Disclaimer: I do not own Pride & Prejuice or any TV reality shows. I am just an unwilling slave to them once I start watching!
"Welcome to HOW TO BE A LADY! I am your host, Ruth Rogers, and tonight you will meet eight lovely ladies who will learn how to act, look and become a true lady of England. The winner will get £1 million, plus the official title of "Lady of Shallot!"
"Is that a real title, or are they joking us?" Elizabeth Bennett, better known as Beth, whispered to her best friend Jane Crocker. Jane just smiled and squeezed her hand in response. Beth smiled back. While she didn't care about the title or being a lady – although the money would be nice – Jane was thrilled to be on the show. Her family was a middle-class family, although these days that was not enough for a comfortable life. Jane was also thrilled with the idea of being a 'lady' – something she had dreamed of as a little girl.
"To help our aspiring ladies, we have world famous etiquette teacher, Ester Amato, royal family correspondence, Paul Hanson, and the elegant Lady of Pemberley, Georgiana Darcy, to offer insight of what the role truly means."
"Oh, how lovely! A real lady!" Jane softly exclaimed.
Ruth Rogers turned towards the group of ladies lined up at the door. "And now, I am pleased to introduce our girls ready to be groomed…
Lydia Jameston!
Anne Bourgh!
Catherine Jameston!
Charlotte Lucas!
Caroline Bingley!
Jane Crocker!
Elizabeth Bennett!
And Mary Ronai!
Each girl walked forward to the cameras and then took a seat to the left of Jane. Beth saw that Lydia and Catherine were the most flamboyant and seemed to want to seduce the camera. She had walked forward with a slight smile, as if amused by the whole program. She was also reminded of the environment she would now be living in. As she sat, she could feel the microphone transmitter in her back and saw several cameras positioning themselves for the best shot of the girls. She smiled and then sighed as she realized that she wasn't going to have a private moment until this was over.
Ruth Rogers signalled to the camera to turn off as she turned around to the girls. The cameraman swiftly moved around so that he had a good shot to Ruth and turned the camera on again. Ruth cleared her throat and began again.
"Now, I know that you are all very excited to begin the competition. Not only do you have the chance to become a true lady; all of you will learn how to behave like one. To further help with your studies, I would like all of you to take a ride with me to your new home for the next few weeks." A small buzz erupted among the girls. Jane looked towards Beth with excitement. Everyone looked apprehensive, except Caroline, Beth noticed. Caroline caught Beth's stare and smirked. Before Beth could react, Ruth spoke again.
"Lady Georgian Darcy and her brother, Lord Fitzwilliam Darcy, have been kind enough to offer their home to you for this competition. May I remind you that, not only are you a guest, but Georgian is one of our judges. I expect you to be on your best behaviour the entire competition." With this final warning, Ruth smiled and opened her arms. "Let the competition begin!"
Jane immediately turned to Beth, "Pemberley estate! How wonderful of Lady Darcy to offer it to us for the competition. She is said to be such a kind and lovely lady. I am so glad that, out of all the ladies we could meet, it will be her!"
"Mmmmm, are you sure that you are interested in her, or perhaps the wealthy Lord Darcy?" Beth teased.
"Beth!" Jane exclaimed, blushing. "You know that I have no such intensions! If I happened to see him though and he were to come over and our eyes met in such a passionate way – well, then we may have something to work out!" Both girls giggled.
"Oh, please," a cold voice interrupted their conversation. Beth and Jane looked up, surprised. "The Darcy family would never have something to do with such common girls such as you."
"Excuse me?" Beth was shocked to fine anyone so open to being so rude, "Why do you feel that you can talk like this? You are here, just like the rest of us to learn to be a lady! Judging by your behaviour, I think you need it more than most common girls."
"How dare you!" Caroline hissed, as a cameraman came closer to the girls. "I am Caroline Bingley – I do not need this competition." Beth raised her eyebrow in response. "I am here as a personal favour to Lord Darcy – although I can not go into the details now." She turned away to leave the room. Lydia, whose ears had perked at the words "personal favour to Lord Darcy," followed her out. Beth glared at her back.
"I'm sure you can't."
"Hi, I'm Charlotte," a pleasant girl with brown, curly hair introduced herself to Beth and Jane on the couch. "I heard your conversation with Caroline back there. I would be careful – she is such a stuck-up brat, but has a horrible sense of revenge."
"Oh, you know her?" Jane asked.
"Yes, we went to school together. My father is rather well to do, as is her family, so we went to boarding school together. Her brother and sister are rather nice, but she really has gotten this evil streak from somewhere out of the blue. It's lucky for her that her family is so nice. Her brother, Charles, is one of the nicest guys I know and would also look out for her. He knows what a horrible person she is, but he'll make sure she doesn't get hurt."
"It's odd how families are," Beth agreed.
"So, why are you doing this competition?" Jane asked.
"Promise not to laugh?" Beth and Jane nodded. "Well, I went to boarding school and have been rather privileged, but I never really got a good training in etiquette. My parents are afraid that I will never find a good husband if I don't get a proper training. This is a rather public way to go about it, but I have a good sense of humour. If my future husband can feel the same way; I know I got a good guy."
"Wow," Beth didn't know whether to feel impressed or sorry. "You really have to think about marriage now? Have you even gone to university yet?"
"I plan to start next fall. I'm going to study economics." She tried to explain to a wary Jane and Beth. "I don't plan to throw away my degree at all, but it is important to me that I find a good man to marry. To do this, I must be prepared to recommend myself. I am a fairly smart person with a decent sense of style. If I have the etiquette to match, I could find a husband to not only love, but help me and my family. Do you understand?"
"I guess so," Jane said thoughtfully. Beth knew that she was thinking of her own family.
"I have a great quote that goes something like this, "Men go after beautiful women, right? They do not marry a woman because she is beautiful, but it helps. The same thing for women; a wealthy man is attractive, but a women will not marry him because of that. She'll marry him because she loves him." I know – it's not quite accurate, but it's a bit close to what I'm trying to explain." Charlotte smiled. Beth smiled back.
"Where is that from?"
"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I love old movies."
"Me too! How about…" for the rest of the trip, Beth, Jane and Charlotte forged a great friendship.
A/N: Ok, I decided to end here to start. I have been writing other chapters and have just been trying to find a way to start the story. But this is following a competition I saw about girls becoming a "princess." I always get hooked on these shows. But, I have tweaked it a bit for P&P.
Coming next chapter: They arrive to Pemberley and meet Lord and Lady Darcy. Opening ball and classes and a short meeting at night between Beth and Darcy (William).
