Hello all! I actually had this almost updated about an hour ago, but my power went out AS I WAS CLICKING THE SAVE BUTTON. I was not a happy camper.

Disclaimer: -sigh- Sadly no, I will never own Orlando Bloom or anyone he is associated with.

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Chapter 4.

Elizabeth chewed slowly, trying to catch up on some light reading. She was only 3 chapters into her latest pirate novel, which was disappointing seeing as she had started it over a week ago and normally, she would have finished it by then. Her eyes still on her book, she took another bite of her Greek salad, barely tasting what she was eating. She checked the clock on her phone - she had only 10 minutes before her next class, business. Once again, were it her choice, she would not be taking that course, but...

"Well! If it isn't Lizzie! Er, Elizabeth!" Said a loud voice. She looked up to see -surprise surprise- Jack walking up to her, two unfamiliar boys walking with him. Elizabeth narrowed her eyes slightly. Given the choice between reading her book and a conversation with the "friendly" Jack Sparrow, she knew what would be the more appealing activity.

"Hello, Jack," she said politely, not letting any of her inner hostility enter her voice. She was well praticed in the art of concealing distaste for people.

"Wot are you doing? Not bloody readin' again?" He asked in disbelief. The two boys next to him laughed.

"Some people prefer reading to getting slapped by women, Jack," Elizabeth sighed, picking up her empty salad container. She walked to the nearest plastic recycling bin, hoping that Jack would get the message. He didn't. Much to her displeasure, Jack followed Elizabeth, his friends at his heels.

"You still coming to young Mr. Turner's party?" He inquired. Elizabeth turned around in confusion.

"Yes, I told you I was coming yesterday. Why?" She asked shrewdly.

"No reason, no reason... so... are you going with anybody? With another male creature such as myself, perhaps?" He asked, swaggering way too close for Elizabeth's comfort. She could smell the offending stench of his breath.

"No, and not to be rude or anything, but would you mind backing off? And perhaps brushing your teeth?" Elizabeth asked through gritted teeth as she stepped backward a few paces. Jack grinned.

"Ah, a fiesty one. Ah, well. You'll come around to ol' Jack sooner or later..." he said, winking. He and his friends followed him as he walked out of the cafeteria, leaving Elizabeth standing there, fuming. She spent her walk to her business class muttering insults to Jack, though none of them seemed offending enough. Slamming down her bag in her seat, she had no choice but to stop cursing under her breath, for her teacher, Professor Barbossa, walked into the room. He had an unclean-looking scraggly beard, eyes that appeared yellow in color, and long, dirty fingernails. Elizabeth disliked him for a number of reasons, the least not being the subject he taught.

"Alright, settle down," he said, scanning the room for empty seats as he walked in. "Good, you're all here. Now, I assume you've all done the graph I assigned you on Friday? Let's get them out so I can check them, please..." he growled, fastening a beady eye on the students. Elizabeth felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. Sure enough, that was the one homework she had forgotten about and the only homework that had been checked today so far.

Just my luck... she thought to herself, not bothering to shuffle through her papers in order to pretend that she in actuality had done it and merely misplaced it. Barbossa never gave partial credit, anyway.

"Ah, didn't do it then, Miss Swann? Are you perhaps hoping that you will be able to get a decent grade in this course and not do your work? Because you won't," Barbossa said, tapping her desk with a long, filthy fingernail. She shot him the coldest look she could muster.

"It was just one assignment," she retorted, her eyes unconciously getting narrower with each syllable.

"I'll not take backtalk. Detention, Miss Swann. And it'll be a trip to the Dean's office if you open your mouth again," Barbossa growled. Elizabeth felt the rest of the class give her pitying ouch looks as Barbossa roamed down the desks, collecting graphs.

"Tough luck," one of the students in her class, a boy named Logan, said. She didn't say anything, but kept her eyes on her binder. She felt her temper gradually go down.

"Now, with the exception of Miss Swann, did anyone here have any problems they wanted to go over with the homework before I move on?" Barbossa asked cheekily. Elizabeth felt her temper flare up again with the jibe, but refused to say or do anything that would land her in Dean Beckett's office. She had never met the man and didn't want his first impression of her to be a lazy slacker with attitude. She settled to taking notes quietly while Barbossa talked, trying not to let her mind wander. Half an hour later, Barbossa dismissed the class, with an exception of Elizabeth.

"We need to talk about this detention, Miss Swann," he said sternly while shoving some papers in his desk. She stared at him defiantly until he spoke again, though couldn't quite stop herself from chanting Please not friday, please not friday, please not friday over an over in her head. True, she was not exactly a social butterfly, but she couldn't deny the fact that Will Turner fascinated her and she wanted to get to know him better.

"It will be most convient for me to be friday..." No! Any time but then! "...But I realize that you are in college and this was, after all, only your first homework missed, so I will give you the option of doing it Monday night instead. Which would you prefer?" Barbossa continued. Elizabeth blinked in surprise at the Professor's kindness.

"Um, Monday would be better for me. I-If that's okay," she said almost apologetically. The older man nodded and waved her out of his room. Elizabeth scurried out the door, unable to believe her luck.

"Hey! What are you looking so happy about?" A voice said to her left. She looked over to see Rachel walking next to her, an enormous backpack slung around her and 3 textbooks in her arms.

"Oh, nothing important! I just managed to get detention in business class-"

"And you're happy about that?" Rachel asked, alarmed. Elizabeth laughed.

"Let me finish, let me finish! I got detention and it was almost at the same time as Will's party, but Barbossa let me switch to Monday instead," Elizabeth explained. A knowing look crept upon Rachel's face, accompanied by a smile. Elizabeth's thankful grin slid off her face.

"What?" She asked suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing. So, you were invited to that party? I'm pretty sure it's more Jack's than Will's; I've known Will for years and he's never exactly been the party type," Rachel said cheerily. Elizabeth's smile returned.

"Are you going?" She asked. Rachel shook her head. "Nope, I have to study for a huge test I'm having on Monday."

"That sucks," Elizabeth said, giving her a sympathetic look.

"Nah, it's alright. Ah, here's my classroom. Gotta go!" Rachel said, turning into a large room with a black label on the wall next to it that said 143 in shining silver letters.

"Bye!" Elizabeth said. She looked down at her feet as she walked alone, not paying attention to where she was going. Sure enough, it was a split second before-

"Ow!" She shrieked, walking into an unknown person. Her books and bag fell to the floor in a flurry of paper.

"Sorry," said a familiar voice. Elizabeth looked up, horrified, into the grinning face of Will. "Need some help?" He asked, picking up her textbooks.

"Um..." was all she managed to say as her face turned beet red. Great job, said a nasty little voice inside her head.

"You okay?" Will asked, seeming surprised at the shade of maroon her face was turning.

"Yeah, I'm fine, aside from being a giant klutz," she fake-laughed, hoping the embarassment in her eyes wouldn't reach down into her voice.

"Oh, that's not that bad. I fell down the stairs two periods ago. I can feel the bruise," Will joked, giving Elizabeth her books. She smiled gratefully.

"So, which way are you going?" Will asked, walking with her down the math wing.

"I was gonna go drop off my books at my dorm room and take a walk, since I have an hour until I have to be in Norrington's physics class and it's such a nice day. You?" She asked, looking up at his face.

"Actually, I don't have to be anywhere for the rest of the day. I picked mostly morning classes. I'll walk with you, if you want," Will offered, turning slightly pink.

"Sure! Lemme just drop these off!" Elizabeth agreed. She hoped she didn't sound too much like a squealy teenage girl. She dashed inside and dropped all her books on her bed, deciding to worry about them later. She stood in front of the mirror for a minute, examining how she looked. A second later, she felt completely surprised about herself. She had never cared about how she looked before. After a few seconds of reflection, Elizabeth decided to take her hair out of her loose ponytail, shaking her long, honey-blonde hair. When she was satisfied with her appearance, she took a few deep breaths and left her dorm to meet Will.

"Hey," he said, opening the large glass door for her. She smiled.

"Hey. So, uh, you're still having your party, right?" Elizabeth asked, walking alongside Will through the park area. He nodded.

"Yeah, why? Did Jack say something?" He asked, his eyes on the stream a few feet away from them. Elizabeth felt her eyes narrow at the incident she had forgotten about until just then.

"Actually, he did," she answered angrily. Will raised his eyebrows and looked at her.

"What?" He asked, although there was a look in his eyes that told Elizabeth that he already knew the answer.

"He asked me to go with him, in a way. He's really just a huge, arrogant prick, isn't he?" She asked, unable to keep the hostility out of her voice.

"Yeah, kinda. So... what did you say?" Will asked nonchalantly, his face turned away.

"No, of course. Ha! Me and Jack? He's really not my type," Elizabeth confessed. Will laughed.

"I'm pretty sure you're one of the only girls in this school that has ever turned Jack down. He'll leave you alone now, though, don't worry. Were there other people with him when he asked you?"

"Yeah," Elizabeth said, surprised. "How did you know?"

"Jack... well, Jack is pretty used to being the leader of every group he's in. He likes attention. Trust me, were he not in front of any of the guys, he wouldn't have been half as rude," Will assured her.

"Hmph..." she grunted, lost in thought.

"So, what do you think of Barbossa? I noticed that you were in the business wing and he's the only professor that teaches college freshmen," Will asked, breaking the silence. Elizabeth tore her eyes away from the stream to answer.

"Oh, he's okay. I used to think he was another one of those annoying, pompous, conceited..." Elizabeth trailed off, smiling apologetically. "Anyway, I don't really think so anymore. He gave me a detention today but let me pick when it was, instead of just making it any day, which was nice, I guess."

"You got a detention? For what?" Will asked, as though he couldn't believe it.

"Forgot to do his homework and then backtalked when he confronted me about it," Elizabeth admitted guiltily. Will laughed; it was the first time Elizabeth had heard him do so. It amazed her how much she loved the sound.

"Ah, yeah, you might wanna not do that," Will said, still chuckling. She found herself smiling; his laughter was contagious. They had arrived at the science wing already, though Elizabeth still had about half an hour before she had to be in Norrington's class. She looked at the building with concealed disgust.

"Oy! William!" Came a loud, obnoxious call. They twosome turned to see Jack swaggering toward them, a stupid grin on his face.

"Jack," Will ackowledged. Elizabeth merely fake-smiled.

"Ah, Elizabeth. Still a no on my invitation, eh?" He said, smiling rogueishly.

"Sorry, Jack. I'm too busy to be dating at the moment," Elizabeth lied. She could feel Will's eyes on her as she looked down.

"Wait, so... how about when you're not too busy, eh? Everyone wants a bit of Jack Sparrow!" He told her, obviously enjoying himself.

"Not everyone," Elizabeth retorted. Jack laughed.

"I'm only kiddin', Miss Swann. I'm into more... loose girls, savvy? I might warn you, though, I happen to know another such individual that has his eye on you," Jack said. Elizabeth looked up and saw Will shooting Jack a murderous glare, though this small detail didn't seem to register in her brain.

"Who?" She asked, trying not to sound too hopeful. She knew who she wanted it to be, but was Jack likely to tell her it was him if he was standing right there?

"Can't tell ya that, Missy," he said cheekily, winking, "As he happens to be a dear friend of mine and also happens to be a romantic fool that I know would rather profess his undying love to you in some ideal fairytale setting..." Jack's voice dropped to light sarcasm. Elizabeth couldn't help but notice that Will had averted his eyes, though he didn't look angry anymore.

"Um... okay," was all Elizabeth could think to respond with.

"Jack, don't you have a class to be in?" Will asked sharply. Jack looked down at the watch on his wrist and blinked in vague surprise.

"So I do. You two behave yourselves," he called over his shoulder as he fast-walked (fast-swaggered, more like) to a building Elizabeth knew to house the language classes.

"Does he ever know where he's supposed to be?" She asked, half-amused. Will snorted.

"No. It's amazing he hasn't gotten chucked out yet," he answered. An awkward silence fell between them as they waited in front of the science wing together as they sat down on one of the nearest benches.

"So how's your mom? I remember Jack saying that she was sick..." Elizabeth piped up, desperate for the silence to be broken. Will sighed.

"Still not well. I'm going to visit her the day after the party Jack is bent on throwing. My sister, Katherine, is staying with her until then," Will explained.

"I'm sorry. What exactly...?" Elizabeth dared to ask.

"Cancer," Will answered her unfinished question.

"I'm sorry," she repeated, "That's what my father died from."

"That sucks; how long ago did he die?" Will asked sympathetically. She dropped her eyes from his, willing herself not to cry. She hadn't yet cried about her father, and she hoped she wouldn't ever have to. She hated crying; it made her feel unbelieveably weak.

"A month ago. It was his final wish that I go to this Academy, and pursue math and science courses," she murmered. "He wanted me to major in business." Will reached out, hesitantly at first, to put one warm, strong arm around her. She looked up into his eyes, which were filled with nothing but concern and care.

"I'm so sorry," he said sincerely. Elizabeth moved instinctively closer to him, loving how their bodies seemed to fit together perfectly.

"It's okay. He went peacefully," she told him. All her sadness and sorrow seemed to vanish on the spot - she didn't think she could ever feel sad when Will's arm was draped around her like it was. Will seemed uncomfortable with how close she was getting.

She could feel his body tense, and his eyes became guarded once more, the same as every time she so much as mentioned the word pirate. She was suddenly angry; she didn't like this odd distance between them, regardless of the fact that they had not even known each other a week yet.

"Why do you get all quiet and awkward whenever I talk about pirates?" She asked aggressively. He took his arm off from around her shoulders, to her immense regret.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he lied. She raised an eyebrow.

"I can tell you're lying to me," she said quietly. Will's eyes filled with sadness.

"I'm sorry. I just can't tell you, or anybody, for that matter," Will said, shaking his head. He stood up. "I have to go," he said, an apology in his eyes. He left Elizabeth sitting on the bench, more confused than before.

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And now for my thank-yous to my wonderful readers!

Smithy: Thanks so much! It makes me happy to know that I can write a character well enough to evoke memories :) Hope you liked this chapter!

Pheonix Feather Queens: Thanks for saying I'm creative! Self-confidence: up! WOO! -high five-

RBDFAN: Woo! You're officially part of the I-cried-at-the-end-of-AWE-club! I am, of course, the founder xD And it seems that everyone is curious about dear William. You'll just have to keep reading to find out!

Sam: Ew. JxE. -laugh- Yeah, I have a few Sparrabether friends as well. I've just told them they're wrong and thoroughly enjoyed their reactions to AWE. And I'm glad you liked my characterization! It makes me feel all writer-ish. xD

Misery's-Toll: Will is more than pretty! He's proof that some outside force loves us and wants us to be happy. xD It kinda makes me happy to know that someone else is like me. And everyone wants to know what's up with Will and pirates :D I'm just too mean to say just yet!

Heryn-o-Eryn-Duin: Hope you liked this chapter! Thanks so much for reviewing! xD

golfgoddess93: I updated! Yay:D Thanks for reviewing!

Volume-5: It means a lot that you reviewed even if you didn't want to xD And I'm glad that mine is the first AU pirates fic you've read, because trust me, my pathetic fic pales to utter insignificance to others :D Thanks again for reviewing! Hope you likes this chapter! And don't worry, Jack won't stay with one girl for long in my fic. You can keep him all to yourself ;)

NoNameFanGirl: WILL IN A BANDANA! -drools- And the boots! Oh, the boots. xD Glad you like my story! Thanks so much for reviewing!

emma cullen: WOO!!!!! I turned a Sparrabether into a Willabether! I'm so proud of myself! I've made the world a better place! And you're part of the aforementioned I-cried-at-the-end-of-AWE-club! Woo! And there'll be extra Jack in the next chapter, just for you! Savvy? xD Hope you liked how I wrote Jack in this chapter.

Arica, Princess of Rivendel...: Yet another person who wants to know about Will and his thing with pirates! xD You'll all find out in due time, trust me:) Hope you liked this chapter!

ItalHunni28: Yay! You favorited me! I'm so happy! -dances- Glad you like my story so much! Hope you liked this chapter! Thanks so much for reviewing!

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Peace!

(I'm changing my little signarute thingy from vampire love! to peace! Because I think we all need a little more peace...)