Authors Note: I would just like to say that this is the first fanfiction story that I've ever written. I really don't know what I'm doing, so I would really appreciate your thoughts on my progress so far. Thank you :)

Disclaimer: I am only borrowing some of the amazing characters of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

Prologue

"Hi there, stranger," she said softly as she walked up to a tall, tanned boy with piercing blue eyes. He was standing just outside of Starbucks, trying to look inconspicuous.

"Hey yourself, girlie," he smiled back to the petite brunette and gave her a hug. She barely reached halfway up his chest with her 5'3 frame.

ooOoo

They had met four years ago when his family had just moved into the huge Victorian mansion next door to her family's two storey Grecian home. The Darcy family dog, a huge German Shepherd named Pluto, had just been let out of his imprisonment in the car to stretch his legs. Instead of standing in the yard placidly like his owners expected, he had quickly bounded out of the still-open gates and out of sight. Will had quickly followed Pluto to make sure he didn't get lost or stolen or – G-d forbid! – run over.

The scene that had met him in the neighbour's yard had astonished him greatly. His great big hunk of a dog had gone and leapt at the first person in sight, knocking her over in his enthusiasm, slobbering over the poor girl's face. However what surprised him most was the fact that the girl was not screaming or kicking or cowering in fear. Instead, she was laughing, petting the dog and playing with it as if she had known Pluto her whole life. She slowly got up and blushed when she saw Will standing there, gawking at her. The girl was very small, and looked around eight years old with a pair of large, inquisitive eyes the colour of emeralds.

"You know, catching flies are best left to the frogs, don't you think?" she asked, her eyes crinkling slightly at the edges.

Will blinked and hurriedly snapped his jaw closed and turned an unhealthy shade of red.

"Um… uh… I-I-I was…er…" he stammered, embarrassed at being caught looking like a goldfish. His face colouring at the moment certainly did not help. Coughing slightly, he tried again.

"Hi, I'm Will. That's my dog." He said, pointing at the great lump of fur standing at almost the same height of the girl. "Um… sorry it…attacked…you. I promise it won't happen again!"

"Well, I'm Rebecca Wilson, but everyone calls me Becky. It's nice to meet you." She replied. "And don't worry about your dog. He's a big softy." At that, she gave Pluto another loving scratch behind the ears.

Becky and Will bonded over that chance meeting, and as they say, the rest was history.

ooOoo

Will smiled slightly at his best friend, the sprightly and striking fifteen-year-old. Even though there was a four year age difference between them, they complemented each other perfectly. If you asked Becky, she would say that girls matured faster than boys, but Will chalked it up to Becky being way smarter than other people her age.

"Hello? Earth to Will?"

He blinked as he was pulled back from memory lane. He racked his brain, hoping against hope that his subconscious had picked up on what she had been saying while he zoned out. After a minute of searching, he gave up and admitted that he had not been paying attention.

Becky rolled her eyes. "Okay. That's enough. What's going on?"

Will put on a look of wide-eyed innocence. "What do you mean, what's going on? Is anything wrong?"

With any other person, this answer would have been enough. However, Becky knew him too well.

"Your nostrils are flaring, you're frowning slightly and you zoned out while I was talking, which you never do. Cut the crap and spill the beans, Darcy."

Crap. She never used his last name unless she was angry or concerned. Avoiding her penetrating gaze, he slowly told her what he had been trying to avoid.

"You're what?" she almost choked on her own spit. "So you're just upping and leaving here, and that's that? And you choose to tell me on the day before you leave? What is this? A joke? You're going halfway across the world, and you didn't even bother to inform your best friend. And you don't know if you'll ever come back?" Becky was now fuming with indignation. She was indescribably sad at the prospect of losing one of her closest confidantes; her anger was just a way to try to stop the tears that were forming in her eyes. England was a long way away, and she didn't know when or if she would ever see Will again.

Seeing her pensive look, Will reached over and draped his arm across her shoulders, trying to comfort her. He wasn't very happy about moving back to England either. However, his father desperately wanted to escape the house in which his mother had lived in before she had died, and to be honest, there were too many haunting memories in that house than Will was really comfortable with, too. But leaving Australia meant leaving Becky behind. Even though they could keep in touch by emailing each-other and through long-distance calls, he knew that they would eventually lose touch, and he would never see his childhood friend again.

The next day, Becky and her father, Mr Wilson dropped Mr Darcy, Will and Will's three-year-old sister, Anna off at the airport and after a teary farewell, the Darcy clan vacated Australia.