"So… which reaction mechanism is this equation?" muttered James, his short brown hair ruffled at disjointed angles and his hazel eyes squinting from behind dark-rimmed glasses.
"Electrophilic aromatic substitution…" I answered, quickly sketching the carbocation and corresponding arrows. "This carboxylic acid group is deactivating so it draws negativity away… from… the… you look lost."
James hung his shoulders and dropped his pencil. My study buddy was drowning in chemical equations.
Peering at me from the corner of his lowered eyes, he sighed. "How do you do it? I find biology is easy enough, but this chemistry is so difficult to learn."
With a wry smile, I let my hand rest on his shoulder and leant inwards to avoid the rest of the library from hearing.
"I'll tell you two secrets, and you must swear on your mother's life not to tell anyone else."
James raised his eyebrows for me to continue. He tolerates my dramatic well.
"Number One: my brain is just wired weirdly to like this stuff, and number two…surely you've noticed by now that I have no life."
The admission coaxed a small smile from his reluctant lips before resuming their firm line.
"Neither do I, but I'm still failing…"
"Hey, you have a girlfriend; that is, at least, a partial life – I mean, someone would notice if you died in your sleep."
He cocked his head, curious.
"What about your family?"
I shrugged and shook my melancholy head. "They're busy."
Anna, especially. For sharing a room with someone, she was the one family member I missed the most.
James glanced at his watch briefly and began to pack up his books. With that small smile returning, he commented, "Well, don't complain too much, it's helping your grades."
Ruefully, I tried at a laugh. "Sure."
"See you Monday?" he asked, hitching his bag over his shoulder.
"Yep. Enjoy going home to your girlfriend…" I teased as he walked down the corridor and collecting my own books, I muttered to myself, "… because I've got a hot date tonight."
I meant, of course, with Antonio Banderas.
"Be careful Señorita, there are dangerous men about," spoke Zorro from the television screen as I skimmed through the Astronomy notes resting on my knees and listened to the phone cradled in my ear.
"… and Warren said I could take care of the redecorations, since he has no time for," and Stacey deepened her voice dramatically, "such trivial matters." Her laughter floated down the line and I followed suit, imagining Warren proclaiming words full of misguided self-importance.
Despite the lax in communication that comes from living six thousand kilometres away, Stacey and I could pick up any conversation like we'd never stop talking.
"Is he home tonight?"
Stacey chuckled again and assured me that he was not, as was his custom to work late most nights.
"It's all for Magda, of course," Stacey explained happily, "I'm convinced he would leave me at a moment's notice if he saw a chance to marry her."
"Don't say that!" I chided. "She's twice his age, and half as friendly."
Stacey laughed. "Oh never mind Lizzie, I'm not worried. It would never happen, but it's plain that she's got him under her control."
"Doesn't that bug you? You're supposed to be his wife," I reasoned passionately to the receiver, single sheets of astronomy notes falling silently to the floor. "He's supposed to be inordinately devoted to you."
Stacey sighed, but not with sadness. "It's what I've chosen... don't forget I knew what I was getting myself into when I married Warren. And there are other perks, you know there have to be."
"What - date nights with Warren?" I spluttered.
"No, no, nothing like that," she assured. "He's got a trip to America next year for work, and Madga wants me to go too. It's only for a few weeks, but while he's at the meetings, I can explore the cities by myself. I've never been out of the country Lizzie, and I probably never would have if not for marrying Warren."
Optimism has a name, and it's Stacey.
"…That's an amazing opportunity," I answered finally. "I'm so excited for you."
My best friend and I talked more, until Zorro declared that he had loved Elena as many different men. As credits rolled and I clicked the phone off, my thoughts wandered to America, and Australia and me. I had lived this whole life in sunny Australia and the majority of that in the west.
I would finish my final exam this year, if I didn't accept honours.
Perhaps the time was coming when I could escape this convict land and see another country.
Perhaps visit America or Europe.
Or Africa.
Maybe even visit Daniel.
That weekend, I didn't talk to Anna even once - not in the morning while I was asleep and she was awake, nor in the evening when the I was awake and she was peacefully sleeping. Despite working the Saturday shift and attending church on Sunday, I was still being encroached on by the feeling of spending my entire free time at home.
"Oh, I wish things would work in this house," cried Jenny, stomping across the lounge room with her mobile in one hand and the house phone in the other. A pregnant woman stomping is not something you want to encourage, especially one who's supposed to be on bed rest.
"Okay Baby Mama," I eased, darting from the dining table where my assignment was laid out, to clutch my sister by the shoulders and direct her to the couch. "Deep breaths, tell me what's wrong and I'll try to fix it."
"This is what's wrong," she sulked, thrusting the home phone into my face and shaking it left to right. "Our stupid phone doesn't have a '0' button that works and I need to call Jimmy but I don't have credit. I'd use the home phone but obviously his number has a '0' in it! I can't wait to move out and not have to deal with all this second-hand junk all the time," she grunted in frustration.
I tried to digest her words as best I could. Sorting through her usual complaints, I figured that all she needed a phone to call Jimmy. If it meant the life of my niece or nephew, then I could forfeit one or two or thirty dollars of phone credit to placate her.
"Here, use mine," I shrugged, attempting to smile as I reached to the table, snatching my phone up. "The number's in there already."
Her shoulders relaxed, her body subconsciously knowing everything would be fine as long as there was a phone in her hand. I stood and returned to my science notes.
Suddenly, she pulled the phone from her ear. "Huh," she muttered, "you've only got his old number. I'll have to dial it in, I guess."
"When did he change that?" I asked, scanning an index of radiation isotopes.
"A few weeks after he got to Margaret River - he didn't even tell me," she muttered. "Oh, hi Jimmy…" Her attention was now fully focused on the boy at the end of the line.
A few weeks after Margaret River?… well, I'd suspected you-know-what happened a few weeks before. I had to hand it to Jimmy, changing your number is a pretty convincing way to blow off a conquest.
Only, he had no idea he was dealing with a Bennet girl.
We have determination like nothing else.
It was one of the sneakiest things I'd ever done to Anna, but it was for a good cause.
Okay, well, not telling her about Will's interference with Harry was pretty sneaky… and then also spending a whole week with William and avoiding mentioning that fact was fairly devious too… but still.
That was old news, old secrets.
This was new.
Anna had been studying way too much. Her sneakers were neatly positioned in her closet, unused for months. A collection of unopened letters and magazines lay filed on her bookshelf.
There was even dust collecting on top of the notebook she used to write down her thoughts. When I was eight, I'd sworn to never read it and I never have. In my head it contained phrases like, 'I Heart Antonio Banderas' and 'How is my hair always so perfect?', but I'll never be sure.
Jumping my sight over the notebook, I spied her university timetable and smiled to myself. She had a two hour gap later this afternoon. I was going to join her. Sneaky, sneaky.
With the aid of Google and an arts student with too much hair across his face, I found Anna's lecture theatre with moments to spare. Her class would end shortly and out she would bound, joyous and beautiful like the sunrise, and I'd say, "Hey, I'm here to surprise you," and she would say, "Oh Lizzie, what a wonderful surprise," and then we would burst into our own musical, complete with clever rhyming and a dance troupe.
What actually happened, was this:
As I was contemplating what rhymed with 'economics class is over', a whole group of students emerged from the building, bleary-eyed and weary. I stood to make my way over to the door, when I saw a figure making his way to that same door, and with a much greater lead than me.
It didn't compute.
He wasn't meant to be here.
He wasn't meant to be dashing towards my sister's lecture theatre like it was the most normal thing in the world.
He was meant to be in Melbourne.
Harrison Bandly, what the heck are you doing here?
A/N - lolz.
'Part 2, The Meeting of Mr. Harry Bandly' begins tomorrow.
Side note: I saw Austenland the other night and it's everything I ever dreamed it would be and more. Recommended.
M.
