Liz

As soon as the door slammed shut, Liz let out a growl of frustration, startling Jane who was working on her project at the other end of the room.

"What is the matter, Liz?"

"I hate Will Darcy!"

"What did he do this time?"

"Firstly, when Mr. Saunders assigned me as his project partner, he said that he would prefer to be paired with Ralph! Can you believe it – Ralph who can barely string two words together! Well, Mr. Saunders said he saw no reason to change partners and then Darcy gave me one of his supercilious looks... and now, now he wants me to do most of the project by myself! He said he has something really important to do and needed to go home immediately!"

"We have two more weeks to finish it, Liz. I'm sure he did have something important to do that couldn't be put off."

"I don't believe it ... he just didn't want to work with me. Well, I'm not sitting here after school and doing this on my own. I'm going home. I don't care if I get a bad grade on this project, as long as HE gets a bad grade as well."

Liz angrily threw her things into her bag and stormed out of the room, nearly crashing into Charles Bingley who was coming inside.

Charles stared after the departing Liz in confusion. He turned to his project partner Jane with a questioning look. "What happened to Liz?"

Jane sighed. "Apparently, Will left saying he had something to do and asked Liz to finish alone what they had planned to get done today. She was already upset because he asked Mr. Saunders if Ralph could be his partner instead of her."

"Will is just a bit shy. I know Liz and he got off on the wrong foot from his first day of school but you have to explain to her that he really did not mean to insult her when he changed his table after she sat down next to him. He's been home-schooled for the last few years after his mother died, and he is not comfortable around girls at all. I think he finds Liz rather intimidating."

"I didn't know he lost his mother. That's so sad. And I think it's really nice the way you've taken him under your wing."

Charles laughed. "He's no lost duckling. I've just helped him settle in. I like to think we are best friends now. And he probably got a call or message from his dad asking him to pick up his younger sister from her school. That would be the only reason he left so suddenly. Please tell Liz to go easy on him tomorrow. I don't think he could handle an angry Liz Bennet!"

Liz threw her mobile on the bed after she finished talking to Jane. She had been surprised to learn that Will Darcy had lost his mother some years ago and been home schooled since then. That did explain his lack of social graces.

She wondered whether she had misread him completely. The first day of school, she had walked into class and seen a new boy sitting at one of the desks at the back. She had thought that he was really cute and promptly sat down next to him. To her shock and dismay, when she turned and smiled at him, he gathered his things and went to sit at one of the desks up front.

She knew she wasn't a stunner like her friend Jane, but this was the first time a boy had thought she was so awful, he didn't want to even sit next to her! She had made it into a joke and gone around telling all her friends what happened, but secretly, she had been rather hurt.

She wondered now whether she had made it more difficult for him to settle in by making her friends automatically disposed to dislike him. Only Charles Bingley had gone out of the way to befriend Darcy. Most of the others had already heard Liz's story and Darcy's aloof expression did its part in ensuring he had few friends in class.

She decided to try to be more polite to Darcy. Maybe he really was just shy like Charles said. Although she felt that Charles Bingley was just too nice and easily-led and it was more likely that Darcy was using him and would show his true colors later.

Darcy and Liz had only a few classes together and since he continued to sit at the front and she at the back, they didn't have any conversation until they met at the end of the day to work on their science project.

Liz had come to the class earlier than Darcy and was glad to find that all their things remained on the table. She had been so angry yesterday that she had not kept anything back in the locker but it looked like luck was on her side and no one had used the room that day.

She had just started work when Darcy came in. She remembered her resolution to be polite and smiled at him. He looked rather shocked but did not return her smile which irritated Liz.

"So did you get that really important thing done?" she asked him.

"What? I don't understand what you are talking about."

"You left yesterday saying you had something important to do."

Darcy looked at her confused. "Yes, I got that done."

"Great, I hope you can work on the project today."

"Yes I can," returned Darcy. Liz looked at his handsome face and thought it was unfair that he was so good-looking when his character was so unpleasant. It seemed unlikely he was going to either apologize for leaving or explain where he had to go urgently yesterday so she dropped the topic. The conversation for the next few minutes was only regarding the work they would be doing.

Charles and Jane came in a little later followed by Ellen and Natalie who were also using the same room to work in.

Darcy remained quiet and Liz chatted with the others while she worked.

They got quite a bit done so Liz was happy when they packed up. She said a quick goodbye to Charles, Ellen and Natalie and left with Jane.

"Liz! You didn't say bye to Darcy!"

"I didn't? Guess I forgot. It doesn't matter anyway."

"I caught him staring at you when you weren't looking."

"Oh Jane, don't be silly. We all know that Will Darcy is not the least bit interested in me. However, I do know that Charlie keeps looking at you in class..."

"Really!"

"Yes, I think he does like you."

"Casey is having a party next weekend. Do you think Charlie will ask me to go with him?" asked Jane with a hopeful look.

"I'm sure he will! You will be working with him on the project after school every day so he should have enough opportunity to ask you."

"We will be working on the project Tuesday and Thursday but not the other days. Charlie has football and I have cheer-leading practice."

Liz was sure that Charlie would ask Jane out. They were perfect for each other – both good-looking and having similar kind natures.

The next evening, Jane came to Liz's house in tears. "What happened?" asked a worried Liz as she took Jane quickly to her room.

"Oh Liz, Charlie asked Maya to the party! I just found out when I saw her facebook page. I really thought he liked me, I'm such a fool," sobbed Jane.

"No, you are the loveliest and nicest girl in the class. And if Charles Bingley doesn't realize that it's his loss. Now, I'll tell you what we are going to do – we are going to go out and buy new dresses for the party and then we are going to go together and have a great time!"

Jane had calmed down by the time they had gone to three shops in search of the perfect dresses. Liz was relieved; she knew that Jane never showed much emotion so if she had broken down crying, she had really strong feelings for Charlie. She felt bad that she had encouraged Jane to think that Charlie would ask her to the party but she had been convinced that Charlie like Jane as well. She wondered what happened – she had never noticed Charlie paying any attention to Maya.

She resolved to help her friend get dressed for the dance. She was going to make sure that Charles Bingley woke up and noticed Jane!