I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. It took me longer to write than most of the others. It's also a bit longer than the usual ones :D I hope you can find something to enjoy about it!

I've already said that... oh, well. Maybe you'll enjoy it twice as much! *love*

Previously on Bittersweet: It's Will's birthday. We meet Richard/Richie, Will's cousin and perhaps a love-interest of one of the girls. Who knows? The author (me, again) decides to add some unimportant grossness into the final part and thus we enter this next chapter!

Chapter 11 – Finals
EPOV

It had happened; the finals were upon us!

I had already completed one exam: English. It was rather easy, I had of course, studied well for it and I was prepared unlike another person who shall remain nameless (*cough* Will *cough*).

However, the rest of the exams seemed like torture. I had studied for three days already for my Science exam and I was bored out of my mind. I didn't know the subject well enough, though. At least not in my opinion but I was becoming rather restless. Jane and Charlotte were worrying about their own exams so speaking to them didn't help, Kitty ignored anyone that didn't have food in their hands, Mom was working and Dad was at his school making exams and going over them. So I had absolutely nothing to do.

"I thought about calling Will, mainly to bug him but also to have some company. Then I realised two things: 1) he was also studying for Science, and 2) I didn't have his phone number.

I picked up my phone and called a new acquaintance of mine.

"Hello," a male voice answered.

"Hi, Richie. It's Lizzy," I greeted, "... from Will's birthday party,"

"Hey," he said. I could hear he was smiling. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"To Science... I'm studying and I'm really bored."

"Want to hang out?"

I smiled. "I'd love to... unless you need to study," I said uncertainly.

"Nope, my finals don't start until next week."

"Lucky bastard," I muttered, making him chuckle.

"You live next door to Will, right?"

"Yup."

"How about I come over and then we can go and see a movie?" he suggested.

"Sounds good."

"Great," he said. "Give me 30 minutes."

"Alright, see you later."

He said his goodbyes and we hung up. I found myself smiling for no apparent reason.

He came, as promised, a half-hour later. He drove us to the town's old movie theatre. There was only one movie playing, a movie neither one of us wanted to see, so we decided to go somewhere else. I suggested we'd go to the nearby coffee house and decide there what we wanted to do. He agreed. The coffee place was filled with students with computers, notebooks and steaming coffee mugs. We took our seats in one of the booths and ordered. He went with coffee but I simply had orange juice. Richie joked about my choice in drink but I simply stated that I didn't drink coffee.

"Why not? Too many extra calories?" he asked in a mocking voice.

"I chuckled at his ridiculousness. "No, it's either too bitter or too sweet for my taste."

"That's only because you haven't had a real coffee experience."

"I'm afraid to ask what that entails," I said, amused.

He just winked at me, making me laugh.

We had some meaningless, but enjoyable, chatter as we sipped our drinks. We talked about school and our exams until we both decided to forget them for a while and enjoy this little free time we had. He could easily make me laugh and loudly, much to the chagrin of the students nearby. We started talking about Charlotte and I teased him about setting the two of them up. He didn't seem to be against the idea and he agreed.

"You do realise I was joking, right?" I said with one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't mind getting to know her a little better."

I ended up telling him a few things about Charlotte and he seemed quite interested. He asked me to give him her phone number but I couldn't bring myself to do it; Charlotte would kill me.

"Well, at least that gives me a reason to see her again," he said with a crooked smile.

I'm not sure how or why but our discussion evolved into talking about Will.

"So you two grew up together, right?" he asked and sipped his coffee.

"Yeah," I replied. "But it wasn't until recently that we became friends. We had a, um, a feud of sorts."

"Yeah, I know," Richard said. "He told me many fascinating stories about you two when you were growing up."

"Really?" I asked, surprised. He nodded in reply. I attempted for a light tone when I said, "I didn't know he spent much time talking about me."

"Oh, he did... does, actually. I often got to hear him complain about you."

"Oh," I said, a little deflated. I had held on to a small hope that Will would have something nice to say about me.

"He also mentioned your eyes quite often."

"My eyes?" I asked, befuddled.

He nodded with a grin. "Apparently that was the thing he hated about you the most, the fact that you have pretty eyes."

"He said I have pretty eyes?" I asked, hoping my voice didn't reveal how I felt at that moment.

"Yes. He also said something along the lines of linking 'the way her eyes light up when she's angry'. Not sure what he meant by that but whatever. It's hardly my business what my cousin likes in a girl."

I was completely bewildered by his statements. Will talked about me? Will had liked my eyes? Will had liked me? The world could be too confusing at times.
We paid for our drinks. He had at first insisted on paying but I suppose I was too much of a feminist, or whatever you want to call it, to let him. We walked to my house together, talking occasionally about small and irrelevant things. I turned to him when we were on the front porch.

"Would you like to come in?" I asked, opening the door.

"No, thanks. I've got to get home. I think I should start studying... it won't hurt, at least."

"Well, thanks for a great day; I needed it."

"No problem. Don't hesitate to call me again to chat," he said with a friendly smile. Then he surprised me by leaning down and giving me a light kiss on the cheek. "I look forward to seeing you again."

With that, he left. I simply stood there, stunned by that action. Instead of the butterflies I had expected to flutter in my stomach, I felt guilt. I couldn't comprehend why but I couldn't shake the feeling that I had done something incredibly wrong by calling him in the first place.

...

I groaned when the bell rang. The Science final was over and I hadn't finished my quiz. I added a few answers while the teachers collected the exams. One teacher stood in front of my table, tapping his foot and giving me a look. I smiled apologetically and handed him my exam.

I met up with Will in the lunchroom afterwards. He had a huge smile on his face when he waved me over, but that smile faded when he noticed the expression on my face.

"Bad?" he asked as we sat down at our usual table.

"Horrible!" I replied with a pout. "I don't get it. I studied really hard. I read the book I don't know how many times. I studied for it almost every day after my English final, apart from when I went to see Richie at the coffee shop and I–"

"You went to see Richie?" he interrupted. He sounded betrayed. The tone of his voice only encouraged the guilt I had been battling with ever since I went to meet Richard.

"Yeah..." I answered quietly, avoiding his piercing gaze. For some reason I felt like I needed to explain myself."I just wanted to get a break from studying."

"Right," he said, "right."

I felt like beating myself up for the betrayal I heard in his voice.

We walked home together in silence. I kept feeling like I should say something but I had no idea what to say, or even why I wanted to reassure him.

We parted to our respective homes without a goodbye. I had tried to say something but he stalked off before I had the chance. I felt horrible, although I had no reason to feel so. It was not as if we were together or anything even close to that. The mere thought of us being something other than friends made me blush exceedingly.

I headed straight towards Jane's room. This was one of those rare moments in my life that I needed some girl-talk. Jane sat on her bed, staring straight ahead. Her face was emotionless, something I had never seen on her. It was usually me that walked around without an expression, she was always the smiley one.

"Are you okay?" I asked and kneeled in front of her. That was when I first noticed the tears in her eyes.

"I'm fine," she lied.

"Don't even try, sis, I know you too well. Tell me what's wrong." I moved a strand of hair from her face.

"I'm just... I don't know." She sighed. "Maybe I'm going crazy."

"Tell me," I urged her.

"It's... Charlie," she said. "I have this feeling that he doesn't like me anymore."

"How on earth can you think that?" I asked, muddled.

"He has been acting kind of distant, he never called me after our date, and at Will's birthday he could hardly look into my eyes when we were talking. It's like the sight of me scares him!"

"Jane," I began, taking her hands in mine. "That boy is absolutely smitten with you! You are crazy if you say you can't see it. Everyone around the two of you can.

He's so nervous around you so it's no wonder he can't look into those pretty eyes of yours. Will has told me numerous times about how much Charlie talks and thinks about you. Get it through your head; he likes you. He always has. Ever since kindergarten. Don't you remember when we were all playing together and you fell out of the tree house and he got so incredibly scared for you and started shouting for help?"

"He talks about me?" was her reply.

"Seriously? Out of all that, that's all you got?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. I received no reply, she only smiled. "Yes! He's head over heels in love, or lust, whichever you prefer, with you!"

"Lizzy," she admonished, still wearing a smile. "You're so silly."

I sat down next to her on her bed and took her hands in mine. She was blushing now and biting her lower lip. Her unshed tears were gone from her eyes, thankfully. Seeing my darling twin sad was the worst feeling in the world. Seeing Will sad was almost as depressing.

"Are you alright?" she asked me after a while of thoughtful silence.

"Yes, what? I'm fine," I said and tried to give her a reassuring smile.

"If you won't tell me we'll go through the same thing we just did, except the roles are reversed."

I chuckled quietly.

I gathered the courage to tell her everything. I told her about the so called 'date' with Richie and his innocent kiss, Will's reaction and my incredible guilt. She looked pensive for a moment before speaking up. She told me not to 'lead them on', whatever that means, and be 'honest with my feelings'. This was exactly the reason why I hated this girl-talk crap. When Jane started talking like this I was shaking my head and face-palming myself inside. On the outside I simply nodded my head.

"You're not listening," she said accusingly.

"I am" I defended. "It's all very... interesting."

She kicked me out of her room a little while later. And by kicking I mean easing me out the door with her Jane-heartedness, saying she had to study. I had to do the same so I didn't argue.

When I walked into my room I saw a figure lurking in the shadows but I was too frightened to scream.

"Sorry," his deep voice said. "I didn't mean to scare you. Oh, shit... sorry." He scratched the back of his head while I tried to calm myself down. Seeing him pace the floor wasn't helping.

"What are you doing here, Will?" I asked. He thankfully stopped pacing to look at me.

"I just wanted to apologise for leaving like that today. I have no right... I have no right to meddle with your life. What you do is your business and it shouldn't affect me. If you want to be with my cousin, then that's fine. He's a nice guy and you deserve the best."

"Wait, what?" I asked, confusion evident in my voice and on my face. He simply stared at me back, giving me a chance to speak. "I don't like Richie, I mean he's nice but he's not exactly my type."

"You have a type?"

I ignored him. "There may have been a moment or two where I felt he was really nice but nothing compared to... to others," I finished awkwardly.

"So you're not with him?" He sounded almost hopeful.

I was going to snort and come up with a long retort but I let a simple "No," suffice. I thought I saw his face flicker with some sort of joy until he composed himself and nodded silently. I started nodding my head too and so there we were; nodding our heads until we agreed we had better things to do. With a few puffs, he climbed back into his room. It was quite entertaining to watch but his less than amused gaze made my laughter stop.

...

The rest of my finals went by fairly quickly. It didn't matter that I had probably mixed Stalin up with Lenin, or that I might have left 'blahblahblah' somewhere in my final essay in English. All that mattered was that today was my last final that semester. I could finally start my summer vacation, shortly followed by my awesome summer job at the local book store.

I spoke to Jane and Will shortly before we walked into the large room where we would take our Math exam. Charlotte and Charlie had been lucky enough to have finished their exams a day early. Not that I was jealous or anything. Nope.

I walked into the room with my head held high, confident that I had learned everything well enough to pass. I sat down behind my sister and close to my friend. It was announced that we could start our exams and I quickly started working.

"What the hell does that sign mean?" was the question that popped into my head a few times during that final. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Will's horrified expression. Or maybe he was just concentrating really hard. No, he was starting to bite his nails. It was a telltale sign. He turned his head towards me, silently asking, "What the hell?" I gave him an expression in return that meant: "I have no idea."

Apart from the few times I doubted myself, and the times I wanted to cry, the exam went alright. Oh, who am I kidding? It was horrible!

"How did it go?" Will asked me when we sat down together on our usual table in the lunch room.

"Ugh," I replied. "I swear we never learned some of those formulas."

Neither Will nor I had to ask how Jane's exam went when she finally joined us, it was evident by the smile on her face. I had inherited my father's love for books, she had gotten our mother's math genes. Both Mom and Jane had tried to teach me some math but it had never really worked. Mom had given up when I was ten and when Jane tried it always ended up with either one of us screaming. It was usually me, though.

"I feel like I could break into a song right now," I said out of the blue as the three of us walked home. Will chuckled while Jane smiled and rolled her eyes. "I'm not joking," I said. "Summer is finally here, no more obligations, homework, teachers, or foul smelling freshmen."

"Don't call them all smelly, it was only Kurt Howard," Jane admonished.

"Doesn't matter. We're free," I said, spreading my arms as if I were to fly.

Jane laughed at my silliness but Will had another idea. He put his hands under my armpits and lifted me up, making me squeal and Jane laugh even louder. We were all in hysterical laughter by the time he put me down. Our neighbour, old Mrs. Hughes was walking down the street and looked at us with a scowl.

"What has happened to young people today? You are all disgraceful. I'll wish for death to pick me up before I see you leading this country into shame!"

I looked between Will and Jane. We were all stifling our smiles.

"Bloody, fucking children," Mrs. Hughes finished and walked on.

We couldn't restrain ourselves anymore and fell into another fit of laughter. When we finally composed ourselves we went to the Darcy's porch. The three of us sat in the large porch swing and started talking. Will told us about his plans with Charlie that summer. They were going to the beach the following weekend.

"Why don't you join us?" he suggested. "It would be fun."

"Are you sure Charlie would want us there?" Jane asked timidly.

Will gave me the 'Is she kidding?" look.

"I'm in," I said with a smile.

"Great, bring Charlotte too," Will said.

"She's going to Spain tomorrow," I replied.

"Oh. But you'll come?" he asked, looking between Jane and me. "It will be fun."

"Yeah," Jane and I replied together.

"Fantastic," he said with a grin. "I'll call Charlie and tell him about the change of plans."

We left shortly after that conversation ended. Jane went straight into the kitchen to find us something to eat while I called Charlotte to tell her goodbye.

"You'll miss me, right babe?" she asked.

"Of course. Now I have no one to use my awesome pickup lines on," I said with a pout I knew she couldn't see.

"Well, there's always Will."

I snorted. "Yeah, that's going to happen."

"You never know."

"We spoke for a short while before we said our endless and lovesick goodbyes.

"I'll miss you," she cooed.

"I'll miss you more."

"I love you, baby!"

"I love you!" I said.

"I love you more than ice-cream."

"I love you more than cinnamon."

"I love you more than cake."

"I love you more than unicorns," I said.

As much as I know you'd want to hear the entire conversation, I had to stop somewhere.

Jane and I managed to get permission from Mom and Dad to go to the beach. Kitty was jealous for a while until Mom promised a shopping trip. Dad rolled his eyes at that with a dry smile. He had been hesitant at first but caved in when our twin power united into one, great puppy dog face.

Hmmm... wonder what will happen at the beach...
Thanks for reading! I hope you'll leave me a review and tell me what you think :D