Hey, everyone. I'm back with this story, hope no one's quit on it, because I'm still writing it! Thanks a lot all reviewers and readers, this chapter is for you (like all chapters!). Thanks a bunch to all anonymous reviewers: Maria, Graciela, MAB and agathe, you guys rock! And now on to the story. Don't forget to leave a comment.

She's got you high and you don't even know yet
She's got you high and you don't even know yet
The sun's in the sky, it's warming up your bare legs
You can't deny you're looking for the sunset

Mumm-Ra: She's got you High


I'm beginning to think, not entirely without reason, that Caroline is using me because she thinks that my financial dilemma has turned me into a cheap Ken doll. I should be angry right about now and do something about it, like get her naked, then throw her out of my room so all my mates can see her, or play with her feelings and scar her emotionally for life, but right now I can't even sum up the energy to stick a piece of gum into her hair.

And that's downright depressing; when you lose your will to be evil, or just a prick anyway.

I guess that Bennet girl pissed me off because the whole smoking thing came as a giant slap in the face, but I won't despair in my anger towards humanity. I just hope I don't end up having to join her crowd of scholarshippers. That would be too cruel even for Green Leaf standards.

Charlie, the tosser, isn't being much of a help. He just sits there and daydreams about Jane and how her face should be plastered on all the walls of the school. I tried punching him, dissecting his brain and even begging him, he just won't stop. I'm beginning to think this Jane thing is getting serious.

And I don't really like this Jane because she has the emotional range of a spoon and she's not much of an interesting talker. As an added bonus, Caroline has taken a liking to her. She either needs a new minion or she just likes torturing people.

Much to my horror, I found out that Charlie had invited Jane to Cecily's wedding and that Caroline had agreed to this wonderful plan.

'I'm just happy my brother finally has a steady girlfriend and such a nice, sweet girl too!' she exclaimed all the time, as if Charlie was a hopeless sinner and Jane was Mother Theresa.

Meanwhile, the new Spanish teacher thought, in her immense naiveté, that I was on her side or something, just because I helped her with some texts in class. In actuality, my other mates were a bunch of idiots and since I had a functional brain and actually gave a damn, I got involved in her stupid class and now she thinks I am her pet dog Lassie. I wish I could tell her off, but she's too damn nice for her own good and you can't reason with a nice person, you just can't.

The other day, she stopped me in the hallway, for all to see, and she started talking to me about the drama club. I believe I didn't mention that Green Leaf had a wide range of extracurricular activities you could kill your joy time with. They also looked spot-on on the CV. One of these was the drama club, or should I say Dead Poets Society club, with the emphasis on dead, because there were only five people in this club and most of them were Julliard rejects or pricks that thought girls were into artsy, sensitive guys. Me, I thought this was an insult to drama and theatre in general.

But I digress. She asked me if I would like to be part of said drama club. She let me know that this year she would be in charge of this club. She seemed very happy and proud about it so I resisted the urge to tell her that only the teachers that were considered failures around here were in charge of that club. She seemed so generally keen about it that I was tempted to use this pathetic excuse to raise her hopes. Well, I sort of ran off, giving her some random excuse, but I think I should have been more blatant about my refusal.

I will next time – it's just those dopey eyes that get in the way.

Time flew by in no time and after five grueling weeks of school we finally dragged our arses back home to take part in the most glamorous event in Cecily's life ( because it would be the first time she would wear a decent dress: a wedding gown. But I was sure she could mess that up too if she tried a little.) She was a sloppy, tasteless woman, but not bad-intentioned if you got down to it. Although I think Caroline owed most of her obsessions to this woman.

And of course, blonde girl had to come with us. Yes, Jane. She was glued to Charlie like a damn sticky note. I could never have some privacy with my friend, she was always there, waving her honey-blonde hair and showing as much skin as possible as if to say "You don't stand a chance against a woman". And I didn't. Charlie was a love-sick puppy stuck to her heel.

Well, at least mum was in a good mood. Oh sure, most of the items in my room were gone, but I blamed that on menopause.

The wedding took place at this fancy restaurant, somewhere on the outskirts of town so they could have more privacy. They had these nice minigolf terrains and a small marsh they called a lake.

Needless to say, Caroline flaunted most of her ridiculous bridesmaids' dresses at me and even made me pick which one suited her best at which I replied:

'Why don't you take a potato sack and throw it over your head?'

And I think she's looking for a potato sack now.

The wedding reception was fine, I mean bearable by my standards and Cecily did look decent. The judge fellow (the groom) was drunk most of the ceremony or at least he looked that way. He did liven up at the reception when the band started playing Bee Gees songs. Big surprise there.

Then there were the awful and boring speeches from family and friends. Charlie gave a sad speech about how he never wanted Cecily to marry when he was a kid because then there'd be no one to play Scrabble with him and let him win anymore. Cecily was very touched by this and almost teared up. Had I been her, I would have tossed a bottle into Charlie's head. Then of course many tossers made jokes about Charlie and Jane and they all commented on how well endowed the new girlfriend was, not to mention she had caught the bride's bouquet which made her the pivotal subject of the evening.

Then everybody started dancing on Lady in Red, which made me barf into my own mouth.

By the end of the evening though something interesting did happen. Jane was found under a table apparently. Of course, at these weddings this wouldn't be a surprise, but she wasn't drunk; she was just feeling awful.

Yeah, I felt awful too at the wedding but I didn't curl up under a table. Well, leaving jokes aside, she was in a pretty bad shape and had to be taken to the hospital.

From there on, it was a mad circle from hell. It turns out she was allergic to shrimps and had come down with a weird stomach flu. My sleepless night consisted in following Charlie around the damn hospital and chewing on some tortillas from the vending machine.

Finally, the doctor came out and told us she would be alright in a couple of days or so. I said to myself "okay then, can we go home and sleep now?" but no…

Charlie considered her ward far too depressing, dirty and realistic so he insisted that she be taken to his house where she'd recover.

And because it was Wednesday, we would be going back to school next Monday, which meant dismal hours with my mum and her soap operas.

But I probably nag too much; it was fairly tolerable.

That is, until she came. Jane's always concerned sister found out about the infamous stomach flu and allergy and called Charlie who agreed to let her come see her sister.

Good God, will relatives stop loving each other so much?

Well, anyway, she did come, pretty fast too. In less than a day she was accommodated at the Bingley's.

So now, with both Bennet sisters there, dinners at the Bingley house were turning into a sad Donna Reed show.

But let me get into further details…

After dinner, we all went and sat in the library and just wasted time, watching TV, playing cards and smoking Charlie's dad's cigars. And after spending time with her ill sister, Eliza joined us. Well, Charlie invited her, the wanker.

She found a seat next to a window and started reading. In fact, she didn't engage in conversation with us at all. That was a relief.

Caroline and Rob (that judge's younger brother) were playing cards and they started making fun of Eliza. Morons.

'You like reading more than playing Eliza?'

'Oh, no,' she answered looking up, 'I just don't like cards. But I like doing other things.'

'And which are those?' Caroline asked presumptuous.

'Taking a hike, listening to music…the usual,' she replied awkwardly.

'A hike? Well, how strange.'

'I like fresh air and it's lots of fun really, if you're careful.'

'I can't imagine hiking, really. I wouldn't be into that sort of thing,' Caroline commented laughing.

No, you wouldn't, because you can't even walk properly without tripping in those ridiculous heels.

Oops, I guess I said that out loud. Caroline gave me a look that just begged another nasty reply, but Eliza smiled at me which unnerved me a bit.

'So…Will,' Caroline started, seeking revenge probably, 'how's Georgiana doing?'

Oh, the bitch.

'She's alright, thanks,' I replied dryly.

'Is she still a librarian? It's a shame with all her talents she should amass to that. Had it not been for that failed relationships and your parents…'

I was about to jump out of my seat, but Eliza interrupted her.

'There's nothing wrong with being a librarian. It's a lovely job. My mum is a librarian and I think she's much happier than those chaps working in huge corporations. Plus, who wouldn't love to work in a place full of books?'

That seemed to shut Caroline up. She turned back to her game and I tried to control my deathly glares towards her.

Eliza just smiled peacefully to me again. Did she expect me to be grateful?

'So… Miss Lucas told me you were joining the drama club,' she suddenly addressed me.

'What?'

'You know, the Spanish teacher.'

'Oh, that. She misled you, I won't be joining too soon.'

'Why not?'

'I'm not a total pansy.'

'Don't you appreciate good theatre?'

'There are many things I appreciate, good theatre being one of them. But that club never produces such a thing.'

'How would you know?'

'Trust me, I do.'

'Well…so you think I'm a pansy?'

'Excuse me?'

'I'm in the drama club, you know.'

'Oh.'

She looked at me expectant.

'I'm sorry, you want me to take the insult back?'

Charlie gave me a warning look, but I ignored him.

'No, but you could get to know people before you assume things. Or get to know our drama club for that matter.'

'Are you saying I'm prejudiced?'

'Maybe. But that's because you're proud,' she said matter-of-factly.

'Pride isn't always such a sin.'

'No, but the way you use it is not very flattering,' she replied, arching her eyebrow.

What was that supposed to mean? I acted "proud" because frankly I was surrounded by imbeciles. And she was quickly getting into that category. Although I couldn't quite place her there. There was something witty about her remarks and yeah that was just topping on a cake, but it still made me sort of curious.

'Explain, if you please,' I challenged her.

'You don't treat people well, because you think you are better than they are and while you might be right, you don't verify to find out if that's true.'

'And you've known me for how much time to summarize this?'

'I don't need to know you for an eternity to realize that…'

So, in her opinion, I was a spoilt brat who thought he was better than anyone else. Well, reality usually proved me right, unfortunately.

Fortunately, though, I didn't care about her opinion.

After that we didn't talk much, we just stayed out of our way, or at least she was doing a good job at avoiding me and I can't say I stuck around to find out more about her.

The following night, though, I bumped into her on the stairs. And for a couple of seconds I just stood there like a daft idiot looking at her Bugs Bunny pajamas and her messy bun. She also made these silly dimples, even if she was not smiling. How did she do that? She was holding a mug of something hot and she almost burnt me with it, but I wasn't about to shriek in her presence.

She didn't move either so we just stayed there on the steps, close to each other, as if we had this big secret to share. Eventually, I moved pass her and she whispered something like good night.

I wouldn't be very honest if I didn't admit I did sneak a glance back up. I can't resist girls in tight pants, I've got to see the behind. Yeah, call me a pig.

I guess I'd label Eliza as "cute", the nauseating kind of cute.

But beyond those two encounters, I was safe from Miss Judgmental and her rant.

By Saturday, Jane was feeling better and she even came down for dinner. Charlie acted as if it was 1776 all over again. The idiot.

When it was finally time to leave, I was too glad to get out of there. I don't mean to be a mean guy, but I don't like sick people, or their righteous sisters.

Of course, I'd probably still see her around school. Damn.