Beginning, Section II
Jump to new as of December 10, 2002
Jump to new as of December 14, 2002
Posted on Tuesday, 10 December 2002
Will defititely does not like Liz
In class the next day, William definitely did not watch her. He did not watch her when she entered the classroom, he did not watch as she warmly greeted her friends and not him, he did not watch as she cleverly argued law with the professor, and he certainly did not watch her when she lazily tapped her pencil to her lips. He didn't make sure that he walked to 'their corner' and he positively wasn't disappointed when instead of slamming into his manmade wall, she breezed passed him with no acknowledgment but instead waved and smiled to someone else down the hall. No, he didn't. Unquestionably.
"Who the hell am I trying to fool?"
"No one." Will swirled around. Damn, he'd said it out loud. He hated when that happened, and so he acted as if he didn't know what was going on.
"Pardon me?" Henry Tilney smiled and suppressed a smile. Poor guy! "I said No one. You aren't trying to fool anybody... at least you don't appear to be a wag..."
William recognised him-it was the guy who was flirting with Liz! His Liz! ok, so she's not MY Liz.. but still...he was flirting with her "Ahh.. no I'm not."
"Oh, and you also aren't trying to fool anyone that you're sweatin' Lizzy Bennet.
We'll, not anyone who's watching anyway..." He grinned devilishly and sauntered off leaving a stunned and sputtering Will in his wake.
At first he stood there. Its apparent? You can tell? What did he mean, 'someone who's watching?'--he's watching Liz? Why is he watching her. Why is he watching me? He can tell? Oh no... can SHE tell...? Without noticing, he began to follow Henry. He didn't say anything, he was still trying to think of just what to say. He hated having a social ailment...
Of course, Henry was a clever guy, and he not only did he know Will would follow him, but this was confirmed when he glanced at his reflection in a window. But he did not turn around for a while, he just kept on walking until they had almost reached the parking lot, and then he said, without turning around, "She doesn't know, if that's what your worried about."
They stopped. "She doesn't?"
Henry turned around. "No, she doesn't. She thinks you hate her and believes her to be ugly."
"Oh."
There was a short silence as Will studied his shoes and Henry tried to think of a way to make this poor guy just a little bit more comfortable. He knew that Will really didn't have any friends save that Chaz guy; and being the nice guy that he was, wanted to try and prod him to become a bit more social. At length he said, in softer tones,
"Look. The only reason I know is because I studied you the other night at Ally's. I can tell you're worried about this, but don't be. Its just Liz's our little sister and we antagonize any guy who... you know.. likes her."
"I don't like her!" Will spat defensively.
Henry raised a questioning eyebrow. "So you ARE gay...?"
"NO!" He ran his hands through his hair, as he was apt to do when stressed and confused. "People don't actually think that, do they?"
Henry just bit his lip and gave Will the 'oh, you know it!' look. Again, Will raked his hair.
"You know, your hairline's going to recede much faster if you keep doing that."
Will shoved his hands in his pockets, "what?"
Henry shook his head, poor nervous wreck.. he thought. This guy was so uptight! Smiling to himself he plunged in. "You wanna hang out sometime?" Will just sputtered, so Henry amiably continued, "You know, get some beer, watch football-you do that right? Or, you know, we could study-I know you don't have a study group... lord knows how you keep up those grades..."
"Why don't you just study with Liz," Will said under his breath.
But Henry was determined. He was going to loosen this guy up if it was the last thing he... ok, well maybe not the LAST thing he did-but he was resolute! And so he continued in his easy, laid back manner.
"Liz? No good to study with. You never get anywhere-she moves too fast and cant understand why everyone else doesn't have a photographic memory like she does.. Oh, and I don't like her by the way, in case you were wondering."
Will looked up with a puzzled expression, and was about to say something when a pleasant redhead ran-up and linked arms with Henry. He smiled down at her as if lost for a moment and then turned back to Will.
"Cathy, this is Will Darcy, he's a law student who knows Jane and Lizzy." She nodded sweetly .
"Will, this is Cathy Morland, my girlfriend. We're off to dinner, its our two year anniversary."
As the strolled away, Henry turned for a moment, "think about it."
And our William was left in his usual confused, and rather stunned state.
When Will arrived at his apartment that evening, there was a message blinking on his answering machine from his cousin Richard Fitzwilliam--
"-Hey Will! Its Richard... I just wanted to let you know that I'll be coming into town this Thursday to find a place and put a few things into storage there. I'll be staying with you so I just wanted to remind you so you can let your dear housekeeper know that my favorite food is Italian, that my favorite ice-cream, I like pink fluffy towels laid out on my be-" ---BEEP!
Will rolled his eyes. Oh, Yes. Here comes Richard all right...
Two days later, Chaz went off with Jane for lunch, and William was obligated as was happening a lot lately, to eat lunch alone in the DBU cafeteria. He was then assaulted by Henry & Co.
Well, he sort of deserved it, sitting alone at a six top table.
Will was very uncomfortable. He was in the sitting at a table with four guys that he didn't know, one of whom he was... well actually sort of scared of. Henry could nearly see him trembling, so he decided to break the ice a bit. Hey, Will needed to loosen up some if he ever wanted to work with Liz, right? Plus, the big bro's had to check him out first, to make sure he wasn't in some underground drug ring, or a porn addict or anything freaky like that.
"Hey, Will."
(A quiet, "Hey.." in response)
"I saw you were all alone, so I figured you wouldn't mind if we joined you, seeing how the cafeteria's rather crowded today."
Will grimaced, but remember that these were friends of Liz (and Jane) so they were probably not going to be too bad. He would stick it out.
"Um.. Its fine."
"Cool," Henry replied, then turned too the others, "Hey guys, this is Will Darcy, he's a friend of Jane and Lizzy's."
A universal 'hey' was resounded from the group, and then Henry went around the table introducing the other four guys individually.
"This is George Knightley-he's studying business; Edward Bertram-we call him Bert though, wants to be a writer;" Will nodded to each of them taking in their appearance. George Knightly was very well dressed and kept, and looked almost formal in demeanor, while Bert seemed a bit more laid back with tousled hair and a lopsided smile. They nodded hello. Henry continued, "This here's Rob Martin, he's in agriculture and pretty much all he does is obsess about that girl over there, Har--" here Henry was interrupted by a "shut up man!" and a nudge in the ribs, which emitted some chuckles from the group,"--hehe, ok, and this is Ed Farrers, our slacker Law student, you probably recognise him from a class.."
Will nodded and managed to squeak out a, "Yeah, yeah I do." Even though he didn't really recognise the guy very much at all.
Ed smiled amiably, somewhat reminding Will of the serene Jane Bennet, "I don't know why I'm still in Law, I probably should switch to something easier where I only have to write very short papers...." He grinned, "these thesis's are killers."
They seemed like a friendly enough bunch, and Will was just beginning to relax and try and enter the conversation when a boom! of books hit the table, a chair was pulled up and a loud, lanky body crashed into it. The guy yawned, "Hey guys."
Henry smiled inwardly seeing Will's reaction-John Yates was just the sort of person who would give someone like Will a conniption fit. "Oh, Will, this is--" "--John Yates! Actor!" Yates finished up with a flourish. He thrust his hand across the table and shook Will's roughly, "Well, soon to be actor anyway, and director, he grinned.
Though Will had been not a bit startled by this newcomer, he had to smile.
These guys weren't bad (I mean, Elizabeth was friends with them, wasn't she?) and the more he thought about it, the more the prospect of becoming better acquainted with these people warmed up to Will. Plus, Henry had made it clear that in order to get to Liz, you had to go through the Big Bro's first.... not that he was trying to get Liz, though!
Though his tough reserve was hard to crack, the six amiable fellows were quite successful in drawing Will into conversation, for being absolute new acquaintances. By the end of a half and hour, he was no longer stuttering quite so badly, or glancing around nervously quite so much.
When it was time to resume their respective schedules for the day, the group split up, each of them expressing their satisfaction to have met Will, and hopes that they would see him around soon. Henry had given everyone the 411 on Will ahead of time, and they knew that he was someone quite different than the average Lizzy follower... and by astute observation by Henry and others, they had perceived that Liz treated him quite differently than anyone else. He was the only person who had ever made her nervous, he might be the one who would finally crack her shell of 'unavailable'ness. But he had a lot to learn-and do-before that would ever come about.
And he needed the help of the bro's for that.
Being that Henry and Ed Farrars were both law students as well, they walked to the next lecture with Will, and afterwards, asked if he wanted to shoot pool that Thursday. Will, who loved a good game of billiards and was quite tired of playing Chaz, inwardly wanted to accept.... but he was also apprehensive about putting himself in a social situation that might become difficult for him.. as almost all social situations were. Luckily, Richard was coming into town on Thursday.
"Well then how about Friday? And if your cousin's still around he can come too," Ed persisted, "That would make an even number."
Will figured that since Richard would indeed still be in town on Friday night, and would be asking Will to take him out and do something anyways, that it would probably be a good idea. It might be easier for him to go somewhere if Richard was there as well.
"Yeah," he said, to Henry and Ed's surprise, "Ok, that would be cool."
The two friends filled him in on the location of their favorite billiard haunt and let him know what time they expected to show up.
Then Ed expressed that he was going to be late for his sister's wedding rehearsal, and Will also noticed the time and ran home to hear from his dear sister Georgiana, whom he was expecting a call from.
Posted on Saturday, 14 December 2002
"An Unexpected Happening" (or, the unexpected story of Mary Bennet)
Will also noticed the time and ran home to hear from his dear sister Georgiana, whom he was expecting a call from.
The Bennet apartment was similarly hearing from a sister, though in a very unexpected and disturbing way. And not over the phone either.
Lizzy paused her typing for the third time and listened to the knocking. Then she signed, hit save, and quitted her little office to answer the summons at the door. Why couldn't Jane have answered it? Was Charlie home? On moving through the apartment towards the front door, she noted that Jane was in the shower and Charlotte was not home.
Never bothering to use the peephole, she turned the knob and opened the door and....gasp..... "Mary!"
Mary Bennet, who had patiently (as patience is a virtue!) been waiting on the other side of the door, was not the rebellious type. She always heeded her mothers words, no matter how ridiculous and always listened to her father, whenever he chose to speak to her. She might not like what she had to do, but she knew it was her duty as their daughter to do what they asked of her.
This time they had gone too far. Ok... perhaps they didn't go too far, but everything had been building up for so long that Mary had finally snapped. And being that her only sensible sister's went to college only a two and a half hour bus ride away, she ran to them.
She had waited, patiently but with much trepidation; hoping--praying--that Jane would answer the door. Not that Lizzy wasn't a warm and loving sister. But Jane was always warm and loving under any circumstances, and she didn't know what sort of reaction she would receive from Lizzy considering the state in which she has abruptly shown up--without calling... and with her bags and trunk. But it was Lizzy, and not Jane who had heard her knocking.
"Mary!" she had gasped. It took Liz a few moments to formulate what to say next, "What on earth is going on?!?"
Mary thanked her maker for what happened next. Jane appeared out of nowhere, drying her hair with a towel behind Liz, and at the sight of her dear sister, flew past Liz and welcomed Mary into her arms.
"Mary! Oh it is so good to see you! Come inside and sit down-we'll get your bags-you must be tired. Oh, this is so pleasantly unexpected!"
She ushered Mary into their living room and then ran out to get her luggage, and getting Liz's assistance with the trunk, they had it all inside in 10 seconds flat.
Liz was still a bit shocked, but Jane moved right over too Mary, who was attempting to stammer out an apology and explanation, "I'm so sorry to be so abrupt about this, but I really couldn't--"
"Oh, its fine! I do wish you had called though, but you know we love to have you stay with us. I dare say, I'm worried you're becoming like Lydia with the way you packed, though-" Jane rushed. But Mary interrupted her.
"Jane you're mistaken. I do not want to visit-I've left home. I can't stand it there anymore-putting up with Lydia and Kitty and Mom without the two of you there has been unendurable, and they have all gotten a lot worse..."
Elizabeth registered all of this and joined her sister's on the sofa, "Do Mom and Dad know that you left, Mary?" she asked softly.
"No," Mary looked down, "They don't. I skipped school, packed up and left while they were at work. Mom should be home by now, but I doubt she'll notice my absence... its 6:00, so Dad should be arrive home soon as well.. whether he will notice or not... I do not know..." She looked on the verge of tears in voicing aloud both of her parents apparent disinterest in her, but she went on, "I would have called, but I was afraid one of you would called them and they would be right on my tail coming to fetch me home.... I do not want to go home. Jane, Lizzy, please let me stay.."
Mary was crying now, and Jane drew her arms around her, while Lizzy stroked her back.
Jane looked nervously across Mary's drooped head to Lizzy, a questioning look on her face that mirrored Liz's own face. How could they say no right now? "Oh.. of course you can stay sweety... we'll get this all worked out," she assured her.
"Yes, Mary... we've got... plenty of room..." Liz added, mentally trying to figure where Mary could possibly stay and be comfortable. The apartment was large--they had gotten quite a deal on it--and thought there were only three bedrooms per say, they had an extremely spacious pantry/storage/walk in closet deal/type thing that they had transformed into an office by removing the shelves and installing a desk which housed a Jane and Lizzy's desktop computer and Charlie's Laptop, and all of their paperwork. If Mary were to move in, they could easily move the computers too the other bedrooms and make a sleeping area for her... but this was all if in Lizzy's mind.
Once Mary had calmed down and her crying has ceased, (which was a surprise in itself, for neither sister had every seen Mary really cry) she knew that she would have to tell Jane and Lizzy what was going on.
She told them how Mrs. Bennet had gotten worse since their departure from home, of Mr. Bennet's negligence of her overall person, and the adolescent Kitty and Lydia's abhorrent behavior.
Since they had left school a year earlier, Mary realized that she didn't really have any friends. She had never tried to socialize, always burying herself into her school work and studies, figuring that maybe she would get some sort of recognition from her parents that way. The only people she had ever talked too were seniors who knew Jane and Lizzy and since they had all graduated she was left feeling very alone. Mary was born almost exactly 10 months after Liz, making them barely a year apart, and both being the academic over-achievers, Mary had also skipped a grade, making this year her senior year. Kitty was two years behind her, and Lydia was born as closely behind Kitty as Mary was to Liz.
The year that Jane and Liz had graduated, Kitty was a freshman, and this year, Kitty and Lydia were freshmen. ('Freshmore,' Kitty would no doubt correct..) Together they made Mary's school-life miserable. They refused to be acknowledged as her sister, they would trip her in the hall way, they had spread rumors about her, taunted her... the works. They were like two little demons, and they had tons of friends who were just like them.
If Kitty or Lydia got in trouble at school, it was Mary's fault. If Kitty and Lydia had a party and trashed the house, it was Mary's fault. If Mary had been home all night and her two younger sister's came home trashed from an evening out, it was Mary's fault and Mrs. Bennet would punish her instead of them. Mr. Bennet had thrown himself into his work since his two eldest had left home, and never took any domestic responsibilities anymore.
Kitty and Lydia seemed to purposefully hit Mary where it hurt the most, too. Being a reclusive type, her solace had always been found in literature, and she had always loved to read and write. Mary related to her eldest sisters how not two days earlier, Lydia had accidentally opened a bottle of soda in front of her bookshelf and it sprayed all over the place, effectively ruining most of her most precious books; and Kitty deleted nearly all of the stories she had been writing off of the computer that they shared. "It was running out of memory," she had said, but Mary knew it wasn't.
She had gone to her room that night, locked the door and wept. She got out an iron, trying to rescue a few of her most precious books by drying the pages...and then giving up, she moved to the notes she had scribbled down in her notebook on character development and plot structure for her latest story--scribbling hastily and trying to salvage it... but then she broke down again. All of her stories were so sad... and everybody died. For once she wanted to have a happy ending.. a happy life.
The next evening was the clincher. Billy Collins was in town that night visiting his mother, and of course... Mrs. Bennet invited Eunice Collins and her son over for dinner.
Because Jane and Lizzy were away, and Kitty and Lydia had run off too the mall at the prospect of dinner with Billy, Mary was going to have to face the disgusting, greasy, pompous Bill Collins alone. And that meant Mrs. Bennet was going to throw him at her.
The dinner was disastrous to Mary, but she bore it like a saint. She forced a smile all through dinner, she acted like she was attending Billy in conversation, she courteously nodded as he spoke of his noble patroness Mrs. De Bourgh, she even played the piano at his request and her mother's persistence. However, she did so with the intention of sounding very bad, and therefore played, "Mary had a little lamb", and sang it off key.
She hated putting on a show just to please her mother, and the way Billy had ogled her disgusted her beyond words. That the only reason he paid attention to her at all was because she was the only of her sister's available also pained her, as she was acutely aware that her mother did not think her to be as pretty as any of her sisters.
Lying in bed that night, Mary decided that she had had enough. She thought about it long and hard, and made a pact with herself that she would never go through another night like that ever again. When she thought about attending school the next day, she decided that she had had enough of that, too. And so she left.