Falling for a Bridgerton : a Bridgerton fanfic

chapter 1 : whistledown

Fall 1813, Regency, London

Dear readers,
The season of courting has long come to an end. Many of this season's hopefuls have found their match and have joined their families in holy matrimony, whether it was for love, for money, or worst of all, for lack of other options. I do wish these couples encouragement and tenacity as they embark on their new journey. Most notable, I wish to remark, this season's incomparable, Miss Bridgerton or should I say now, Duchess,who has reportedly sired an heir to the Hastings line. It's clear to anyone with an eye that the duchess and duke chose to marry for love, but shall we be able to say the same for her siblings?

Yours Truly,
Lady Whistledown

~~~~~~~

Penelope signed off the "t" in 'Whistledown' with a sharp stroke of her quill.

It had been more than a year since she began writing as Whistledown and she felt the nerves it came with what had become, the most talked about personality in Regency, London.

She never expected in her wildest dreams that Whistledown was going to be household name it was today.

In fact, she came up with the idea when she was at the modiste with her mother, Lady Featherington, who yet again, was buying another unexciting, stuffy yellow dress for Penelope.

"Mama, please! Can't I ever wear another color? Surely, yellow is not the only fabric Mme. Delacroix has?" Penelope asked with a small pout on her face.

"Penelope, you are a Featherington. You must represent our family values, through strength, status, and most importantly, through color. How will anyone know you are a Featherington if you're not wearing this color?"

Penelope could think of millions of ways people would figure out if she was a Featherington.

Her bumbling father, her outspoken, brash mother and weeks earlier, she was the sister of the poor girl that fainted in front of the queen.

"Mama, please!" Penelope pleaded. "I really do not think this color is flattering for me!"

Lady Feathering gave Penelope a stern look, "I will allow you to wear anything but yellow when the queen herself orders me too."

Penelope could never be as powerful and persuasive as the Queen, but Lady Whistledown came incredibly close.

Although it had been almost a year, Penelope was still surprised Whistledown was still making her way around the houses of everyone she encountered.

It was completely unnerving and terrifying, but my god, Penelope had never felt this alive.

Penelope did often feel shut out in the boisterous Featherington house, and felt even more invisible in modern society as well.

But now, everyone waited anticipatingly for the latest Whistledown sheet.

Even the Queen lived by the words of Whistledown.

Though she never felt this alive in her life before, Penelope had also never felt more alone.

With Marina gone & married and the courting season over, Penelope wondered how she would ever pass the time.

She could spend time with Eloise, but in the last few weeks, that had been quite difficult.

Eloise had been so caught up with finding the identity of Lady Whistledown that some days, Penelope felt sick to even be in her presence.

It was amusing sometimes to see Eloise get so worked up over finding Whistledown's true identity and it was interesting every time she named a suspect, but Penelope was not always fond of keeping such a big secret from her closest friend.

Penelope wondered if she would ever tell Eloise the truth one day.

As much as Penelope wanted to burden someone else with the secret, she could not bear to tell anyone else the truth.

Penelope knew she was not the prettiest; her sisters made sure of that, each time they mocked her weight or blemishes.

She knew when she walked into a room, no gentleman would ever look her way.

She understood that even in a thousand years, she could never be the diamond of the first water.

She was invisible.

No matter how hard she tried not to be.

So she decided to use her invisibility to her advantage.

While no one pays attention to Penelope, she is certainly paying attention to everyone else.

For Penelope, it was never hard to find gossip, especially when, wherever she went, people tended to speak freely without a care in the world.

They would have to notice her in order to care.

Having this incredible power made Penelope feel much better about herself.

She'd seen the faces when Whistledown papers were distributed.

The shock from her sisters, the laughter from the servants, and best of all, the anger from her mother.

Everyone wondered how dare Lady Whistledown had the audacity to say such true proclamations.

For the first time in her life, people truly cared about her opinions.

And in a strange way, Pen felt as if these same people believed her own thoughts mattered too.

With the season over, Penelope wondered if she could take a break from writing.

The Featherington house was filled with silence as they continued to grieve for her papa, having recently passed away. Her sisters were quiet, her mother inconsolable.

Perhaps she would spend more time at the Bridgertons.

She could see more of Eloise, possibly Francesca, and more importantly, Colin would not be there.

Oh Colin

Penelope had such a soft and dear spot for him in her heart.

But he was in Greece and he wasn't set to return for several weeks.

That night at the Hastings ball, Penelope really believed he was going to say he loved her.

How foolish, she thought.

As if someone like Colin Bridgerton could ever love me

That's one problem Lady Whistledown could never fix.

~~~~~~~

A/N

YAY! that was the first chapter 🌚

I want you guys to know this story won't just focus on Penelope & Colin.

This book is also about Anthony & Eloise and some new characters 😏

This is just a small preview of what's to come.

Hope you enjoyed!

Please vote and comment because I wanna know what you guys think & want.

I haven't finished the story yet, I'm writing as I go along, so tell me if you have any ideas.  Tell me what bridgerton character you relate to the most!

Have a lovely night,

Violet Knightly

1/13/21