Lizzy slammed her load onto the kitchen table and threw her bag on the tiles. Charlotte stared open mouthed at her housemate, until the coloured posters and other school papers slid off the table and onto the floor with an ungraceful smack. Lizzy ignored the sound and threw herself onto the couch beside Charlotte with an exasperated sigh.

"Whoa, Lizzy, what's going on?" Charlotte asked, totally clueless as to what would have made her friend this way. With just as much energy as she had used to land, Lizzy now rocketed up from the couch and began to pace madly.

"Char, you have no IDEA what just happened to me. I mean it was incredible! Ridiculous! Ohh, I'm going to kill him," she exclaimed. Her actions and words were done at a rapid pace. Arms gesticulating wildly, Charlotte thought that Lizzy had finally lost her mind… though she didn't think it was wise to mention that to the brunette.

"Lizzy, calm down. Look, I'm going to put the kettle on. You just breathe and then you can tell me all about… whoever it is that you're murdering," Charlotte slowly exited the room.

Lizzy once again launched herself onto the couch and planted her face in her hands. Once Will Darcy had left her sight, there was nothing she would've liked more than to track him down and demand he apologise. She just couldn't believe the way he had turned on her. All in one second, Darcy changed from intelligent, charming gentleman to a raging psychopath. The rest of the night was all a blur in Lizzy's mind. She had absolutely no idea how she had managed to continue on with the interviews without turning into some sort of Amazon woman and hunting Darcy down.

Charlotte re-entered the room, carefully carrying two mugs of steaming tea and a box of Lizzy's favourite chocolate chip cookies. This was the girls' answer for all bad moments- tea and chocolate. When Charlotte's ex-boyfriend broke up with her, Lizzy went out into the rain just to buy a new supply of tea and cookies. Just one phone call with Lizzy's mother was enough for Charlotte to keep an emergency stash for her friend.

"I thought we ran out of these!" Lizzy said, pulling the cookies from under Charlotte's arm, momentarily distracted by the promise of chocolate.

"This is my secret stash for… you know…moments like these," Charlotte said, grinning and setting the mugs down. "Now, spill you crazy woman."

Thinking about Darcy and his remarks made Lizzy slam the cookies back onto the table. "Oh, I thought they'd calm you." Charlottle said, defeated.

"You will never believe the complete shit I got today, Char!" Lizzy thundered. "It was bad."

"Like, Frannie Bennet bad?" Charlotte asked. 'Frannie Bennet' was a standard unit of measurement used in The Shack.

"Even my mum isn't so low as to call me an 'inexperienced juvenile' teaching seniors, has she?" Lizzy said, arms folded.

"A WHAT?" Charlotte said, sincerely indignant for her friend now, "Who the hell said that?"

"William- effing- Darcy and that bloody probe up his arse. Seriously, he is the biggest jerk! He basically accused me of interfering! Me! After all the support I have given Georgiana through this year, he has the nerve to turn around and insult me!" Lizzy was back on her feet, pacing in front of the television.

"William Darcy," Charlotte said, thoughtfully, "As in Darcy Software? His kids go to Benedict?"

"No, no children. It's his sister, Georgiana Darcy? Remember, her parents were in that horrible car accident last year. Anyway, I merely brought up some concerns with Darcy and he totally twisted it to sound like I was telling him that he's not doing a good enough job looking after Georgiana."

Charlotte did remember that name. She remembered that Lizzy actually researched the best ways to support teenagers who had faced such tragic events. She'd even spoken to Charlotte's mum, a trained psychologist, Charlotte knew that of all the insults, the one thing that would affect her strong friend was accusations that she didn't care about her students. Charlotte also knew that although Lizzy never admitted it, she had her own doubts that she wasn't qualified enough to teach senior school. Of course, that was before semester had started and Lizzy found that her specialty was, in fact, being able to promote discussion and honesty amongst the senior students, something that many older teachers admired in the young woman.

Charlotte knew that Lizzy would not forget Darcy's insult for a long while, so turned her attention to pacify her friend by continuous rounds of tea and a string of expletives hurled at the offending Will Darcy. What the hell was that man thinking?

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-..-.-.-

Will Darcy tore down the M1 freeway in his new Audi, trying to put as much distance between himself and Benedict High, or rather, one Elizabeth Bennet. He was hardly paying any attention to the road ahead or the cars around him. What the hell had he been thinking? To get angry about some comments made by Georgie's teacher was one thing but flying off the handle like he did and insulting her was something else entirely.

He couldn't understand the reason for his reaction. Actually, he didn't want to think about it. Barely checking his mirrors, Will cut through several lanes and exited off the freeway ramp. It seemed as though he was trying to break a record by reaching Melbourne's Southbank in less than 5 minutes. Stopping the car along Riverside Quay, Will got out and headed in the direction of Southbank Hub, which was littered with restaurants and bars.

Georgie was still at her piano teacher's house for the next half hour. Of course, it was all a lie to Joy Faila. He hadn't received a phone call from Georgie to collect her. After that encounter with Elizabeth Bennet, however, there was no way that Will could survive being in the same postcode as her, let alone the same building. The anger and adrenaline that had coursed through his body was now ebbing away, only to be replaced by the deepest humiliation. How could he have insulted her like that? Calling her such names as if he was in primary school! If anyone was acting juvenile, it was he and not Ms Bennet. Will decided to nip into a quiet bar for a drink before picking up Georgie.

He was nervous about representing Georgie as her guardian; he always got that way around adults. Not that he wanted to think of himself as her guardian. He craved to be able to return to their natural relationship. He, the annoyingly overprotective brother; she, the annoyingly cute little sister. But of course, things couldn't return to that way because everything was completely different. He would do anything for Georgie, and give anything to see her laugh again like she'd used to. Hell, he would give anything to feel the same way himself again.

The events of the day began catching up with him and Will felt a tiredness that he had fought off for so long. Not that he cared to admit it to anyone, but Will began to suspect the reason for his unprovoked insult on Ms Bennet. Somewhere deep down, a nagging doubt lurked in his mind that he was not fit to act as guardian to Georgie.

Not confident that he could tackle that issue without some liquid courage, Will ordered a whiskey. While preparing for Georgie's interviews, it hadn't even occurred to Will that his parent's death would be mentioned. He had merely thought back to his own high school interviews. They had always been short and precise. A few outstanding assignment grades, a mention that the student would benefit from less talking in class and a stern look from his mother as Will pretended not to hear his teachers' remarks. He was too busy feigning indifference, a hard look to master for a teenage boy. Yet, he had seen his older cousin Richard pull it off and it seemed to drive girls crazy. That was the extent of his high school career, top grades and girls. Of course, his days at high school were so different to his baby sister's.

How could he have been that naïve? These interviews were designed to discuss the students' progress and Will had been a fool in thinking that the death of his father and mother would not affect Georgie's progress. But he just hadn't expected it, much less from Elizabeth Bennet! As soon as he entered the hall, she had been the first person he recognized. With a relief he hadn't quite expected, he strode over to her, his confidence re-emerging. Then POW! One mention of his parents and he was a little boy again. "Smooth, Darcy," Will muttered to himself, nursing his whiskey. Despite himself, despite everything that had occurred in the last couple of hours, Will Darcy could bear no lasting bitterness about Elizabeth Bennet's remarks. He was only sorry for his reaction.

It had been a while since they had last spoken but now he could see that he had been completely wrong about Ms Bennet. She wasn't just 'hot', as he had oafishly mentioned to Georgie; Elizabeth Bennet was beautiful.

'Typical male,' would be Georgie's immediate retort to Will's chaos of insulting a woman and thinking about how gorgeous she is in the next second. But his thoughts were bent on more agreeable matters; the pleasant smile Elizabeth had offered him, her dimples shyly emerging as her smile broadened, the way her hair fell haphazardly across her eyes. And what a pair of eyes they were.

He continued meditating upon her beautiful eyes, when a hand slowly snaked it's way over his forearm. He looked down, the first thing catching his attention were five, florescent orange and disgustingly long fake nails. Inwardly cringing, Will Darcy turned and faced the last person he wanted to see that night.

Caroline Bingley.

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Yay Caroline! Bitch and bimbo extraordinaire!