West and East
(A modernized North and South)
Disclaimer: I do not own "North and South," Elizabeth Gaskell does. The song mentioned is "Secret" by Maroon 5, they own the rights not me. "The New Yorker" is not owned by me either. Anything else in here belongs to their respective owners.
A/N: Okay, so I couldn't resist the urge to publish this even though I still haven't finished "Thornton & Margaret" but I really wanted to. So tell me what you think.
Chapter 1: Graduations and Goodbyes
Maggie lay on her bed; her hair was wet and fanned out around her head like a halo. She was wearing her big yoga pants and her small green t-shirt that pictured Bambi and read: "Eat your greens." She had Pride and Prejudice open to the part where Darcy proposes to Elizabeth for the first time, but her eyes were closed, trying to see the BBC's version of that scene in her head. Colin Firth was her favorite Mr. Darcy, and she smiled as the scene played out in her mind's eye.
"Mags! Why are you still in that? Where's your dress? And why haven't you finished packing?" Edith bombarded her with questions as she came barging into Maggie's room. Maggie looked up at her cousin, who had her make-up pouch in her hands, quite ready to go but sans heels and make-up. Edith's hair was tied up in an elegant bun, and she looked pretty even without makeup.
Margaret "Maggie/Mags" Hale had been living with her mom's family, the Shaw's, for the past five years. Her parents, who were currently living in their small family home located in Lakeside, New York, had sent her to live with the Shaw's elegant house in New York, New York. Her aunt and uncle, Gerard and Marianne Shaw, had offered to pay for Maggie's tuition to York Prep, a private school not far from their home that Edith attended. It had grades sixth to twelfth, and who were Maggie's parent's to argue with such an offer? They knew that they could not afford to send her to such a school, and their local public schools were not the best of schools. Maggie's family wasn't poor, her father was a math teacher at their local community college, and her mother was a good old housewife; but Gerard Shaw owned a fair share of stocks in "The New Yorker" and was much better off in life. Thus, at the ripe age of eleven, Maggie packed her things and moved in with her aunt, uncle and cousin. It was for the best, her parents had told her.
Edith was two years older than her, but they got along just fine, which made this transition much easier for Margaret, who only had an older brother, Frederick, who had just signed up for the Marines and she hadn't seen in a year. They became the best of friends and did everything together. Even so, they had their differences. Edith preferred to go into Nordstrom to find a cute summer dress while Maggie preferred to walk into Borders to find a good summer read. Edith liked her steak well done; Maggie was a vegetarian. Edith loved coffee; Maggie enjoyed her tea. Edith was blonde; she was a brunette. Edith studied French; Maggie was a Spanish wiz. Edith played the piano; Maggie was more of a drama and dance person. Most times they managed to get over their differences and have fun. Not so much today.
"For your information, I'm almost done packing, I just have to throw in a few more outfits. And I'm waiting for my hair to dry before I put on my dress, which is hanging… over there," Maggie pointed lazily to a general area of her room.
"There's such a thing called a blow dryer? I really wish you could look more excited about wearing that dress. You looked really nice in it the other day, Besides, do it for me will you?" Edith put on a face that reminded Maggie of Puss in Boots from Shrek.
"Como puedo decir que no cuando pones esa cara?*" Maggie said in her perfect Spanish accent. Edith smiled as she saw her cousin get up from the bed and walk into the bathroom that connected their rooms where the blow dryer could then be heard. "You owe me!"
"I'll just do your makeup and we'll be even," Edith said as she followed her cousin into the bathroom and proceeded to apply her makeup like a pro, making funny faces the whole time, squinting her eyes and pouting her lips. Maggie laughed and applied mousse to her curly hair to make the curls hold, she loved her hair. She then made her way into her room and put on her green dress, "It brings out you eyes," Edith had said when they went shopping the day before. She then allowed Edith to do her makeup. Once Edith was done Maggie peered at herself in their full-length mirror that they had in the bathroom. Maggie had to admit, she looked good. The green, strapless, just above the knees dress with the black bow around her middle looked good on her. It hugged her in all the right places and showed off her legs, her best feature she thought.
"We look awesome!" Edith said, as she stood next to Maggie and admired their looks in the mirror. Edith grabbed her graduation gown and cap, while Maggie grabbed both their clutches and they went downstairs where Edith's parents were already waiting to take them to the graduation ceremony of the York Prep class of 2008.
The ceremony went well, her Aunt dabbing at her eyes when "Edith Shaw" was read and Edith went up to accept her diploma. The Shaw's sat with the Lennox's and so Henry had found a seat next to Maggie.
"So you going tonight?" he had asked, Maggie nodded.
~oOo~
The music was blaring, the bodies were sweating, and Maggie needed to get out of the room before she suffocated.
It was Edith's graduation party, and she had no other choice but to attend. It wasn't that she hadn't wanted to go, she loved her cousin like she was her sister, but the prospect of high-schoolers dancing the night away with little adult supervision wasn't as appealing as sitting down and enjoying a good book with a cold cup of raspberry iced tea. But her cousin had easily convinced Maggie with her smiles and charm. Edith was beauty personified, 5'3'', blond, slim, petite, and smart; she was every high school girl's envy. Not that Maggie envied her, because she didn't. She wasn't blind, Edith was beautiful, but Maggie just didn't feel the need to feed her cousin's considerable ego any more than it was by telling her that. Besides, Maggie wasn't too bad looking; you could say she was pretty, in a different way. She was 5'5'' with brown curly hair and green eyes that stood out from beneath her dark eyelashes. Her mouth was wide, but with one soft curve of naturally pink that stood out from her ivory skin. She was slim, but she had curves. And when she smiled, dimples appeared on her cheeks, giving her an almost child-like appearance. Most people just failed to notice her when Edith was around.
Maggie found an empty balcony—complete with a comfortable looking chair, which she immediately claimed as her own—that was far enough from the dance floor so that the music was barely audible. She opened the cold water bottle in her hand and chugged down about half its contents.
"Ah," she sighed in relief. She looked at her phone, 1:28. It was late, and she couldn't wait to get home. The party had been fun at first, Maggie had to admit; she had danced with a few of her friends and a few other guys she knew from her classes. But she had decided to ditch the dance floor after the guy she was dancing with tried to feel her up. Someone had obviously spiked the drinks, Edith knew better than to provide the alcohol. Maggie was as clean as they came, no alcohol, no drugs, and no sex. Cursing she tried to avoid, sometimes she couldn't help it though. She thought all those thing were too passé, so when that happened, she had shoved the guy away, cursed him, grabbed a closed water bottle and headed to find a peaceful place to pass the rest of the evening away from drunk teenagers.
"Hey there loner."
Maggie looked up to find Henry Lennox smiling his goofy smile at the entrance to the balcony. She simply nodded to acknowledge his presence, she was tired and in no mood to keep up a conversation at the moment, especially with Henry. He was her friend, after all, but lately he had become more of an annoying shadow. Usually she tolerated him enough, he was smart and practical, making up for his lack of good looks, the ugly duckling of the family, per say. Henry's ambition was to get into Harvard, later into their law school. He wanted to be a lawyer, maybe even a Supreme Court Justice some day; and he certainly had the brain for it. Henry was Charles Lennox's younger brother of one year. Charles Lennox was Edith's long time sweetheart, three years in fact. He was the captain of the soccer team, complete with stunning athletic body and brains, but he was planning on joining the army reserves. Charles and Edith planned on keeping a long distance relationship, Charles in the army, Edith attending NYU**. That's how Maggie had met Henry. They had been forced to double date when Edith and Charles' relationship was budding, but later on were released from that uncomfortable duty when Aunt Shaw, Edith's mom, had given her approval for Charles and Edith to go steady. Maggie and Henry had some of the same classes at her school, and they were friends. Not best friends, no, but close enough.
"So why are you out here, and not in there?" Henry asked, coming over and taking Maggie's water bottle before opening it and drinking some, his lips on the bottle. This annoyed Maggie, she hated it when people she wasn't comfortable with did that. She shared drinks with her girlfriends, with guys it was a different story.
"You can have it," Maggie said when Henry offered her back her own water bottle. He shrugged.
"Are you gonna' answer my question?" he said, in a voice that sounded too flirty for Maggie's taste.
"I got tired, it's late, and I want to go home and rest," Maggie shrugged. It was true, maybe not the whole truth, but good enough. She didn't want to tell Henry about some guy copping a feel in there.
"I could drive you home if you want, Charles and I brought separate cars today," Henry offered. Although Maggie would much rather drag Edith along, she knew that either way Henry would have been driving her home while Charles would drive Edith home. A short drive with Henry wouldn't be too bad, no matter how annoyed she was.
"Sure, that'll be great. Let me just grab my coat and purse, tell Edith, and I'll meet you out there in fifteen,' Maggie said as cheerfully as she could. Henry smiled and opened his mouth to say something but Maggie quickly rushed past him to find her things, but she could almost swear that he said she looked nice today. With her things in tow she managed to find her cousin with her arms wrapped around her boyfriend and dancing in a way that Maggie was sure her Aunt would not approve of.
"Henry's taking me home!" Maggie had to practically yell into her cousin's ear. Edith simply smiled and waved her away. Maggie shrugged and made her way outside where she found Henry sitting in his car, a grey Toyota Camry, relatively new, a hand-me-down from Charles who had gotten a new car in his senior year. He was scrolling through his iPod playlists, and when Margaret got into the car she could hear Maroon 5's "Secret" playing softly. She started nodding her head to the catchy intro, if it was one thing she loved, it was Maroon 5.
"I take it you like the music?" Henry said, trying to start up a conversation.
Some conversation, no contemplation, hit the road…
"Yeah,' Maggie said ignoring him and looking out the window. She suspected that he only put Maroon 5 on his iPod because she had mentioned it to him that Maroon 5 was one of her favorite bands. It was things like that that really bothered her about him, she ignored it most of the time though.
Come over please jump out of my seat…
Henry looked over at her, but she didn't notice. He had always admired her, he even thought her prettier than Edith. They were friends, but he wanted to be more than that. Especially now that she was going back home for the summer.
I know I don't know you, but I want you so bad…
Maggie was lip-synching with the song; she never dared to actually sing along out loud in front of other people. She wasn't really paying attention to the lyrics which she had memorized; her mind was more occupied with thinking about her journey back to her real house the next day. She was excited, she hadn't seen her parents since Easter break when they visited her for a week.
Everyone has a secret, oh can they keep it? Oh no they can't…
"Hey Margaret," Henry began, calling her by her full name, like he usually did. She looked over at him; that was another thing she didn't like, when he called her Margaret. It wasn't that she didn't like her name, but it sounded too formal and she preferred to go by Maggie, or Mags, like Edith called her. They had pulled up to her Aunt's house on Lexington Avenue, her "house" and Maggie had her hand on the door handle, ready to get out of the car.
I'm driving fast now, don't think I know how to go slow…
"I just wanted to say that I'm really going to miss you, when you go," Henry said timidly, turning the music down.
"It's just for the summer, I'm coming back next year, like always," Maggie said a little irritated, she really just wanted to get out of the car and up to her room, take a hot shower and get into bed. She didn't want to be sitting here in the car with Henry, talking about his feelings.
"I know, but I just really wanted to hang out over the summer, you know?"
"Not really. Listen, Henry, its cool that you want to hang out with me, but the summer is really the only time I get to see my parents. I spend practically the whole year here in New York City, sometimes it's just relaxing to go back to Lakeside for a while, away from the city."
"What's it like there, in Lakeside?"
"What do you mean?"
"What do you do there, everyday. Here you go shopping with Edith, and you walk to Central Park; but what do you do there?"
"Um… I go to Lake Ontario almost every day, ride my bike there, and sometimes I swim, or I just sit there and read. It's really pretty there. Some days I just stay home with my mom and dad, hanging out, not doing much," Maggie said, a little confused as to why he was asking her these things. They had never really talked about Lakeside, not until recently that is.
"Sounds like heaven, a place in a poem."
"Oh c'mon Henry, it's just my house. And I'm sure that any place sounds like heaven compared to the bustle of city life. It's not that great."
"But you like going there."
"It's home, who doesn't like going home," Maggie said with finality. He shrugged. "Look, thanks for the ride. You coming to the airport tomorrow?"
"Yeah I think so," Henry said, just as Maggie was opening the door to the car. "Wait!"
Maggie turned as Henry grabbed her arm, and was met with his lips on hers. She was shocked; her eyes wide open as she saw Henry with his eyes closed pressed against her face. He could feel his tongue rubbing against her lips, which she had immediately pressed together, asking for admittance into her mouth. She was disgusted, not really that it was Henry, but at his audacity for doing such a thing. She shoved him away.
"Fuck off!" she said, fuming with anger, the back of her hand wiping her mouth.
"What was that for?" Henry said; she had pushed him away with such force that his head had almost hit his window.
"What do you mean? You fucking kissed me! Out of nowhere!" Maggie was speaking loudly, trying her best not to yell at him, curse words coming off her tongue.
"I thought you wanted me to," Henry said lamely.
"When have I ever hinted that I wanted you to?" Maggie seethed inwardly.
"I… Margaret, I've liked you for a very long time, I thought you'd noticed it by now. I mean, how long have we known each other? We frickin' double dated with Charles and Edith! That could have been us!" he said like it was something he said to himself everyday.
"What?!" Maggie was angry now. "We're friends, Henry, friends."
"Did you ever think that maybe I wanted to be more than that?" she slapped him for that, because he needed to bring him back to his senses. It was his turn to look shocked.
"No Henry. Friends don't go out with each other. It doesn't work like that," she opened the door, got out, and slammed it shut. She ran into her Aunt's house without looking back.
~oOo~
Maggie was sitting in her bathtub, her fingers were getting wrinkly, but she didn't care. It had been a long day. She had spent most of her morning packing, trying her best to remember everything, including her dog-eared copy of Pride and Prejudice, which she had decided to open and read, despite her lack of time. She had just gotten to the best part when Edith had found her. Things had been great then, but then they went to the party. And then Henry drove her home. And then he kissed her.
Maggie ran a hand through her damp hair. Why did he have to go and ruin a perfectly normal friendship? "I've liked you for a very long time. I thought you'd noticed it by now." His words echoed in her head. She racked her memory for a sign that would prove him right, they had gone to the movies, just the two of them, countless times. They had worked and studied together for classes they shared. He had bought her expensive gifts for her birthday, Christmas, Valentine's Day. In fact, now that she though about it, he had acted like a boyfriend to her almost all the time. How could she have let him?
She tried to push all thoughts from her head as she lay in bed. She focused on her home in Lakeside, her impending flight home, and then she wondered whether Henry would be there to see her off the next day. She groaned, she just couldn't stop thinking about Henry; he had been her first kiss. This made her mad, so she flicked on the lights and opened up Pride and Prejudice. Half an hour later, Maggie was fast asleep.
~oOo~
"Call me as soon as you get there!" Edith was hugging Maggie so hard it was hard to breathe.
"I will, I promise," Maggie said as she hugged the rest of her family at the airport.
"Send my love to your mother," her aunt said. Maggie nodded. Her uncle pinched her cheek. Charles gave her a high-five, they had a weird relationship like that, and Henry was a no show. Maggie felt bad about that; she had hoped they could fix their friendship before she left for the summer. She said her last goodbyes and went to sit in the gate waiting room for her flight to depart.
She boarded the plane and took a seat, where she dozed off until her plane landed. She stretched, grabbed her carry-on and made her way to baggage claim. As she stepped into the bright light of the street, she heard her name.
"Maggie darling!" Maggie turned and saw her dad.
It was good to be home.
A/N: So how was that? Please REVIEW! Should I keep this going? And don't worry, for those of you who read "Thornton & Margaret" I will still be updating it on a weekly basis.
Just to explain the stuff up there some of you might not know.
* How could I say no when you put on a face like that? (Spanish is actually my native tongue)
**New York University
Oh, and I don't live in New York, I just googled a few things, like York Prep and Lakeside, so if there are any discrepancies sorry about them.
REVIEW please!
