The next day William, Chris and Charles arrived early to school and were just waiting outside the gate for the girls. William was eager to go but Charles had convinced him to stay saying that he really needed to talk to Jane. Since, Will had been the cause of Charles' absence from the canteen table; he felt a little guilty and waited without another complaint. But somewhere in his sub-conscious mind, he did not mind seeing Lizzy.

Meanwhile Lizzy, Jane and Charlotte were descending from the bus and as they saw the boys, they walked towards them.

"I'll see you guys inside," Lizzy said. But before she could go, Charlotte grabbed her bag and stopped her.

"Na...Not going anywhere," Charlotte said, "Time for a reality check."

"You're the worst, Char."

"I know," Charlotte smiled evilly.

"What's wrong anyways? You don't like Will. End of story," Charlotte said.

"I insulted the guy two days ago..." Elizabeth said. She had been telling herself this, while trying to find excuses to not talk to Darcy. But had she really wanted that, she would've just run ahead, right?

"And since when does that affect you?" Charlotte said effectively shutting Lizzy up.

"Hey guys!" Jane greeted everybody.

An identical greeting was heard from the said group of people.

Jane and Charles walked ahead and were slowly followed by Charlotte and Chris, who apparently were having very important discussions about their project.

Lizzy led the way as Will followed.

Suddenly between his laughs, Will asked from behind her, "Are you seriously reading Pride and Prejudice?"

"What no!" Lizzy said quickly, turning around. "How do you even know?"

"Your bag is open. Here, let me zip it up," he said as he went across to behind her back. "It looks like a rugged copy too. Just how many times have you read it?"

She was cursing Charlotte inside as she registered that while pulling her, Charlotte must have inadvertently opened the bag. However, her focus was not on the word inadvertently.

The book was in his hand now and he was rummaging through the pages.

"Well, who would've thought? Elizabeth Bennet is not such a tomboy after all," he continued coolly.

"Darcy,"

"William," he cut in quickly.

"William, I swear if you tell anyone about this..." she said as she snatched the book from his clutches.

"You'll do what, Lizzy?" asked Will, smugly.

"Choose your words carefully, Darcy. We do share a PE class together. And if I'm not wrong, today just happens to be one of those days," she warned him and stalked off.

Will was still walking slowly; taking in the scene. A put out Lizzy walking away from him; a teasing smile donning her features, this was the Lizzy he fell in love with. The Lizzy who easily got on his nerves and in return he got on hers.

If I know my Lizzy, she's not going to play this easy, he thought as a similar teasing smile overcame his features.


Wrong about his Lizzy? That simply cannot be, now can it?

But unbeknownst to them, their friends had also taken all measures to make this PE class a successful outing for the fiery duo, as they liked to call them. As only Charles shared this class with the said duo, he was the group's official reporter.

"Will turn seventeen in a month and still cannot take care of themselves. The things you've to do for your friends these days," a smiling Charles shared his thoughts with Jane just before the PE period.

"All in good time, my love; all in good time," Jane replied good-naturedly.

"I'll be your Mr Darcy, Miss Bennet," Will told Lizzy as soon as she entered the field. He was standing with his 'acquaintances'.

"Bugger off, Darcy," she said and walked ahead when realization suddenly dawned on her. With an evil grin, she turned around and came face to face with William, "So, Mr William Darcy is also not the tough guy he boasts himself to be."

Will blushed and opened his mouth a few times before speaking something, "Tennis. One set. You and me?"

"Ask Mr McCartney. I'm fine with it," Lizzy replied coolly.

Mr McCartney had no problems, whatsoever. Somebody interested in playing, that too two of his star students, he did not mind at all. Aware of the competition between them and just to be on a safer side he added, "Just don't injure each other too severely."

"Never," they both replied with a perfect prolongation of –er.

Mr McCartney laughed and walked away.

They knocked the ball a few times to warm up and decided it was time for the DECIDER.

First serve to Lizzy, Will hit an ace.

"Fifteen –Love," he shouted.

Second serve to Lizzy, again an ace.

"Thirty- Love," he shouted again. But this time he prolonged the pronunciation of the world love and it produced the desired effect. Lizzy was on her toes.

Next serve- a return ace; "Thirty- Fifteen," she shouted.

They played for about thirty more minutes with their scores tied at five games apiece, before the bell decided to interrupt them there and then.

"Next time," said Mr McCartney. Yes, he was observing the whole match. And that's the only reason, nothing other than a little OOs and AAs were said. Well, nothing except a deliberate prolongation of the word Love- always directed at Lizzy.

Mr McCartney followed a very professional work ethic. The players had to come to net and shake hands. Lizzy was just tired of this kindergarten style hand shake she was getting subjected to so very often; especially in the past few weeks. But this time, a tinge of charge passed through her body as she took his hand in hers. And from Will's expression, it was completely obvious that he wasn't averse as well.

"Well played," they both said to each other, looking directly at each other. Their eyes had that fire, as always, but they also had another remote feeling; the feeling both of which were trying to suppress. They remained there for a few seconds more than necessary, their hands still joined.

Let it go, Lizzy. Let it go, she kept telling herself.

Thankfully, the look did not go unnoticed by Charles.


"Without any bias, I can say that they like each other very much," Charles declared himself to the group.

"Then we can go ahead with a clear conscious, right?" asked Jane, in her sweet voice. She was worried about hurting her sister. The angelic personality she had, she did not want to force anything unwanted on her dear little sister.

"Yes, I believe so," said Charles.

"So, let's design our plan of action," said Charlotte excitedly.

"...and Bob's your uncle," concluded Charlotte.

"You're having a kick out this, aren't you?" asked Chris.

"Of course, I am," replied Charlotte, a very wide grin appearing on her face.

A/N: I have two questions. Are students in London allowed to carry mobile phones to school? And do public schools in London have a uniform?

And also a request- Please share your thoughts! All feedback appreciated.