I broke away from his stare, but ended up being greeted by dozens of eyeballs transfixed on us. At first I thought they were waiting for something to happen. But then I noticed the jealousy on the girls' faces. And outrage. It seemed that not a single girl in the room could believe that Pemberley's most eligible student would be slumming with me.
"You know" -- I turned back to him -- "working has many benefits. It's a really great way to make new friends."
Darcy clenched his jaw. "Ah yes, George Wickham. He's really good at making new friends. Retaining them, however, has always been a challenge for him."
"I'm sure he cries himself to sleep every night, thinking about losing such a wonderful friend as you. How will he ever recover?"
Darcy greeted my response with silence. We swayed to the music for the remainder of the song. When I thought I was going to be free, he tightened his grip around my waist. A new song began.
"So, what kind of music do you like to listen to for fun?" Darcy asked out of nowhere.
"Excuse me?"
"I thought I'd change the subject."
"Oh. Were we discussing something you weren't comfortable with?"
"No, I was just trying to see if there was something we could talk about that wouldn't end up in an argument."
"Ah. Good luck with that."
"Yes, apparently I'm going to need it."
His attempt at being friendly unnerved me.
"You know," I said, "I can't figure you out at all."
"Really? Are you finding yourself thinking a lot about me, then?"
The conceit, again! "Hardly. But you don't seem to make any sense."
"And you do?" He smirked.
"At least I'm consistent."
"And I'm not consistent?"
I thought for a moment. "No, I guess you are." I stepped back from him and pulled my arms away. "You said that you think I have a problem with people with money. But I think you have a problem with people without money."
He looked down at the floor. "You're right. You don't understand me at all."
"Well, I guess we're a lost cause." I turned my back on him and walked off the dance floor. I tried to not seem desperate as I looked for Charlotte in the cluster of people around the room.
I felt a tug on my arm. It was Caroline, who was with Cat. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked accusingly.
"I don't know what you mean," I said.
She looked disgusted. "I heard from Jane that you've been hanging around with George Wickham."
"So?"
Her lip curled up. "So? He's not to be trusted."
"I'm sorry, Caroline, but I really doubt you have any concern about who I hang out with or my well-being."
"I couldn't care less about your well-being," she admitted. "But I do care about Darcy. The mere mention of Wick upsets him. After everything Wick has done to him."
"What Wick has done?"
Caroline grabbed my arm tightly. "We don't want him around, okay? We heard that his little group was thinking of coming by tonight. Believe me, we put a stop to that. And to think that my brother and I have been nothing but kind to you. You only think about yourself, don't you?"
"Caroline." I spoke slowly so that, hopefully, one of us could start understanding the other. "I don't know what you are talking about. Yes, Charles has been very kind to me. I know there are issues between Darcy and Wick, but why should that matter to me? It's not like I'm friends with Darcy ... or you. Who I hang out with isn't really any of your business."
"Suit yourself." Caroline walked away.
I went to find Jane, but Cat blocked my path.
"You know, scum, for someone who claims to have no interest in Darcy, you seem to spend enough time with him."
I turned and walked away. Jane was waving me down from the other side of the room.
"Lizzie!" She approached me with a worried look. "What was that all about?"
Even Jane knew something had to be off if Caroline and Cat were speaking to me. Especially Caroline -- her influence over her brother and his unexplained respect for her were the only things about him that I didn't like.
After I relayed the exchange, Jane sighed. "Lizzie, I haven't been hearing good things about George Wickham. You should be careful."
"Not you too." I didn't like that Jane would take Caroline and Darcy's side.
"It's not that. I asked Charles, and he said that the story Wick told you was an absolute lie."
"Yeah, but whatever information he got was from Darcy. So, in my book, it shouldn't be trusted."
Jane looked over at Charles. "I don't know, Lizzie. Charles couldn't tell me exactly what happened because he made a promise to Darcy, but he really doesn't have a reason to lie to me."
"I know, I know...."
"JANE!" Lydia barreled over to us. "I'm having so much fun. Can you believe I'm the only freshman here? Like, this totally has to be a huge mark for my social standing. And, can you just imagine, I mean, what if I get asked to prom, too?" Lydia screeched so loudly that half of the room turned around to glare.
"Lydia," Jane whispered. "Please."
Lydia didn't hear her. Or, more likely, chose to ignore her.
"Caroline!" Lydia shouted to a stunned Caroline. "So, like, during spring break, we're going to Vera's for our prom dresses. I mean, for Jane's dress. Do you know if a freshman has ever gone to prom? Like, ever?"
Caroline looked at Lydia with even more disgust than she usually reserved for me.
"No," she said dismissively. "Prom is for junior women at Longbourn. While it is tradition for most of the women to be taken by men from Pemberley, some exceptions are made." She shot a look at me. "But any straying from custom is frowned upon."
"Do you want to come with us to Vera's?"
"I will be spending my vacation in Greece."
Lydia squealed again. "That's so awesome."
Caroline nodded coldly.
"I mean, I wish we were going somewhere, but no ..." Lydia started sulking. "Like, Daddy got millions in his buyout, so the fact that we can't go somewhere fabulous like Greece is so unfair."
"Lydia!" Jane stood up and pulled her sister away from Caroline. "Enough!"
The majority of the students on our side of the room had heard everything Lydia had said.
"I'm just having fun," Lydia protested. "You're so uptight." Her eyes grew wide and she started jumping up and down. "No. Way. This song was, like, THE song from camp last summer. I totally remember the routine we came up with." An up-tempo pop song started playing on the sound system, and before any of us could stop her, Lydia was on the dance floor, spinning around with her arms stretched out. In less than ten seconds, she cleared a space of about ten feet around her. She was relishing the attention.
Jane was horrified. "Please make her stop." Her voice was nearly inaudible.
I headed over to the platform. Lydia was doing something that looked like the Charleston, but with her usual manic energy. She started spinning her fists in the air and shouting "WOO!" every few seconds. I could hear the snickering as I passed through the crowd.
"Um, Lydia." I got as close to the platform as I could safely get without bringing too much attention to myself or getting kicked in the face by Lydia's current attempt to channel a Rockette.
The performance was pure agony to watch. How Lydia could've thought she was impressing people was beyond me. I wanted to look away, but it was one of those horrifying scenes that you just can't take your eyes off of. Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, she did jazz hands. Full-on, Broadway-style jazz hands.
When the song was over, Lydia took a deep bow. A few of the guys started whistling while the majority of the Longbourn girls were laughing. A few had even recorded the dance on their phones.
Poor, poor Jane.
"Oh!" Lydia exclaimed when the next song came on. I quickly grabbed her arm. "Lizzie, let me go!" she protested.
I ignored her and dragged her along until Colin stepped in my path.
> "Why, Lydia, that was delightful," he said.
"Thanks!" she replied.
"You really have such a great enthusiasm. I haven't seen leaps like that since an evening I spent at the Joffrey Ballet during fall break last year. I remember that time of year so well because it was unseasonably warm. The program was a delightful one -- you may have enjoyed it yourself...."
Colin was making things worse. What we needed was to get Lydia out of there, but Colin was prolonging the embarrassment by giving a detailed review of her performance.
Finally, Jane couldn't take it anymore. She rushed over, grabbed Lydia, and walked her outside.
"Oh, well ..." Colin was taken aback by Lydia's abrupt departure. "So, Elizabeth, dare we take the dance floor again in hopes of repeating that splendid performance given by Lydia?" There wasn't an ounce of sarcasm in his voice. He was being completely sincere.
"I ..." I glanced at the door. I really needed to go help Jane. Or possibly prevent a murder.
Fortunately, Charlotte came to the rescue. "Colin, I was hoping you could tell me more about your family's sailboat." While Charlotte was getting an earful, I dashed outside. Jane was sitting on the curb, shivering.
"Jane," I said, "it's freezing out here. Come inside."
"I can't. I'm so humiliated."
"Where's Lydia?"
"I don't know -- and, honestly, I don't care. She ran off when I was trying to reason with her. She has zero respect for me, our family, our school, Charles...."
I didn't know what to say. I would do anything for Jane, but I couldn't turn back time.
"I want to go home," she said.
I headed back inside to get our things at the coat check.
Charles approached me. "Lizzie, is Jane okay?"
I handed our tickets over to the coat check person. "Yes, she's fine. She ... uh, she has a bit of a headache, so we're going to head home. It was really a great party, Charles. Thanks so much for inviting us."
Before Charles had a chance to respond, the girl at the coat check handed me Jane's coat. She bit her lip. "Um, the other coat isn't back here."
"I gave you the ticket."
Her cheeks became flushed. "I know, but that hanger's empty." "What?"
Charles grabbed both tickets from her hand and went behind the counter to look for my coat. But I had a sinking feeling that he wasn't going to find it.
"What's going on?" Colin came over, with Darcy behind him.
"Nothing," I said.
"This is ridiculous!" Charles exclaimed. "How could someone just walk off with somebody else's coat? I want to see the manager."
The girl looked nervous. "That's not necessary. What did it look like?"
"It was a gray peacoat, it came above my knees...."
The girl's eyes grew wide. "What brand?"
I looked back toward Colin and Darcy. "It was Old Navy."
"Oh ..." The color drained from the girl's face.
"What do you mean, 'oh'?" Charles was furious. This was the first time I'd ever seen him angry. And I also realized that he was standing up for me. My bottom lip started to quiver. I was used to being attacked, not defended.
"Some girls came over a few minutes ago to get their coats and one of them said she'd lost her claim and identified the coat. And, well, I didn't think ..." The girl was embarrassed. I knew what she was going to say: When there were all these expensive designer coats in the room, who would lie about having such a nonglamorous item of clothing?
"Just forget about it." I tried to keep my voice even.
"Lizzie, I'm so sorry." Charles was aghast.
"I'm going to go...."
Colin started to take off his blazer. "Here, at least take my jacket."
Charles took out his wallet. "You have to let me pay you for it. I'm horrified that something like this happened at my party. I can't believe it."
The thing was, I could believe it. Something had to happen this evening. I couldn't attend a party without some sort of humiliation. All along, I'd assumed somebody was going to throw something at me, or trip me, or set my hair on fire. But instead, they'd stolen from me. And not because they wanted what I had. Simply because they could.
I quickly waved away Colin's and Charles's generous offers and went into the winter night unprotected. The freezing cold was a reminder that things were never going to get easier.
13.
I SPENT THE NEXT DAY AT WORK REPLAYING THE EVENING IN my head. All I had left were questions. What had Wick done last night instead of being with me? Would the pranks against me ever end? Would Lydia's behavior -- or her disclosure about their father -- affect Jane and her prospects? Were people really going to be so shallow and judgmental?
Unfortunately, I already knew that answer.
I raced out of the cafe the second my shift was over ... and found an unexpected visitor waiting for me outside.
Colin.
"Elizabeth, did you find your jacket?" He motioned toward Jane's red wool coat, which I was now going to be wearing until the end of winter.
"Unfortunately, no."
"Oh, I am sorry to hear that. I once lost a jacket that I loved very much. It was corduroy. No, tweed. Brownish gray. Really, it was a fine coat. My teddy bear had a matching one. We often wore them together. But then, one day, I left it in a park. When my mother and I went back for it, it was ... gone."
"I can see you miss it," I said, looking for an escape route.
"Anyway," Colin continued, "I was wondering if I might speak with you for a moment."
"Sure." I sat down next to him on the bench.
"There are certain rites of passage that I think are a very important part of becoming an adult."
He looked at me expectedly. I was so tired, all I could do was nod.
"Prom is one of those rites." My stomach dropped. "It is a momentous occasion, especially for a Longbourn girl like yourself, and I believe that we'd make a great match to attend. Obviously, we have the dancing part down." He let out a small laugh. "And I know with your circumstances you may have some difficulty with the dress, but I would be more than willing to pay for your accoutrements if that would make you more comfortable. I ..." Colin's prim stature faltered for a moment and he seemed to be at a loss for words. No doubt this was the first time such a thing had ever happened to him. "I ... I do find you most appealing. I've never met anybody like you before. You certainly are someone that I've always found very curious." I knew that I should've probably taken this as a compliment, but the way he said it, I couldn't help but think he found me more interesting as an oddity in his rich world than someone he found attractive. "We can obviously work out all the details at a later date, but I thought it would be best to move forward with our plans."
"Oh." I looked down at my gloves. "Thank you for thinking of me."
"No problem. We'll be in touch." Colin started walking away.
"Wait!" I called out after him. "I didn't give you an answer!"
His face fell. "Well, I just assumed ..."
"Well, you shouldn't. While I'm very honored that you'd want to take me to prom, I'm going to have to decline."
Colin laughed. "Oh, I know this game. Playing hard to get, are we?"
"No, we're not."
"Oh, Elizabeth, I know how girls like you are. You want to be pursued first. Very well, I'm game. You set out your rabbit, and I'll get my hounds. It could be fun."
"No, Colin." I stood up and bent down slightly so I could look him in the eye. "Again, I'm very flattered, but I'm not playing hard to get. My response won't change. I'm sorry, but the answer is, and will always be, no."
I hated being so direct with him, but he'd left me no choice.
Colin looked thoughtful for a minute. "This is why I like you so much, Elizabeth. You're unpredictable. I know we'll have a great time."
"Apparently, you aren't hearing me."
Colin sighed. "I do hear you, but -- and please know that I do not mean any disrespect -- do you really think with your circ
umstances that you'll be getting other offers?"
His bluntness shocked me.
"No," I said, "I'm sure I won't. But I know that prom here is probably something that I wouldn't enjoy, and you should really go with someone who you'd have fun with."
"I have every confidence that next time I discuss this with you, your answer will be different."
"No, Colin. Please tell me if there's anything I'm doing right now to make you think that there will be another answer. Because if you let me know, I will correct it so you can ask somebody else."
"Oh, Elizabeth, you really are something else."
I stood there with my mouth wide open. Colin was one of the smartest students in his class, but apparently he was lacking in common sense. He squeezed my shoulder and walked away.
How much clearer could I have been?
14.
I FOUND CHARLOTTE IN MY ROOM WHEN I GOT BACK.
"Oh, good -- you're finally here!" she exclaimed before I even had the door halfway open. "Well, I had a visitor. What's that?"
On my bed was a giant silver box with a red ribbon around it. "We don't know." Jane jumped up from her seat. "That's why we've been dying for you to come home. It was delivered an hour ago."
"But I didn't order ... What on earth?"
"Open it!" Charlotte grabbed the box and put it in my arms. "I want to see who it's from!"
Jane laughed. "And I want to know what it is."
I sat down on my bed and untied the red ribbon. Inside the silver box was white tissue. I lifted up the paper to find a beautiful gray winter coat. I looked at the tag and was shocked by the designer's name.
"Who sent this?" I asked. I took the coat out of the box and started looking for a card. Or receipt. Or even a tag that would have given me a hint where the jacket came from.
Jane was sifting through the tissue on the floor to see if she could find anything.
"Jane?"
She looked up. "It wasn't from me. Maybe Charles ... but why wouldn't he have sent a card? Or said something to me about it?"
Then my stomach turned. I knew whom it was from and it made me feel so awful.
"It's from Colin."
"How do you know?" Charlotte asked.