A/N: Guise. Guise. I'm alive. Who'd've thunk it, yeah? Okay, let's get this thing kicking again. Remember, reviews are my sustenance! I need them to live! Even if you're just yelling at me for taking so long! Anyway, I hope you like my humble offering!

Disclaimer: I just got the letter from the patent office. They won't give it to me. Drat!

Chapter 5: The Mall

"Do we have to?" Lizzy groaned for the twelfth time.

"Yes, Lizzy," Jane sighed back, also for the twelfth time.

"Why?" Lizzy whined.

Jane gripped the car's steering wheel. "Because you grew an inch and a half over the summer, and none of your pants fit anymore."

"But why the mall?" Lizzy griped. "And why do we have to bring them?" She jerked her thumb at the back seat, where Kitty and Lydia were giggling over something Lizzy couldn't bring herself to care about.

"We didn't, but they wanted to come. How am I supposed to say no to our little sisters?" Jane explained patiently.

"You left Mary at home," Lizzy muttered mutinously.

"Mary wanted to stay home," Jane said.

"You never answered my first question," Lizzy pointed out. "Why the mall?"

At least she had stopped whining. "Why not the mall?" Jane shot back.

"You're avoiding the question," Lizzy said, then she gasped. "Charlie's going to be there, isn't he?"

"I never said that!" Jane protested.

"He is," Lizzy decided. "That's why you wanted to take me so bad, even though Dad would only give you enough money to buy me two pairs of jeans."

"He—he might be," Jane conceded, blushing.

"Ha! I knew it!" Lizzy declared triumphantly. She grinned at her older sister, who turned even pinker. Lizzy fell silent and turned to the window, her smile fading slowly.

If Charlie was going to be, then it meant that Will was going to be there, too, and possibly even Caroline and Louisa. The latter two would be bad enough, with all the complaining about small-town stores, the whining about their feet aching, and Caroline's almost-continuous flirting with Will, who obviously didn't care. With Will added, though, it would be awkward. Ever since he had told Lizzy his story, they hadn't actually talked one-on-one. Lizzy had slept during every study period, and the only time they spoke at lunch was when George looked in any way, shape, or form to be coming towards them; Will would start talking animatedly about nothing in particular, and Lizzy knew that it was just so that George wouldn't actually get close to them. As soon as Will saw that George was going away, he would break off the conversation. It was one step forward and three steps back with that boy, and Lizzy was beginning to get annoyed.

Jane parked the car, and Kitty and Lydia hopped out immediately. Lizzy climbed out much more slowly, and was about to start complaining again. Suddenly, she noticed someone very familiar walking towards them.

"Let's go inside," Lizzy said.

Jane looked confused. "Why in such a hurry all of the sudden?"

"Come on!" Lizzy said urgently.

Reading the look on Lizzy's face, and knowing that she was not one to worry unduly, despite her tendency to complain, Jane began walking briskly towards the mall entrance. Lydia and Kitty were already running for it.

"What is it?" Jane asked when they were about five cars from the door.

"George," Lizzy explained through gritted teeth.

"Oh."

Will glanced around. He didn't particularly want to be in the store Caroline had dragged them to. The scent was over-powering; how did the employees stand it?

As he was looking around, his gaze stopped on Charlie. The American boy looked nervous and jittery, and kept glancing out the door. When he could manage it, Will moved away from Caroline and toward Charlie. "What's wrong with you?" Will asked.

Charlie glanced at the door again. "Nothing," he said. "I'm fine."

Will raised an eyebrow at Charlie. "You look like you just drank a whole pot of coffee," he said. "Why are you so nervous?"

Charlie's eyes shot to the door again. "I'm not nervous."

Will followed Charlie's gaze to the door. "Who are you looking for?"

"Someone."

Will sighed. He was beginning to wonder what on Earth had possessed him to agree to "chaperone" Charlie's older sisters at the mall. Forget politeness if it got him into situations like this.

"Can we please leave?" he asked Charlie. "Just this store, I mean. I can't take the smell."

Charlie nodded. "Caroline! Louisa! Will and I are going somewhere else. Text if you need us."

Will felt like banging his head against a wall as he followed Charlie out the door. The other boy had basically just given Caroline an open invitation to annoy Will to death.

After five minutes and thirty texts, Will gave up answering his phone, and just switched the device off. He led Charlie into a videogame store (he thought he could use a couple new ones for his computer; the fact that Caroline wouldn't even think to look there was just an added benefit) and began poking through used PC games.

After selecting one, Will looked up to make sure Charlie hadn't broken anything or wandered off, and noted a disturbingly familiar figure at the store's entrance.

There is no escape, the overly dramatic part of him told Will. He agreed as George Wickham spotted him and began walking in his direction. He must be either a sadist or a masochist, Will figured.

"Fancy meeting you here," George drawled.

"Go away," Will muttered, trying to once again absorb himself in the videogames.

"I don't think I will," George replied. "After all," and Will could hear the smirk in his voice, "it's a free country."

Will studiously pretended to ignore the other boy while in reality he was watching George in his peripheral vision and not paying any attention to the games passing under his fingers.

"You're friend from lunch won't talk to me," George said conversationally after a while. "What did you tell her?"

"Only the truth," Will replied quietly.

"Pity you're not as convincing as I am," George said. Will's head snapped up. The other boy was grinning from ear to ear. It wasn't a nice grin; it was a grin that bespoke doom for someone or something; it was a grin Will had seen too many times not to be wary of it; it was a grin that, right now, scared him all the way through.

"Don't touch her," Will growled. "Don't even think about touching her. If you do anything out of line, I will not hesitate to pound you into the floor, whatever the penalties to me."

George's grin dropped to a self-satisfied smirk. "I've not done anything. Yet, anyway. Now I'm thinking I might, since she's so precious to you. What better way to get back at you for everything you've done to me?" He turned on his heel and left, leaving Will feeling tricked and used.

If only he'd kept his mouth shut! Then maybe George would not have decided to go after Lizzy. Now it seemed that, since he'd gotten Lizzy into this, he'd have to protect her until he got her out of it.

Lizzy swore quietly.

"Lizzy!" Jane admonished.

"There he is again!" Lizzy said, ignoring her sister's rebuke.

Jane followed Lizzy's gaze and spied George Wickham coming out of a videogame store. "Just pretend you haven't seen him," Jane sighed. "He probably won't notice us. Come on." She pulled Lizzy into the store Kitty and Lydia had just disappeared into .

"What happened to jeans?" Lizzy wondered aloud.

"You're in a mood," Jane told her. "You're just going to agree to whatever while you're in it, so we're just going to keep wandering until you snap out of it so that you don't get pants you'll never wear."

"That's not a very smart idea," Lizzy countered. "My mood'll get worse the longer we're here, so I'll be more likely to get bad jeans in an hour than I am now."

"Well, maybe we'll see someone who cheers you up, and then you'll be ready to get pants," Jane replied.

"Mmhm," Lizzy agreed absently, already distracted by the Converse displayed along the wall left of the entrance. "Janie, how much money did Dad give you?"

"Not enough for Converse and jeans," Jane replied, smiling. "You have ADD, I swear."

"Nah," Lizzy said. "I've got ADOC."

"ADOC?" Jane inquired.

"Attention Deficit—Oo! Converse!" Lizzy answered with a grin.

"You're insane."

"And proud to be!"

Lizzy's eyes wandered up and down the wall. Suddenly, a pair of shoes caught her eye. "Janie, how much money do you have?" she asked excitedly.

"Fourty, not counting the money for your jeans," Jane sighed.

"I've got fifty. Can I borrow ten? Maybe a bit more?"

"What for?"

Lizzy pointed. Situated Four rows from the ceiling were a pair of high-tops with Union Jacks all over them. The Who Converse.

"I've been looking for them everywhere!" Lizzy exclaimed. "Please, Janie? I've got twelve at home, I swear! I'll be able to pay you back once we get home!"

Jane smiled indulgently at her sister. This was probably one of the best things to get Lizzy to cooperate with the jeans. "Sure, Lizzy," she said.

"Thank you, Janie!" Lizzy hugged her older sister tightly.

Lizzy hugged the box excitedly to her chest. Kitty and Lydia walked beside Jane, laughing at something Lizzy didn't think she wanted to understand. Still, she had the shoes she had been looking for for months, and now she was very willing to go try on jeans. The four girls wandered into a department store. Jane and Lizzy headed straight for the women's jeans, while Lydia and Kitty began browsing through the women's shirts, despite the fact that all of the shirts on display were far too big for the younger girls, in more ways than one.

Lizzy rapidly selected four pairs of nicely-fitting jeans from a sales rack, ,and then the older girls watched as the younger girls picked out shirt after shirt, just to see how they looked.

Lizzy sat down and slipped on the new shoes as Lydia and Kitty tried on the obscene amount of clothes they had picked out. She grinned happily, and a little goofily, at her feet and clicked the toes together.

"You look satisfied."

Her head snapped up at the sound of a voice. George Wickham was leaning precariously on a clothing rack, smiling down at her.

"New shoes," she explained.

He glanced at her feet. "I like them," he said.

"Thanks," Lizzy said.

George stared at her for a moment, then said, "You know, this is the first time you've spoken to me since the first day of school. A boy would think you don't like him."

"Mm," Lizzy hummed noncommittally.

"I do think you don't like me, actually," George said. "And I've got a theory on why, too."

"Do you?" Lizzy asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes." He sat without invitation (granted, he didn't really need one; it was a public place, after all) and stretched his legs out. "I think it's Will Darcy."

"What about him?" Lizzy asked defensively. Will might have been shy and awkward, but Lizzy still counted him as a friend. Technically.

"I think he's been spreading stories about me," George continued. "He doesn't really like me. He's always been petty and jealous. Did he tell you my father worked for his? Well, that's true enough. My dad died, though, when I was little, and Mr. Darcy looked after me. All but adopted me, really, and Will didn't like the extra person to compete for attention with; I mean, he already had one sibling. He probably resents her as much as he resents me."

Will resent Georgie? Lizzy didn't think it was possible. He obviously loved his sister very much

George was still talking. "It was all ridiculous, really," he said. "Mostly stuff like me getting girls that he wanted. To an outsider, that might seem bad, but the bloke's so tight-lipped about everything, so I'd no idea at the time." George stopped and smiled. "You'd think that he'd get over it. Still, petty and jealous, like I said. I'll not be bothered about it. I just hope that not very many people believe him." He stood up then. "It was nice talking to you, Lizzy. I hope we get to know each other better. Bye." He walked away, leaving Lizzy reeling.

Two entirely different accounts, making the people involved out into two entirely different people; which one was right?

George's claim about Will resenting Georgie couldn't possibly be true; not many could fake love like that. But then, no one who couldn't fake love like Will held for Georgie could fake the pain in Will's eyes and stance when he'd told his side of the story. Did that mean that none of George's story was true? Or that Will was just a really good actor, and really could fake love that strong? Or were both sides true, but in varying degrees? Was neither story true, and they just disliked each other because of clashing personalities?

Lizzy clutched her head in her hands. It was too much to take in by herself. She needed to talk to Jane.

A/N2: No references this time around, but now we have both sides of the boys' story! Which side will Lizzy believe? And what's really going on with Mr. Bennet? No guarantees about what's to come in the next chapter, but here's hoping that I can get it up in less than three months!