Liz
Liz was worried about Jane. She had to drag her to the party yesterday and practically force her to dance. Of course, unless you knew Jane really well, you wouldn't be able to see past the fixed smile on her face. But Liz knew that her friend was depressed and she had seen her avoiding Charlie repeatedly at the dance. She wondered if Jane would be feeling better by tomorrow – she had to work on the project with Charlie.
Fortunately, this was the last week that they would have to suffer Charlie and Will. After the project was over, they could ignore the existence of those two boys. She thought back to how she had caught Darcy looking disdainfully at her during Casey's party, probably comparing her dress to the designer ensemble the bimbo with him was wearing.
Liz was feeling rather awkward. Jane was handling herself well and actually talking to Charlie while they worked together in the corner of the room. However, she was still not comfortable enough with him to make her usual small talk. And Charlie obviously knew that something was wrong since he seemed rather subdued as well.
Liz and Will were working quietly, as usual, but she felt compelled to make some conversation – it was just too quiet there. She tried to think of a topic while she glued some bits of cardboard together. She felt Will staring at her and looked up at him. He returned her look silently. "Umm ... did you need something?" she asked.
Will opened his mouth to reply and then closed it again. Liz waited. "Nothing much, I was just going to ask to borrow your black marker."
"Uh, ok." Liz decided that she would rather not talk with him – he was seriously strange sometimes. She could feel him still staring at her. She focussed on finishing everything quickly so that she could leave.
Jane and Liz were sitting in Jane's room and talking about Charlie. Jane had decided she had misread him and thought that he wanted to ask her out when he was just being friendly. Liz was sure that Charlie had wanted to go out with Jane, but she decided that it was better for her friend to think she had been wrong about his feelings rather than to take it as a rejection.
After another half an hour of listening to Jane analyze why she had misunderstood Charlie and munching on popcorn, Liz decided it was time for some retail therapy.
They headed to their favorite mall. As they were walking inside from the car park, Liz thought she saw her sister behind one of the pillars. She hesitated since it seemed odd that Lydia should be there.
"Hey Liz, doesn't that look like Lydia? What is she doing there?" said Jane.
"I don't know why she should be hanging around in the car park ... let me go see what's happening."
Liz walked towards Lydia and realized that there was someone else with Lydia; he was in the shadows so she hadn't seen him earlier. He seemed quite a bit older than Lydia, maybe a year or so older than Liz. He was built, curly dark brown hair shining with golden highlights and as he looked up at Liz, she saw he had amazing blue eyes and dimples when he smiled.
"Hey there, can I help you?" he asked. Lydia turned around and frowned when she saw Liz.
"Oh George, this is my older sister", she said. "Really? So this is the sister you keep complaining about?" George laughed and winked at Liz. "Pleased to meet you, I'm George Wickham."
She couldn't help smiling back at him. "Nice to meet you, George. But I was wondering why my sister is hanging around the parking lot."
"No great mystery there, we met as we were walking to the entrance and started talking. We were thinking of going for a coffee, would you like to join us?"
"No, thanks. I'm going shopping with my friend. I don't remember seeing you before – you don't go to our school do you?"
"I'm actually on a year break before I decide about college. Just in town to visit some friends. I met Lydia at a mutual friend's house."
"I see. Well, I better get going. See you around."
Jane had been waiting patiently for her. Liz filled her in on Lydia's friend and agreed with Jane that he was rather hot. She hoped that Lydia and he were just friends – he was way too old for her.
After school the next two days, Liz had to work with Will on their project. They were alone in the room both days, and the air seemed charged. She couldn't understand it. She tried her best to be at ease and worked on her part as fast as possible. He seemed to be doing his work as efficiently as usual but he did give her odd glances from time to time. Once his leg brushed hers by mistake and she could feel him stiffen. She ignored his strange behavior and was happy when they managed to finish everything on the second day.
Jane would have to work alone with Charlie on Thursday but Liz felt that she would manage fine. At any rate, she wasn't going to spend another hour working with Will Darcy. So she agreed on all the final details regarding presentation with him and helped him store everything safely in the locker.
As she hoisted her bag on her shoulder and turned to leave with a quick good-bye, Will spoke, "Where are you parked? I'll walk you back to the car." She was rather surprised at his unexpected chivalry, "That's ok, I'm getting the bus home. Don't have the car today."
"Let me give you a ride home."
"There's no need to go out of your way."
"I insist, it is no bother at all."
Liz didn't know how to refuse without seeming rude so she quietly followed Darcy to his car. She was surprised to see that he had a fuel efficient Tesla Roadster. She had expected a flashy sports car but was taken aback by this sign that he cared about the environment.
He had opened the door for her and was waiting so she stopped gawking at the car and got in quickly.
She gave him directions but was quiet for the rest of the drive. He seemed to want to talk but she wasn't in a mood to help him make conversation.
He stopped in friend of her house and had come across to open her door by the time she had unbuckled.
"Thanks for dropping me home."
Will smiled at her. "Liz, I just wanted to say ..." he started before he was interrupted by a loud voice.
"Lovely Liz! I was hoping I'd catch you around", said George Wickham.
"George? What are you doing here? I don't know if Lydia is home."
"I was actually waiting for you." Suddenly, George noticed Darcy. Liz realized that Darcy had standing frozen since George had spoken.
"Hey Darcy, funny meeting you here."
Darcy gave a stiff nod and then walked to the other side and got into his car. Before Liz could say anything to him, he had taken off. She stood staring after him in confusion for a minute.
"What was that about, George? Do you two know each other?"
"It's a long story, Liz. I was actually wondering if you'd like to get something to drink. I can tell you all about it then." He smiled at her and those dimples convinced her to agree. She went inside to dump her bag and freshen up her make-up.
They walked across to the cafe on the next block. Liz waited patiently until they were settled in a corner table and had given their order. "So, give me the full scoop. How do you know Will Darcy and why does he hate you?"
George gave a sad smile. "He didn't always hate me. We used to be best friends although he is a couple of years younger. My father was Mr. George Darcy's accountant and they were good friends as well. In fact, I was named after him. Darcy and I attended the same primary school and I used to go back to his house after school. Dad would be at Mr. Darcy's office till late so I'd be there until then. My mother died when I was born and both Mrs. and Mr. Darcy were always nice to me – treated me like a son. I suppose that was what upset Will. As we grew older, he seemed to resent my presence in the house." He paused for a few minutes. "I'm sorry about your mother", said Liz.
The waitress came with their order and George waited till she left before he resumed.
"Yes, if it hadn't been for the Darcys' I guess I'd have been a lonely child. They always went out of the way to make me feel welcome in their house. After I got into high school, I stopped going to the Darcys' daily and didn't see much of them. I knew that Will didn't want me there so although Mrs. Darcy used to keep inviting me, I made excuses not to go. After she died, Will was very upset and he seemed to turn against me more – he managed to make Mr. Darcy fire my dad and hire a new accountant. Dad was so upset to be treated that way, he started drinking heavily. He had a car accident last year – he was drunk and drove into a ditch. Was killed instantly." He choked up and Liz put her hand over his comfortingly. "I live with my uncle now. Haven't seen Will in ages. So he's going to your high school now?"
"Yes, he joined this year. I can't believe how he has treated you."
"It's ok, Liz. Don't worry your head about it. He is still young and will hopefully learn better as he matures. I'm doing ok for myself. Thinking of becoming an accountant like my dad and I'm saving up money for college. Got a couple of jobs. But that's more than enough about my sad life." He looked at her with those bright blue eyes. "Let's talk about Liz Bennet now."
Liz found him really easy to talk to and before she knew it, they'd been at the cafe for almost two hours. The waitress had started giving them nasty looks for not moving on.
George walked her back home. They stopped in front of her building and exchanged numbers. "I hope we can go out again soon," said George. Liz smiled. "That would be nice."
Just as she said bye and turned to go, he caught hold of her arm and pulled her towards him to give her a quick kiss on the mouth.
"Bye, lovely Liz". He sauntered off.
She looked after him bemused. She hadn't realized that he liked her. He was so good-looking ... she hoped Lydia didn't have a crush on him. She wouldn't take kindly to Liz poaching on her territory.
She wondered if he would ask her out on a date this weekend.
