Worst Impressions

Bonus Chapter - Darcy Sees Wickham

When the assembly had been announced at short notice, I'd quickly come to the understanding that it was for something momentous. That is, the girls were all whispering between themselves and giggling with excitement. Speculation and gossip were like currency amongst them, with rumours to be traded for outlandish information that couldn't possibly be true. Thus far I'd heard tell of new teachers, luxury trips abroad, affairs amongst the faculty, and a secret student pregnancy being announced.

'This is unbearable,' I complained to Charlie as we waited outside the hall behind the tidal wave of girls, all surging ahead to take the best seats. 'You'd think they had a celebrity sitting in there announcing that he was about to cast them all in his latest movie.'

'Not so loud,' Charlie said, 'someone might think you're being serious.'

'It's more plausible than half the nonsense I've heard since breakfast,' I retorted.

By far, the loudest and most grating voices were those of Beth and Jenny's friends. I barely remembered their names. Lucy and Crystal? Leslie and Charlotte? It was something like that, and they were squawking away over their classmates, spewing one insipid suggestion after another in the hopes that they might accurately guess what was, most likely, a mundane announcement that would leave them all disappointed. Beth leaned in to say something to the pair of them. Probably something logical to temper their excitement. Jenny, too, pitched in and the other girls were calmed almost to the point of normality. I wasn't sure that they were capable of acting like sensible human beings, but the pair had done an admirable job of securing something close to sanity within them.

'What are you looking at?' Charlie asked.

Startled, I averted my gaze and lied, 'Nothing.'

I wouldn't permit myself to blush. It was unconscionable for me to become flustered at the idea of being caught staring at Beth Bennett. Only recently she'd mocked my declaration that I had no time for people I had a bad impression of. It didn't help that Chantelle had opened her big mouth and said that I had no faults. Of course, Beth was going to find such a claim ridiculous. Everyone had faults. I might have had less than other people, but that didn't mean that I was perfect.

It was then that I recalled how she'd misunderstood me. That she'd thought I was telling her that I'd had a bad first impression of her, and thus had no patience for her company. My stomach twisted at the very idea.

Our first meeting had hardly been ideal; I was being stared at like a wounded gazelle surrounded by starving upper-middle-class hyenas in designer gowns, and she'd been irritable and vaguely threatening, but she'd started to grow on me since then.

That said, mould had a tendency to grow on things.

Was I comparing Beth Bennett to mould?

God, she had me so mixed up that even my inner-monologue was confused.

'Will,' Charlie nudged me forward, 'are you going in?'

I looked back down the corridor and noticed that Beth and her friends had already entered ahead of us. I nodded and swallowed down any embarrassment I felt at almost having been suspected of liking the spikiest, most defensive girl I'd ever met.

The hall was an untidy tangle of girls all vying for decent seats, some standing and demanding that others make way for them, some clambering over the legs of classmates who refused to stand to let them by, and others already giggling together with their heads down. I didn't understand what might have them so excited until I cast my gaze to the stage and was seized with utter dread.

Him.

What the hell was he doing here?

There were two young men sat on the stage. One I didn't know from Adam. He was sat so stiffly one would be forgiven for thinking that he'd died and rigor mortis had set in. Nothing about him interested me in the least. In fact, nothing about him seemed to interest anyone. Not a single girl turned her head in his direction. No, they were all in a flap about the man sat beside him. His top shirt buttons were unfastened and he didn't hide his attempts to wink and smirk at the young ladies like a celebrity amongst fawning fans.

My stomach clenched and turned with a wave of nausea. I couldn't stop myself from scanning the crowd for Beth and her friends. Surely, she wasn't silly enough to be drawn in by such an arrogant display.

'Seats, please!' a teacher barked.

Charlie placed his hand on my shoulder and steered me into the nearest empty chair. I dropped down heavily. My limbs felt like they were made of lead and with each word of the announcement, I sank further into my seat.

Gideon Wickham, teaching assistant.

'What do you think?' Charlie whispered to me during the announcement. 'I mean, they're teachers. It shouldn't stir up too much trouble, right?'

I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat. Again, my gaze found Beth with her friends. They were teasing her, and even from a distance I could see the change in her complexion. No longer that smooth, pure porcelain, her cheeks were flush with a brush of pink. Her lips perked up at the edges as she smiled coyly, then burst into an inaudible rush of words that must have tumbled carelessly from her. If I knew Beth at all, she was likely defending herself against the assumptions of her friends. Whatever she'd said, it drew the attention of the silliest pair.

They turned away from her when they had their prize; gossip.

'Will?' Charlie nudged me. 'Are you listening?'

I wasn't listening.

I couldn't listen to anything but the frantic hammering of my heart inside of my chest or the blood pounding in my ears.

All I could think about was that Gideon was here, that he and Beth would soon meet, and that I couldn't tell her anything about the sort of man he was without betraying the trust of one of the people I loved most in the world.

That I may be powerless to save her from him.