Prom and Prejudice (3 page)

"Darcy, isn't it great to be back?" I heard Charles say. "You have to admit this is a welcome sight, especially after four months in dreary London."

"Hardly," Darcy said drily. "I am starting to think that I should have stayed in London. Being back has been harder than I thought. I don't know why I let you drag me to this thing. The girls here are practically foaming at the mouth over prom. And here I was, under the impression that Longbourn girls had class. Silly me."

Charles laughed. "What are you talking about? You've clearly let all that English rain dampen your spirits. How could you say that about my sister ... and Jane? And what about Jane's friend Lizzie? You should ask her to dance."

Darcy groaned. "I don't think so. Did you know she's a scholarship student?" "So?"

There was a silent pause.

"Darcy, not every person ..."

"Are you so naive that you would think that the first person I would want to greet with open arms on campus is a
scholarship
student? Really, Charles? I went to London to get away from --"

A flurry of girls heading to the ladies' room blocked the view of my hiding place for a second, so I took the opportunity to
walk away. I didn't want to hear another word. I stayed along the border of the hall until Will Darcy had left and the exit was clear. I couldn't believe that he had so much open hatred for the unrich. Silly
me
for thinking, even for that short moment while he was helping me, that he was any different from anyone else around here.

He was the same. They were all the same.

I was the only one who was different.

J
ANE SLOWLY OPENED THE DOOR AND FOUND ME FINISHING up my unpacking. "Lizzie, where did you run off to?" she asked. "Are you all right? I was worried about you."

"I'm sorry, Jane. I got coffee on your dress. Actually, Cat de Bourgh got coffee on your dress. Or, even more accurately, Cat wanted to get coffee on me, and your dress got in the way. However you look at it, I had a really bad night."

"Don't even worry about the dress."

"If dry cleaning doesn't fix it, I'm going to pay you back for it."

Jane sat on my bed. "Truly, I don't care about the dress. I care about you. Are you okay?"

I nodded. I didn't have the energy to tell her about Darcy. Plus, I was positive Jane's evening had been the opposite of mine. Her face was glowing.

"I'll be much better once you tell me all about what happened between you and Charles," I said.

The glow turned into a blaze. "It was
amazing
! We spent the entire evening together. He wanted to hear every detail about my holidays. He didn't even shy away about what happened with my dad. And ... he really wants us all to meet up soon."

"Us all?"

"Lizzie, I really want you to get to know Charles."

"I will admit, he seems like a good guy."

"He really is. Plus, Darcy is considered to be quite the catch...."

A laugh escaped my throat. "Darcy? I know you only see the good in people, but seriously, Jane. That guy is so full of himself. Plus, I overheard him telling Charles that he basically went away to London to get away from scholarship kids."

"Oh, Lizzie, stop it!"

"I'm telling the truth."

Jane patted my knee. "I'm sure you misunderstood whatever you heard."

"How can I misunderstand 'I went away because I'm a pompous jerk who can't be in the presence of anybody who doesn't have a trust fund'?"

Jane laughed. "Well, if he said
that."

"Okay, I might be paraphrasing a little. I promise you this -- I am more than willing to go out and get to know Charles. In fact, I look forward to it. But I make no promises when it comes to Will Darcy. Unless someone can promise me that I never have to see him again."

I
FOUND CHARLOTTE BEHIND A STACK OF TEXTBOOKS IN our common room the following morning.

"Whatever happened to no commoner left behind?" I threw my backpack down in the seat next to her.

Charlotte looked up from her book. "I'm so sorry. I had every intention of going, but the thought of a quiet evening in my room was just too irresistible." She surveyed the books around her. "I wanted to get a jump start on the reading for this semester, because ... well, you know ..."

I did know. Both Charlotte and I were on permanent probation.
Charlotte was on an academic scholarship, so she couldn't get below a B average. And since I was on a music and academic scholarship, I wasn't allowed below a B-minus average. And I had to rehearse with Mrs. Gardiner every day, which was the only thing I looked forward to.

While we'd only had one concert so far, I was starting to get a reputation as one of the top music students in the school. Since Longbourn was a finishing school, it prided itself on its arts program: music, painting, dancing. Longbourn was a place where accomplished musicians could retire to Connecticut and make a luxurious salary teaching overprivileged girls. Mrs. Gardiner seemed to relish the fact that she finally had a student who wanted a challenge and could tackle difficult sonatas. But it also meant that, on top of studying, practicing, and working, there was little time left for anything else.

"Well, believe me," I assured Charlotte, "you didn't miss much." I conveyed the evening's events. "But," I concluded, "at least Jane's happy. They both seem smitten."

Charlotte smiled. "That's so great. What were people saying about prom?"

"Nobody said anything to me about prom. Of course, nobody said anything to me about anything else, either."

"Right. Well, I hope Jane gets asked to prom soon. Can you imagine anything more awful than wasting a semester on a guy and then having him not ask you to prom?"

"Charlotte, we're scholarship students. We've had way worse things happen to us. In the big scheme of things, going to prom for us is about as important as food stamps are to a Pemberley boy."

"Lizzie! Don't you want to go to prom?"

It seemed like such an easy question. But to me, it wasn't. Did I want to go to prom? Of course. I used to tear pictures of dresses out of
Seventeen's
prom issue when I was a little girl, imagining that I was simply one gown away from a fairy-tale evening. But that wasn't going to happen here. Because in my prom fantasy, I not only had a gorgeous dress, I had the perfect guy.

I looked at Charlotte, my partner in poverty. "I wish it were that simple," I told her.

I wished a lot of things were simple. But that wasn't my reality. In real life, I was a scholarship girl who was going to be late for her barely paying job if she didn't start moving.

Sunday afternoons at the Java Junction were always busy. Students from both Pemberley and Longbourn needed a caffeinated fix to cram in the studying they should've been doing all week. I
wasn't sure what to expect on the first weekend back from break. But when I arrived, I found myself walking into a madhouse of students. I quickly tied my red apron around my waist and jumped behind the counter.

"Just in time." My coworker Tara looked flustered. "I'm surrounded by your kind."

Tara Hill was a student at the local high school, and constantly teased me for being one of
them
-- in this case, the
them
being the elitists in line. I assured her that if I were truly one of them, I would hardly have been on the same side of the counter as her. And that would've been a loss. Because while I didn't really like having to serve the students from my school and from Pemberley, I enjoyed hanging out with Tara and the other "normal" people I worked with.

Not that we always had time to talk. I spent the next half hour steaming lattes, icing mochas, and trying to keep up.

"Can I help you?" I asked the next customer, who had turned around to stare out the window.

When he turned back to me, I was horrified to discover it was Darcy. He seemed just as perplexed to see me.

"You work here?" he asked, making it sound like he'd just walked into his bedroom to find me changing the sheets.

I looked down at my red Java Junction apron and tugged on my visor. "No, I thought this was a costume party. Silly me! But since I'm here, I thought that somebody's got to serve the coffee...."

He didn't even crack a smile. "Right. Well, I guess I'll have a large, black coffee. Although, please don't hurt yourself." The corner of his mouth turned up slightly.

"Yeah, I'm sure you'd enjoy that."

Darcy furrowed his brow and stammered a bit. "No, no, I just meant ... after your spill last night, you probably ... never mind."

I turned my back on him and grabbed him his coffee as quickly as possible without scalding myself.

"Here you go." I rang up his order.

He handed me a crisp twenty-dollar bill and started to walk away.

"Your change," I called after him.

He turned back around and smiled stiffly. "No, it's okay."

"Your change,"
I said louder, and held out his money in my hand.

"Lizzie!" Tara gasped.

Darcy hesitated and then came back over and took the money from me.

"Are you crazy?" Tara said as Darcy walked out the door. "That was a seventeen-dollar tip!"

I wasn't crazy.

I didn't want to fit in with whatever stereotype Darcy had about "my kind." Despite what he may have thought, my integrity wasn't for sale.

"You're back!" Jane jumped up from her desk when I walked into our room. "Guess what."

I took off my shoes and started to rub my feet. "Does this have anything to do with Mr. Bingley?"

"Yes! He invited us both to his family's ski cottage in Vermont next weekend!" Her voice was two octaves higher than normal.

"That's great news!"

Jane sat down next to me. "So you'll go? You'll switch your work schedule and everything?"

I
had
promised Jane that I would make an effort with Charles, and I knew I couldn't back down now. "Of course I'll go. Although I have to warn you -- I don't ski."

"You don't have to ski. You can drink hot cocoa while you study, plus ... Charles did say that his family has a Steinway
grand piano in their house, so you can even spend the weekend practicing."

I had to admit, that did sound like fun. "Sounds great!"

"Yay! You're going to love Charles. And honestly, Caroline and Darcy aren't as bad as you make them out to be."

I groaned. "Wait.
They're
going to be there, too?"

"Of course. I know you and Darcy got off on the wrong foot. I'm sure it's a simple misunderstanding."

I wanted to protest further, but the look on Jane's face was so hopeful, so expectant, that I just couldn't disappoint her. She had been beaming since Charles's arrival, and I didn't want to be the one to tarnish her glow.

"Okay, okay," I said, giving in.

I was doing this for Jane. Jane, who had done so much for me. Plus, I had every intention of spending the entire weekend locked in our room or chained to the piano.

I would go for Jane. I certainly wasn't going to get to know Darcy and Caroline better.

And I wasn't going to enjoy it.

T
HE CARAVAN WAS LEAVING FOR VERMONT AT FIVE o'clock on Friday. I had to work a couple hours after class to make up for the shifts I was missing that weekend, and my replacement was late. Which meant I had to sprint the ten blocks from the Java Junction to meet up with everybody.

When I rounded the corner and saw Jane, Charles, Darcy, and Caroline waiting for me, I realized my cheeks were flushed and I was nearly out of breath.

Caroline tapped her watch impatiently and looked horrified when she saw me approach. "You
must
be joking," she said.

I stopped dead in my tracks. Despite the fact that she ignored me all week in class, I was positive my coming with them couldn't have been a surprise.

I approached them cautiously. Jane and Charles both looked happy to see me. "You're here!" Jane exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I tried to control my breathing. "Tara was late for her shift, so I had to run here."

"What on earth is on your
face?"
Caroline asked disgustedly.

"What?" I started wiping my hot, sweaty face.

Darcy was studying me, the corners of his lips slightly upturned.

Jane laughed. "Oh, I think you have some chocolate...."

"What?" I continued to wipe my face.

"Here." Jane took out her compact from her purse and I was astonished, and a little embarrassed, to see a line of mocha sauce on my red, blotchy cheekbone. I was a complete mess.

Jane handed me a tissue and I did my best to improve matters.

Darcy let out a little laugh -- I was sure he was enjoying this moment, and I enjoyed his company even less because of it. He went over to the backseat of Charles's SUV and opened the door. "After you." He gestured with his hand. I maneuvered into the backseat and took out my calculus notebook.

Jane sat up front with Charles, while Caroline cozied up to Darcy in the middle row of seats. I was hoping I could get through my calculus assignment during the two-hour drive. And since Caroline spent the entire time whispering disparaging comments about most of the girls at Longbourn, I was pretty much left alone. Every once in a while Jane tried to bring me into the conversation and I politely answered her questions. Darcy kept glancing back at me and my notebook, as if I needed his help with my assignment. I responded by shifting my notebook so it was out of his view.

I finished as the car began to slowly twist and turn through the mountains. I couldn't help gazing in awe as we passed huge log cabins and grand winter lodges. We turned onto a private road and drove for a few more miles. The towering trees and white snow encapsulated the car, making me feel so small and insignificant -- a feeling that I had gotten used to the past few months.

The Bingleys' ski "cottage" was a large, three-story birch structure with panoramic picture windows overlooking the mountains. To the left we could see the ski trails -- the massive, deathly looking ski trails. There was no way I was even thinking of attempting to ski this weekend. I had embarrassed myself enough already.