Disclaimer: I forgot to mention in the previous chapter, but I don't own anything of Pride and Prejudice (except a copy of the book).
A/N: I hope you like it so far. I changed all the names to people I know, so it would be more fun to write. You'll just have to figure them out.
The following morning, Chloe was awoken not by her alarm clock, but by a terrible wailing that filled the house. She slipped out of her room. A woman's spine-chilling sobs and shrieks echoed through the hall she crept down, seeming to originate from her parents' room.
Uncertainly, though knowing her mother it was most likely of no matter, she knocked on the door and pushed it open just as her father swept out without giving her a glance.
"Mom?" she said quietly. "Mom, what's up?"
"It's your father!" the other moaned. "It's all his doing."
"Dad? What did he do?" She was starting to get a little nervous.
"It's not exactly what he did, it's what he won't do!" her mom cried. "He insists that he won't go visit Will Duncan! I told him, I said that if he didn't, Mr. Lee surely would and then what would happen? He would fall for Brenda! And then your father suggested that I go visit them, but then took that back, saying that he might fall for me! Oh, he doesn't know how much he upsets my nerves."
Chloe sighed, thoroughly exasperated. "Mom, I'm sure he really means to visit Will Duncan, because it would be rude it he didn't. And now I might as well get dressed; it's 6:30."
Mrs. Britton said, "Oh, if you're getting up, could you bring me a cup of coffee? It really does calm my nerves."
Later that morning, as they were driving to school, Mr. Britton looked back at Chloe, who was quickly fixing her favorite sweater.
"I hope Will will like your sweater, Chloe," he remarked.
Before she could reply, her mother said, "What good is it if we are never to be properly introduced?"
"He's in our English class," Daisy said. "And he might be in some of our other classes that we haven't had yet."
(Redwood Middle ran on a block schedule: four periods one day, the other four the next. They're called green and silver days, for the school colors.)
Instead of answering, Mrs. Britton turned to one of her other daughters and exclaimed, "Stop coughing, Erin. All your coughing tears my nerves to bits."
"I don't cough for the fun of it," Erin snapped.
"Anyways," said her father. "About Will."
"Oh, stop talking about him," his wife sighed. "I'm sick of this Will Duncan."
"Well that's too bad," said Mr. Britton. "If I had known, I wouldn't have driven over there on my way home from work yesterday. But now that I've visited him, I regret that a… an acquaintance is inevitable.
At this Mrs. Britton sighed again, but it was a relieved sigh. She laughed and said, "What a good dad you have, girls! What a fine surprise."
But there was no more time to speak, for they had arrived at school.
