*Sorry, If it feels like it has been a while, but everything in my life has been so hectic, plus I'm trying to work the plot through with everything that is going to happen. Enjoy and review please*

~Two for Tea, and One to Tattle~

"Consideration for the rights and feelings of others is not merely a rule for behavior in public but the very foundation upon which social life is built"

- Emily Post

Edward Ryland!? No, Eddie Ryland! Samantha had thought she was through with hot-headed nincompoops like him. He had always teased her when Samantha was a young girl living with Grandmary in . The fact that he was also her next door neighbor was not convenient. Nellie also had the unfortunate luck to know him, but worse. Nellie was, for a brief time, a servant at the Ryland household and although that is how her friendship with Samantha began, that was also when Eddie started teasing her too.

"Oh...well it has been a long while since I have seen him," said Samantha as she was pretending to sip her coffee, all the while her face was growing pale.

"Not long enough," muttered Nellie

"What was that dear?" asked Grandmary

"Ehr, I said that, um, it has been long enough and Samantha should be reacquainted with him as soon as possible," replied Nellie and with a mischievous glint in her eye she continued saying, "it is a shame I will be out on a walk with Christian and would therefore miss him." She simply smiled and continued on sipping her tea while they both knew that Samantha was grouching on the inside.

"Nonsense," said Grandmary, "Christian should come to afternoon tea as well, you can walk with him another day. I would like to meet him." This was responded by a slight smirk from Samantha. If she must be reacquainted with Eddie, so must Nellie.

"Definitely," chimed in both Cornelia and Gardiner who chuckled at their simultaneous response. Their compatibility was something Samantha could not stop desiring for and she was sure she would not find this compatibility with Eddie Ryland.

"Our girls' escorts must also be acquainted with each other," said Gardiner, "With all the time these two spend together, I'd be surprised the boys wouldn't become just as close friends."

"May I also remind you dear," said the Admiral to Grandmary, "that there is also another resident of Mt. Bedford who will join us."

"Yes, indeed" said Grandmary as she shook her head at herself for her forgetfulness, "Edith Eddleton is also coming to the city tomorrow to be properly debuted." Samantha and Nellie were about as fond of Edith's coming as they were of Eddie's arrival.

The next morning both girl woke up with an uneasy feeling. They both weren't looking forward to the tea but at least they had their debutante lessons to look forward to. If they may not complain to the adults then they may complain to their peers. Samantha and Nellie always managed to dress in a manner that was stylish and flattering without being too trendy. Today, Samantha was dressed in a petal pink dress with chiffon frills along the torso and on the sleeves with a lace overlay on her skirt. There were pearl buttons were roving along the back of the dress which quite complemented the teardrop pearl earrings Samantha wore, and she also wore the gold locket which carried the pictures of her birth parents. Samantha always wore that locket and kept it close to her heart.

Nellie was not as fond of laces and frills and Samantha is, she instead wore many prints and pleats. Today she wore a yellow toile dress with a pleated skirt and a marvelous navy blue sash at her waist and she wore simple gold heart shaped earrings. Both girls did not wear ribbons in their hair anymore. Now that they were young ladies Gertrude would come every morning to put their hair up. This was not a delight to the girls as Gertrude had a habit of pulling their hair too tight. Sometimes Gertrude would be sick or busy and thus the younger childrens' nanny, Felicia would substitute. Felicia was slightly older than Samantha and Nellie and they would talk of important engagements and society news and most importantly, she was gentle with the girls' hair.

"Did you hear about Amelia Farther's engagement to that automobile-lad, Nicholas Dodge. The boy's a scoundrel and gambler, much less a man mature enough for engagement," remarked Felicia as she was pinning Nellie's hair.

"Yes, I did hear, but her family has been going through some troubles and his father's automobile business is quite lucrative," said Samantha.

"Their paring is quite unsatisfactory," supplied Nellie, "Amelia is one of those girls who wants a loving husband and many children with support. She's always dreamed of a fairytale marriage, but i suppose we can all say that is far from her reaches now."

"Well, I hear that you are to expect old friends for tea this afternoon," said Amelia changing the subject. She had many bobby pins in her mouth but always managed to carry a conversation without any misunderstanding.

"If you can call them our friends then I suppose you should also call Nicholas as Amelia's true love," said Nellie, "They were both horrid and taunted Samantha and I for being friends because I was a servant."

"We'll just ignore them," replied Samantha casually. Her hair was already done and she had set herself up on the chaise reading Harper's Bazaar's summer trends. "Ooh! Lord and Taylor is having a sale on cotton fabrics, we can buy plenty of fabrics and have beautiful dresses ready-made for summer."

"We can't just ignore them," said Nellie who was now stepping into her shoes, "Especially you Sam, Eddie is your escort, how can you ignore your escort?" Felicia stepped out to grab the girls' coats and Nellie sat by the bed and would only stare at Samantha with a frustrated look.

"What is it?" asked Samantha when she finally noticed Nellie.

"Christian doesn't know I was a servant," Nellie said with worry in her eyes.

"Oh, Nellie, you know he doesn't pay attention to any of that stuff. I know that no matter what happens Christian will still be there."

"That's the thing, what if he wants to introduce me to his parents?" said Nellie who's eyes were now watering with the anticipation of failure, "how is he supposed to introduce me? 'mother, father, this is Nellie, she was a servant who did actual work and has the rough hands of a laborer to prove it.'"

"Nellie, Christian will not care that you were a servant," said Samantha as she comforted Nellie in soft and soothing voices, "I promise."

"Do you really?" asked Nellie

"Really, now lets get to our lessons and have a bit of fun before this accursed tea party," said Samantha. She helped Nellie into her coat and dried her eyes and like any good pair of sisters, they walked off into the world arm in arm.

Miss Dover's School of Etiquette for Young Women, which is called Miss Dover's for short, was a quaint little building among rows of dress shoppes, ballet studios, and fancy lunch restaurants. Mrs. Dover, the owner, felt it was good to surround the girls in the environment they will be instructed into. The interior of her building has white walls with intricate paneled designs and a beige carpet with periwinkle blue velvet curtains and there were always flowers. Large arrangements of roses, peonies, tulips, and wild orchids, and there were also small arrangements of the simplest daisies. Every nook and cranny of the building have been filled with flowers. The place was like encountering a secret garden every time you walk, even if walk in everyday. By the longest part of the front room there were an assortment of chaises, chairs, and couches where all of the girls coming in will wait until they are brought to whichever room they must attend their lessons. This may seem troublesome to wait until you are told where to go, but the girls use this as ample time to trade stories and catch up on their daily dose of gossip. Samantha and Nellie had an intimate group of friends at Miss Dover's whom they talked to almost every day. Their friends consisted of Abigail Williams who was from Boston and claimed she was named so because she is a supposedly distant relative to Abigail Adams, there was Jennifer-May Wildwood, whose family came from the South and was poor until their unfertile plots of land seemed to sprout black oil and they decided to gather their new fortunes and live in the big city, and then there was Eloise Turner. she was from one of the riches families in New York, what set her apart from the other uber-rich girls was that she was also kind, generous, and was always pleasant to everyone no matter what their place in society was.

"Hello," chimed all three girls to Samantha and Nellie as they entered the school.

"So how was everyone's weekend?" asked Jennifer-May while she was picking lint off her dress.

"My father came home with my ballgown from Paris yesterday," said Eloise, "but I tried it on and it's too big. I wanted to take it in, but my mother won't have the dress compromised, which means I'll be stuffing my face with sweets until the ball. I'll be lucky if I can manage to wear the dress without it falling off!" Her face twisted into a sour smile, "good thing my father also brought home a new pastry chef from Germany," said Eloise and the girls and she proceeded to giggle at her predicament.

"Samantha," said Abigail, "have you found yourself an escort yet? If not, I'm sure I can find a friend of mine to be yours for the night."

"That's alright Abigail," replied Samantha, "I found someone, sort of..." The girls could tell something was wrong because Samantha became quiet and so they looked to Nellie.

"Her escort is this rotten boy we knew in ," supplied Nellie, "He always teased us, he was always immature, and played many horrid pranks."

"One time he ruined the ice cream at my tenth birthday party," Samantha added.

"Cheer up, Sam!" said Jennifer-May, "he could be changed, if he's old enough to escort you then he's old enough not to tease girls and play childish pranks. That sounds like my older brother, but given some time and he's turned into a true gentleman."

"Of course," agreed the other girls. The girls were then led into their classes where they were taught the fine arts of dancing, sitting, and proper behavior. The girls had fun with this and their time flew by. Which was not good. Now it was time for tea.

The table had been laid out for eight; Samantha, Nellie, Eddie, Edith, Christian, Cornelia, Grandmary, and the Admiral. The guests have not yet arrived and Nellie sat with Samantha while Samantha was stressing out. "What happens if he's the same old immature boy?" Samantha asks Nellie, she had been chewing on her fingernails and a lock of her hair had been exceedingly curled due to her tendency to twist it at the most aggravating of times.

"You won't have to worry, I talked to Christian about it and if that happens then he'll engage him in conversation so that you won't have to talk to him," said Nellie, "now, we just have to worry about Edith. Eddie may have been a boy when we last left him, but Edith Eddleton will always be a stuck-up know-it-all." Samantha and Nellie tried to keep their ladylike composures but could not help themselves and laughed their heads off!

Gertrude entered the girls room. "Young ladies, the guests have arrived and you are both expected downstairs immediately," she said, "hurry now before your Grandmary is apt to scold."

The girls soon found themselves at the tea table. Samantha and Nellie sat next to each other. On Samantha's left was Eddie and next to Eddie was Christian who sat next to Edith who sat next to Grandmary who sat next to the Admiral who sat next to Cornelia who sat next to Nellie. The area had an unsettling silence except for the tinkling of the teaspoons. Samantha had been so tempted to maneuver a hand gesture she and Nellie had learned from their friends called "the awkward turtle" though she knew full well Grandmary would disapprove so instead she nudged Nellie's left arm and did it out of sight to the others. Both girls tried to stifle their laughter but they were unsuccessful. "What is it girls?" asked Cornelia

"Oh, we're, uh, just so...giddy about the Ball," replied Samantha with a quick excuse

"Well you should be with such a dashing escort," said the Admiral

"And handsome too," added Grandmary. Samantha turned beet-red with embarrassment while Eddie turned his head down with his face out of sight and looming over the tea as if he was reading the leaves.

"Well," Edith said, "My escort was much more dashing and handsome than Edward here but, he fell off his horse and won't be able to make it."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that," said Cornelia.

"Yes, well," said Edith, "perhaps he may get better soon." She then turned to Christian and said, "you remind me of my escort, Darryn." She then reached for the sugar and "accidentally" knocked into his arm. "Oh dear, I'm sorry Christian, it's a good thing you have such big, strong muscles to stop my fall," she said and with that she giggle and fanned herself about, batting her eyelashes faster than a hummingbird batts his wings.

Nellie suddenly felt an urge of protectiveness towards Christian and stretched her hand across the table to hold his and looked directly into Edith's eyes and said, "Oh, what a fortune for me! To have those arms keep my fragile stature standing on the dance floor. I am so glad that I am the only girl you are escorting Christian."

"I am surprised, Christian," Edith said to him, "I did not know you liked to date the lower class, Nellie was a servant at Mount Bedford." All the blood left Nellie's face and drew away from Christian as if a wild beast was to emerge from him any minute. Christian could do no more but look at Nellie with eyes of disappointment.

"I think I should be going," Christian said in a civil voice as he stood up, "Thank you for the tea Mrs. Edwards, I can see myself to the door."

"Christian are we still having that walk tomo-," but before Nellie could finish her sentence the door had stopped it and was proceeded by frigid silence as Nellie listened to Christian drive away. Away from her.