Chapter 1: The Challenge
It was shaping up to be an exceedingly average day in Hertfordshire. The early hours of the morning had been quiet and rainy, the animals and humans all awoke at regular times, and everyone went to do their daily activities without so much as a thought. Inside the Bennet household, they had their breakfast in relative silence, Mrs. Bennet being the only one to talk. The rain cleared away to reveal a lovely sunny day, the kind that had soft cool winds and a promise of springtime. By all accounts, nothing should have been different.
Mary Bennet sat at the pianoforte, attempting a more difficult piece, and failing miserably. She was so frustrated that tears sprang to her eyes as she felt the shame of failure fill up her chest. But with that feeling of failure also came anger at what was distracting her. Only one room over, Kitty was whining loudly, begging to be allowed to visit Meryton to buy a new ribbon to send to Lydia. Mary could not keep a frown from stealing over her face as she glared over at the empty doorway, as if willing her sister to be quiet. Of course it was a fruitless endeavor, as Kitty kept begging and pleading with their mother.
"No Kitty! Your father has made it very clear that you are not to go anywhere without a chaperone, and I am far too tired to go gallivanting across the countryside just so you can get Lydia a ribbon! Why her husband should be giving her plenty of ribbons." Their mother replied snappishly. Inside of her head, Mary could picture Kitty's lower lip trembling as she tried to keep the tears at bay.
"But mama! It is not fair that Lydia and Lizzie and Jane always got to go wherever they wished and yet I have to stay home all the time! You are always tired, I barely leave the house once a week, and that is only to visit Jane!" Mary heard Kitty stomp her foot in frustration, and she rolled her eyes. Really, if Kitty wanted to be treated like an adult, she should act more like one.
"You ungrateful girl!" Gasped their mother, "I am tired from running this household! And you should count yourself as lucky that you even get to see Jane!" She moaned dramatically, "Perhaps I should have let you go with Lydia and the Forresters, then you may have gotten married as well!"
For a moment, Mary thought of going to comfort Kitty, but she heard her father's voice join in to the fray. She hadn't known he was in the sitting room with them! "Do not be too hasty my dear, Kitty is not nearly as reckless as Lydia, so I doubt she would have eloped as well. But she is quite silly so I cannot be too sure in my assessment." Whatever tears Kitty had tried to hold back were let free at this comment, and the young girl ran past Mary and up the stairs with barely contained sobs.
As Mary sat there, feeling the deafening silence wash over her, she told herself that her parents were indeed correct about Kitty. "Ah Mary, I wondered why the house was so quiet, and here I see you aren't droning away on the pianoforte like usual." Her father's wry voice interrupted her musings, and she looked up at his wrinkled face.
"Ah, yes, my fingers were tiring and I…" Mary always found herself at a loss for words when speaking to her father, but he just shook his head, turning to go to his study. She stood and followed him, hoping to perhaps play a game of chess or discuss Fordyce. He seemed to not notice her until he was sitting in his chair and she had planted herself down in the seat straight across from him.
"Your sister is quite a trial these days," he muttered, a look of annoyance in his dark eyes. The same eyes possessed by Mary and Elizabeth. Mary eagerly latched onto this opportunity to converse with him.
"I agree wholeheartedly father, in fact, Fordyce has said that-" she stopped herself mid-sentence as she saw him roll his eyes and let out a huff of air. "D-did I say something wrong, father?" Mary asked, unable to keep her voice from trembling.
"I do not see how that is possible, considering you never truly say anything at all." He quipped before laughing almost meanly. "You quote scripture and Fordyce constantly, but have you ever had an original thought in your life? Go now Mary, if I want your opinion on such things, I shall consult Fordyce's Sermons first." Her father waved his hand towards the door, and Mary felt the warm blush of mortification spread from her chest up her neck.
She stood and quickly left the room, keeping her face stony as tears threatened to fall from her eyes. In no way did she wish to be inside the house anymore, and she went to her room to fetch her gardening supplies. She would rather be outside in the dirt than inside with her family.
But as she passed Kitty's room, she heard the sobs and saw the girl laying on the bed with her face shoved against a pillow. Walking a few steps into the room, Mary sat down on the edge of the bed. The movement caused Kitty to look up from her pillow, her eyes dreadfully red and her face stained with tears. "What do you want? Come to tell me that Doctor Fordyce says that crying is not befit for a lady?"
Mary pursed her lips, it had been foolish to visit Kitty. She stood and began to walk away before Kitty called out to her. "No, wait! I'm sorry for what I said, that was cruel of me." Turning back towards her sister, Mary nodded slowly.
"You are right, it was not nice to say that." She jutted her chin up and went back to sit next to her sister. "But really you should stop your insipid crying, it won't make mother or father any more likely to allow you to go to Meryton. After all that Lydia did, I assure you that they're unlikely to allow you to walk free until you're at least twenty." Sniffing delicately, Mary eyed Kitty, whose jaw was clenched and brows were furrowed.
"It is not my fault that Lyddie went and eloped! Why should I be punished for what my sister did?" Kitty asked petulantly.
"Because you are just as wild and stupid as she was." Retorted Mary without thinking. She snapped her mouth shut in shock, surprised that she said that.
"Is that really all that you think of me? That I'm an idiot who would elope like Lydia?" Her voice was not hurt, and there were no tears in her eyes, just a defeated look that Mary recognized from her own face in the mirror.
"If you want the truth, then yes." She said quietly, feeling the bed move as Kitty scooted away from her.
"I should have expected this from you, Mary. You have always thought that you were better than us all, rolling your eyes and gnashing your teeth, reading your bible and telling us that we are all stupid little sinners." Kitty's voice raised an octave as she spoke, and Mary felt the familiar anger rise up in her chest as well.
"That's because you and Lydia were always running about like two uncivilized children! Always kissing and flirting and behaving like wanton fools!" Said Mary loudly, trying to hide her anger. Kitty gasped in a way reminiscent of their mother.
"I never kissed any man! I wasn't like Lyddie, I never traded a kiss for a ribbon! And flirting never hurt anyone! Maybe if you actually got asked to dance at an assembly you would understand."
"Of course I would never get asked to dance at an assembly!" shrieked Mary, unable to keep any composure at all, "I am the ugly sister after all! The plain one without any friends! The odd duck out!" And to her chagrin, the tears slipped from her eyes as she repeated the insults thrown at her from her parents and sisters. Kitty's face turned slack with shock for a moment.
"I never thought you to be ugly." She stated plainly. "Although you never do your hair in anything other than that severe bun, and you wear clothing as if you are a mourning widow, you aren't ugly."
"How lovely," Mary replied sarcastically.
"I am being serious, Mary. You are only plain because you choose to be. If you did your hair and wore nicer dresses, I'm sure you would be prettier than at least half the girls in Hertfordshire." Kitty was inspecting Mary now, as if she were a drawing in a fashion magazine. Mary scoffed.
"What is the point in vanity? Vanity is a sin and frivolity leads to sin as well; you and Lydia should very well know that."
"You just wanted to be different, Jane was the beautiful one, Lizzie the smart one, Lydia the outgoing one. You wanted to be the most accomplished and pious. And that meant ignoring your appearance." Kitty shrugged, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Well then what are you?" Mary questioned.
"That's easy, I'm the spare daughter. I always followed in Lyddie's footsteps because mama liked her the most out of all of us, but instead of that making her care for me more, it only made her find me to be tedious. Papa never liked me, by the time I was born, there was no love left to give from him. And I think mama only liked Jane and Lyddie, she always thought Lizzie to be impertinent, you to be boring, and me annoying."
"You've thought about this quite a bit, haven't you?"
"Despite the fact that you all think me to be a simpleton, I do quite a lot of thinking. Mama ignores me, papa calls me a silly little girl and sends me away, and you never want to talk to me. Since I'm always stuck here, I'm alone for most of my days. It gives me a lot of time to think."
Mary frowned, she had never thought of Kitty as lonesome. She always seemed to be such a happy, flighty creature that Mary was unaware that she could possibly feel lonely. "Perhaps you should join me at the pianoforte one day." Mary offered quietly, devoutly avoiding contact.
"Truly?" gasped Kitty.
"Yes, truly. But only if you promise me that you'll stop trying to act like Lydia."
"I promise to stop acting like Lydia if you start trying new hairdos."
For a moment, Mary considered leaving the room and forgetting the conversation altogether! How immature Kitty always was drove her wild. But it would be nice to have a companion, and perhaps she could help bring Kitty away from her reckless ways. She could only imagine how proud her mother and father would be. A smile crept across Mary's face.
"How about this: I shall wear more colorful dresses, try new hairstyles, and I shall learn how to dance reels. Only if you promise to allow me to instruct you on the pianoforte, stop gossiping so much, and if you quit acting like Lydia." Trying on new clothing would be nothing to helping Kitty become a more accomplished young lady.
Kitty smiled widely and her eyes brightened. "One more condition Mary? Please?" Mary nodded reluctantly.
"Try reading books other than Fordyce's Sermons and the Bible." At the look Mary gave her, Kitty amended her thinking, "It doesn't have to be anything ridiculous like the romance books Lyddie and I always read, it can just be classical literature and whatnot."
Sighing deeply, Mary agreed. "Fine, but that means I get to add one more requirement for you. You must stop begging and whining whenever either mother or father tells you 'no.'"
Kitty held out her hand very officially, but the officialness was belayed by a giggle bubbling from her throat. "I say that we shake on it." Although it was nonsensical, Mary grasped her sister's hand and shook.
"So we're in agreement."
"We begin tomorrow."
A/N: Thanks for reading! This is part 1 of a 10 part story about Mary and Kitty growing as people and becoming friends as they learn more about each other and their lives. There is no canon info about what happened to them other than Mary marrying a clerk and Kitty marrying a clergyman, so I'm going to fill in the blanks the best that I can. Hope you liked Chapter 1! (This story does not exist in the same universe as my other P&P story; Louisa)