Posted on Tuesday, 30 January 2001
South or SDH - South Dining Hall (as opposed to North)
JACC - Joyce Arena and Convocation Center. Home to the basketball, hockey, volleyball and fencing teams, as well as the cheerleaders. It's HUGE.
ACE - Alliance for Catholic Education. Students volunteer to teach at a Catholic school for two years, and at the end have a Masters of Education. It's a strictly ND program, though Teach For America is similar.
Holy Cross Associates is another volunteer organization for graduates from ND (Named after the Holy Cross Order, which founded ND.)
ND of course always refers to Notre Dame.
Sister Joanne, Patrick Quigley and Peter Bell are all real people, as are the Undertones (which PQ helped found and which PB is not a member of) and the Sirens. I hope they will forgive me for taking their names in vain like this.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, thought Elizabeth Bennet as she leaned on the windowsill, looking out over the quad that a girl does not go to Note Dame to get married. Regardless of the statistic that 60% or more of Note Dame and Saint Mary's alum marry each other, a girl did not come to Note Dame for the purpose of getting her MRS. degree.
That was her roommate's expression, and it always made Elizabeth laugh. Which was perhaps why MK used it. It certainly wasn't because MK herself lacked for dates.
Turning away from the window, she saw a note on the whiteboard.
Gone to the JACC for practice, then dinner with the team. Meet Emma, Marianne and Elinor at South at 6 for dinner, then straight to the Glee Club concert. Don't be late. See you!
Lizzy sighed. She didn't understand MK's fascination with Glee Club. Well, yeah, her boyfriend was in Glee Club, sure. But still... She looked at the clock: 5:45. Just enough time to go over to South and wait for the others.
She grabbed her jacket and left the room, noting that her key was sticking in the lock again. She'd have to mention that to Heidi later. On her way out, she checked the mail, finding a letter from Jane. She'd read it during dinner.
Lizzy lived in Pangborn Hall, the butt of any number of jokes on campus. Everything from the name (try rearranging the letters) to being called "the ghetto of South Quad" (It was a pretty horrible building). Emma and Marianne lived together in Lyons, directly across the quad from Pangborn. Elinor was an RA is Welsh, in West Quad, which was behind Pangborn. Lizzy's elder sister Jane had also lived in Welsh. Elinor was a Senior. The other three girls were starting their Junior years.
Emma, Marianne and Elinor were waiting outside SDH for her. "Right on time," Elinor noted. "Right left?" she asked as their IDs were swiped and they entered the food court. The others nodded or murmured their assent, though why anyone would argue was hard to imagine, since that was where they always sat.
Lizzy helped herself to some food, choosing the pasta today, simply because there was nothing else really edible. That was the benefit of the ND dining halls: there was always bound to be something edible. Then she turned right into the west dining hall and left towards the fireplace. In short, 'right left'.
She was the last one out, not surprisingly. She was the pickiest eater of the foursome. Also not surprising was that somewhere, her friends had managed to pick up a couple of guys. Rob Elton had claimed the seat beside Emma, who was talking to Elinor. Marianne was listening to John Willoughby talk about his project. John always was talking about some project.
Elizabeth sat down next to Emma, ignoring Rob altogether. The guy made her skin crawl just a tad. Not as much as creepy Bill Collins, of course, but no one could compete with Bill Collins. "I got a letter from Jane today," she announced into a pause in the conversation.
Instantly, the guys were ignored as the ladies turned their attention to Elizabeth, and all three began to speak at once. "What does is say?" Marianne demanded. "Is she engaged to Charlie yet?" Emma asked. "How is her new job?" Elinor added.
Elizabeth held up one hand. "I haven't even opened it yet. I'll read it out loud while we eat." She pulled the envelope out of her pocket and opened it to reveal three pages of Jane's near-perfect handwriting, while Emma and Marianne shooed the guys away.
Dear Lizzy, Elinor, Marianne, and Emma,My new job is going wonderfully. I'm teaching in Louisville, Kentucky, and my fellow ACE teachers are wonderful. Charles is in Louisiana, and he sounds like he's doing very well. I haven't seen him since our classes ended in the summer, but he wrote just a few days ago.
Charlotte decided to accept the job with Arthur Anderson after all. It seems, from her letter, that a position opened up at the Chicago office, and she decided to take it. Bill Collins is going to Philadelphia, and I think it was smart of Charlotte to avoid going to the same place as him. But I would never say that where anyone could hear me!
How are you all doing? Lizzy, I can't believe you wanted to stay at Pangborn. I mean, I know you love the dorm but it's practically falling apart, and it keeps getting bumped off the renovation list. Is your roommate doing all right? She must be going crazy with fencing and orgo.
Marianne and Emma, how is your room? I know the two of you get along well, and your room must be beautiful. And Elinor, how are you liking being an RA? Is the new Rector as tough as Sister Joanne was?
I really wanted to do something specific with this letter. I was talking to Charlotte and Anna Taylor the other day. (Have you heard that Anna is engaged now?! She's going to marry Jim Weston after she gets back from volunteering with Holy Cross Associates. He's going for his Masters in the meantime.) In any case, the three of us were talking about the Sirens, and we think the group should be reborn. So did Lisa Elliott, when we finally tracked her down. So the four of us are bequeathing it to the four of you. We might recommend Catie Moreland and little Faith Price to round out your group, but that's entirely up to you.
If you decide you want the group (Please, say you do!), we would recommend that you talk to Will Darcy or Peter Bell over with the Undertones. Peter took over from Patrick Quigley with arranging the music, and Will is just a helpful person.
I really should be preparing my lesson plans for tomorrow, so I will end here. My dearest friends, take care of yourselves and try not to get into trouble.
Always,
Jane
"Well," said Lizzy. "What do you think of that?" Elinor, Emma and Marianne were looking at her with such wistfulness that she laughed. "All right. We'll do it."
Posted on Tuesday, 20 February 2001
Backstage at Washington Hall
Will Darcy tugged again at his bow tie. He was certain it was crooked. He said as much to his roommate and best friend Mark Knightley. 'Sir Mark' only shrugged.
"You look fine, Will," he said. "Stop fidgeting; you're making me nervous." The two young men looked at each other, and Will laughed a little. Neither of them were known for being nervous or fidget-y. Mark, who had been nicknamed 'Sir' in their first week with the Glee Club, was a relaxed sort, who took everything in stride. Privately, Will thought it came from studying philosophy all the time. Will himself was known as the Iceman, since his fellow Glee Clubbers swore he never showed any emotion except when he was singing.
Mark and Will were standing with five other guys from the Glee Club; collectively, the seven, plus one who wasn't present, were known as the Undertones. This would be the first time the eight would perform together without any of the founding members of the group. Several of the guys were new to the 'Tones, like Henry Tilney and Edmund Bertram. It was the only thing that could make Mark or Will nervous.
The rest of the Glee Club was there too, of course, but Will wasn't worried about them. The Glee Club was the most popular music group on campus (minus the Undertones, of course), and they always performed awesomely.
Edward Ferrars, another 'Tone and an RA in Keough, was discussing the upcoming Keough Formal with two other Keough 'Tones, Chris Brandon and Frederick Wentworth. Chris and Frederick (who went by Finn) roomed together on the fourth floor. They were Will and Mark's favorite guys to hang out with.
That left only Peter Bell unaccounted for, but since Peter was the Business Manager for the Glee Club, he was probably charming girls into buying their CDs. Will thought it was a good thing that Peter had a serious girlfriend; he had too much excess charm.
Peter's girlfriend, MK, never missed a concert. She loved to hear the guys sing. Will knew she was bringing some friends tonight; he, Mark, Chris, Finn and Peter were meeting up with them after the concert and going to Recker's. Eric and Henry had some event in Morrissey, their dorm, and Edward was on duty in Keough after the concert. That was perfectly fine with Will as MK's friends were supposed to be extremely pretty girls.
Peter came back stage. "They're running a little behind, but Daniel wants us lined up in the hallway anyway. Did we ever decide what song we were going to do?"
Will shrugged. "Either The Lion Sleeps Tonight, or In Your Eyes. Edmund doesn't want Lion because he doesn't like his solo."
"So we'll do In Your Eyes," Peter said with a shrug. "Let's just get going. Edmund, since you changed the song, you get to introduce this one. And be funny."
Grinning at each other over Peter's autocratic manner, the Undertones joined the rest of the Glee Club in filing out to the hallways outside the theater.