A Modern Pride and Prejudice.

The following night, dinner was a catastrophe. Because Mr Collins and his son had taken up my mother's offer, I had to sit through an entire evening with James at my side, badgering me about the stupidest of things. He wanted to know everything about my life and I'd barely eaten anything from my plate.

Worst of all, he continued to call me Lizzy as if we were the best of friends, much to the amusement of Katy, Lily and even my father. By the end of the night, the joke was wearing a little thin.

After dinner, I suggested that we could walk to the local shops in the hope that I could finally shake off James but I was naive enough to think that it would get rid of him. My mother had invited him along without telling me and when Jane, Lily, Katy and myself stepped out the front door, James tottered behind us saying how he'd love to see more of the neighbourhood.

He sloped next to me the whole walk, pestering me with more questions that he'd forgotten to ask over dinner. Jane was the only person kind enough to distract James when he was becoming particularly over-curious.

As we neared the shops, Lily and Katy cried out with inexplicable enthusiasm. They had spotted one of their favourite people, a fairly pretty boy named Max, who was walking a few steps ahead of us with a friend. I waved them off impatiently, not wanting to get tangled up in the awkward greetings between two strangers whilst mutual acquaintances were chatting.

"Oh, hello." I heard Katy giggle. She was addressing Max's friend, who hovered casually nearby his friend.

I couldn't make out his reply but he started walking over to where Jane, James and I were stood. James looked cautious of the newcomer, rocking back on his heels so that he bumped into me, but otherwise remained silent. Max's friend stopped in front of us and flashed an easy smile.

"Hey. I hope you don't mind me coming over, it's just your sisters -" he trailed off, shrugging away the rest of his sentence.

I laughed. "It's fine, really. I know that they can be a bit overbearing. It takes some getting used to."

He smiled back at me and held out a hand to shake. "George Wickham."

"Elizabeth Bennet." I replied, taking his hand gingerly. "This is my sister, Jane."

"Ahem."

"And this is James Collins." I added, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. "Are you new to town? Just, I've never seen you before and it's a really small place."

George nodded and pushed back the hair from his eyes. "Only arrived yesterday. Max - he's my cousin - is showing me around. It's good to see some new faces though, especially a face as pretty as yours."

Before I could respond or even blush at George Wickham, we were interrupted. The town was apparently popular in the late afternoon. Charlie Bingley and William Darcy were walking past and after spotting us, stopped to say hello. Being his usual chipper self, Charlie didn't even see the way in which his friend was glaring at George and after shaking himself out of his stupor, Darcy strode off without a word. I turned hesitantly to George.

Realising that Darcy had abandoned him, Charlie hurriedly explained that he was throwing a party at his house and that we were all invited. With a final smile for Jane, he rushed off after Darcy's fast retreating figure.

Jane, looking flustered, excused herself and stooped into a shop, James in tow. I grabbed my chance to inquire about what had just happened.

"Wow. That was...strange? What the hell just happened between you and William Darcy?" I asked George, who was still watching the shrinking outlines of Charlie and Darcy.

"We go way back." he said flatly.

"Oh, um - did something bad happen between the two of you or...?" I said, not wanting to push my boundaries with someone I hardly knew.

"I expect you already know Darcy?" he paused long enough to see me nod curtly.

"Well, I was friends with him a while back, had been since nursery. People used to say we were inseparable, we did everything together. Then he just changed. He started spreading rumours about me around our old school and laughed at me with his new friends. He - he even got my girlfriend to cheat on me. With him."

My mouth fell open in horror. I knew that Darcy was horrible but to be capable of doing something like that to his best friend?

"George, I'm so sorry. I would never have asked if I knew how personal it was." I whispered sympathetically.

"It's fine, I haven't spoken to him since it happened. It was just a shock to see him just now. He's so -" he broke off, struggling to find the right word.

"Arrogant?" I offered.

"Yeah, arrogant." he said, smiling at me. "But I'm over it all now, there's no point dwelling on the things we can't change."

I nodded in agreement, still aghast with the new information about William Darcy. George seemed so kind and forgiving, more than what William ever deserved in a friend. How could he act so calmly after seeing Darcy just now? I would've tried to strangle him if I were George.

Not wanting to bait the subject further and knowing that it probably wasn't easy for him to talk about it so openly despite his relaxed exterior, I changed topic and asked about trivial things. By the end of our conversation, it felt like we had known each other for years rather than minutes. I just seemed to click with George. I even managed to convince to come to Charlie's party, knowing that Charlie himself wouldn't have a problem with it.

I just couldn't get one thing out of my head though.

William Darcy was the most selfish and conceited person I'd ever had the misfortune of meeting.