A Modern Pride and Prejudice.

A few weeks after meeting the charming George Wickham, Charlie had phoned Jane to tell her about the details of his party. He'd kindly extended his invitation to James (much to my disappointment) and true to his good nature, had consented to George coming too.

Soon enough, the day of the party was upon us and by then, I'd already explained in full length the nature of George's story to me. Being the person that she is, Jane refused to accept that anyone could be so capable of such cruelty.

"I'm sorry Lizzy but I just don't think he would do that. He doesn't seem the type of person."

"Jane, everyone is a saint in your eyes. Besides, why would George make it all up? If you think Darcy is innocent in all of this, then you're technically accusing George of lying." I said, raising a mischievous eyebrow when she bit her lip in horror.

"Oh no! I wasn't accusing him of anything! Oh dear - well, I don't know. Maybe you could ask William about it at the dance?"

"Hmm, ask Darcy whether he's spread any vicious rumours about his former best friend? That'll go down well, Jane. Should I ask him if he stole George's girlfriend too?" I teased.

Jane looked mortified but I found I couldn't share her perspective on Darcy. She was only too willing to shrug her shoulders and wash her hands of the whole distressing story but I couldn't. I'd decided that William Darcy was a petty, over-privileged fool and that I wanted nothing more to do with him unless I was forced to.

Tonight at the party seemed to be one of those occasions. I could hardly ignore him; he lived in the same house as the guy hosting the party. I would have to just grin and bear it. Or at least give him a good, healthy kick.

As Jane and I finished getting ready, applying the last couple of strokes of mascara and blush, I heard my mother shout up to us. James Collins had arrived impeccably early and was waiting for us downstairs.

Knowing my mother was either going to come up herself or even go as far as send James up, I begrudgingly handed Jane the hairbrush I'd been using to tug out some nightmarish lugs and made my way down the stairs. I was greeted by James wearing the ugliest shirt I had ever seen. To make matters worse, his hair was slicked back into a greasy mess and the smile he wore was as equally nauseating as his whole attire.

"Hello again, Lizzy. I hope you know I'm saving the first dance for you." he said, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

I felt sick.

Trying to make a conscious effort not to punch him, I forced myself to smile and called up to Jane to tell her it was time to go. Lily and Katy were already waiting in the car impatiently, beeping the horn every few minutes. Mallory had decided to sit this party out, choosing to practice a new song on her keyboard instead. I almost didn't blame her.

When we were all finally in the car, I barely registered James chatting animatedly about Star Trek, or was it Star Wars? Or - oh, it could have been anything. My mind was occupied, thinking of George and whether he would actually turn up in the end.

Charlie had obviously chosen not to scrimp when it came to throwing the towns biggest and most talked about party. Fairy lights were hung everywhere and the house staff greeted the queues of excited guests.

When we finally made our way into the house, I searched desperately for George, squeezing through the crowded rooms in vain. I did, however, manage to find his friend Max.

"Hey. You're George's friend, right?"

"Yeah, hey. You're Lily and Katy's sister?" he guessed, proffering me a can of cola from a table nearby.

I declined the drink, determined to move on as quickly as possible. "Yeah, I am. Have you seen George at all?"

Max took a sip of the cola and shook his head. "Sorry, love. He couldn't come, he caught a bug or something a few days ago."

I tried to hide my complete, crushing disappointment. No George? This night was going to be unbearable, especially now that James had somehow appeared from thin air and was shaking my arm to grab my attention. He was reminding me that he had saved the first dance for me. How could I have forgotten so soon? I said a gloomy goodbye to Max and let him lead me to the dance floor.

His dancing was as bad as his personality. He sort of did a little jig, stepping side to side as his head bobbed along to the music. He even broke out into the robot and I slapped my hand into my face out of humiliation. I could sense everyone in the near vicinity watching us; I decided to count how long the song lasted in my head based on seconds. The answer? Too many.

Convincing him that I needed a drink, I managed to break away from him just as a slow song struck up.With thoughts of luck in my mind, I scurried off to find the nearest refreshments, figuring that I should at least look convincing to spare his feelings.

As I skirted the dance floor, I saw Jane spinning around with her partner, Charlie. I grinned as I pushed through the crowd, happy that Jane had found someone as mild tempered and thoughtful as she was. They were so perfect for each other. I bet there was a very happy cupid hanging around somewhere.

From the corner of my eye, Charlotte was waving frantically to me; she'd beaten me to the drinks. I hopped past a particularly enthusiastic couple and accepted the drink she held out for me.

"I saw you dancing with James." she shouted over the music. "He looked horrendous!"

"Don't remind me." I shuddered as I cracked open the can. "It felt like the song was never going to end."

She started to howl with laughter and I rolled my eyes as I sipped at my drink. If only George could have made it. Had he invented an illness to duck out of an awkward situation? Was all that bravado about being over it not true? Only when Charlotte's laughter died down did I realise that William Darcy was at my side, trying to talk to me.

"Elizabeth. Could you - would you dance with me when the next song starts?" he blurted out, his constant indignation with everyone and everything slipping away seamlessly.

I could only nod; I was so shocked. Just as unexpectedly as he had appeared, he stalked off again and vanished into a group of people. I turned to Charlotte and gripped her arm.

"Did I just agree to dance with William Darcy?"

"Relax, Lizzy. I'm sure it'll be okay." she said, trying to calm me down.

This barely had an affect on me. I started to freak out and paced around Charlotte, who was eyeing me with a look of wild panic. How long had this song been playing for? Would he be back any second? Maybe I could back out?

"What am I going to do?" I wondered, shaking my head at my idiotic moment of weakness.

"You're going to dance with him. It's just one dance and it'll soon be over. Just try and have fun." Charlotte told me, taking the can from my hand. "He's coming over again, you better compose yourself."

I turned to come face to face with him, his hand outstretched and waiting for me to take it. Reluctantly, I slid my hand into his (surprisingly warm - I half expected ice) and he twirled me clumsily onto the dance floor. I managed to salvage the move, narrowly avoiding another couple on the floor by gripping onto Darcy's shoulders. His face was the picture of alarm.

"So this is a, um - a good party." I said, trying to make polite conversation with him and diffuse the awkward tension.

"Yes, it is." he agreed, falling back into silence as we pushed through Katy, Lily and several boys raving in the middle of the floor.

I waited for him to make any other sort of reply but soon realised that this was the best I was going to get. I sighed and decided to take action, for my own sake.

"It's your turn."

He gaped at me, not understanding what I wanted.

"It's your turn to talk. I said something about the party, maybe you can talk about the number of people who are here or, I dunno, anything else that pops into your mind."

"Do we need to talk? I don't see anyone else making conversation with their partners." he said, his lip quivered. I think that was almost a smile.

"You're not looking closely. I think its good to have a bit of conversation going on, you get to find out more about the person you're having a sort of intimate moment with."

Darcy blinked and looked around, searching the room for some inspiration. When his eyes landed back on my face, he seemed as if he were struggling to remain comfortable around me.

"Uh, do you - do you walk often? It's all you seem to do when we run into each other."

It wasn't the greatest or most intriguing question in the world but at least he was attempting something that resembled humour, I suppose.

"Yeah, all the time. But you know, the other day when you saw me we had just made a new friend. It looked like you knew him, too - George Wickham."

I could see that saying this was a huge mistake. His face, though not exactly overflowing with emotion before, was now completely void of it. He avoided my gaze and I decided to shut the hell up. I'd gone too far; his body was no longer as loose, his mouth was pressed down into a taut line.

"Yes, I noticed. He can make friends easily enough but keeping them is a different matter." he said coldly, staring clear over my head. I'd never noticed just how tall Darcy was.

"I remember you saying that once you lost your good opinion of someone, it was gone forever." I said, my curiosity piqued. I felt intimidated by his sudden coolness towards me and my instincts to argue flared up. "It seems extraordinarily difficult to become friends with you to begin with."

"Yes, I did say that." his voice implied that he was shocked I remembered. "But I hardly see the need for you to bring that up again."

"I'm just trying to figure out what kind of person you are. There are so many accounts of you that I can't even begin to decide which is the right one." I replied honestly.

"How's that going for you then, figuring me out?"

His eyes flashed to my face, quick as lightning. I was being sucked into their darkness; black-holes that demanded answers.

"I can't say. I'm taking this chance to get to know you; who knows if I'll get another opportunity?"

"Well, I'm sorry for that!" he snapped, releasing me from his hold. We were furious statues in the middle of the dance floor but the crowd around us continued their relentless swaying. I felt oddly out of sync.

Darcy loomed over me but I held my ground. How did we end up like this? I thought we were going to be civil towards each other, not start a fight at a very public party. I wanted to look away, to see if Jane or Charlie or anyone was watching this scene unfold but Darcy stared at me with such intensity that I couldn't tear my eyes away from his.

The song ended abruptly, the room becoming less noisy and couples broke up, leaving the floor in search of seats and rest. Dazed, the change in atmosphere breaking our impromptu stare out, Darcy nodded curtly at me. Before I could say anything else to him, the space in front of me was empty and no trace of our bizarre encounter remained besides my mixed up feelings.

No sooner had he left, I saw Carol making her way over to me. She towered elegantly over the majority of people here, her red dress shimmering in the flashing lights and her hair bouncing on her shoulders. Her smile was mocking, as if she had just seen everything that had transpired between Darcy and I. Of course; she was probably watching the moment he asked me to dance.

I hated these people but they just wouldn't leave me alone.