Classy

Chapter One

Hi everyone!

Thank you very much for reading my book. This is a modern, gay af retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, one of my favourite books. I obviously recommend the original as a much better version, but I hope I've done her at least some very gay and feminist-y justice. 

For those of you who haven't read Austen's P&P, but maybe don't want to approach the text itself as a novel, I recommend either the audiobook narrated by Rosamund Pike who does some excellent voice acting, or the BBC's 1995 mini-series featuring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, as it's a VERY faithful adaptation of the book, and a pure delight to watch.

This book is a re-write of a book I wrote as a young'un (I was 17, I'm now nearly 30). It has been fully re-written; while it follows the same plot, there is plenty of new stuff, and the characters are much more developed. Because it is the same document, some of the old comments from past years may not match up to the current version, so apologies for any confusion.

For those of you who are new to this story and didn't read it back in the day - Madeline is the equivalent to Mr Darcy, Francesca is the equivalent to Lizzie, Gates is the equivalent to Mr Bingley, and Maya is the equivalent to Mr Wickham. Everyone else has the same names as Austen's characters.

I hope you enjoy the re-written and edited version!

Love, Cam

Frankie Bennet

In which I get invited to a party

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single person in possession of a large fortune must in want of a serious reality check.

I wasn't exactly prone to fits of righteous rage or moping, but as a minimum-wage earner in an increasingly garbage economy, the rich made me want to go on a nice little rampage through the city. Not a full-sized rampage, just a medium one. 

"You'll never guess what we saw on the way over!"

Maria, who was driving me and Charlotte to work, cast a glance to us. Charlotte gently reminded her to keep her eyes on the road, and I tightly gripped onto the indoor handle. In the future, I'd just get the bus.

"What did you see?" I asked, calming my heartrate only to have it skyrocket again when Maria narrowly missed a cyclist.

"You know Netherfield Park?" Maria asked merrily, ignoring the red light she'd just blown through.

"Yes, I know Netherfield Park." It was kind of hard to miss it; we'd been on field trips there with our school, tramping thirty kids around a stately manor, all of whom were very disappointed to learn there wasn't a gift shop.

Maria was always chipper,  blessed with the ability to sleep well and wake feeling rested, but this was particularly energetic for a 7am shift. There was no traffic on the way to the department store, and we were making very good time thanks to Maria playing fast and loose with her definition of road safety.

To distract myself from my imminent demise, I tried dialling my ex-boyfriend again. He was supposed to be looking after our son at the weekend, but as per usual he'd sodded off into the void yet again and I was left hastily trying to find a babysitter that wasn't my very patient older sister.

"As I was going past, I saw a ton of trucks in the big driveway. I figured it was, like, a film crew or something filming some period drama, but nope, they were moving a ton of furniture. Someone is moving in."