Lizzie woke up the next morning with a killer migraine and the Tylenol that she took seemed to take forever to kick in. At this point she didn't even care about looking like a slob in front of Collins so she kept her hair in its bed made state and put a robe half heartedly over her pajamas.
She didn't fail to notice the looks Collins gave her over the breakfast table that morning, but she had grown so accustomed to them over the past few weeks that she had just assumed that today's stares were no different than any other. She had woken up after everyone else so they finished eating before she did. What Lizzie noticed was that Collins was eating much slower than usual. 'Please dear God make him not want to talk to me,' she thought desperately, tightening the robe around her chest self consciously as he glanced up at her again.
One by one everyone else had left, leaving only Elizabeth and Collins, a fact that Elizabeth tried desperately to ignore as she shoveled the food into her mouth to avoid the now evident confrontation. Collins cleared his throat and Lizzie frowned, a mouthful of toast nearly hanging out of her mouth, knowing what was coming.
"My dear Lizzie, I have observed you carefully over the past few weeks," Collins began. 'Yeah, I know,' Lizzie thought angrily. 'You haven't taken your grubby eyes off me once!' "And I can clearly see what a kind and generous person you are. And that is exactly the kind of person that Arizona needs! Now, you know that I will be leaving your kind house at the beginning of the summer," he continued. 'Which can't come soon enough,' Lizzie said to herself and rolled her eyes.
"What a shame," Lizzie answered sarcastically when Collins paused, clearly fishing for a comment from her. "It's been so nice seeing you every single waking moment of the day."
Collins smiled, completely overlooking the fact that she was insulting him. "I know that your family will miss my calming influence, as I will miss observing all of your fascinating lives. I have always wanted to know how a lady thinks, and it's been the greatest gift I've ever received to be given the opportunity."
Lizzie resisted the urge to retch. "Oh, you're doing a fantastic job. You can read us so well," she commented blankly, gripping the hilt of her butter knife tightly in her left hand, getting angrier and angrier the more he spoke.
"Yes, don't I?" he answered with an arrogant pride. "Oh yes, where was I? I remember now! I can hardly miss out on the opportunity to study your gender to a greater extent, and my humble abode has been absent of pleasant company as of late. This is why it would be the greatest honor if you would come with me to Arizona for the summer."
There was a silence as Lizzie fought to keep the disgusting thought of just her and Collins in a home alone for two months. The toast she had just shoved down her throat threatened to make a glorious comeback and she had to calm herself in order to keep it all down. "Why?" she asked incredulously after a long awkward pause, which Collins took no mind to. While she was keeping down her breakfast he was twiddling his thumbs happily, convinced she was dumbstruck with happiness..
"Why, so I can show off your feminine attributes to Ms. Bourgh of course!" he explained, unsure as to why Lizzie was protesting his kind offer. "You know, I am not taking any of your other siblings to see her, you should be pleased to receive this excellent opportunity..."
"No, I will not live with you alone in a house for my summer! I have to do CAS, I have to work on my extended essay..." 'I don't want to be around you longer than I have to,' Lizzie finished in her head.
"Who knows what might happen? Why, by the end of the summer you might fall in love with me! We could be married by next fall," he wiggled his eyebrows and the expression of disgust that had been fighting its way to Lizzie's face finally gave way and she stood up.
"Mr. Collins, I am barely a legal adult! And for the last time, I will not go to Arizona with you! You're like," she struggled for the right word. "Family," she spat at him. "It's like incest... no means no! You can quit opening and closing your mouth, you look like a fish! I will be staying right here and that is that!"
"Well, I've never been more insulted in my entire life! I am offering you the chance of a lifetime, a chance away from a household of estrogen! Is that not enough for you?" Collins stood up, dramatically waving his spoon around and accidentally flinging some oatmeal left on it onto a painting on the opposite wall. Seeing this, Lizzie cried out and put a hand to her face, quickly losing control.
Lizzie narrowed her eyes at the insult. "Excuse me, but I think you have more estrogen than my sisters combined!"
"And after I complimented you on your manners! Really Lizzie, I am disappointed. Now, I am offering you a chance at learning new things, and you'd better take it soon before I change my mind! I am seriously considering taking back my invitation in light of your recent accusations!"
"And what will it take to get you to completely change your mind, I swear, I'll do anything!" Lizzie waved her arms about in anger.
"Calm yourself! Now, I know I took you by surprise, but I'm sure that once you're given a chance to calm down you'll see the rational side to my suggestion."
The girl could only stare dumbstruck at him, all anger gone and replaced with disbelief. "Can you seriously think that my parents will allow me to go and live alone with a man for two months? Can you be so... so mentally narrow?"
Collins merely shrugged his shoulders. "I already spoke with your mother and she said it would be good for your health..."
"Oh, I'll show her what's good for my health!" Lizzie exclaimed, the anger returning in full measure and she slammed her chair furiously into the table and left the house, the door banging behind her.
The door to the dining room opened and Mrs. Bennet wattled in, holding an ice pack to her head. "What happened?"
"She's not going," Collins pouted and crossed his arms.
Mrs. Bennet frowned. "To hell she's not! Philip!" she called out for Mr. Bennet and left the house in a hurry. She found him in the shed ready to take out the lawnmower. "Lizzie won't go to Arizona with Will!"
Mr. Bennet frowned in response. "So what's the problem? The boy is a creep!"
"He is a creep with connections!" his wife screeched. "She has to go! Follow me!" She stormed off in the way Lizzie left and Mr. Bennet sighed and followed her.
They found Elizabeth near the water a few houses down the block. She was rubbing her temples and had her feet in the sand. "You get back there right now, how dare you leave the house without telling me!"
"I'm not going anywhere with that creep!" Lizzie shot back, angry that her mother had followed her. "Don't you know how to leave me alone?"
"He could be good for your future career, he knows Ms. Bourgh! She's rich, she's influential! She might help us not be poor anymore!"
"We live in Cape Cod, we can't be that poor!" Elizabeth rolled her eyes and Mr. Bennet shrugged his shoulders at her.
"Tell her she has to go," his wife sharply told him.
"What do you think of Collins?" Lizzie's dad asked her gently.
"He's a greasy, stuck up, rude, stalker!"
"There you have it," Mr. Bennet turned to his wife. "I will not have my daughter associating with a stalker."
Mrs. Bennet turned very red and balled up her fists. "Fine, be poor forever I don't care! We'll see if I ever speak to you again!" She turned on her heels and stormed away.
"Sometimes I wonder why I'm still married to her," Mr. Bennet sighed. "And then I realize she'd be dead without my money." Elizabeth smiled a little. "C'mon, let's go back."
The next few days were heaven for Elizabeth, even though finals were quickly approaching, Collins was hardly in the house anymore and her mother wouldn't even speak to her unless it was to tell her off. This wasn't an issue as her mother's voice was more annoying than a bee continuously buzzing in her ear for hours on end, and it was more of a treat than anything. Where Collins was going every day for the next two weeks didn't bother Elizabeth all that much.
Finals were torture as usual, as the days dragged on and the two hour tests seemed to get harder every day. Soon enough though it was all over and it was summertime again. The sun was shining hard, and everyone was off to the beach. Elizabeth was insanely jealous of Bingley, Darcy and Jane because they were all finished with their exams. That, and she had another year to deal with Caroline.
"Hey, school's out!" Charlotte had been pretty distant from Lizzie lately and felt insanely bad for it, so that's the reason why on the last day she approached her best friend at her locker.
"Yeah," Lizzie smiled. She'd been wondering where her friend was always sneaking off to during lunch times but decided to not say anything about it at the very beginning of the vacation.
"Do you want to do something?" Charlotte asked hopefully. Lizzie nodded, and they went out for lunch. They laughed and talked about everything that had happened since the prom, and Charlotte had was practically silent when Lizzie mentioned Collins' request.
They were leaving the cafe when they ran into George. "Lizzie, I thought I might find you somewhere on Main Street," he told her breathlessly.
"Well, I'm here," she replied, unsure how she felt. She was still pretty upset at him for missing the prom and then not calling, but she decided to hear him out. She glanced at Charlotte, who seemed a bit hurt that Wickham had not said hello to her, but she shrugged just the same.
"I just came to tell you how extremely sorry I am for leaving you by yourself at the dance. And then not answering anything," he took a deep breath. Lizzie raised an eyebrow, Darcy's warning about excuses coming to mind as he stuttered out an apology. "I was training in Washington and didn't have time to text, email, write, nothing. I'm so sorry, but at least I was serving our country right?" he grinned and Lizzie smiled uncertainly back. "Can I drive you two back home?"
"No, thank you, Charlotte brought her car to school, I'll be going back with her," Lizzie replied, trying to keep any emotion from her voice.
"Oh," his voice fell. "Well, if you need anything, I promise I'll answer this time because the training is over and I have computer rights now." He smiled. "I'll see you two ladies around, allright?"
In the car Charlotte frowned. "It's like I wasn't even there! Ugh, anyway. Do you forgive him?"
Lizzie thought to herself for a moment. "Yes, I think I will. It's not as if he was laying in his bed purposefully ignoring me."
Charlotte shook her head. "That's still the strangest thing I've ever heard. The army not allowing their soldiers to write? That's pretty strange."
"He didn't say they weren't allowed to, only that he didn't have time," Lizzie pointed out.
Charlotte pursed her lips. "True. Be careful, Lizzie." Lizzie only shrugged. "Do you want to go to the beach? Did you bring your swimsuit?"
"Yeah, I was planning to go anyway so I put it on under my clothes," Lizzie answered, grateful at the change of subject.
When she came home from the beach with Charlotte the day school ended she went into her room and saw Jane lying on her bed. Elizabeth rushed over quickly and hugged her. "What's wrong?"
She handed her a letter, her eyes still closed. "Just don't show anyone else okay?"
"Wait, how can Charlie just leave?" Lizzie asked, confused, re- reading the letter to see if she read it wrong. Caroline had written Jane saying that they had left because Charlie had gotten a job in California suddenly and wouldn't get the job unless he left right away. Charlie wasn't the type to just pick up and run at a moment's notice, especially with Jane involved. He followed Jane around like a puppy. "Why would he, without even calling? And Caroline hasn't even graduated yet?"
Jane sat up in bed. "I don't know Elizabeth," she replied sadly. "I guess I didn't mean all that much to him."
Lizzie sat next to her and tilted up her sisters chin. "Don't you dare say that! Don't you even think that! You're worth two of all of them! If you can't give you the pleasure of writing himself then he's not even worth it."
Jane bit her lip, clearly not believing a word. "Thanks Lizzie. Can I be alone for a while?" Lizzie pulled back, surprised.
"Uh, sure. Just call if you need me, okay?" she told her sister gently and left the room. She went to the adjoining television room and plopped down on the couch, rested her head on her hand. "I'll bet Caroline did all of this," she whispered determinedly. "It's all her fault! Who would ever want to hurt Jane?"
***
Another week had gone by with no word from Bingley and Jane seemed to get even quieter than she was before.
At this point Elizabeth was sure that the whole world had gone mad, and the next Friday's events only proved it. She had been unable to catch Charlotte at an available moment all week, so when she saw the slight figure of her best friend coming towards her a bit timidly, she almost didn't believe it.
The Bennet household was in a frenzy once again, and Elizabeth had been coming outside to escape the craziness of it all. She was sitting in a lawnchair, a non- fiction book cradled to her chest, a notebook on her lap. She was taking notes for her extended essay and the sound of footprints on the crisp grass stirred her out of her studying frenzy.
"Charlotte, what's been going on?" Lizzie asked, and though she was a bit confused she still hugged her friend, and got even more nervous when Charlotte didn't reciprocate as strongly as normal. "What's wrong?"
"Well, you see... that's what I've come over to talk to you about," Charlotte began nervously, studying her shoes.
Elizabeth pursed her lips and folded her arms. "Is this about where you've been sneaking off to?"
Charlotte furrowed her brows but answered her. "Yes, well do you remember when Will asked you to come to Arizona with him?"
"You mean Collins, yeah, how could I forget?" Lizzie responded, raising an eyebrow. 'Since when did she start calling him Will?' she thought to herself.
"Well," she continued, seeming to gather strength as she talked. "He's asked me to come instead."
Lizzie was shocked and put both hands on her friend's shoulders. "I thought you couldn't go, you're family is running out of money!"
"Yes well, you see... He's paying for my ticket and, er, it's an indefinite stay."
"You mean you might stay for more than the summer?" Lizzie asked incredulously. 'What has the world come to?' she asked herself furiously. 'Everyone's gone crazy!'
"Yes Lizzie," Charlotte answered firmly. "My family hardly has any money and they are now taking money out of my college fund. I will stay in Arizona for as long as I have to, even if that means switching to another IB school in Phoenix."
"But-"
"I'm going to college Lizzie!" Charlotte spoke back sharply, interrupting her. "This seems like a better alternative than going on my knees to the government and being in debt for the rest of my life! I will not do that to me or my parents!"
"So you'll just be in debt to Collins then?"
"Men can be divorced-"
"So you're going to use him and then leave him, oh I thought you were above that-"
Charlotte looked on the verge of crying now. "No! That's only a worst case scenario! Lizzie," she really was crying now, "I plan on working as hard as I can to pay him back. Who knows what could happen! All I came over here for was your blessing." She was breathing hard now, trying to reel back in the tears.
Lizzie's jaw was clenched, the words running through her head like a ticker tape. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "You have it."
"Thank you," Charlotte gasped, hugged her friend, then turned on her heel and ran from the house.
Slowly Elizabeth sunk to the ground and stared up at the blue sky. "How am I the only sane one left?" she asked out loud to herself just as Lydia screamed from somewhere in the house.
