(Skipping forward in time now. I'm not sure how far. Perhaps a month or two, but its still Pre- Terrible Beauty)
Do you know what it is to be powerless? Helpless?
- Felicity A.G.A.T.B.
"I'm sorry Madame Lefarge, but I wonder if I could borrow Miss Worthington for a moment?" Mrs. Nightwing asked, interrupting the girls' French lesson.
"But of course, au revior Miss Worthington." Lefarge dismissed.
"Au revior." Felicity muttered.
The girls around her tittered with excitement as she exited the class. Was the incomparable Felicity Worthington in trouble? Or had a suitor come to ask for her hand? The girls pondered the endless possibilities, all of them scandalous in their own right. Pippa glanced apprehensively after her friend.
"Miss Worthington, your father is here to see you. He's waiting in the drawing room." Mrs. Nightwing announced. Felicity remained silent as the headmistress showed her to the room. "Ah, here we are. I'll just leave you two be."
'No please don't!' Felicity felt like screaming, but instead she merely nodded politely, took a deep breath, and stepped inside.
"Felicity!" her father stepped forward to greet her.
"Father." Felicity's tone was touched with a small hint of hope. Perhaps this time would be different, perhaps this time he truly came just to visit her.
"My dear, look at what a wonderful young lady you're growing into." His words seemed sincere, kind, loving. But there was a small glint in his eyes that seemed obscure and ravenous.
Felicity clasped her hands together to keep them from shaking. "Why have you come?" Her voice was steady.
"Isn't it possible for me to just visit my daughter, is that a crime I'm not aware of?" He took an agitated step forward, glaring down into Felicity's eyes; she glared right back.
"No, it's not a crime, but if that truly is all then I really must be getting back to my French lesson." Felicity turned for the door. Her father held it fast with his hand; he turned her around too harshly.
"Not so fast my dear, shouldn't I at least get to say a proper good-bye? After all I made the effort to come and see you today." Violently he crushed his lips to hers, pinning his daughter with her back against the door. Felicity struggled uselessly as her father suffocated her with his lips; his hand absently roamed the length of her bodice.
She turned her head away quickly, escaping for air. "Enough." She begged. "Enough."
Her father took a step back and glared angrily at her. "Enough? Enough? It's never enough! With love there is never enough. You bring this out in me! It's your fault that I will never have enough!" His hand contacted with her face in a harsh, echoing slap. Her grey eyes began to tear from the sting of her cheek.
"Fine! Leave! Go back to your studies you wretched girl, you lovely girl." He shouted.
Felicity bolted from the room and dashed for the stairs, trying to hold back her tears until she was in the safety of her own room. She slammed the door behind her, and collapsed to the floor, pressing her hand to her mouth to try and stifle her sobs.
Later…
Whether it was moments or hours later Felicity couldn't tell, but there was most certainly a knock on the door. She wiped at her eyes furiously.
"Felicity, it's me, are you in there?" Pippa called out urgently.
Felicity hesitated.
"Fee, are you there?"
"…Yes…"
Pippa burst through the door. "Oh thank goodness! I didn't know what to think. I wasn't sure where you had gone. You've missed classes all day and I was so worried. Everyone has been saying such terrible things. Oh, I know that its just gossip and I shouldn't listen to it, but you know me. But I'm glad you're here, and I'm glad that you're alright, the day has been a bore without you." Pippa said, quickly embracing her friend. Felicity broke away from Pippa's grasp and sat on the edge of her bed. She wiped at her eyes hastily. "Fee, have you been crying?" Pippa asked, noticing her tears.
"No. I'm fine."
"You most certainly are not fine, tell me what happened." Pippa entreated, sitting down next to her.
"It's nothing. I don't want to talk about it."
"Felicity, your cheek is swelling." Pippa observed, and suddenly it came to her, a late-night conversation that the two of them had a while back…
"Do you suppose there is some evil in people that makes others do things?"
Pippa yawned. "What kind of things?" she asked sleepily.
"Terrible things." Felicity whispered.
"Was it your father, Fee? Did he hit you?"
'If she only knew.' Felicity thought; she shook her head. "No, it's not like that. It's entirely my fault. He didn't mean it. He loves me. He said so."
"Oh Fee…"
"I said I don't want to talk about it."
"But Fee-…"
"That's enough, Pippa!" Felicity shouted. "Enough…" she dissolved into tears, not even attempting to hold them back. Pippa slipped her arm around Felicity's shoulders. Pippa sat there in silence, offering her should to cry on, because what else could she do? She knew that there was nothing else to say, and she felt powerless, helpless, to do anything more or anything less.