This is my first attempt at a fanfiction so please, be nice! Hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: The characters Daria, Jerrold, Eleanor, and Peter belong to Gail Carson Levine, I do not own any of them!
Jerrold pounded on the locked door.
"Come on Elle, let me in!" he yelled through the wood.
"No," she yelled back, "I don't want to speak to you!"
He sighed and braced his hands on the doorframe. Why did she always jump to conclusions. They had been engaged for a year for heaven's sake. Did she think that he would just up and leave her for another lady of the court?
"Come on Elle, we were just talking! You know that!" He shoved his hands through his dark curly hair, and pulled them through it in frustration. How was he going to talk to her if she wouldn't open the door? How was he supposed to explain through wood that all they had been talking about was the desperation of their economic situation, and the strong need for an alliance with Ayortha at the earliest opportunity? "You of all people should trust me."
Eleanor sat at her vanity with her head buried in her arms, tears streaming out of her face. At his words, she lifted her head in disbelief. She stormed over and unlocked the door, then practically tore it off of its hinges.
Jerrold almost fell into the open air, and only just caught himself before landing on Elle. He looked down at her and realized that she had been crying. He reached up to wipe away her tears, but she brushed his hand away angrily.
"First of all," she said, stabbing his chest with her finger, "You know that I don't like to be called Elle anymore".
"But that's what I have always called you! I don't see why I can't call you Elle, even if everyone else has to call you Eleanor now that you're a member of the court! I'm going to be your husband, and the king! Why can't I call you Elle? I have always called you Elle!"
"Because it's not proper anymore, Jerrold" she replied, "and you know it. I have the envious and hateful stare of the kingdom on me right now, and can't afford any more criticism. It is bad enough that everyone hates me because my great-grandfather is Ayorthian. I have to be perfect if I'm going to be the future queen!"
"The subjects will get over that in time. You don't look Ayorthian in the slightest bit. The stupid ones will soon forget, and the smart ones will overlook that!"
"Elephants never forget," she answered angrily. "And secondly, I, of all people, should trust you?" She said, her eyes echoing the incredulity in her voice. "I have known you your whole life Jerrold. I have shared your delight in every conquest that you have ever made! I know them all! I know how flighty you are, and how easily your affections change! What makes me any different? How do I know that once we are married you will not find a mistress, or two mistresses, or ten? What is to keep me from being the laughingstock then?"
Eleanor reached up to brush the sparkling tears of anger off her remarkably freckled face. "I don't know why I agreed to marry you in the first place!"
Jerrold stared at her in disbelief. "You agreed to marry me because I love you and you love me and we want to spend the rest of our lives together!"
"You say that now, but you don't mean it! I've seen you eyeing those other women of the court! I remember poor Lady Olga! You swore your eternal devotion to her, and look at her now! Married to that horrible Lord Frederick!
"Do you also remember how she was only after my money? She didn't actually care about me at all!" Jerrold shuddered to remember how he had almost been tied down to that hag.
"That's besides the point! You have had a string of women whom you have courted and 'loved' as you call it and then cast aside for the next pretty face. I thought that because I have been one of your best friends since childhood that perhaps it would be different between us. But I don't think it is and Daria agrees with me."
Jerrold could not believe it. Of course Daria would be the person planting the seeds of doubt in Elle's mind. Ever since she had arrived at court four long years ago she had been a thorn in Jerrold's side. Daria and Elle had become best friends, and asked each other about every move they made. Daria tended to be more outspoken and Jerrold often found himself in heated discussions and quarrels with her about every aspect of the country, international relations, and every other subject imaginable.
He couldn't stand Daria and now she was about to ruin his life. "Elle, you cannot let Daria make decisions like this for you!" Jerrold ran his hand through his increasingly tangled hair again in frustration
"Who said she made this decision for me? I said that she agreed with my decision! Don't give me that big sigh, contrary to your opinion I can think for myself!" Elle was getting more and more upset. She felt that she might explode if she had to talk to Jerrold too much longer.
"Elle, I…."
"I'll see you at the ball," Elle snapped and shut the door in Jerrold's highly confused face. As soon as it shut she burst back into tears. She sank to the floor and let herself weep uncontrollably for five minutes. She could not believe that her life was falling to pieces like this. She had really thought that she and Jerrold could end up together and be happy, but she was not sure about that anymore. She had fallen hard for Jerrold, but knew that he did not feel the same way. She had friends who were deeply in love with one another, and she and Jerrold did not feel the same way about one another. She was not even sure if her feelings extended beyond infatuation and friendship.
Elle sighed as she stood up. She had to prepare herself for the ball that night and the trials that awaited her at the ball.