A/n--I hope you liked the prologue. Obviously you did or you wouldn't be reading this lol. While I don't own the characters of AGATB, I do own Simon's butler, Mr. Wilkes. I don't know where I got that name, but I'm pretty sure he is not in the books, therefore he is my character. Just to let u guys know...

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Chapter 1

The carriage pulled up in front of the familiar house of Simon's. The young coachman, no older than eighteen, lept down from his perch to open the door for us. He lead Ann out first, then Felicity, and then me. When he held out his hand and smiled at me, I felt a sense of deja vu. Shrugging it off as nothing, I accepted his hand and climbed out.

Once inside, Simon's head butler took note of our arrival and came to us.

"Miss Doyle, Miss Worthington, and Miss Bradshaw, so nice to see you all again." He nodded to each of them and then offered his arm to me. "Pleasant trip, Miss Doyle?"

"Yes, very pleasant, Mr. Wilkes." He lead me away from Ann and Felicity.

"I greatly missed all of you." I added, as he lead me to the head of the room.

"And you were missed as well, Miss."

"Thank you, Mr. Wilkes." By that time, we somehow managed to make our way through the crowd, to the one person I could not wait to see.

Mr. Wilkes announced. "Miss Doyle to see you, Mr. Middleton."

Simon turned from a young man, an old schoolmate of his, to acknowledge me. "Ahh, Gemma."

He looked at Mr. Wilkes. "Thank you, Mr. Wilkes, you are dismissed."

Mr. Wilkes nodded one. "Yes sir." He turned to do a slight bow at me. "Miss Doyle."

I did a slight curtsy in return. "Mr. Wilkes."

With that, he left.

Simon came up to me and placed a hand on one of my shoulders. He gave me a kiss on my cheek, one that made my heart beat like crazy. While my friends and I were only gone for a month, I truly missed him. His touch. His smile. His laugh. Just everything about him.

"I am glad you are back."

"I am too," I replied, smiling at him.

He locked arms with me, intertwining his hand with mine. We walked through the crowd, to where Simon's parents stood. They both greeted me warmly, but before I could start to talk about my trip, Simon lead me away from his parents, from the crowd, to a screen in the corner. He walked casually behind the screen, me on his arm. We were blocked from the rest of the guests, which use to bother me. It was improper to be alone with a man, unless you were married to him. I knew that, it was just that I have grown use to being alone with Simon, that it feels right.

"Gemma," he whispered. "You never answered my question."

I bit my lower lip. I knew what question he was talking about. "No, I did not."

"Well..."

"Well?"

"Have you an answer?"

I stared at my left hand in his right and thought about how good a match we were. Often people would talk about us, saying we were a "smart match", "the finest young couple they have ever seen". They were right, Simon and me fit together very well. But I keep having this voice in the back of my head, a distant memory, that causes me to have me doubts. But who doesn't, when it comes to this big of a decision? It is just nerves.

I do love Simon, and we would be happy together. I smiled thinking of our afternoons together, in the library and the garden. He is wonderful. That was it, that was all I needed, so I swallowed and pushed away that voice of doubt and looked into his eyes.

"Yes."

"Yes?"

I felt my smile grow, as I nodded excitedly. "Yes!"

"Yes!"

He released my hand and ran from behind the screen. I stared at the place he was standing for a moment, then looked over to where he ran to. He stood on a chair, something not I was not expecting, something that no one should do, but before anyone could protest, he shouted, "May I have everyone's attention?"

My eyes never left him, but I heard the music lower and the shifting of feet.

"Gemma Doyle and I are now engaged!"

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You were probably expecting that, but if weren't, surprise! I know the people who hated Gemma and Simon together probably hate me right now, but keep reading, it gets better. Guess who I'm gonna bring in soon? It's probably obvious but just keep reading to see if you guessed right .