One Word From You: A Pride and Prejudice Adaptation (26 page)

“
On it,” he said, and started tapping out a text message.

I should have known that things wouldn't be so simple.

It wasn't like we'd left Gideon in a prison cell, which is exactly where he should have been. And we weren't hiding away either. In fact, with all the noise Lisa was making, I was amazed we hadn't attracted more attention. I guessed that we tourists were such an annoyance to the locals, that they'd conditioned themselves to completely ignore us.

I wasn't quite as ignorant of my surroundings.

Carefully, I helped Lisa back to her feet. I was hoping that she could sit back by the fountain, and the sound of the water would calm her down. My plans never did quite go the way I hoped. Not even the ridiculously simple ones. Lisa was barely out of my grip when an arm made its way around my waist. The only person there who might dare to hold me was Will, and he was over by Amanda. I fought them on instinct, not realising it was Gideon until he hissed against my ear, “You're coming with me.”

“
Take your hands off me!” I ordered, “Now!”

“
Let her go!” Lisa shouted, and clawed at his jacket.

Gideon was in no mood for her. I didn't know why he'd thought he should take her in the first place. Perhaps because he thought she was easy, as he'd told me. Lisa was so desperate for a boyfriend, of course she was going to fall for his charms. To him, she was little more than a playing piece in whatever sick game he had in his head. Tired of her attempts to free me, he flung her to the ground forcefully. She didn't crack her skull on the pavement, but it still looked like it hurt.

Amanda rushed to her aid, and then put herself between us and Lisa protectively. Gideon was still holding me tight, my back to his chest, like I was some kind of shield against the others. Well, Will had attacked him. I couldn't blame him for not wanting to suffer that kind of assault a second time.

Will stalked towards us, and Gideon's other hand flew to my throat. For emphasis, he squeezed against my larynx, forcing me to make a choking noise as he did. He shook his head slowly, and warned, “One more step, and I'll make this a lot more painful for her.”

“
Don't hurt her!”

“
Why? Because you're telling me not to? That doesn't actually make me change my mind,” he said, “This isn't a movie, Will. This is real life. And in real life, I'm going to get what I'm due. Because if I don't, I'm going to take out my frustration on your girlfriend.”

“
Gideon, stop this!” Amanda begged.

“
Shut up, Mandy!” he snapped, “If you'd just married me like I'd suggested, we could have shared the money your stupid mother would have spent on us. It's your fault I'm resorting to this.”

“
You won't get a-anything from my D-Dad,” I gasped.

“
Maybe not,” Gideon was still smiling despite this. He bit my earlobe, making me flinch. It only served to amuse him. The man chuckled against my ear, “But I'll bet that dear William would be happy to pay up to keep you safe.”

I tried to shake my head, but with Gideon holding me so firmly, it was little more than a twitch. I didn't want Will to have to pay anything to save me. Or his family, for that matter. This was our mess, and we should deal with it. Well, technically it was mine. I was the one who'd confronted Gideon.

“
Whatever it is, I'll pay it,” Will said, “Just take your hands off her!”

“
What do you think?” Gideon asked me, “Do you want to go back to
them?
You're like me, Bethy. We're the same.”

“
I'm
nothing
like you!”

“
No? We're both poor, growing up in
their
world. Never accepted. Just tolerated. And we have to sit and watch while they rub their wealth in our faces. That's the life you're going to have. Whatever happens, no matter how hard you try, you won't be one of them,” his lips were so close, they brushed my cheek with every vindictive declaration, “You'll never be good enough.”

“
She's already good enough!” Jenny was racing to us, Charlie at her side, with Meg and Chrissy hard on their heels. Will put an arm out to stop her, not prepared to risk my safety should Jenny provoke Gideon into taking action. Jenny came to a halt, and balled her hands into fists at her sides. The frustration she felt at not being able to get closer was obvious. She continued, “It doesn't matter how much money she has! She's our friend!”

“
Friendship doesn't pay the bills, though, does it?” Gideon asked.

He was right.

It didn't.

“
B-because it d-doesn't have to,” my voice was quaking with the strain it took to be heard while his fingers clenched and crushed, “I c-can't put a price on m-my f-friends. I w-won't!”

“
This is all sickeningly sweet,” Gideon said, “But I'm getting bored.”

My words hadn't managed to penetrate his thick skull. And I was starting to see that, no matter how hard anyone tried, he was too bitter to let anyone touch his heart. I did sympathise with his situation, because losing both his parents had to be hard. I'd lost my mother the day she'd abandoned us, and during that race, I thought I'd lost my Dad.

That kind of pain could make people cold.

Not only because they hated other people, but because they didn't trust their own emotions. To feel so much hurt, enough that it was physically crippling, could be a traumatising experience. It wasn't one I'd ever wanted to feel again. So, even though I did love my friends, I'd always maintained a certain barrier between us. They hadn't seen it, and I doubted they knew that I was trying to protect myself from them, but it was there. That was why I reminded myself that I was in a different world. Either by dressing down during the parties, or by making snide comments about the habits of the wealthy, I was constantly reinforcing the social divide that I should have been tearing down.

I was so afraid I'd lose them, that I never allowed myself to fully embrace them in the first place.

God, I was such an idiot.

Gideon took a step backwards, and dragged me with him. I dug in my heels, and tried to take a step in the opposite direction. As much as I hated it, I wasn't as strong as him. To counter my efforts, Gideon just lifted me off the ground by a few inches. He told Will, “I'll contact you with a time and place to exchange the money, for her. Until then, I suggest you don't follow me.”

“
I'm not letting you take her out of this square!”

“
Neither am I!” Charlie barked.

“
None of us will!” Meg added boldly.

“
I'm not really giving you guys a choice,” Gideon mocked.

Perhaps not.

But that didn't mean I had to let him take me without a fight.

Okay, so I didn't know karate or anything, but I had a mean right-hook. And if I could almost break Will's nose, then I was certainly capable of wriggling out of Gideon's slimy hands. Because my feet were off the ground, it gave me some room to swing them back. I raised them, and then kicked backwards with all I had. I'd been aiming for his knees, but anywhere was fine with me. So long as it surprised him, it would give me an advantage.

One of my feet missed, but the other got him just beneath his knee-cap. I twisted myself. The strangle hold was becoming excruciatingly painful, but I only had to put up with it a little longer. I was reassured that the others were quickly taking action to help me when I heard their footsteps beating down on the concrete. We were forcibly separated, and Will pushed me into Jenny's waiting arms.

Someone else stepped in.

Gideon was hit square in the cheek with a powerful punch, then in the nose, followed swiftly by an upper-cut to his gut. Still reeling, Gideon whimpered when Amanda's knee made contact with his groin. Not done with taking out what I assumed was many years of pent up rage, she pushed him towards the fountain. The low perimeter wall around the basin of water came into contact with the back of Gideon's legs. Unable to find anything to help him regain his balance, he fell into the chilling pool with an impressive splash.

“
Wow,” Will said, “How did you -”

“
There were self defence classes at my university,” Amanda said breathlessly, “I was a good student.”

“
Brilliant, is more like it,” I said hoarsely.

Gideon wasn't going to be down for long. He staggered to his feet, and then fell over again. Still slightly drunk, and exceptionally angry, he was going to want to carry on. Will and Charlie were quick to drag him out of the water, and to pin him to the ground. And I meant that literally, because they made him lie on his stomach, and then sat on his back to stop him escaping.

Lisa dusted herself off. By morning, she would have a few cuts and bruises. They were nothing to what could have happened. I dreaded to think the sort of man Gideon would be to whoever he was dating. His violent nature didn't seem to come as any kind of a shock to Amanda. I wasn't going to ask her why that was, because I had a damn good idea already. I suspected the only reason he hadn't gone to prison after her mother found out about his gambling and stealing, was because she'd seen fit to keep his abusive tendencies to herself.

Suddenly, Chrissy slapped Lisa. While she was processing the hit, the girls hugged, and both of them started crying again. I thought I might be spared their emotional breakdown, but I had no such luck. Thinking that I was also in need of support after my ordeal, they latched onto me and Jenny. Meg was caught up between us, and it turned into some bizarre five-way hug.

Well, out of the many ways the night could have ended, it wasn't the worst.

“
Beth!” Dad call

Chapter Twenty-Five

His character was to speak for itself.

To say I was in trouble would be an understatement.

Once we had everyone back at the hotel, and it did take a while, it was well past a respectable time for us to be in bed. Any concern they might have felt over us losing sleep was overshadowed by the anger at our little rebellion. We were marched into the large conference room, and berated for our behaviour for just over an hour. Most of the students were allowed to leave after that. None of them spoke up to lay the blame at my door, but they didn't really need to. Dad knew me well enough to see that I was the ringleader.

In the end, it was only the prime suspects who were left to face the true wrath of our parents.

“
Gideon is in police custody,” Dad confirmed, “Which is where he would have ended up, even if you hadn't put yourselves in harm's way.”

“
You were taking too long,” I argued, “I'm not going to apologise. We found her way before you did!”

“
Have you looked in a mirror, Elisabeth?” Dad shouted at me. He only used my full name when he was seriously angry. And, no, I hadn't. But I'd not really had the time to do that. When I shrugged, he turned me towards the window. Against the dark, it was difficult not to see the bruises Gideon had left on my throat. I resisted the urge to touch them, because it would only help him to make his point if I did.

“
Mr. Blake,” Jenny said, “It was my fault. I convinced Beth to -”

“
Save it,” he said, “I know my daughter. There's no way she wasn't the one behind this.”

“
She wasn't,” Will said, “I was. It was my idea to fly out here, and I convinced Beth that we could track Lisa down. I wanted the chance to get back at Gideon without anyone interfering.”

“
It's true,” Amanda backed her brother up with batting an eye, “He did it for my sake. I'm sorry, Mr. Blake. We got separated, because Will and I were careless. Beth was only guilty of wanting to help Lisa, and we exploited that.”

I didn't think he was buying it. In fact, the only reason he let us go to bed was because he was tired. Anyway, Lisa's parents wanted to use the room to talk to her. As we were herded out, I caught her father saying that he was taking her credit card. It was a small price to pay, in my opinion. To Lisa, it would be like losing a limb.

With Dad flanking us, I couldn't thank Amanda and Will for lying for me. Or scold them over it. I mean, I knew they were trying to do the right thing, but if Dad thought they were a bad influence then I'd never be able to talk to them again.

Weirdly, I didn't want that.

The hotel had accommodated us for one night, but we'd be pushing our luck if we tried to stay any longer. Everyone else had paid in full for their trip to Italy, and they were determined to see it through to the end. It was good that we weren't there long. That meant I'd achieved what I'd set out to do. We were going to have to fly home, and I would catch up with the girls again back at school.

“
Do you want to stay?” Dad asked as we were waiting outside for a cab.

“
What?”

“
I can tell from the look on your face. You've always wanted to come here, haven't you? If you want, we can stay until the end of the trip.”

“
We can't afford it.”

“
I've been putting some money away,” he said, “We're not exactly bankrupt.”

“
I don't need a fancy holiday,” I said, “I can come back another time.”

“
Why wait?” Ms. Ayers asked. She descended the steps to join us, and put her arm around my shoulders, “You should stay. I imagine once you get home, Greg will ground you until you're twenty. So, have a little freedom before that happens.”

“
Forty, actually,” Dad corrected.

I wasn't sure I deserved the break, but I wasn't going to argue. If Dad was happy for us to stay on in Italy a little while, then I'd go along with it. I didn't really want to leave my friends yet, anyway. I nodded, and he helped to bring our things back into the lobby.

“
Wait,” I said, “What about Will and Amanda?”

“
They left early this morning,” Ms. Ayers said, “It sounded to me like they have a lot of damage control to do at home.”

Ah, yes.

Because once Gideon's true nature came to light, their family would have a lot to answer for. If they'd reported him in the first place, he wouldn't have been employed by the school. Not only that, but Amanda would suffer a lot of damage to her reputation. I felt bad about that, because she was too good a person to be dragged through all that pain. But if the alternative was that Gideon got away with it, then it was a sacrifice she'd have to make.

Still, I wished that I'd been able to say goodbye before that happened.

I couldn't help feeling that I'd never see them again.

“
Their friend left, too,” Ms. Ayers said.

“
The Charlie kid?” Dad asked, “Too bad. He seemed all right. Not like the other one.”

“
Dad, don't talk about Will like that. If it wasn't for him, we might not have found Lisa at all.”

“
He put you in danger, and I'm not going to forgive that easily,” he said.

“
But I'm fine!”

“
Let's not talk about this, okay?” Ms. Ayers suggested, “Greg, I'm going to talk to the teachers about the rest of the itinerary for the trip. Why don't we let Beth go and unpack her things. She can stay in Jenny's room.”

“
All right. Go on, do as Maddie says.”

I left without complaint. I mean, Jenny's company was better than my Dad's any day. She knew the truth, that I had run off on my own, and Will had tried to stop me. I wished that he'd just let me take my punishment for my stupidity. That way, my Dad would still like him.

As I pushed open the door with one hand, I chewed nervously on my thumb nail. There was no way for me to fix things. If I told Dad the truth, then I would get into trouble, and he'd be angry at Will for lying. If I didn't tell the truth, then he would continue to hate the boy. Once, that wouldn't have bothered me at all. Now, I felt like it was the worst thing in the world.

“
Hey,” Jenny waved me in, “What's the verdict? Are you staying?”

“
Yeah, Dad said – wait – you knew he was going to let me finish the trip with all of you?”

“
Mum hinted that she'd talk to him,” she said, “They get along, don't they?”

“
Yeah. When did that happen?” I asked.

“
I don't know. We miss too much when we're away. Maybe they're secretly meeting to talk about us when we're not around.”

“
I think they both have better things to do. Hey, Meg,” I greeted her when I finally noticed she was sat on her bed. She'd been so vocal the previous night, and then had dropped back into being her usual shy self.

She nodded in greeting. I detected the hint of a smile. The bold person we'd seen wasn't completely gone. I imagined that Meg intended to just save that side of herself for special occasions. Well, I hoped we wouldn't have much use for her. I didn't intend to get myself kidnapped or threatened ever again.

I dropped onto Jenny's bed, and pushed my fingers through my hair. She sensed something was on my mind, and hit the nail on the head when she commented, “It's too bad Charlie and Will had to leave. It was heroic of him to come all the way here to help, don't you think?”

“
Yeah. Will really -”

“
I meant Charlie,” she said.

“
Oh! Right. Yeah, that was so -”

“
Are you into Will?” she asked.

“
What? No,” I laughed, “I hate him, remember?”

“
Yes, I do. But I thought you might have forgotten.”

I had.

I hugged my knees to my chest, “Is this how you feel when you see Charlie?”

“
What?”

I shook my head. It was difficult to put it into words. Jenny raised a brow, encouraging me to continue. It made me sound like such a stupid little girl to talk about crushes, or even love. Jenny was my best friend, and she'd never mock me for how I felt for someone, but I didn't know how she'd take it when even I couldn't process the idea properly.

“
Beth,” Meg said quietly, “Are you in love with William?”

“
You
are?!
” Lisa asked upon bursting into the room without invitation.

Chrissy closed the door behind them, and hurried over to sit beside me on the bed, “Are you, seriously?”

“
I – I just don't totally hate him. What are you all doing in here, anyway?”

“
I told them we should come and find you,” Georgia said, joining us last, and doing so with a great deal more control than the others. She let the door close carefully with a tap, and leaned back against it, “You're staying, right?”

“
Yeah, Dad said it was okay.”

“
My parents said that so long as I stick with you guys, I'm allowed to go out of the hotel,” Lisa announced, “So we can't do anything boring, and we have to buy loads of clothes.”

“
You have enough clothes to open your own mall,” I said, “Why do you need more?”

“
Duh, the end of year dance is coming up.”

“
Yeah, after exams,” I reminded her, “Which you haven't studied for at all.”

“
I'm going to wing it,” she said.

“
Or,” Jenny suggested, “We could go back a couple of days early, and lock you in the library.”

“
God, you're so mean! Anyway, I want to know about the person Beth
loves
.”

“
Like I said,” I threw a pillow at her face, “I
don't
love him! I just like him a bit better. I mean, he's still a snob.”

“
You're a snob,” Georgia countered, “You take offence to people just because they're rich. It's not like they can help it.”

“
I – I don't -”

“
Hey, can I ask something?” Lisa said, “Why did Gideon say that you're the same?”

“
He was just trying to get me on his side. It didn't mean anything.”

Jenny winced slightly, “That's not totally true, is it?”

“
What?”

“
Beth, just because you don't have as much money as the rest of us, it doesn't mean we're different. I mean, we might have started out just being friends because we were sharing a room. But now, it's more than that. I think you know that, otherwise you wouldn't have flown out here to help when I called. Society, class, and that kind of thing don't matter. If we're friends now, we always will be.”

I smirked, “That was beautiful. I feel sick.”

“
Idiot,” she hit me gently on the arm, “I was trying to be nice.”