THE HOTNESS: A Modern Teen Pride and Prejudice (chapter forty-eight: Another country)

Chapter Forty-eight

Another country

When Paige arrived in London it was like another world. It was another world. The sky at Heathrow airport was overcast and crowded and the air from the minute she stepped outside with her group from customs, was cold. There were no open freeways in the main part of the city or the West End as it was known, where Paige and the rest of the debate team were to spend the night. The town seemed so ancient, it was ancient, a mix of very old (and some new) architecture. Coco came to the airport to surprise Paige.

    “Whoah, it’s so great to see you after the long trip.”

    “I’ve missed my friend so much,” the girls hugged and Coco had arranged to join in with the sightseeing. After taking their luggage to a small hotel, the group hopped on a bus, then did lots of walking around the West End.

    There was cobbled stone lane ways that went from one street to the next like a maze. There was also a pub on every corner and now that the girls were all eighteen (the legal drinking age in England) they could hang out at bars, even the hotel bar if they wanted to. But drinking was the last thing on Paige’s mind. Paige chose to go over her final debate topics the night before they reached Oxford, but when that was done all the girls got dressed and went to a little French restaurant in Covent Garden before going to see Once on the West End. It was such a beautiful musical all about an Irish musician and a girl he meets busking on the street. Coco and Paige were talking about how much fun they were having as they walked out into the night air afterwards.

    “London grows on you,” Coco announced.

    “I love it here,” Paige added, “it’s the exact opposite of Los Angeles but they still speak English.”

    “Barely,” Coco joked. . 

     At the hotel, in Covent Garden, the girls were treated to room service for breakfast with the rest of the group.

   Then, the bus that would take them to Oxford arrived.

THE HOTNESS: A Modern Teen Pride and Prejudice (chapter forty-seven: The beginning of another...)

(Second Part of our story – two years later)

Chapter Forty-seven

The beginning of another…

   Time passed, as it generally does.

   Paige and  Shiloh were now grown-ups (sort of). I was almost a junior, along with Honey – we  ruled the school and took extension classes in acting at UCLA (on weekends). But enough about us – you’ll hear about us in Popular (our next novel). Now, it’s all about them…

    This is where the Bennet family were at:

    The financial crisis had hit the family hard.

    Shiloh had elected not to go to college but instead took a job as a nanny during the week and worked as a waitress at a local diner on Saturdays. This kept Shiloh  very busy. She hadn’t met anyone to compare with Ryan for two years but she put him out of her mind, convinced he was not the man she thought he was.

    As for Paige – though she’d won a new scholarship to study at UCLA, money was tight and she worked hard and dated little. Paige hadn’t met anyone to compare with Darcy, unfortunately. She was convinced Darcy really was everything she thought he was. And more. She’d tried to forget him, really she had.

    But she hadn’t.

    In her second year studying International Relations, Paige had won a debate scholarship to go to the International University Debate Finals at Oxford University in England. This was held for a week over summer. Her college was paying for everything for herself and the team, but she was doing shifts at the restaurant with Shiloh, to pay for extras.

     Both girls were less happy than they seemed, but always hopeful. Their younger sisters had mellowed a little, but were still dangerously addicted to social networking. Senta, their middle sister, was counseling them. She hoped to become a psychologist one day.

    “I wish you could come with me,” Paige said to Shiloh after bussing her final table.

    “Knowing you are going on an amazing trip is enough. Besides, I like to stay close to home to help Mom and Dad. But, you have to tell me everything when you return… “

    “Of course,” Paige said.

     Her friend Coco was at summer school and hanging out with Amadeus in London. They were both on music scholarships, so at least Paige wouldn’t be totally friendless.

       The day Paige was due to leave, Mr and Mrs Bennet almost started crying until Paige hushed them and said she’d see them in a fortnight, along with Shiloh. Tthe competition only ran for a week, but Paige wanted some days to sight see with Coco who would be there too. It was all planned.

   Mrs Bennet shook her head, “Oh, I just know you’ll meet someone over there and fall in love and leave me.”

   “Mom, chillax. I’m only eighteen. I’m going to England for a debate, not a bad romance!”

   “That’s what you think. Oh, I don’t know Paige, when you were all younger I only wanted to see my girls happily  married, and I still want that, but there is so much out there in the world for you to see, so much to do. Do you know, you are the first girl in our family to go to college and the first one to have a passport – I’m so proud of you, Paige. You get to see the things I haven’t.”

   “Oh Mom, don’t cry, you could always come visit me.”

   “Oh, Paige, I have your sisters to consider. We didn’t all win the trip, it’s just too expensive.”

   Mrs Bennet hugged Paige at LAX. Shiloh gave her a locket with their photographs which Paige wore close.

   Mr Bennet hugged his daughter again, but was a man of few words.

   “Remember how much we love you,” she whispered into Paige’s ear. Besides, those were the best ones. 

THE HOTNESS: A Modern Teen Pride and Prejudice (chapter forty-six: The end of this part of the story...)

Chapter Forty-six

The end of this part of the story…

  

    Paige was both illuminated and annoyed when she finished reading the letter.

    “In another world, we could have been friends…” Paige sighed regretfully. She really did look sweet that afternoon with her hair done just so. She’d taken all the right advice from her older sister Shiloh by then, I’m sure. I hope I look as cool as her when I’m a junior.

    “Oh, Darcy’s so arrogant and conceited!” Paige added, “never date those kinds of men,” she warned me.

     “Don’t worry, I won’t,” I assured her.

     We were waiting for a ride that afternoon and Paige was giving me a lift, so we took the alternate exit – the one we hardly ever use.

     Little did Darcy know. He’d delayed his flight by a few hours and was waiting at the other entrance.

      Humbled, he waited for Paige. Paige had turned her cell off – she was so over socializing.

       Leaning on his car that afternoon, he waited some more.

       For the longest time.

       But Paige never appeared. Mackenzie and Ryan convinced him to go with them to LAX.  He took Paige’s absence as a sign.

        If Paige had raced back just a second earlier to get her purse, she might have seen him standing in the entrance to the car park, leaning on his car like the coolest boy in school.

       But she didn’t.

       Darcy and Paige took these absences as a sign that they would never meet again.

       Perhaps I should have been more humble, Darcy thought as he pulled on his seat belt.  

    Perhaps I should have shown more grace under fire, Paige Elizabeth Bennet wondered, after we’d walked across the field with me to meet Shiloh. Normally she took the car park but today, she’d changed her path to take a short cut normally reserved for seniors. Well, she was nearly there. Paige hated to admit it but senior year would never be the same without the hotness.   

     “Darcy and I are never going to see each other again,” she said, aloud, as if no one was listening, except me.

       Because how wrong was Paige? I wrote that afternoon. Honey and I were settled on the living room sofa, writing the notes that completed the first part of Darcy and Paige’s high school story…

    “I suppose it was just never meant to be,” she sighed, “Oh, you’re too young to understand , Wednesday,” Paige added, as she shared the details of the letter with Shiloh , and Honey read what was discarded.

     “After all,” Honey said, “Princesses have no secrets.”

THE HOTNESS: A Modern Teen Pride and Prejudice (chapter forty-five: A letter continued...)

Chapter Forty-five

A letter continued…

    As for my ‘snobbish behavior’ towards your family, it was wrong of me. For some reason you make me want to blurt out the truth as I see things and lay it all on the table, so to speak, but your sisters are the talk of the school and on that matter, I should warn you, since I know a lot more about Rys Wickam than you do.

   “Oh!” Paige almost ripped up the paper at this point, but once again, curiosity forced her to read on…

    I have known Rys since I was six years old. His father and my father were best friends and for a while, business partners. Rys even came and stayed with my family when his parents were having trouble with their business (a business my father partially financed) – a year ago. When the business collapsed, Rys’s father tried to place the blame with my father; then we found, after an investigation, that he’d been siphoning off the profits. Basically, he ripped my father off in the name of friendship. My father has had nothing to do with him since. Even though the Wickams got away with millions, my father thinks the money is nothing compared to the loss of a friendship – that is the type of person my father is – honorable. Wickam and his father, are not. I’m only writing this because you should know something else that I trust you to keep to yourself. (FYI:  I am sorry for what I said about you being ‘poor’. There is no shame in not being rich in money. You are rich in what matters. Most of the peeps at my father’s firm got their money by ‘fair means or foul’ as my grandfather says.

    But getting back to the topic of Rys Wickam…

   During the time Rys lived with us in Sydney, we treated him like one of the family and my sister, who is emotionally fragile at the best of times, became good friends with him. At least, that’s what I thought. When she had a relapse of her OCD / depression after Rys left, we found out there was a cause.  Blair was more than friends with Rys. After Rys left, Blair thought she was pregnant – to him. Thankfully, she wasn’t, but she has not been the same since her secret relationship with him ended.

     What I’m trying to say is that Rys is a total player and when I said your sisters are now the talk of the town it sounded bad, but I meant it as a warning. I wouldn’t want your sisters to get involved with Rys Wickam.

     FYI: You are the best girl debater I’ve ever seen… and you deserved that scholarship… but I know you won’t need it to succeed, if you decide not to take it, as I think you might.

      “Misogynist!” Paige seethed as she stuffed the letter in the trash. I quickly pulled it out.

     “Just because he can’t take the fact that a girl could be better than a boy – he can’t just say ‘the best’.

      A group of my freshman classmates were also leaving school then and could be heard gossiping about Sia and Rebel and how the link to their trashy behavior was supposed to have been uploaded on the web, but now it had been taken down…

    “It probably had something to do with Rys leaving.”

    Another young Princess sighed.

    “I’m really going to miss him…”

    “I heard Darcy paid to have the whole thing deleted. So, he really is a good guy. It’s only because he was crushing on the older sister – you know, the nasty B who rejected him…” another one  added.

THE HOTNESS: A Modern Teen Pride and Prejudice (chapter forty-four: A letter from the hot one...)

Chapter Forty-four

A letter from the hot one…

    Semester ended badly for everyone, as semesters sometimes do.

    Prom was overrated.

    The girls went in a group because in the end, Princesses stick together.  Everything about the dance was muted. Darcy and Ryan danced with Mackenzie and a few other seniors, then spent the evening sulking and left early. There was no after-party. Mackenzie hung with the Praise and Worshipfuls (she’d finally quit the Princesses), but then left too. Paige and Shiloh left first, though. Rys didn’t show. What a disaster!

     “I’m so glad it wasn’t my junior prom,” Honey said.

     “Me too,” I replied.

     “Ours is going to be fab.” Honey assured me.

     “Uh huh,” I agreed.

     In the end, Paige refused to accept the scholarship she won. She decided to take a job with her sister instead that summer and re-apply for UCLA, rather than take, Darcy’s fake charity.

     Darcy’s grandfather refused to give him his cattle ranch (until he was ‘emotionally stable’ and had finished college – and maybe not even then.) His grandfather had read Mackenzie’s blog on the internet where she outed their whole scam. Mr Darcy  Senior was unimpressed by Darcy’s childish and deceptive behavior and realized Darcy had a lot of growing up to do before he ever had the responsibility of an entire cattle ranch.  

      Needless to say, by the end of junior year, Paige and Darcy and Shiloh and Ryan were not speaking.

      Then, on the last day of school, Paige found a note attached to her locker, a few days after prom.

   

    Darcy had written the letter just before he’d left to go to the airport. He’d sealed it in an old-fashioned envelope, like an historical document.

Who knew that maybe one day it would be? (Wednesday)

Dear Paige (he wrote – I know, because I was the one who found it. I gave it to Honey who gave it to Paige after it fell onto the floor and was nearly swept up by the janitor – you can thank me later…

I’m writing this down now because I’m going back to Australia then I’m heading over to England where my great-aunt and uncle live. My father wants me to sit the exams to attend Oxford and I don’t know if I’m ever going to see you again. I didn’t want to leave without saying a few things that you deserve to know.

First of all, you were right, and I apologize for what happened between Ryan and Shiloh.

Paige shook her head feeling suddenly vindicated. She wanted to tear up the note but was too curious to do that, and read on…

Although I wasn’t entirely responsible for separating your sister and my best friend, I could have used my influence to convince Ryan that he should have asked Shiloh to go to prom with him. I just didn’t think it was that important.

   I honestly thought she’d turn him down.

   Remember, I’d been around them both a fair bit and I just always thought Ryan was more interested in Shiloh than she was interested in him. Your sister is very reserved and although my own sister comes across in a similar way, it was an honest mistake on my part. I wanted to save Ryan the embarrassment of asking a girl who was indifferent to him. I am sorry, as I said. It was my mistake and I only wish I had been more hesitant to ask you – since I obviously have you and your sister mixed up as you are the indifferent one.

   Paige shook her head, exasperated; he couldn’t even apologize without sounding arrogant!

THE HOTNESS: A Modern Teen Pride and Prejudice (chapter forty-three: Gym class)

Chapter Forty-three

Gym class

   But Darcy had run after Paige. He knew a short cut in the opposite direction that would meet Paige somewhere in the middle. He was athletic and after having been in school now for almost the entire semester, Darcy knew every hallway.

    A few Princesses and cheerleaders fanned him with “Heys,” and one even said, “Darcy, why so fast?”  But the bell had sounded for the final class of the day and Darcy wanted to catch Paige before she caught a life or reached gymnastics practice.

   Darcy finally found Paige chalking her hands at the bar.

   “Darcy? Are you stalking me?”

   “Is that all you have to say in response?”

   “I told you, I’m not going.”

   At this point a few cheerleaders, Princesses and even two teachers were listening in on their conversation. Enough people so the whole school would know in the morning that Darcy chased Paige all the way to the gym only to be turned down and humiliated by her. How could she? Some whispered. It was the prom. The high school prom. These moments were gold. They never came again.

   “So, you are rejecting me?”

   “If you have to put it that way.”

   “Which way should I put it?”

   “Any way you want, I suppose.’

   “I don’t understand. I thought we… liked each other.”

   “Well, I guess you thought wrong.”

    He stared at Paige for a moment, trying to work her out. Her slim but tough exterior belied a sweet interior, he was sure of it. But he was embarrassed, humiliated in front of a group of gaggling gymnasts. Once again, his pride got the better of his true feelings.

   “How dare you reject me! It was all a joke anyway. I chose to ask you above all the other girls in the school, some of whom had already bothered to ask me, not the other way round. But I was going to write about it on my blog and tell Mackenzie all about it the next day.”

   “Well, go for it Darcy. Mackenzie really is your perfect match!”

   “And who are you to judge me? I pulled strings for you and that stupid invented scholarship! My father sponsors the award. Do you want to know why they picked you? They made special consideration because you are poor… and a girl! And…FYI - your mother is a massive social climber…”

   “Oh, nothing like Mackenzie Bingley then…”

  “At least she has the finances to back it up.”

  “How dare you!” Paige was so exasperated, she threw her gym bag at him.

  “And your sisters… have behaved like total tramps. It’s all over the web… Rys Wickam has been talking up how easy they were when he got with both of them at that stupid beach party.”

   Paige looked surprised as Darcy darted behind a locker. He peeked his head out when he thought Paige had settled.

  “How could you not know? He’s told anyone who’d listen… he even filmed them…” Paige blocked her ears.

   “You need to stop talking now, Darcy. I really don’t need to hear any more from you. I have no inkling why you bothered to ask me to go to the dance with you since you think so little of my family and by extension – me. But apart from your insane snobbery, your rudeness, your conceited behavior and your arrogance… did you really think I would ever go anywhere with you when you schemed to destroy my sister’s relationship with Ryan?”

   Darcy looked shocked.

  “Who told you that?”

   “Rys Wickam. But he didn’t need to tell me. I suspected as much and the look on your face just confirmed it.”

    Darcy stopped talking.

    “Deny it! I dare you!”

    “I… can’t.”

    Paige also stopped.

    They stared at each other a moment. They looked into each other’s eyes. Both of their faces were red as beets. As the bell rang out for the end of the day and the beginning of the after-school activities it even looked as if they might move closer, make a truce and kiss. But instead, Darcy pulled back. He turned from Paige and left her standing in the gym with chalk on her hands.

   “Argh!” Paige exclaimed, as she went to the bar to warm up.

   “Are you quite ready to join us now Paige Bennet?” the gym teacher, who behaved in a troll-like manner, asked sarcastically.

   “Um… actually, no,” Paige said, uncharacteristically bursting into tears. She ran out of the room.

   It was only the second time Darcy had made Paige cry and she swore it would be the last.

THE HOTNESS: A Modern Teen Pride and Prejudice (chapter forty-two: Hot pursuit)

Chapter Forty-two

Hot pursuit     

   Paige checked her messages before gym class. She’d just received some awesome and unexpected news that she’d been hoping for. She’d applied for a newly devised scholarship to UCLA and was in the final selected group. If all went well during her senior year, the scholarship was hers.

   In light of this good news, Paige had resigned herself to dealing with Darcy later. She had a smile on her face as she got ready for gym class, pulling on her dad’s old sweater. As she walked outside, she collided with Darcy.

   “Hi,” he said, he wasn’t dressed for sports.

   “Hi,” Paige said, confused.

   “You were great in our final debate.”

   “Thanks, but Mackenzie nailed it.”

   “Well, she had a better topic…”

   Paige wondered if Darcy had slept. She would have brushed past him by now but he’d cornered her in a confined space and there was nowhere else to go – except class. Paige just couldn’t work Darcy out. He was so prideful and changeable and then he’d go and do something nice, like compliment her out of the blue. This didn’t hide the fact that he’d done something so not nice she never wanted to speak to him again. He’d talked Ryan out of dating her sister.

  Of course, this was the moment Darcy unwisely chose to speak to her.

  They had their seconds alone and it was now or never.

   Darcy cleared his throat.

  “Paige, I was wondering…”

  “Yes?” Paige said as she pulled back her hair. Paige had no idea why Darcy was even talking to her now.

   “Um… Well… I was wondering…”

   “Uh huh,” Paige was already half way out of the room and on her way to gym  practice before Darcy caught up with her.

   “Hey, wait up.”

   “What do you want Darcy?”

   “Well, a moment… with you. Alone, if you’re not too busy.”

   Paige looked at the half empty gym. The crowd gathered on the other side of the room. Once again, there was no getting out of this. 

   “What do you want, Darcy?”

   Darcy ushered Paige to the side, where the walls were covered with various freshman projects. Paige noticed Rebel’s name all over one of them, it was her kind of art work too – modern, random.

  “I’m wondering, I’ve thought about it a lot and I’d like to know if you would come to the prom with me.”

   Paige stalled.

   “Uh… What did you say?”

   “I’m asking you to go to the prom with me. That’s the way it’s done here in America right? You have to ask someone? It’s my last chance to go to a high school prom. My family are heading back to Australia, so…”

   “Oh...”

   “So, are you going with anyone?”

   “No.”

   “Me either. I want to go with you.”

   “Is that the way you ask girls out Down Under?”

   “What do you mean? I’m new to this. In Australia we just hang out in groups. Besides, girls mostly approach me. They think I'm the hot one. I don’t have to ask them out. It's the other way around. It took a lot of courage to even attempt this... connection. You didn’t exactly give me any encouragement.” 

   “It’s always about you, isn’t it Darcy?”

   “What do you mean? I’m trying to be nice. I want to be friends. I thought we were becoming friends. Besides, you haven’t given me an answer.”

   Paige paused for a moment, suddenly believing in the sincerity of his question. She was conflicted about the boy, but not about her answer.

  “No Darcy, I don’t want to go with you.”

   “Why not? C’mon it’ll be fun.” Darcy's face was red. He couldn’t believe he was being refused.

   “I… I’m thinking of going by myself. Maybe I don’t need a man to make me feel whole.” 

   “Huh?”

   Paige turned and ran off down the hallway. On the way out, she ran straight into Mackenzie and Ryan, who looked quite sheepish.

  “Hey Paige. Why are you crying?” Mackenzie asked.

  “Oh, just motor!” Paige said brushing Mackenzie aside.

  “I told you what she’s really like,” Mackenzie sniped to her brother as they walked down the hall to find Darcy.

   

THE HOTNESS: A Modern Teen Pride and Prejudice (chapter forty-one: The trouble with Darcy)

Chapter Forty-one

The trouble with Darcy

   That morning, in home room, Darcy arrived early. Dressed in his coolest clothes, he had all of the debate notes sorted for their team and had even highlighted Paige’s suggestions.

    “Hi,” he said to Paige, trying to act cool.

    “Hi,” Paige said, wishing she wasn’t required to acknowledge him.

    Darcy never understood why she blew so hot and cold. He was trying to warm her up today because he had something he wanted to ask her. Even though he knew it was wrong, so wrong.

    Paige was different to him in every way. They were polar opposite. Darcy struggled against his feelings for her. He told no one, not even Ryan, but he couldn’t help himself. He liked Paige Bennet more than any girl he’d ever met. She was so different, so remarkable, so amazing.

    As he flicked on his iPOD he quickly switched off his home page. The younger Bennet girls were splashed all over the social pages with a website directing him to even more compromising photographs. They were famous now, for all the wrong reasons. He hoped Paige wouldn’t see this.

    They’d supposedly participated in a girls gone wild type film made by Rys Wickam’s production company. The outakes of his music video shoot were on his smart phone and about to go viral, according to Mackenzie who swiftly texted Darcy. Darcy had heard all about it in the locker room prior to class but he’d tried to ignore the gossip. Paige seemed oblivious. She never ever switched on her phone before home room (when she studied) or debate class. Darcy wondered what to do, but first he had to get something else off his chest.

    Today, Paige seemed extra scary, walking around in her hot girl that didn’t know it way, with her awesome intelligence and turn of phrase. That scared Darcy a lot. Now she was hunched over her notes chewing the end of her pencil, lost in intellectual thought.  

    “Hey,” Rys said, he was seated on the other side of Paige, making Darcy increasingly jealous.

    “Hi,” Paige replied, “Hey, I heard some stupid rumor…”

    “Don’t believe any of it,” Rys replied, “I’m deleting all the photos,” he added, checking his text messages.

    What photos? Paige thought.