One Word From You: A Pride and Prejudice Adaptation

by Natalie Penna

  “I was hoping -”

  “No, he wasn’t,” I said, and pulled the seat out for her, “I was saving it for you.”

  He cleared his throat again, “I wouldn’t hate sitting here.”

  “I appreciate that,” I said, working hard to keep my voice even lest it betray my annoyance, “But Meg’s already sitting here. Why don’t you sit with Chantelle? If she glares over at me any harder, she’s going to burn holes in my face.”

  Meg hovered over the chair, and I reached out to pull her down into it, all without breaking William’s gaze. It was for him to do that, when he retreated and joined Charlie’s sister. She greeted him with a smile, and looked over at me with an expression of triumph. It was as if she believed she’d just won a prize in taking him as a neighbour in the classroom. I thought it was the other way around. She was more than welcome to him.

  Snobs.

  I helped Meg to get her things out of her bag, and moved my chair a little closer to hers. It wasn’t so that I was avoiding Jenny, but I figured she’d want just a little bit of privacy with Charlie. She was quiet at the best of times, and he seemed as though he would be timid around a girl he liked. If the pair of them were locked in a room together, they’d probably pass the time in total silence, both too shy to utter a word.

  And, poor Meg.

  She was just as quiet, but it wasn’t for lack of an interesting personality. With the amount of books she read, and her level of intelligence, Meg was always good for a lively conversation. It was just next to impossible to get her to open her mouth in the first place. Always so immersed in whatever she was reading or studying, she barely noticed my attempts to whisper to her, or to make her giggle during the lesson.

  Eventually, I gave her up as a bad job, and dared a few furtive glances in Jenny and Charlie’s general direction. On the surface, it appeared as if they were focused on our teacher. But I spied a few stolen smiles, and subtle blushes when their eyes met, each chancing a look at the other when they thought they might not be caught.

  It was adorable, and so old fashioned.

  At such a pace, they wouldn’t mention the word love until they were at an age to retire from society.

  As I turned my head, meaning to see what on Earth Mr. Hargreaves was babbling about, I happened to catch the attention of someone I hadn’t expected. William’s eyes met mine for a moment. He opened his mouth, as if he was going to call out to me, and I forced my gaze away sharply. Whatever William Davies had to say, I wasn’t interested. He’d made his feelings about our school, and me, perfectly clear already.

  I couldn’t imagine he could make a worse impression.

  I worked hard to avoid looking in his direction again until the bell rang. In fact, I’d been so determined to focus on the lesson, I hadn’t taken in a single thing Mr. Hargreaves had said. That was until he announced, “And this will be on the next test! So make sure you learn it!”

  “What’s going to be on the what?” I asked Meg.

  “Weren’t you listening?”

  “ I - I wasn’t not listening.”

  “That’s a double negative.”

  I groaned, “Okay, I wasn’t paying any attention. Are you happy now?”

  “I’ll help you later,” she said in a hushed tone.

  I wondered why she’d lowered her voice. That was, until I realised Charlie was towering over us. He smiled, and said, “I was thinking that it’d be good to get a tour of the school when classes finish later.”

  “Didn’t you - didn’t you have that already?” Meg asked sheepishly.

  I elbowed Meg gently. She didn’t get the hint, and just looked moderately offended that I’d assaulted her. Rather than explain it with diagrams, I said, “Jen’ can show you around. Meg and I need to study, sorry.”

  “We can invite your friend,” Jenny said, “Don’t you think?”

  I groaned internally. It wasn’t much of a date if William was going to be with them. Honestly, the girl had no sense about her at all when it came to that sort of thing. Did she think that she needed a chaperone? No, she was probably thoroughly convinced that it was the right thing to do. I imagined she was concerned that William might also get lost wandering around in the school.

  “Charlie?” Chantelle asked, wasting no time in coming to her brother’s rescue. At least, she probably thought she was saving him if it meant taking him away from me. She didn’t break character, and smiled at him sweetly while William was waiting on her. She continued, “Are you coming with us to the next lesson?”

  “Yeah - uh - Jenny and I were just talking about a tour of the school.”

  “Really?” she took one of Jenny’s hands in hers, “Then, how about we all go together? It’ll be fun! I mean, just the four of us.”

  “Well, if Beth and Meg want to -”

  “It’s fine,” I cut Jenny off so she wouldn’t suffer a verbal backlash from Chantelle, “We’re busy later, right, Meg? Studying for the test.”

  “Don’t feel as if you’re not welcome,” Chantelle said. I couldn’t tell from the way her eye twitched that she was struggling to keep up the kind facade in front of me, “I won’t stop you if you want to join us.”

  “I have no objection to it, either,” William added.

  “Let’s go, Meg,” I said, “Before Chantelle strains something.”

  Chapter Four

  An affection for her sister that is very pleasing.

  Suffice to say, Charlie wasn’t satisfied with just one little walk around the school. And he wasn’t the only one who appeared to be taken with her company. Chantelle hadn’t let Jenny out of her sight, and I was starting to feel like I was the one getting in the way. Still, whenever Jenny came back to tell me about the fun she’d been having, I smiled and pretended like I hadn’t missed her company. If I told her, then she would feel guilty, and she might stop seeing Charlie all together.

  It was a rare evening spent in the dorm after dinner when her phone began to vibrate on the nightstand. She looked up from her book, confused at first as to who the offending device might belong to. Given we usually only ever communicated with each other, I could well understand that she might not anticipate messages from other people.

  I stopped strumming on my acoustic guitar, and asked, “Aren’t you going to check that?”

  “Was that mine?”

  “Mine’s on silent,” I said, “So it’s gotta be.”

  “Sorry,” she apologised, and snatched up the device.

  I’d never seen someone look so befuddled by a text before in my life. I reached over to steal the phone from her, and read the message for myself.

  Grls goin 2 watch stars by lake. Want 2 come?

  “A fortune on education, and she uses bingo speak in her texts,” I muttered.

  “Uses what?”

  “Nothing,” I said, and handed the phone back, “You should go. But, don’t stay out too late. It looks like it might rain.”

  “You hate Chantelle,” she told me.

  “Which is probably why I’m not the one she invited.”

  “Are you really okay with me spending time with her? I mean, I know she’s not that nice to you, but maybe if you both got to know each other a little better -”

  “I have absolutely no interest in getting to know Chantelle any better. But, she’s Charlie’s sister, and it’s better if you two can get along. If she hates you, then she won’t let you talk to him easily.”

  I hoped that Charlie had enough of an independent mind that he could pick and choose his own friends. But people often put family first, even if they shouldn’t, so he might stop speaking to Jenny if Chantelle commanded it. He was about the only half-decent guy to transfer in, and even I found him to be good company when I was permitted time to talk to him. It would be a pity if we were deprived of him due to Chantelle’s spiteful nature.

  “I won’t stay out long, I promise,” Jenny assured me.

  I trusted her, but I couldn’t guarantee that Chantelle would let her come bac
k early. I returned to strumming idly on the guitar strings as she hurried to pull on her shoes, and to find a coat. Now, we did have a rule about not being on the grounds at night, but it wasn’t really enforced as far as the older students were concerned. The teachers were more inclined to impose the strict laws of the school on the first year kids, and those who were too young to stay up late. We were practically adults, and we didn’t have lights out or anything either. They trusted us to manage our own spare time and sleeping patterns.

  Big mistake.

  As I’d predicted, not much more than an hour after Jenny had left, the rain began to lash against the windows. It became heavier and louder, and then the force of it rattled the glass. I clambered off my bed, and pulled back the curtains to take a better look.

  “Is that snow?” Chrissy asked.

  “Don’t be thick,” Lisa replied, “It’s only the end of September.”

  “It’s hail,” I said, “Must be a freak shower.”

  “Um,” Meg rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, “Where’s Jenny?”

  “She went out. She’ll be back soon,” I tried to reassure her.

  Still, I couldn’t help being worried.

  And I was right to.

  Another hour passed, and there was still no sign of her. The others had fallen asleep, but I couldn’t drag myself from the window. I should have seen her running across the grounds already. Jenny was by no means stupid, and in such weather she’d know that it was better to be inside.

  “Bloody hell,” I cursed, and stepped into my trainers.

  With no time to change out of my pyjamas, I tugged my hoodie on over them, and hurried out of the room. I kept a hand on the wall as I made my way through the corridor, relying on the feeble flashlight application in my phone to illuminate my path. I could have turned the lights on, but it would have woken up everyone else. I was less concerned about the students as I was about the teachers. If they found out what I was doing, I’d likely be sent back to bed, and they’d go out to drag the girls inside.

  Jenny’s mother wouldn’t be happy to get a call about that.

  Like I said, they didn’t tend to enforce the rules, but I wasn’t about to play with the risk.

  I hesitated at the door. It was so dark, and I didn’t want my phone to get drenched while I was using it to find my way. But what choice did I have? I pulled my hood up over my head, and took off at a jog towards the lake. The glass was slippery, but so long as I kept moving I managed to stay upright. After a few minutes, my clothes were sticking to my skin. I hated to think what kind of condition I might find the others in.

  The school lake was used for P.E lessons, mostly. It was where we learnt how to row boats, and had little races when the weather was nicer. I know, it really was a school for rich brats. Most places would just make the kids swim in there. Instead, we had a nice Olympic size pool for that kind of thing.

  There were a few old trees which had been on the grounds since before the school was built, and a little jetty where the boats could be moored during lessons. The rest of the time, they were kept in the boat house. I tried there first, but found it locked. No one was going to be inside, so I didn’t spend much time on it. I turned around, pondering on where to run to next, when I walked straight into someone’s chest.

  “Beth!”

  “Charlie?” I asked, and rubbed my sleeve over my eyes to improve my vision, “What are you doing out here?”

  “I got a call from Chantelle,” he explained, “What about you?”

  “Jenny went out with her, but she didn’t come back. I thought I should look for her.”

  “You’re soaked!”

  “So are you,” I pointed out, “You go that way, and I’ll look around by the outbuildings, okay?”

  He nodded, and left me to my own devices. If I’d known that Chantelle was going to send for help, then I wouldn’t have bothered. Okay, so that wasn’t true. I didn’t like to leave my friend’s fates to anyone else. They were my sisters, and we had to look out for each other.

  I found a few of them huddled under the shelter the edge of the supply shed’s roof offered. I shone the torch light at them, “There you are!”

  “ What are you doing out here?” Chantelle asked bitterly, “I sent for my brother.”

  “He’s looking, too. Where’s Jenny?” I asked.

  “She said she was going to go back before us, and then we got stuck in this downpour.”

  “What, so she’s not with you?”

  “Obviously not! Where’s Charlie?” Chantelle spat.

  “I’ll send him, don’t be such a bitch!”

  As it happened, I didn’t have to go far to catch up with him. The urgency I felt to find Jenny might have been shared by him if he knew that she’d gone off alone. But his first duty ought to have been to his sister, particularly given she was the one to call him out in the first place. I caught up to him further around the lake, and staggered against his back rather than calling out to him. Charlie turned, and caught my shoulders to steady me.

  “I found them - well - most of them,” I explained, “Around by the sheds. Take them back, I have to keep looking.”

  “Who’s missing?”

  I swallowed hard, “Jenny. They said she went back early. She might be at the dorms already. When you go back, can you check?”

  “Give me your number, I’ll call you if I find her there. If not, I’ll come back out to help you look.”

  The exchange was handled swiftly, and we parted company again. I’d cut across the turf to get to the lake, but Jenny was sensible, and would have stuck to the paths even if it meant a longer route. My clothes were heavy with the rain, but I didn’t let it slow me down. Although I was freezing, and probably would catch a cold, it was nothing to how she’d feel if she spent any longer out in such disgusting weather.

  It was unfortunate, then, that they had a habit of winding all over the bloody place around the grounds. I really wanted to believe that she had made it back, and for some reason just hadn’t seen fit to return to the room. She might have gone for a shower first, and now be back in the room wondering where I was. But Jenny wasn’t that inconsiderate of other people. She’d want to let us know that she was all right before wandering elsewhere.

  “Jenny!” I called, finding that I didn’t care all that much about getting into trouble should I be discovered, “Jen! Answer me!”

  Honestly, I wished she had just been inconsiderate for a change.

  I found Jenny beneath a tree at the side of the path. She wasn’t far from the school buildings, but from the state of her hands and knees, I deduced that she’d fallen over a fair few times on her way. It must have been a struggle for her to get as close as she had, and it looked like the trunk of the old oak was the only thing keeping her upright.

  As I ran to her, I was already unzipping my jacket. She flinched when I came to her, and looked at me through her lashes, her eyes weary with the effort it was taking to stay awake. I pulled my friend against my chest, quite glad that she had a willowy frame, and wrapped the sopping garment around her. It still had some of my body heat clinging to it, and it was better than nothing at all.

  “Jenny, stay awake, okay? I can’t carry you,” I told her, “Just lean on me, and keep your feet moving.”

  My phone vibrated in my jacket pocket, and I fished it out while trying not to jostle Jenny too much.

  J isn’t here.

  Charlie had certainly been quick about checking up on her back at the dorms. I tapped out a swift reply to let him know where we were. On the one hand, I didn’t want to make the poor guy run back out in the rain. On the other, I seriously needed some help. I looped my friend’s arm over my shoulders, and staggered under her weight.

  Okay, I hadn’t thought it through.

  Jenny’s knees buckled, and we both fell to the ground. I managed to land in an awkward crouch, and prevented her from slumping in a way that might cause her more harm. With the rain beating down on us both, I cu
rled over her, and attempted to shield her as best I could.

  “Hey!” Charlie called as he ran to us, “Beth! Jenny!”

  “What took you so bloody long?” I asked, my arms starting to ache from cradling Jenny, “Help me!”

  I shouldn’t have snapped at him, but I wanted to get her back to the warmth and comfort of the dorm room. It didn’t surprise me at all that Charlie lifted Jenny off her feet, and cradled her carefully against his chest like she was the most precious thing in the world. I lowered my head, and let out a sigh of relief. It was then that someone hoisted me up onto my feet, and put their arm around my waist.

  “William?” I asked in shock as the boy tugged my arm over his shoulders, “What are you doing?”