Jump to new as of July 20, 1999

Prologue

Posted on Tuesday, 13 July 1999

Golden hair streaming in a perfectly sculpted ponytail, Jane Bennet strolled leisurely down the halls of Pemberley University, a small, private school in ______, Massachusetts. Jane's outward features resembled that of a goddess, long legs and a body to die for, her face smooth since the day she was born, her skin tan like no Massachusetts sun could ever do alone. Her smile could light up a room with its brightness, and it was a universal truth that all single men were in want of a "woman like that". Her inner qualities almost matched her outward perfection, as she had a temper that rivaled still water, and a disposition that outshone the sun (and her hair.)

Jane Bennet, in a twist of fate so disturbing, was not allowed to date unless her older sister Elizabeth was allowed to date first. And that, so to speak, was a tragedy. Elizabeth was dark. Dark featured, her hair was curly, unruly and unrefined. Her full lips were never without maroon lipstick, her earlobes never without their customary silver jewelry. While Jane's wardrobe was done solely in pastels, Elizabeth's was done in grays, deep reds, and the customary black. Her humor was dark, her brown eyes dark and menacing, and her disposition was rumored to outdo an underfed cat. It was a universal truth that girls like that simply did not date, nor was there anybody who would wish to date her. This suited her perfectly well, as Pemberley's pick of guys were, in her esteemed opinion, lacking.

The Bennet sisters were raised by a single father, an overprotective father, a father who would become so overprotective he would drive both girls to the brink of insanity, even though Elizabeth did not mind his dating decree as much as Jane did. Jane was too much of an angel to date secretly, and her "prime" in high school had coincided with the divorce of their parents which put more strain on their father's worried nerves. Elizabeth had dated once upon a time, and it was rumored that, for no reason at all, she had changed overnight into the shrew that she was now. That too was a tragedy. If it weren't for Elizabeth's "cynical" disposition, she would be a real beauty as well.

And so the story unfolds, the story of a crush, a dream, a bet, a "bad seed", and true love.

Chapter 1

Posted on Tuesday, 13 July 1999

"Oh, is she beautiful," moaned Charles Bingley, an All-American guy if there ever was one. Golden blonde hair framed a chiseled face with intense blue eyes and a wide grin. His shorts were khaki, his button-down shirt open to reveal a surfing T-shirt underneath. He was the posterchild for Abercrombie & Fitch, in a nutshell. As Jane Bennet passed, he managed to squeak out a "hi Jane" to which she smiled sweetly and his heart felt about ready to explode.

"Tell me about it," exclaimed the class flirt, George Wickham. "She could be mine. Of course, she doesn't know it yet. But I do plan to ask her out, you know. It'll work." George Wickham had money. For reasons that nobody understood, although he liked to maintain that a modeling career was his source for money, George drove a fancy car, wore expensive clothes, kept himself perfectly groomed, but lived in a small home reported to be the servant's quarters for a tycoon.

Charles stewed over that prospect for a moment. "Not if I ask her out first," he mumbled, but George was already down the hall pursuing his conquest. George was officially as dumb as a brick and as buff as a professional lifter. Many were afraid of him, Charles included, because while Charles was tall, Charles was thin. Sometimes Charles truly hoped that he could run if the need never arose.

Checking his watch, he stole away to the campus library, knowing that Jane logged onto her computer at this time every day. He saw her right away, shoved an unsuspecting freshman away from the terminal directly across from her, and stared into the face of his beloved. He sighed. He watched until he saw her beautiful face wrinkle into a look of storybook consternation.

"What's wrong?" Before he could help himself, Charles blurted the first words that popped into his mind. Immediately he regretted them. What right did he have to speak to the goddess of light herself?

"Spanish."

Did she speak? She spoke! Charles caught his breath. "I know Spanish," he blurted, before he could stop himself. He could have kicked himself in his lying mouth. He knew rudimentary Spanish, at best, because he was minoring in Latin.

"Great! Maybe you could help me?" She batted her eyelashes, truth be told, Jane thought Charles to be quite attractive.

"Sure," Charles found himself agreeing, "when?"

And so, a date was set for studying on Tuesday. Charles left the library extremely proud of himself, while George waited impatiently on the steps of the library where Jane left to go to her father's (a History professor) classroom.

"Hey beautiful," George said smoothly when she appeared, and Jane giggled and blushed prettily (as if there were some other way somebody as perfect as she could blush).

"Hello."

"How about a ride home?"

Jane, finding George attractive as well, hopped into his car. "Turn left at the light," she said as George smiled triumphantly.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE CAN'T DATE?!" George and Charles stood talking in the math building the following day. "She told me to meet her for Spanish on Tuesday!"

"I asked her out, she said she couldn't date until her sister dates," George said, disgusted with the world. "Will you look at her sister? I'd take her out myself but I can't even bring myself to stoop that low!"

Charles thought for a moment. "Then we'll find somebody who will." George looked at him blankly. "Ok, I'll find somebody who will."

Chapter 2

Posted on Wednesday, 14 July 1999

Heading to the cafeteria, Charles saw a bunch of lacrosse players picking on a short, rather fat kid that he vaguely recognized as living in his dorm.

"Hey, you guys, just leave him alone," Charles yelled, and one of the players smiled back.

"Aww, Bingley, you ruin all of our fun. I guess Billy here could use a break. It's not over, Collins, not by a long shot. You try to sell us papers one more time..."

"Ok, ok I got it," Billy Collins whined, adjusting the waistband of his pants, "I didn't try to rip you off! I didn't know the papers were right off the net!"

"C'mon, Collins, I have a job for you," Charles offered, deciding that stooping to use Collins was justified by the prize at the end.

"A job? For money? I'm all ears," Collins smiled, lecherously, "Always for the money. What's this job?"

"I want you to find a guy to date Elizabeth Bennet."

Billy Collins adjusted his waistband one more time and pushed a lock of slimy blonde hair off of his forehead. "Are you nuts? Not even guys like me would date her. Not unless all the animals were dead. Are they dead?"

Charles looked at Billy disgustedly. "Wickham will pay you if you find somebody. We'll make a list, it doesn't matter who."

"Look, Bingley, you've only been here a year. I've been here for two and I know for a fact nobody would date that girl. Have you ever tried to talk to her? I'm surprised she doesn't use Mace as perfume!"

"She's pretty, though, and I heard she was really smart. Come on, Collins! Take the challenge! What about that guy?"

'That guy' referred directly to William Darcy, resident bad seed. His tall, lanky body was clad in ripped jeans, a white T-shirt, and a leather jacket. A permanent sneer crossed his features, and sunglasses hid the brown eyes that his deceased mother called beautiful when he was a boy. Rumors flew like geese during the winter about William. Most said that he spent his time between mad scientist experiments in the basements of the Anne DeBourgh Chemistry Lab, the William Lucas Biology Center and dirty magazines, so it was a general acceptance that he was exceedingly disgusting to the point of intelligent perversion, a combination not found widely in the world today. Of course, there were also rumors that he was offered a minor league scholarship for baseball, which he didn't take because he wanted to focus on becoming a chemist. He was rumored to have killed a live pig to experiment on its brain chemicals and then donated the parts to the cafeteria. Nobody spoke to him, he frequented the bars and concert halls, rumored to play a guitar, and he scared unsuspecting prospects and freshmen for fun. He also had a British accent, to which it was rumored came directly from the royal family.

To be perfectly frank, most people feared him. Billy Collins, a sophomore scam artist, was no exception. He lived in the same dorm as William and dated his cousin Catherine DeBourgh until she beat him, literally. Billy shook his head.

"No way, Bingley."

Charles shoved Collins into the path of Mr. Big Guy himself and William stopped, not amused.

"Collins. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Please, William, don't hurt me! I just have one request. As Catherine's cousin I know you can be gracious and I am offering money, just don't do what you did to that pig please!"

William smirked at the gawky man in front of him. "What's the favor?"

"Ask Elizabeth Bennet on a date. Just one, fifty bucks."

"Ha! One hundred and we've got a deal."

Collins frowned internally, knowing that was half of his pay from Wickham already. "Fine. One hundred, you guarantee results."

"Would this face lie?" William winked at Collins and sauntered off to the Biology building, snatching the money from his chubby hand in one fell swoop.

Elizabeth stood in the bookstore leafing through used Calculus curriculum books trying to see what she could use for next semester's class. Her major was in mathematical engineering, a tough major, but she was a very intelligent girl if one would know her. William sized up his prey, noted that she had an exotic beauty, olive skin and wide brown eyes, and then decided that it wasn't too much trouble to just ask her out.

"Hello," he said, interrupting her perusal of the books.

"William Darcy," Elizabeth frowned, cynicism oozing into her voice. "I don't think they sell those magazines here, so I can't imagine why you're in this store."

Darcy laughed. "You must listen to all the popular rumors without any thought as to if they're true."

Elizabeth whirled and glared at him. "Well, you must have heard the rumors that underneath this ice queen outer shell rests a heart burning with passion and you're planning on asking me out to break that shell."

The smile faded from Darcy's face. "Well, I do wish somebody would have told me that rumor before I decided to ask you out."

"No, to save you some time, no way. Bye!" Elizabeth left in a cloud of black curls, leaving William standing alone in the store.

"Awww, man!" Charles frowned at William later that day. "I thought you guaranteed results!"

"Look Bingley, I did guarantee results. It just takes time." He snapped a pencil accidentally and had to fight for control of his laughter when Charles practically ran away in fear. "Don't worry, it'll get done and you can ask Jane Bennet on her date. Collins told me the rest of the story, much to my chagrin, at lunch today. I hear you've got stiff competition for the fair one's hand, though, that George Wickham, what a character." His voice oozed sarcasm. "For her sake I hope you win."

Chapter 3A

Posted on Tuesday, 20 July 1999

"Perro," Charles said, as much for his sake as for Jane's, "means dog."

"Dog," Jane murmured, staring off into space. Her eyes focused back on Charles and she smiled. "Tu esta muy guapo," she said. (You are very handsome.)

"Mi hermano esta un lapiz," (My brother is a pencil) Charles gushed back, not having a vague clue as to what he said to Jane, partially hoping she didn't either. But the look of confusion on her face said loudly that she had.

"Charles, are you doing this just so you can come on a date with me?"

Charles blushed bright red. "You said you needed help, and I know about the problem you have with dating, so I just figured that this might be the easiest way to get to know you. Sorry."

"Don't be sorry. It's awful, though, just awful. If only somebody would take my sister on a date! I'm on good authority that behind that exterior lies a completely sane human being. Sometimes, at least."

"Don't worry, George Wickham and I have a plan, and when it works you can come on a real date. Are you going to his party?"

Jane looked off into space, contemplating both George and Charles. George was very popular with the other girls and had picked her, out of all people. Charles was new, but he was very good looking in a completely different way that George. But Jane hadn't dated yet, and George seemed like such a good idea, just for one date...

"Not unless Elizabeth goes," Jane answered finally, sadly, "I'm going to try to convince her later."

In the confines of her dorm room, Elizabeth turned on her new Pennywise CD and closed her eyes. The fast style of the punk music drowned out any noise from the room, the street, and college in general. Her roommate, Charlotte Lucas, a quiet girl from New York City, took a nap in the other bed. Elizabeth like Charlotte, they actually had similar music tastes (!) and they got along very well. Their room was decorated with posters of various musical groups, movies, and inspirational quotes on Charlotte's side.

Charlotte herself was short, thin, with mousy brown hair, hazel eyes and a ready grin. Her style was nowhere as dramatically dark as Elizabeth's, but she was not one to wear sweater sets and cropped pants. She was practical, intelligent enough to do well in her classes, but wary about the world, especially men.

Sitting up on her bed, Elizabeth frowned when she thought about William Darcy's request from earlier in the day. It was so unexpected, as he was the only person who drew more questions than she did. What she had heard about him did not match the person who asked her on a date, and her curiosity was getting out of hand. Stretching out her jean-clad leg, she closed her eyes and almost fell asleep when a knock sounded loudly at her door.

It was Jane, in all her pastel glory. "Elizabeth, you have to go to George Wickham's party!"

"No hello, Jane?" Elizabeth quirked her eyebrow wryly. "No 'nice to see 'ya?' No 'you're looking well?'"

"Oh, come on, Elizabeth! Will you go or not?" Jane tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for her sister's reply.

Elizabeth wrinkled her nose in distaste. "George Wickham? You don't want to go to George Wickham's frat party. All that's there are beer, puke, and bad movies."

"That's what people do on a Friday night in college, Elizabeth! Would it kill you to be a normal human tonight? Please? Just as a favor? Do you have other plans already? Charlotte can come too!" Jane looked at her sister pleadingly, knowing she was being completely out of line.

"Sorry, Lizzy. I didn't mean to insult you. I've never gone to any of those parties before because of dad's rule. I'll owe you one later, I promise. Really."

"Fine, Jane, I'll go," she said slowly, "But just for you. No other reason."

Jane squealed. "Thank you so much Lizzy! I won't forget this."

"I won't either," Charlotte piped up, "because you're loud enough to wake the dead."