I glared at Kate in the back seat, then turned back to Claire. We were waiting in the line of hundreds of cars to leave the Netherfield grounds for Christmas break.
"Dear God, you can't let her go."
Claire sighed. "It's already been booked, Lily, there's not a lot I can do about it now."
Gemma was busy sobbing about how it wasn't fair that she didn't get to go, while Kate was gloating.
"Don't blame me if Penny Foster likes me best," Kate said.
"Do you call all your friends by their full name, Katie, or just the rich ones?" I asked.
Kate barrelled on as if I hadn't said anything. "Or that she wanted me to be her special friend-"
"Special's right," I muttered and Claire smiled at me.
"-for her visit to her grandmother's."
"But, I could be her special friend! Tell her, Mum!" Gemma wailed.
I sank down in my seat and tried not to listen to them. But, it was the best thing to take my mind off certain people, especially when said people smiled and waved at you as they put their things in a car next to yours. I returned the wave before I could stop myself. There wasn't any harm in it really. I'd distanced myself well enough from the three of them that I could be sure my heart was safe, but they were still my friends...weren't they?
"Those boys seem nice, Lil," I heard Claire say, quietly enough not to disturb the argument in the back seat.
"The Cooper twins and Hunter Williams. They're good boys." When they're not busy breaking girls' hearts.
"Austin and Jackson? Which is which?" Claire laughed. "Can anyone tell them apart?"
"Jax is on the left, in the grey coat. Austin's wearing..." I looked back, "ugh, leather, Oz, really?" I smiled and he shrugged as though he'd heard me.
He checked the traffic and jogged over to us. With little choice, I wound the window down and he leant on it.
"You must be Missus Brewer," he said with a large grin, extending a hand over me, "pleasure to meet you."
Claire shook his hand awkwardly, but smiled. "Likewise. Lily tells me you're Austin?"
He nodded. "She is the only one who can tell us apart. Most people would have told you I was Jax."
Claire chuckled. "And, why is that?"
"Well, you see how my brother is scowling like he lost his favourite toy car?" Claire nodded. "Well, I shall tell you something, Missus Brewer," he said conspiratorially, "my face usually looks more like that, and he's the grinner."
"I see," Claire replied, sounding like she had no clue whatsoever. I couldn't say I wasn't rethinking which twin was which. "Lily told me you were the one wearing leather, though she seemed dismayed by your fashion choice."
Austin flashed me wicked grin and I breathed deeply to try to get my heartbeat under control. He clutched his chest and stumbled back a little as though I'd personally wounded him.
"You don't like me in leather?" he cried, but the hint of a smile told me he was playing.
The line ahead of us started moving. I waved him and his dramatics away.
"Bugger off and get ready to go," I said, trying to hide my smile.
"You wound me, fair Lily!" he called, laughing, as we drove away.
"What the hell was that?" Kate asked, sitting forward in her seat. "I'll tell you what it wasn't. It wasn't as good as me going to Melbourne with Penny Foster after Christmas!"
YOU ARE READING
Prejudice: an austen reimagined novel | 2
Teen Fiction"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a boy with a rich family must be in want of a future wife." Austin can't get Lily out of his head, but she's made it very clear how she feels about him. But how she feels about him is all based on prejudi...
