Pride and Prejudice and Teenagers.

Chapter 12.

"This holiday could not come sooner." I sigh at break on Monday. My long dark hair is down today, covering the mark on my neck that George put there. This is our last week before our time off.

"You're telling me." George replies. Jane, George, Denny and I are all standing in the corridor outside of our classes. Charlie isn't in school this week because he got food poisoning. I look over at Jane, who is complimenting Denny's new haircut. It's very clearly awful, but Jane is too sweet to say anything bad. Just past Jane and Denny stands Will, who looks at the pair with scrutinizing eyes. When he looks up at me, I look back at George.

"You walking home tonight?" He asks me. I notice he's looking at Will and I sense the hate-fueled tension between them.

"No, I'm going to ride my elephant back to the circus first." I say casually, trying to see if he's actually listening to me.

"Great, I'll meet you at the gates." He states, stopping glaring at Will to look down at me. He notices my expression."What?"

"You weren't listening to me, you could at least admit it!" I laugh right as the bell goes. Jane heads into class and Will makes his way towards the door.

"No way, Elle. You had one hundred percent of my attention, like you always do."

"Like the other day when we were walking home and you walked into that lamp-post!" I burst into laughter but George's smile drops instantly as I feel a hand touch my forearm.

"Class is starting, Elizabeth." Will's voice sounds in my ear. I watch George look around, avoiding looking at us.

"I'll be in in a minute." I tell Will calmly, wanting him to leave us alone. He hovers behind me for a moment before realising it's best for everyone if he just goes into class.

"You share this class?" George asks.

"Yeah. We have to sit beside each other too." I grumble. He turns his nose up.

"Wanna skip? We could go grab a-"

"Skip? It's our final year, George. We can't skip." I remind him. He bites his lip, nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, haha, stupid idea." He says weirdly before heading off to his own class. Confused, I walk into mine and sit down beside Will, making sure my hair is still covering my neck.

We work in silence for most of class doing a test, but after a while we have to swap them over and mark them. Chatter fills the room. I still feel awkward after everything that happened at the dance and the party with Will. I think he does too, because he marks my work and hands it back quickly without comment.

I do the same, adding "Nice job."

"Thanks." He says, twiddling with his thumbs and looking at the other side of the wall. After a few moments he turns back to me. "George Wickham? Seriously?"

I'm surprised by his outburst and stare at him for a few seconds. "And what?" I proceed to rudely ask.

"I'm just in awe that someone as smart as you can't see past his fake persona."

"What do you mean persona? If anyone's acting like they're someone they're not it's you." I argue, he laughs bitterly, shaking his head.

"Maybe you're not as smart as I thought." He states, but after a moment his face softens and he says "I just think you should be careful around him." I glare at him, but luckily for him the bell rings and prevents me from speaking my mind. I huff and stand up, throwing my backpack over my shoulder.

"I just think you should stay out of my life." I remark, perhaps a little childishly. He stands up, preventing me from walking behind his chair and across and out of the classroom. "Move." I demand, mirroring his angry stare. I thought deep blue eyes were supposed to be attractive - Will's just make me want to punch something. When he doesn't move out of my way I huff angrily. "Ugh, you're so irritating!" I run my hands through my hair, almost wanting to pull it out. I go to squeeze between Will's body and the wall to leave but I'm caught off guard when he roughly places his hand beside my head and stops me from moving forward.