Hi everyone! Hope you enjoy this little ditty!
Disclaimers: I don't own anything... except my fingers, my brain and my laptop. However I would just like to say that there is no University of Australia… just in case any prospective exchange students were interested… sorry P
Reviews welcome!
"No, no, NO!" Mrs Poole yelled from the orchestra pit. "Singer 2, you're timing is all off. Try again and this time, try to follow Elizabeth's key! You are supposed to be singing the same song, aren't you?" There were a few sniggers as an embarrassed Singer 2 went back into her position. Lizzy Bennet sighed and knelt down into position again. Honestly, this was a production from the university drama students; it wasn't as if millions of people would be watching. Yet Mrs Poole seemed intent on having a serious breakdown over it.
Elizabeth Bennet was a first year Arts/ Education student at the prestigious University of Australia (A.U.) in Melbourne, Victoria. Although she was studying to be a secondary school English and Religion teacher, Lizzy dearly loved acting and so chose the Drama/Theatrics subject for a bit of light relief from the theory of her teaching subjects. Bad idea. The same year that Lizzy decided to join just happened to be the year that Claudia Poole was appointed Head of Drama at A.U. However, Lizzy was content at uni; she studied hard and had made a good bunch of friends. She had even scored the lead female role in the University production, which had never had a first year cast as a lead purely based on talent. All the other first years had been cast due to a lack of numbers or more commonly as understudies.
This year, the Drama team were performing Mary Poppins, an odd choice for university students however a number of changes had been made to the storyline to attract an older crowd. It centred much more on Mary Poppins and her relationship with Bert, the Cockney chimney sweep, than on the two young children. "I thought uni was supposed to be fun," Charlie Bingley, who was playing the character of Bert, muttered to Lizzy as he stood behind her. Lizzy smiled. Usually it would take a couple of bombs and a funeral in one day to crack a frown on Charlie's face but after four months of dealing with the Poole-attack... well... even Bingley had his limits.
Lizzy was so glad to have met Charlie. He was one of the rare "genuine guys" that girls were always on the look out for. He had a cute, boyish grin and long mousey brown hair which would have to be clipped back for the character of Bert. Charlie was studying Arts/ Economics at A.U, in his third and final year. His parents owned a large film agency which spanned over Australia and England, so he and his sister, Caroline, were always able to fly between countries with his folks. The Bingley's certainly enjoyed a luxurious life but Charlie was a down to earth, good natured guy. He was completely uninterested in taking the reins once his parents resigned, preferring to strike out on his own in the Aussie economic sector. He had easily befriended Lizzy, as they were both leads and both studying drama as a relief from their major subjects.
Despite all his inner and external goodness, Lizzy only thought of him as a friend. She did have hopes however of one day introducing Charlie to her older sister. She thought that they would be perfect for one another. But this would all have to wait: Lizzy had only known Charlie for a semester and did not want to scare the poor thing by already playing match-maker.
Lizzy Bennet considered herself to be an average looking girl. She had long chocolate brown hair and dark brown, almost black coloured eyes. As her father was born in Sri Lanka and her mother was from Italy, Lizzy had inherited a beautifully tanned complexion.
This was not unnatural, as Lizzy's younger sister, Lydia had also acquired a mixture of her father's dark skin and her mother's olive complexion. These traits made Lizzy and Lydia stand out amongst their friends, most of whom were fair skinned brunettes or blondes. Lizzy's older sister, Jane, was different again from her two sisters. She had acquired her mother's olive complexion and had light brown hair. She had her father's dark eyes however, along with an honest and humble personality. This combination had made her one of the most beautiful girls in the entire world, according to Lizzy. Having such a beautiful and admired older sister could very well have destroyed all feelings of sisterly affection between the Bennet sisters. However Jane was extremely humble when she received any complements and Lizzy and Lydia were definitely confident and boisterous enough to receive their fair share of attention.
Jane was in her fourth and final year of Business/ Marketing at Monash Uni. She and Lizzy shared an extremely close bond, being the only two children in the Bennet family until Lydia came along many years later. Lydia was a bubbly girl of 14 and was currently attending the local Catholic high-school which Jane and Lizzy also attended in their younger years. Being the youngest after a gap of 5 years after Lizzy, Lydia had grown up without many playmates. As a result of this, she was incredibly pampered by her parents, aunties and uncles, all of whom felt sorry for the young girl.
Now that Lizzy and Jane both attended Uni, Lydia was yet again left to her own devices, befriending almost everyone in the entire school, especially the seniors. She and the rest of her clique enjoyed the attention immensely, especially from the boys. Although Jane and Lizzy had expressed their concerns over Lydia's growing wild behaviour, her parents did not know what else to do with her than to let her have free rein to enjoy herself.
Already, Lydia had tried to distance herself from her sisters, who were both fondly remembered by the teachers at their old high school. She had already stated that there was "no way in hell I'm coming to see Liz prance around on stage in her stupid play". Although Lizzy wasn't too fussed that Lydia would miss seeing her dressed as Mary Poppins, she was concerned that her parents were allowing her and her best friend, Katie Goodgrove, plan to go on holiday with Katie's parents instead. Well, at least Jane, mum and dad are coming to watch me "prance around on stage", Lizzy thought moodily, reminded again of Lydia's remarks and changing behaviour during the rehearsal.
Speaking of which, the orchestra had begun again and Lizzy took a deep breath to begin the song. It took only two minutes before Mrs Poole was heard screaming from the pit again. The merry chorus died instantly as the frustrated cast rolled their eyes at each other. It was going to be a long rehearsal.
It thankfully did end on time so by five o'clock, Lizzy and the crew were scrambling out of the large theatrette.
"Hey Liz," Charlie said, strolling over to the front gate where Lizzy was waiting to be picked up. "Poolie really is off her nut hey? But the prac was good."
"Hmm yeah... I just wish that damned song would come together already! I'm so sick of it!" That rehearsal was focused on the new opening song and Lizzy had quite a big part today. Singing her section over and over again really irritated her and she was feeling the beginnings of a sore throat.
Charlie was scuffing the side of the gate with his foot, lost in thought. Suddenly he looked up, cute grin in place. "Hey Liz," he said again, this time with much more meaning than a simple greeting. Lizzy was already suspicious.
"Yes Charlie?" she asked
slowly.
"Well... I was wondering if you were at all
interested in coming to a party with me." Charlie asked. Lizzy
looked up surprised. She had mentioned Jonathan Blake to Charlie, the
guy from high school that she was still seeing. Well... sort of.
Truth was that Jon was starting to annoy Lizzy. Now graduated from
high school and eighteen years old, Lizzy was considering looking for
a serious relationship. However Jon only seemed interested in the
occasional date or going to parties together. However incomplete her
relationship seemed, Lizzy thought that Charlie would still remember
it.
"No I don't mean like a date." Charlie said quickly. "A mate of mine, Will, is transferring to A.U from England. I don't think he knows many people Down Under, so I was thinking of throwing a party for him and his sister Georgie, who's still in high school. Anyway, I think you might get along with them, they're really nice. What do ya say?"
"Well, that was different. Lizzy was pleased that Charlie would ask her to come. Uni was certainly a different experience to high school and being a first year, Lizzy was still unsure of how different uni friends were to high school friends. Charlie's asking her to something other than a uni event proved that he considered Lizzy a friend as much as she considered him. And Lizzy was never one to say no to a party. "Sure Charlie, I'd love to! Do you have to details already?" After writing down the details to the party, Lizzy looked up to see an old Holden Commodore pulling up to the curb. Charlie whistled. "Wow, she's hot!" Charlie stared at the driver of the Commodore, grinning from ear to ear. "Oh, 'scuse me, Liz! How awkward!" he said suddenly, pulling himself together.
Lizzy grinned to see the driver of the Commodore, none other than her sister Jane, who tooted and waved cheerfully at Lizzy. Charlie's grin immediately turned into a horrified expression as his head snapped from the driver to Lizzy. "Are you serious? You know her? Oh man, how embarrassing!" Charlie slapped his forehead with his palm and ran it down his entire face. Lizzy laughed openly, signalling for Jane to wait. Maybe it wasn't too early to play match-maker, she thought. "Um, hey Charlie, would it be alright if I bring my sister to the party? We were supposed to go out together that night." she asked, carefully avoiding telling Charlie exactly who her sister was.
Charlie grinned, quite ready to change the topic, "Yeah sure! Oh hey, and bring your man too! What was his name again?" So it was settled, Lizzy, Jane and Jonathan had all scored invites to Charlie's party, which would no doubt turn into a swanky event. Charlie's parents were currently in Melbourne having just returned from England and had graciously offered to pay for the party, knowing that Will was Charlie's best friend, despite their distance.
Lizzy waved goodbye to Charlie as he walked over to his own car, then hopped in the Commodore which she and Jane shared. "Hey!" Jane chirped, "What a cutie! Is that 'Bert'?" Lizzy laughed; Jane had an excellent memory and had clearly remembered the description Lizzy have given her of Charlie. "Yeah, sure was. Oh hey, wanna go for a party next week?" Lizzy asked, as Jane indicated the Commodore and drove off in the opposite direction to Charlie.