"Are you okay?," Lizzie asked again as the boy just stared at her.

"He is kind of cute," Lizzie thought. He was not much taller than her, with really clear eyes that contrasted with the darkness of his hair.

And he was just standing in front of her, without moving or speaking.

She was about to shake her hand in front of his eyes to regain his attention when he gave her a look from head to toe. Lizzie frowned and took a step back.

"Mmm… I am alright", William said, and then immediately added, "Are you new?"

"Yes, this is my first day here," Lizzie answered, a little wary, "I was on my way to the student's counselor office and I am… actually kind of late", she finished looking at her watch.

"It's the third door to the right," William pointed.

"Oh, thank you," Lizzie step aside and walked in the direction of the office, "I'm…," she had meant to apologize again but when she turned, the boy was gone.

"Weird," she muttered as she knocked on the door.

She saw him again, during her English class. He was sitting in silence among a group of chatty people. And when he noticed her, he did not move his eyes from her.

Lizzie walked to the teacher's desk to hand out her papers and for the third time in that day; she had to introduce herself to the rest of the students.

Her name was Lizzie Bennet and she had recently transferred from an out of the city school.

William repeated her name in his mind. It was good to put a name to the face that had been hunting him since that morning. Especially her eyes. He could not tell the color, they seemed blue and grey and blue, but he remembered perfectly her dark auburn hair.

And then, the teacher asked, "Where do you want to go to college?"

"Yale," she answered, very sure of herself.

"Ugh, why Yale? Why not Harvard?," William thought. He was not pleased.

He saw her took a seat in the first row and then allowed himself to be distracted by the actual class.

During the lunch hour, Lizzie sat with a girl she had met in her biology class, Ellen.

"We usually don't get any new students for senior year," Ellen said.

"I can tell," Lizzie replied, realizing that some of the senior students were looking at her with interest.

"Don't worry, almost everyone is nice."

"Almost everyone?"

"There are some rich kids, that are not welcoming as the rest of us," Ellen said with a smile.

Lizzie smiled back and then said, "Like him?," she moved her head in Darcy's direction.

"Who, Darcy? No, he's all right, he's… quiet, most of the time."

Lizzie decided she had enough information about the Darcy guy and so changed the conversation. But at the end of the day, she had learnt more about him.

She had his first name, William, and that the blond guy that was always with him was George Wickham, his best friend.

Lizzie quickly erased Darcy from her mind and did not even bother to tell Charlotte about him when they got together that afternoon.

William was fighting the urge of talking to Lizzie, just to be near her. He did not know what to do; he had never been so affected by someone, especially by a girl. He was even afraid to say something to George, who had his ways with people.

He was trying hard not to stare at her, but it was challenging because they shared the majority of the courses. And every time she spoke during class, she gave the correct answer or an insightful comment. It was difficult not to compare her to the other girls and admire her because she was so different, in a very good way.

It was Friday, and they were in their last period, working at the library. William was looking for a book besides George, when the former decided to finally say something to his friend.

"So… what do you think of the new girl?"

"The Bennet girl? Meh… not pretty enough to tempt me. Why?," George asked, puzzled.

"Nothing really. I was thinking that you could talk to her and…"

"You like her? Are you serious? The Bennet girl?," his friend asked again.

"No, of course not. She surely is another silly and pretentious girl that just came here with the hope of getting in an Ivy League school. And not even to the best one," William finally said out of pure peer pressure.

"Come on, Darcy," George patted him on the shoulder and went back to their table.

What William did not know was that Lizzie had listened to the very last part of their conversation. She had moved through the bookshelves unnoticed and had stopped behind a pillar when she heard her name.

So that was what William Darcy thought of her. Another rich boy who looked down on her.

"Oh, well, I am not going to give you the satisfaction," Lizzie decided, and that marked the future of her relationship with Darcy.