The weeks passed and Lizzie adjusted to the school's pace and made new friends. She could now identify the not-so-nice group that Ellen had mentioned. Darcy was part of the group, of course. But whenever she caught them gossiping about her, Darcy would only stare at her.
And she kept her promise. Every time she had the chance, she proved Darcy that he was wrong about her. She found that he had an opinion about everything, and it was very hard not to argue with him, even during classes. In very unfortunate occasions, they had to work together, and their disagreements continued. They never compromised and never admitted when one was right. But other than that, they never spoke to each other.
Never, in a million years, Lizzie would imagine that her interactions with Darcy were encouraging. He liked the way she challenged him, and was slowly falling in love with her.
The school hosted several dances during the year, but William never got the courage to ask Lizzie to be his date. Either way, she never attended them because she preferred to go to her old school's parties and hang out with Charlotte and Lydia. William spoke to no one about his feelings for Lizzie and never asked for help on how to approach her.
Graduation approached and William feared that he was going to lose Lizzie forever. He knew that she had been accepted into Yale; and he and George had received their letters from Harvard.
He spent a lot of time thinking about what to do, and after days, he finally arrived to a conclusion: he was going to confess that he was in love with her, even if they always fought, and despite the fact that she was going to his rival university.
He had thought about how they could make their relationship work, attending different schools. He could visit her during the weekends and the holidays and they would always have the Internet and the phone. It was a good plan to him.
It was the Friday before graduation. William followed Lizzie to the library, where she returned the last of the books she had borrowed and caught her right at the exit.
"Lizzie, can I talk to you?," he asked timidly.
"Yeah", she replied, intrigued, and she waited for him to speak.
"Not here, can we go outside?," he asked and Lizzie nodded and followed him to the courtyard and sat on one of the benches.
William took a deep breath and gave his speech. But instead of the coherent words he had prepared, he blurted out the words.
"What did you just say?," Lizzie had not understood.
"I am in love with you, Elizabeth Bennet."
She gaped at him and then yelled, "Are you kidding me?!"
William could not believe what she said next. She thought he was snob, rude and condescending. Worst of all, she could not wait to get him out of her life.
His first love had bluntly rejected him, and he was bound to remember that. What he did not expect was that Elizabeth Bennet's rejection was going to change his life.