A/N Thank you to all who reviewed! I really appreciate the feedback. You all get virtual cookies...
I shalt not bore you with more of my super long (but hopefully entertaining) disclaimers. Suffice to say, I am not Jane Austen.
Also, the rating has been changed to K+ due to some implied swearing, etc.
Darcy was uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. The whole room had exploded in whispers as he walked to stand in front of the 35 bemused
(or in some cases, smitten) musicians. There was also a woman with curly, brown hair staring daggers at him.
"- Pemberley Orchestra-"
"- William Darcy?-"
"- very rich-"
"-HAWT!"
At this remark, he'd had enough. He raised his hand, signaling for silence.
"Hello, everyone," he said stiffly, "My name is William Darcy, and I'm here for the duration of my sabbatical, 3 months. I'm glad to be able to be your conductor, and I hope these three months will go well. I believe you will be performing for the musical Pride and Prejudice in two day's time."
Several nods in the affirmative, but mostly whispering.
"Well, we're going to need to practice then."
"Let's start by tuning."
He picked up the baton in his right hand, and raised both his hands.
The Pianist played a solid A. The room filled with the many different pitches of the note. First the strings, then the winds tuned.
Darcy lowered his hands. The musicians automatically went to concert rest: instruments on laps or resting on the ground.
"That was good. Let's go on to The Portrait Song."
Darcy raised his hands again.
The room filled with the opening notes of the song, a solo by the pianist. Slowly, the whole group joined in. In the middle, there was a swelling crescendo, Darcy's favorite part. He dropped his hands at the end of the song.
"That was pretty good. Violas, let's go back to measure 43."
The violas fixed their problem. Then, they moved on to a couple other pieces, all from Pride and Prejudice.
At 10 o' clock, Darcy called break. The musicians streamed out of the building as fast as could be allowed. Charlie and Mr. Darcy stayed back, preferring to exit in a more leisurely manner.
"So how are you liking Penn so far?" asked Charles with a little smirk, heading out the door.
Lizzie Bennet walked out of the music room, annoyed and frustrated.
Why couldn't anyone SHUT THE FREAK UP? She was just trying to play, without added distractions from immature adults.
Elizabeth walked out to a small grove of trees and sat down on a stone bench. Her cellphone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out. It was a text from Charlotte:
From: randomninja
Whazzup
Lizzie grinned. She liked hearing from her friend, who was in the
Valley Orchestra (even though there wasn't a valley to be seen for
miles).
From: viola3
Nuttin much
From: randomninja
How's the new con?
Lizzie sighed. She had told Charlotte that orchestra would finally get a conductor... Unfortunately, she knew the teasing would begin as soon as she mentioned his name:
From: viola3
Named will Darcy
From: randomninja
U hv gt 2 b kiding
From: viola3
Nope!
From: randomninja
WTF?
From: viola3
I no... Creepy
From: randomninja
But I meant in a nice way... He's wd of pem orch, omg!
From: viola3
G2g
Lizzie shut her phone. Mr. Darcy and Charles were walking into the grove, and she didn't want them to know she was there. Elizabeth couldn't bear the idea of having to make small talk with such a taciturn person. So she sat...
"... They're all really unprofessional. I mean, they started whispering as soon as you said my name!" That was, undoubtedly, Mr.
Darcy.
"Will, they're not that bad. You just don't give them a chance... And besides, you're the famous "Will Darcy of Pemberley Orchestra." Jane
Bennet is really nice, and so is her sister, Lizzie."
"Gosh, Bingley, so now you're trying to set me up with someone named
Elizabeth Bennet. I like Jane Austen well enough, but seriously!"
"Darce, seriously. I'm not trying to "set you up" as you, so quaintly, put it. I'm merely pointing out that she is a nice, respectable woman,
and a good musician besides."
Lizzie tried to telepathically thank Charles.
"I don't think everything that you've stated so far holds true. For one thing, she was looking at me as if I had ruined her entire life when I walked in, which I find rather offensive. I'm sure she isn't a good musician, either. The sound that was coming from her section was a racket, to say the least."
"First off, William, as a human being, i will NOT tolerate you insulting my friend. Second, as a professional, I will NOT tolerate you singling out one person from our group and blaming them for everything."
Will, for once, was silent.
Lizzie practiced her telepathy again and tried to thank Charles.
Perhaps he got the message, or felt Lizzie staring at him, or perhaps he heard a noise. In any case, he turned to find Lizzie Bennet, wearing a disgusted expression.
"Hello Charles, Mr. Darcy. I believe I will be going now." She walked quickly out of the grove.
"Thanks a ton for that one, William," Bingley said coldly, "You may have lost us our best viola player."
A/N: Oooh... A cliffhanger! Not. Hopefully. It doesn't seem like one to me, but hey, I'm the one writing it! Anyways... Hopefully I won't write the same dialogue over and over again, like I did for the beginning of this chapter. It seems boring to me, but I kinda felt it was crucial to the plot.
And to end this longish A/N, I'm just going to say that I have a bunch more typed up, and if amandald98's CPU is working, there should be an update sometime soon.