The Bridgerton Eight

A Single Lie Discovered Is Enough To Break Us

Tuesday—November 24th, 2020

What people didn't know about Francesca Bridgerton was that she lied all the time.

She lied to her neighbor, Mrs. Kern, when she assured her that she walked her dog three times a day and watered her plants while she went to Atlantic City to win the money for her son's sad operation (or for her own elective plastic surgery—Francesca wasn't sure).

She lied to the Ladies of the Hamptons Admissions Committee that she cared about her future and her education, but she would rather focus her life around becoming the perfect housewife to her future husband.

She lied to Jessa from Trig when she assured her that Ralph from that time at Flo's Diner would call her. Jessa traveled a lot with her parents on weekends and because Francesca was Francesca, Jessa would let her use her empty place when Francesca needed to escape Bridgerton Manor.

She had lied to Mom every time she'd told her she'd stayed the night at Jessa's when really Francesca had stayed over at her boyfriend's house. She lied to herself that she needed to lie about her whereabouts. She hadn't been a virgin since she was fifteen and she had the strangest feeling that her whole family was aware of that, even though nobody ever brought it up.

She often spent the night with John until he would leave in the morning for his early arithmetic class. Francesca lied to him that she thought accounting was a worthwhile subject to study.

She lied to Mica when she won their chess game in the Square Park, and the price of her loss was her supposed obligation to answer Truth to Mica's midnight question. Mica said she'd watched five men trip over themselves from checking Francesca out while she merely glared at them. Mica wanted to know how many boys Francesca had slept with. 13, Francesca had said, when the truth was minus eleven.

She lied to John when she promised him he'd been her first. He hadn't. Her first had been that exchange student who only stayed in Great Hamptons for about two months. Francesca couldn't even remember his name.

She lied to the three different men—and one girl—at Flo's Diner today, who eyed her in the wall mirror and then wanted to sit in the empty chair opposite hers. Francesca pretended she didn't understand a word of English. They could go sit themselves elsewhere. Francesca placed her feet up on the empty chair, to reserve it for Mica.

She lied to Flo, the earthly diner owner, that she even consumed anything of hers while lounging around in the chairs, killing time.

She lied to Eloise when she told her she had gotten over that time they fought and Eloise said she deserved a much better twin. Francesca never forgot anything bad people said about her. It stuck to her like tattoos, like unseen proof that she wasn't a good person and that people only liked her for her looks.

She lied to Violet that she had no memory of her dad so Violet wouldn't feel the need to comfort her or anything, when it was clear that she was the one who needed more comforting in that house. Well, her and Tony.

She lied to Daphne when she said that she believed her business would make it through. It's not that Francesca didn't think Daphne could pull it off. Just that Daphne was lenient to self-sabotage.

She lied to Benedict when she told him she liked that painting he'd made of her—she looked like a donkey in a dress.

She lied to all the related parties when she let them believe John called to check in on her whenever they weren't together. John never worried about Francesca. He knew she was with his sister.

She lied to every single person in her life, every day, when she pretended to attend classes at the Community College. She had dropped out before her first semester was over and had no intention of coming back.