was hampered in my escape by Wyatt. He stood resolutely in front of the door. I didn't like being alone with him at the best of times. And after the party, I was sure he was going to lecture me about leaving him there. I mean, we should have taken him with us, but William hadn't been the only boy I'd wanted to get away from.

I folded my arms across my chest, and narrowed my eyes. I didn't think Wyatt was particularly athletic, and I might have been able to overpower him in order to get out of the door. But that took a lot of effort and determination. And there was no avoiding what he had to say to me, no matter how much I wanted to.

“
I'm getting the feeling you're going to say something I won't like.”

“
Elisa, I'd never do that,” he assured me, “But I admit, I knew you'd be a little apprehensive. I'd be worried if you weren't. Just so you know, your Mum already gave her blessing for this.”

“
For what?”

“
See, it's
that
innocence that I love about you. Most women would have noticed my feelings already, but you haven't, because you're so unaware of the ways of men.”

I wasn't, but that wasn't really going to be appropriate to say.

“
For a long time, although I've called myself your brother, I haven't really felt that way. I know I've been pretty absent in your upbringing, and I think if I hadn't, it would have been difficult for these feelings to develop. When I knew I had a place at this school, and we met again, I realised that I couldn't hide it any longer.”

Please, try.

I opened my mouth to interject, and was swiftly interrupted.

“
I know you're going to say it's sudden. I know it is for you, but for me this has been a long time coming. I wouldn't have acted at all, but when I was out in France last, I met with Madame Courtenay, and she was good enough to advise me in my future. She felt that I could be a Professor in some grand institution in a few years, but I needed to set myself up with a wife and family to prove I was reputable and respectable. That being the case, she urged me to find a woman to share my home.”

“
... What?”

Wyatt closed the distance between us in two strides, and crushed me clumsily against his chest. I froze in place, my arms pinned to my sides. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. It wasn't like I'd never been hugged or kissed by a boy before, but this guy was still technically my teacher.