Worst Impressions

Chapter Sixty Six

Summer dawned on us, and so ended our eventful final year of school.

I was going to miss the academy. Not just because it had been my home for so many years, but because it had been a sanctuary. There, I had found a family. We were dysfunctional as any should be, but we had loved one another greatly. We'd laughed, teased, fought, cried, and reconciled within those walls.

Packing our bags for the last time had been emotional.

Parting took a long time. Although we promised that we would all keep in touch, we all had different paths to walk in life. I knew that said paths would cross again in time, but it was difficult to wait for that to happen. It might have been mere months or maybe even years. As I travelled home from that place, I realised that even minutes felt like an eternity without them.

It hurt me deeply to know I could no longer wake up in the morning and see Jenny smiling at me.

Never again would I see that Meg had spent the entire night reading and had forgotten to go to sleep.

I would even miss seeing Lisa and Chrissy fight over their nail polishes.

It wasn't always perfect, but those imperfections were what made it special.

As it happened, I didn't have to wait long at all to see the other girls.

Jenny and I had often speculated on the relationship between our parents. Given we were such good friends, it made sense that they ought to be on excellent terms. If they'd hated each other, then neither would have allowed for such a strong bond to form between their children. The true nature of it all was revealed the moment I arrived home.

They were getting married in the summer.

Ridiculous though it seemed, not to mention rushed, things soon added up.

When we were away at school, Dad had often travelled to meet up with Madeleine. At first, it had just been to discuss how we were getting along, and to confirm any plans that Jenny and I had related to them concerning where we might spend our summer breaks. Out of concern for how we may react to the revelation, they'd concealed it from us until we were out of school. Perhaps they thought if we hated it, it might cause a rift between us, and it would make sharing a dorm with one another a total nightmare. Or maybe they'd worried it might cause a scandal that our classmates would spread to their parents. Whatever their reasoning, they'd seen fit to keep their love lives a secret until they couldn't hide it any longer.

To know that at last Jenny would legally be my sister was more than I could ever have asked for. Madeleine already loved me better than my real mother ever had. That she was in love with my father, too, was just a happy bonus as far as I was concerned. It meant that, no matter where life might take us, Jenny and I would always have a bond beyond that of former classmates, and that nothing could tear us apart ever again.

There was only one thing that I didn't approve of; that Will's mother had been in on it.

It wasn't clear whether Dad and Madeline had asked, or if Mrs Darcy had offered, but the wedding was to be held in the grounds of their home. It was a convenient location given how close it was to home for us, and it was certainly large enough to accommodate a wedding reception for all our friends and family, but I had to wonder whether Mrs Darcy had been in cahoots with our parents before or after she'd encouraged me to date her son. If it had been before, then she'd hidden the secret masterfully. If it had been after, then I had to wonder if her desire to see Will and I together had influenced her decision.

Her generosity had earned her family an invitation to the ceremony which, given it was their house, seemed only fair. It also meant that I had my boyfriend close by to be my wedding date and that I wouldn't be forced to dance with any distant male relations or, worse, Lewis. I was exceptionally conscious of giving him the wrong impression now that I had Will's feelings to consider.