A Modern Pride and Prejudice.

Night had fallen and I was sat in my room, avoiding Charlotte and James. They had gotten back just as William had left yesterday and had found me motionless in the doorway.

I'd ran up the stairs and barricaded myself in my room to dodge their inevitable questions. I wasn't ready to share what had happened between William and I with them yet.

For a while, I considered phoning Jane. My phone was in my hand with her number already punched in but something held me back. If I told Jane what had happened, then I would have to explain how William had persuaded Charlie to move away. I didn't want Jane to find out.

Grumbling about what an obstinate fool William Darcy was, I threw my phone onto the bed and collapsed against the door.

The door thudded against my back. Someone was knocking against it.

"Go away, Charlotte. I - I'll come out when I want to." I muttered, repeating the same line I'd said at least fifteen times before now.

"It's not Charlotte, it's me." replied Williams muffled voice.

My heart leapt into my throat and I dived away from the door, watching it feeling horrified. He was back? After what I'd said to him yesterday?

I scrambled to my feet, grasped the door handle, breathed in deeply and pulled it open. He was stood almost an inch away from me, a letter in his hand.

"I was going to email you but - but I think this way it'll be better. I wanted to give this to you personally." he explained, holding out the letter for me to take."Well, that's all. Just read it, please?"

I nodded and this being a sufficient enough response for him, he smiled hesitantly before turning to walk away. I watched him go, almost transfixed, and only moved again when he had turned the corner for the stairs.

Slamming the door shut behind me, I tore open the letter and scrambled to unfold the pieces of paper. My eyes scanned across the page, the slow feeling of numbness began working its way into my system again. I sank onto my mattress, clutching at the paper desperately and re-reading every line.

Dear Lizzy,

Before I begin, I'm just going to say that I swear that I won't repeat anything mentioned last night to you in this letter. I realise how much you were appalled at what I'd said and now I wish to explain the accusations you hold against me completely. The whole story.

I'll start with Jane and Charlie. Genuinely, I believed that she didn't feel the same way or as strongly as Charlie did. I witnessed his immediate liking towards your sister during our first night in your city and from then on, I decided to keep a close watch on both of them.

It seemed that though she was obviously pleased with the attention she was receiving from Charlie, Jane did not appear to like him as much as he liked her. This, plus the apparent distaste that Carol felt towards your city, was enough to convince Charlie to move back to London.

I'm ashamed to admit that I've heard about your sister being in London and had made it my own personal mission to conceal this fact from Charlie. This was easy enough; London is a big city and the probability of Charlie and Jane running into one another is extremely slim.

If I have caused Jane to feel hurt because of this, I wanted to tell you that I did it unknowingly. I would never have set out to hurt your sisters feelings.

The other accusation, the one about George Wickham, is a lot harder for me to talk about. From what you said to me, I figured Wickham has told you some sort of make believe story from our past. I'm going to tell you my account, the true story.

Wickham and I had been friends since we were children, we were as close as brothers, or so I believed. Not long after we moved to secondary school, this all changed. He made new friends, took drugs and got drunk every day. He didn't bother talking to me much after that and I hardly ever saw him except for coincidentally passing him in the street.

I knew he was laughing at me with his new friends and rumours had been spread around the school about me by them. Then he sunk to a new low. He stole my girlfriend and I caught them together. I wanted nothing to do with him after that.

He even tried to corrupt my sister, Georgia, but I managed to convince her to stay away from Wickham. He's caused too much distress to me and my family and I know that you'll agree with me that even attempting to be polite to such a person is out of the question.

I hope that this has made everything clearer to you now and that your opinion of me has improved, even if it is just by a little.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this letter and again, I am truly sorry for any pain I've caused to you or your sister.

Yours sincerely,

William Darcy.

The letter crumpled in my hands and my cheeks felt wet with tears. Footsteps resounded down the corridor outside and I hastily wiped my face with my sleeve. Charlotte entered the room and looked at me, startled.

"Lizzy - what the hell was William Darcy doing here?" then she caught sight of my face. "Are you alright?"

I hid the letter behind my back and tried to keep my voice level.

"I don't know."