CHAPTER 1: THE FAVOUR
BUZZ BUZZ
Beca picked up her phone from her bed. Facebook message from Jesse Swanson. Huh? Why was Jesse Swanson messaging her she wondered? Beca hadn't seen him for like 6 months and they'd only met about 3 times anyway. Beca unlocked her phone.
Jesse Swanson: Hey! Super weird but I need a massive favour! Please please please call me! 07070 707 070
Jesse was one of Beca's best friends', best friends. She'd first met him at Stacie's 18th birthday over a year ago. They'd been sat opposite each other at dinner and when some of Stacie's other friends had left, he had moved to sit next to her. They'd got on pretty well and when they both left, he'd walked her back to her bus stop. Beca's friends had teased her no end, including taking a picture of the two of them and putting a love heart around them. They hadn't let it go for weeks, no, no, years. It had been hell, everytime Beca thought they'd let it go, the picture would pop up again. They'd also taken this piss out of Jesse over the summer at an 'end of school' party. She felt bad for the guy. He was sweet and they'd had a nice chat and Beca had at one point thought to herself that she might date him, but they hadn't spoken for months, so why was he messaging her? Jesse was now away at uni about 4 hours away as far as she knew studying music. So Beca dialled the number and waited.
"Hello?" Said a mans voice.
"Hey, Jesse, it's Beca…"
"Oh my god Beca thank you so so so much for calling!"
"No problem…I guess. What do you need?"
"So…my family's having this garden party next week and I NEED to bring someone. I asked Stacie and she suggested I ask you, seeing as you're the only person who's not at uni right now. Literally everyone else I know is away and I know we don't really know each other but it's super important that I don't show up alone."
Beca could hear the urgency and panic in his voice. "Alright, I'll try and get the weekend off work. Text me the address and let me know if I need to bring anything."
"Oh my god thank you thank you than you! Gotta go, but I'll let you know the details. Thank you!"
Well that was odd, Beca thought.
BUZZ BUZZ
Jesse Swanson: 5 Park Road, Barden, BE1 1AS. Starts at 2 on Sat and if u could stay all evening that would be great! We have rooms to stay in if u need! Dress fancy. THANK U.
On Saturday morning Beca started digging through her wardrobe. Dress fancy. Right. He pulled out a plain black dress that she thought as fairly inoffensive and began to do her makeup. At 1, she went downstairs.
"You look fancy," commented her dad.
"That is the plan. I'm going out today and possibly not coming back tonight, I don't know though, I'll keep you updated."
"Do you have a date?" aksed her father.
"Um to be honest I don't know what I have. So far I'm going with 'helping out a friend.' Well technically a friend of a friend. One of Stacie's friends needed a favour and I offered so…now I'm fancy."
"Well, okay then," he replied, not quite knowing what to make of this. "Let me know if you're coming home and don't drink and drive."
"Bye dad, love you!"
Beca left. At around 1:45 she rounded a corner and saw a mansion. It had a big black and gold gate and a long driveway surrounded by perfectly landscaped gardens. She looked down at her phone and realised that she had arrived at the Swanson house. Wow. As she approached the gate a man in a uniform opened it for her and directed her to the car park. He had a fricken' CAR PARK! She quickly checked herself in the mirror and walked to the grand double front door and rang the very dramatic, old fashioned bell. A rather grand looking woman answered who looked somewhat like she belonged at the Queen's tea party. Something about the woman scared her and Beca tried to stand up straighter.
"Hello," said the woman in an accent that could cut glass.
"Hello, um, good afternoon, um, I'm here to see, um, Jesse, um, Mr Swanson, um, he invited me," she managed to choke out, not sure how to address this woman.
"Ah, you are Master Swanson's guest," she said pointedly but with a warm smile and a little laugh. Beca relaxed just a small amount. "Follow me dear, he's in the conservatory."
The woman led them down a corridor covered in portraits and chandeliers and Beca didn't think that Jesse had been specific enough when he'd said 'fancy.' She looked in though many ornate doors into rooms with ceilings taller that her house decorated with Victorian wallpaper and antique furniture. Finally they reached they end of the corridor and the woman pushed open a door. The buzz of noise that came from the conservatory was posh, if noise can be posh. It was all 'polite conversations' and 'haven't you growns' and 'did you hear the awful news about dear old Humbert?'
"Over there dear," the woman pointed to a woman in a floral dress who was talking to a young man in a suit. Beca walked over but didn't know if she was allowed to interrupt. She moved behind the woman so that only Jesse could see her and allowed him to take the lead.
"Ah Rebecca!" he said. Why was he calling her that? He came towards her and faux kissed both her cheeks. "Aunty, this is Rebecca, my guest for this afternoon."
"Well hello dear. So lovely to finally meet lady of Jesse's. I'm Sylvia, Jesse's aunt."
Beca didn't know what to do. She looked at Jesse and he mouthed "be fancy."
"Hello, Sylvia, a delight to meet you." The accent that came out of Beca's mouth was unexpected. She seemed to have just elevated herself into the aristocracy.
"Now dear, tell me, where do you study?"
"Ah aunty, don't interrogate her just yet, she's only just arrived! Would you mind giving us a moment? I'd like to get Rebecca a drink and then introduce her. You'll have your time to question her later I'm sure.!
"Well of course dear. Enjoy yourself. Pleasure, Rebecca."
Beca nodded and smiled and Jesse walked them over to a quiet corner.
"I am so so so sorry."
"Dude what the fuck have you brought me into?"
"Please don't swear, I need this to go well."
"What am I don't here?"
"Well basically, my family have a garden party every summer where the entire Swanson bloodline is invited and—"
"I'm sorry," Beca cut him off, "Bloodline? What are you, some kind of lord?"
"Well, yes. My Dad is Lord Swanson and I will be next…" he trailed off seeing Beca's horrified face. "Look, every year I turn up alone. In the circles that my family run in, young men are supposed to have ladies that they court. Every year I show up alone, is every year I get set up on awful dates with aristocrats' daughters. I can't stand it. I was going to invite my girl friend but she broke up with me about 4 weeks ago. I'd told everyone that this was the year I would have a guest."
"And, why, may I ask, would you pick me to be your guest. This is so not my scene dude."
"Okay, first off, the 'dude' is gonna have to stop. And second, pretty much all the girls I know are either from uni or at a different uni. You're as good as the only person I know who's still in Barden. On top of that, you're kind, funny, talented, clever, pretty, we have a laugh, you're a good actor so I know you can pull it off, we don't know each other well enough for you to embarrass me, and we have a plausible story of how we met: a friend of mine from orchestra is one of your best friends, we met about a year ago, and then again a few months ago. The only thing we need to add on is that we've been in touch since then and 1 month ago I asked you out. Oh and by the way, we went to the theatre and a nice restaurant and I behaved like the perfect gentleman," he finished, nodding.
Beca stood there trying to process. "So basically I'm here for you to parade to your family?"
"Yes, and it would be really really great if you could play along. You don't even need to talk to that many of them, just be seen around and answer questions politely. Look, I'll introduce you to my brother. Hey, Benji!" he called over Beca's head and a boy appeared within seconds. "This is Beca, could you introduce her to all the cousins and make sure one of you is with her at all times, I gotta go laugh at unfunny jokes." And with that, he dashed off.
"Hey, I'm Benji, Jesse explained the whole situation to me, let me introduce you to the cousins. We're all about the same age which is really nice, so they'll help make this slightly less unbearable." He smiled awkwardly at her and lead them into the crowd.
First, she met Aubrey, the overachieving 'oh, your dress is from a high street brand? How…original."
Then there was Luke, the handsome one who played tennis at the club and rugby for his college.
There was Bumper, the rebel of the family. Beca got the distinct impression that his family's money had had to pay to cover up some of his more embarrassing moments.
She then met Jessica and Ashley, the twins. Beca could picture how they would have been dressed in the same outfit when they were younger and paraded.
"And that just leaves one, um…" he craned his neck and looked around. "Ah, there she is, this is Chloe."
Hey! I really hope you enjoyed! This was basically just setting the scene and we will see Beca and Chloe's first interaction in the next chapter, hopefully very soon!
xx