“That was a total disaster,” I lamented in the back of the car as we made our getaway, “I'm never doing that again.”
“Dancing with William, you mean?” Lisa asked.
“ You danced with him?!” Jenny asked, “When did that happen?”
“While you were all over Charlie,” Chrissy said, “I saw it.”
“I wasn't all over him! We were just talking, that's all,” she said.
“Yeah, and you were about the only one of us that didn't make a total prat of herself.”
“I didn't,” Meg said quietly.
“Until you ruined Chantelle's dress, you mean?” I asked.
Meg blushed, “I didn't mean to.”
“I know,” I looped an arm around her shoulders, and hugged her against my side, “But you still did it. Whatever, I'm just glad we're going home. Wyatt was driving me nuts.”
“He's so clingy to you. Maybe he likes you?” Chrissy suggested.
Lisa flapped her hands at this revelation, “Oh my God! That has to be it! Eww, Wyatt likes you!”
“Eurgh, don't even joke about that,” I warned, “He thinks of me as a little sister.”
“I don't know,” Jenny mused, “He does follow you around a lot, and he wanted to dance with you. I don't think brothers are usually like that.”
“They're definitely not,” Chrissy said, “My brothers don't want anything to do with me.”
“Your brothers are both in Primary school,” I reminded her, “Of course they don't want to talk to you. They think girls have germs.”
“Well, I'm sure he does,” Lisa said, “You'll see.”
“I'd rather not. Oh, and sorry you couldn't say goodnight to Charlie properly,” I said to Jenny when it dawned on me that we'd totally ignored him when we'd left, “We should apologise to him tomorrow.”
“For a lot of things,” she said, and looked pointedly at Lisa and Chrissy.
“What did we do?” they asked in unison.
“Nothing,” I said, “Besides acting like you were six years old. You were running around like you were in a zoo or something. What was that about?”
Lisa smirked, “Just having fun.”
“And showing us up.”
“Oh, please! It's not like you're meant to control what we do,” Lisa said, “We're not family, right?”
Maybe not, but we were about as close as five friends could come to sisters. And that meant if one of us did something stupid, the rest of us had to suffer for it. I was sure I'd hear about Chantelle's stupid dress for a really long time. I could handle that. Meg would go into hiding if it was known that she did something to her. The snide comments wouldn't roll off her back like they did with the rest of us.
And I was right to be concerned about the aftermath.
I anticipated Chantelle giving us all the cold shoulder, even Jenny. William wasn't our biggest fan anyway, so the loss of his company didn't really impact me, or anyone else for that matter. But I thought Charlie had a little more integrity than the others. Whatever he felt towards the rest of us, he shouldn't have taken issue with Jenny. And yet, when we saw him in class, he completely blanked us. Instead, he went to sit with his sister and friend, and didn't even glance at us throughout the lesson.
Rather than face the problem head on, as would have been wise, I decided to avoid it. Naturally, I made sure the other girls did as well. Chrissy and Lisa weren't at all bothered by the change in attitude. They'd been polite to Charlie, but he was more a friend of me and Jenny than the others. Still, Meg joined the pair of us in hiding in the music room during our lunch break that day. I strummed listlessly on the strings of an acoustic guitar, all while Jenny prodded the keys of the grand piano.
“Ladies,” Wyatt greeted as he entered the room, “Do you think I could talk to Elisa privately for a moment?”
“No, they don't,” I said sternly.
Meg got to her feet quickly, “I need to go for a walk,” she said quietly, and practically bolted out of the room.
Coward.
“Don't you dare,” I warned Jenny.
“Sorry,” she said, “But I think it would be good for me to talk to Chantelle. I'll catch up with you in the next class, okay?”
No, it really wasn't okay. But she was gone before I could stop her. I jumped up from my perch with the intention of following them, but was hampered in my escape by Wyatt. He stood resolutely in front of the door. I didn't like being alone with him at the best of times. And after the party, I was sure he was going to lecture me about leaving him there. I mean, we should have taken him with us, but William hadn't been the only boy I'd wanted to get away from.
I folded my arms across my chest, and narrowed my eyes. I didn't think Wyatt was particularly athletic, and I might have been able to overpower him in order to get out of the door. But that took a lot of effort and determination. And there was no avoiding what he had to say to me, no matter how much I wanted to.
“I'm getting the feeling you're going to say something I won't like.”
“Elisa, I'd never do that,” he assured me, “But I admit, I knew you'd be a little apprehensive. I'd be worried if you weren't. Just so you know, your Mum already gave her blessing for this.”
“For what?”
“ See, it's that innocence that I love about you. Most women would have noticed my feelings already, but you haven't, because you're so unaware of the ways of men.”
I wasn't, but that wasn't really going to be appropriate to say.
“For a long time, although I've called myself your brother, I haven't really felt that way. I know I've been pretty absent in your upbringing, and I think if I hadn't, it would have been difficult for these feelings to develop. When I knew I had a place at this school, and we met again, I realised that I couldn't hide it any longer.”
Please, try.
I opened my mouth to interject, and was swiftly interrupted.
“I know you're going to say it's sudden. I know it is for you, but for me this has been a long time coming. I wouldn't have acted at all, but when I was out in France last, I met with Madame Courtenay, and she was good enough to advise me in my future. She felt that I could be a Professor in some grand institution in a few years, but I needed to set myself up with a wife and family to prove I was reputable and respectable. That being the case, she urged me to find a woman to share my home.”
“... What?”
Wyatt closed the distance between us in two strides, and crushed me clumsily against his chest. I froze in place, my arms pinned to my sides. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. It wasn't like I'd never been hugged or kissed by a boy before, but this guy was still technically my teacher.
“I know that with your father not having much money, you might be worried about entering into the kind of society I aspire to, but I think being in this school will give you the advantage most other normal girls wouldn't be able to boast. Not to mention, your mother is in a good situation now, and if Madame Courtenay approves of her for her brother, she'll definitely approve of you. You'll have to learn to temper your sarcasm in her presence, but that shouldn't be too hard.”
“Wyatt, I don't -”
He held me at arm's length, “I should have said this first, but – I love you, Elisa.”
I felt like I was going to be sick.
“Look, Wyatt... I -”
Whatever I was going to say to rebuff him was lost. Why? Because he stuck his tongue down my throat. My first thought was that he didn't have a lot of practice in doing anything like that, because he was terrible. The second was blind panic. I did the only logical thing, which was to knee him in the balls as hard as possible. His eyes bulged, and Wyatt staggered away a few steps, before he dropped to the ground.
“No!” I shouted at him, “To everything! No!”
“Elisa –”
“ Are you totally insane?! I don't even like you as a family member! Why do you think I'd want to date you? And don't even mention marriage, because I swear I will kick you
again!”
“I – I don't understand,” he gasped, trying to force down the feeling of agony that was likely coursing through him.
“Let me spell it out for you,” I said, “You and me, is never going to happen. I would rather drink petrol, and swallow a lit match!”
Wyatt swallowed hard. He nodded just once as if he was convincing himself of something. With whatever thought he had lodged in his head, he said, “I know that sometimes girls refuse someone, because they don't want to seem easy. But they go out with them in the end, so -”
“ This isn't one of those times, Wyatt. I won't go out with you, because I don't like you like that. In fact, I don't like you full stop. Why the hell do you think I've been avoiding you at every bloody turn?”
“Shyness?”
“Get out, Wyatt. Or at least let me leave. In fact, that's better. Because I need to gargle with some bleach.”
“Elisa -”
“Never call me that. And if you talk to me as anything other than a teacher from now on, I'll be reporting you for harassment.”
“Your mother -”
“Has nothing to do with my life, and doesn't get to make my decisions! Conversation over, Wyatt.”
I didn't want to literally run out of the room. That would make people suspicious if they saw me, and I wanted to maintain the illusion that I had full control of myself. I didn't. Inside I was freaking out. Just because we weren't blood relatives, it didn't make it any less weird that Wyatt had come to my school with the intention of leaving with his future wife. The very idea of anyone being subjected to a relationship with that creep made my stomach turn violently.
I had a half day of classes left, but they were going to have to wait. As much as I wanted to see Gideon in my Music lesson, I thought that it would just remind me of the incident. That, and I didn't want him to know what had happened. Well, maybe I did. I wasn't so vain as to think it would make him jealous to know someone was interested in me. I just thought he might be a good person to talk to seeing as he knew Wyatt better than my friend. And they were going to rub it in that they'd called his infatuation totally correctly.
It was too bad we couldn't smuggle alcohol into school, because I really felt like I needed a stiff drink.
Chapter Twelve
Without any intention of coming back again.
Obviously I was mocked for the rest of the week by my friends.
Fortunately, Wyatt had heeded my warning. He didn’t talk to me at all, except in the capacity as a teacher. Even then, there was some clear resentment in his tone. Well, I couldn’t do much of anything about that. He could deal with the petty attitude in his own way. Less fortunately, that method appeared to be by talking to another one of my friends.
Georgia was just like me, but she had more patience for someone like Wyatt. Although neither of them said anything to me, there was a clear indication that their relationship was becoming far more than that of a student and teacher. I hoped that Georgia was just responding to the attention with politeness, and wouldn’t actually accept a dating proposal from him. She could do much, much better.
If I hadn’t been so worried about Jenny, I would have found the time to discuss it with her. But I’d never seen my best friend so cast down. She wasn’t just quiet, she was totally depressed. Charlie was really breaking her heart, and I didn’t think I could stand for it. Seriously, I had a good mind to give him a punch in the cheek for stringing her along. If he didn’t like her any more, the least he could do was to be up-front about it. That way, Jenny could deal with the hurt that came with it, and then move on.
Not that I wanted her to get hurt, but it was better than leaving her in emotional limbo.
It was when we were packing up for half-term that the news arrived.
Jenny turned here and there looking for her phone when it sounded. She was taking much more care in her packing than I was. I didn't like taking everything home with me, but it meant I could rotate out my clothes while I was there. The younger students only got a week off, but we were lucky enough to have two. I didn't think it was wise to leave my stuff unattended in the room for that long.
She read the message at speed, and then again more slowly. After the third scan of it, she sat heavily on the bed, her eyes watering with tears she looked determined not to shed. I didn't even ask before I snatched the phone out of her hand. The message was from Chantelle, and it was the first communication Jenny had received since the party.
Goin 2 Switzerland 4 hlf trm. C+W not comin bk. Hav a gd brk!
“What does she mean that they’re not coming back?” I asked, “They’ve only been here two months! That’s so stupid, what was even the point?”
“I don't know. Why Switzerland?” Jenny asked.
I recalled what Gideon had told me. It was the only connection they had to that place, and it was, “It's where William's sister goes to University. I guess they could be seeing if there's an institute out there that'll take them on, but it's totally ridiculous. She has to be wrong. Charlie wouldn't just go and not tell you.”
“But he has. It is what it is, Beth. I can't do anything about it.”
At least Lisa and Chrissy had enough sense between them to keep quiet. It was for the best. If they'd said anything insensitive, I might have accidentally knocked their trunks down the stairs on the way out of the dorm. I hugged Jenny tightly, hoping that the embrace could express how bad I felt for her in place of words. It was hard to say anything that wouldn't come across as patronising.
I decided on saying, “Maybe the break will be better for everyone. It could just be that he needs to cool down over how we all behaved at the party. After a couple of weeks, it'll be like this whole stupid thing never happened.”
“Do you think so?”
“Absolutely! I've seen the way Charlie looks at you. He's totally in love.”
Of course I sounded confident.
If I didn't, she never would have believed me.
Okay, so I did think that Charlie was in love with Jenny. It was so obvious, their feelings were practically flashing in neon. But I also knew the kind of girl Chantelle was. If she'd dragged her brother away with the intention of putting emotional distance between him and Jenny, then it might just work. I couldn't really say that to my friend. She was upset enough without having little things like truth and logic thrust at her.
“Look,” I rubbed her back gently, “If you want to come and stay at my place for a while, you're welcome.”
“Really?”
“Of course! We can go to the beach and stuff. It'll be freezing, but at least it'll be empty. Want to?”
Jenny nodded, “Okay.”
“Right, you go home to your Mum for a couple of days, and then get Ben to drive you. I'll let Dad know, and I promise I won't let him cook for us.”
“Why can't I come to your house?” Lisa asked, “I love your Dad!”
“Yeah, in a totally creepy way. Besides, there's no room for all of us.”
“So mean.”
“So not sleeping on the floor just so you can both fit in my bed,” I corrected.
Meg cleared her throat so softly I nearly missed it. She observed, “I think that Charlie will come back, too. He's nice.”
“See? Even Meg knows it,” I elbowed Jenny gently, “Cheer up, and get packing. You're usually done by now.”
“That's so I can help you. You're terrible at folding anything.”
“Very true. And you're totally neglecting me right now. I don't know if I can forgive that.”
Jenny laughed despite the hurt I knew was building in her chest. Charlie was getting such a slap the next time I saw him. Yeah, I thought there was a chance he was going to come back. But no boy got to make my best friend look like that. She was so much better than anyone he deserved.
Ungrateful git.
I didn't stop to ask Wyatt what he was doing during the break, because I really didn't care. But while I was waiting outside for a taxi to the train station, I happen
ed to see Gideon chatting to another teacher. Our eyes met, and he made excuses to cut their chat short.
He jogged over, and I tried not to be too happy that he seemed keen to be in my company. I smiled when he joined me, and asked, “Did you think you were going to leave without saying goodbye to me?”
“Never,” he winked, “I wouldn't forget my favourite pupil.”
The not being happy thing wasn't working well for me.
One Word From You: A Pride and Prejudice Adaptation Page 10