Darcy was the one holding the Bingley family up the next morning. She didn't want to let go of her brother. It wouldn't be long before they saw each other again. Only a few weeks. But still, the thought of having to attend her Great Aunt Katherine's scholarship dinner, alone that night, for the first time hit Darcy square in the chest when she spotted her brother's friend waiting down the street to pick him up.

She held up her family even longer as she stood on the sidewalk watching the car her brother had ducked into merge into traffic and fade from view.

Something he had said the night before was messing with Darcy's brain. She wasn't even sure what it was exactly but she knew that she would be leaving her family's apartment a different person, determined to be a new person, better, somehow. If only to make her brother proud.

When the Bingley's finally returned home, Darcy didn't have enough time to unpack her bags. She was barely back out the door on time after grabbing her outfit for the night. If she had forgotten anything, she didn't have time to remember and turn back for it.

Her great aunt appreciated anything other than a good modernist painting, it was punctuality.

Katherine Pemberley, CEO of Pemberley Studios, Chairman of the Pemberley Arts Scholarship Foundation (her complete title), lived with a full staff of help and a live-in nurse in the wealthy neighborhood of Newton, just outside the city.

Darcy had a feeling the nurse was more for the company than anything else as her 85-year-old great aunt was as lucid opinionated as any thirty-year-old, if only lacking the mobility. And even then, the cane she used was more a symbol of power than a true necessity.

When Darcy pulled into the long driveway in front of her aunt's towering three-story mansion, a line of catering vans was parked along the street. Inside, Darcy found the house bursting with energy as servers and coordinators scurried about in every possible direction. It was the same scene every year.

Katherine Pemberley had made a point of involving her only living relatives (Darcy and George) in the minutiae of their legacy and heritage from a very early age. Darcy was thirteen when she first sat down at the long dining room table with twenty high school seniors, all potential scholarship recipients and all at least four years older than her. George had always sat next to her. But not this year.

George had the lucky fortune of being needed elsewhere that night and so Darcy squared her shoulders, bracing herself for a night of awkward conversation and social anxiety.

As was tradition, Darcy found her aunt in the morning room, a sunny little nook tucked away from the main center of the house, warm spring light pouring through the bay windows that looked out onto the sloping lawn.

"Darcy. Good. You're here. Let's begin."

As warm and inviting as she always was, Katherine's brusque attitude kept Darcy's spine straight and her nerves focused. She sat beside her aunt on the settee surely older than the nation itself and poured them both tea.

On the coffee table in front of them, next to the pristine tea set, were laid out twenty manila folders. Flicking a stray strand of pure white hair from her face, Katherine started with the first and moved down the line.

Two hours later and Darcy's mind was a blur. She couldn't remember a single name, her mind was too saturated on grade point averages, proposed majors, extracurricular activities. She had learned from an early age to tune her great aunt out at this stage of the process. Darcy didn't actually need to know every candidate chosen by the foundation to possibly receive their full-ride scholarship to the school of their choosing.

Not yet, at least. She wouldn't take a full role in the foundation until her aunt passed and Darcy had a feeling that wouldn't be for a very long time if Katherine could help it.

"So. How are the Bingley's? Lois tells me Charlie is seeing someone. Who are they? She even mentioned something about a prom coming up for the two of you. Are you attending?"

Darcy was grateful for a change of subject, something she could actually speak on. The two of them chatted and caught up, Darcy telling Katherine all about her schooling, avoiding the subject of prom entirely, focusing on her concerns for Charlie and her attachment to Jamie and the distractions it had provided. Katherine affirmed Darcy's attempts in helping Charlie come to her senses wholeheartedly.

Darcy also made sure to avoid mentioning the reappearance of Gina in her life, as nothing would set her aunt off faster than the mention of Gina's name. Luckily, it never came up. The events of last year had apparently been sealed and filed away forever in Katherine's mind.

"Miss Pemberley, we're ready for you."

Their tea was interrupted by Katherine's house manager, who stood at the doorway to lead them to the dining room. Darcy followed behind Katherine as each plate, napkin, and utensil was inspected, another part of the yearly tradition.

By the time everything was confirmed ready to go, the guests were soon to arrive. Darcy was ushered to a spare bedroom upstairs where her clothes were laid out waiting for her.

The crowd of workers that had greeted her when she had arrived had disappeared by the time Darcy returned to the first floor and took her place by her aunt at the front door.

The first car arrived and slowly, coming in two by two, one boy and one girl from ten different schools in the state arrived. The foundation made sure to take applicants from the local public and charter high schools, focusing on students who didn't have the opportunities students of private schools were used to.

Darcy smiled, nodded, and shook hands with eighteen members of her peer group when her gaze froze on the next couple moving through the entryway.

It was Eli Bennett.

"Mr. Bennett, so good to meet you. Welcome. This is my niece, Darcy Williams. And Miss Collins! What a pleasure. This is my niece...."

Her aunt's words caught up to her. As did the realization that Darcy had missed a very key piece of information during her aunt's debriefing that afternoon: the fact that Eli Bennett was one of the candidates for the Pemberley scholarship. Darcy wanted to kick herself but had to focus on shaking Eli's hand first.

"Darcy."

"Eli."

His hand lingered in hers a second too long and she wasn't sure which of them was at fault. She tried reading his expression but found it inscrutable. It was while staring at Eli that Darcy remembered that he hadn't come alone. That another one of her classmates from Meriton was waiting to shake her hand.

"Darcy Williams. What a pleasure."

Eli's companion took Darcy's hand as soon as she released Eli's, pumping her arm up and down. The person on the other side of the handshake looked up at Darcy from a full half-foot below her, her eyes wide and intense, meeting Darcy's gaze and refusing to pull away.

Darcy glanced to her aunt first and then to Eli. Katherine was beaming down at the newcomer, Eli's cheeks were turning red with embarrassment. But Darcy caught something else in his eyes. Was that amusement? The girl kept talking.

"Missy Collins. So great to finally meet you. I've heard so much about you. You're in the running for salutatorian with Eli. A tight race, from what Principal Longbourne says."

"Nice to meet you too, Missy," was all Darcy could think to say as Missy's words had been flung at her at a rapid-fire rate, Darcy only catching on to every other thought. She was still trying to get her hand free.

"You two are the last to arrive. Shall we?"

Only at Katherine's lead did Missy finally let go of Darcy's hand and break her intense gaze, trailing right after Katherine as Katherine led them into the dining room.

Darcy couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped her lips, her chest loosening the further away Missy moved. She heard a snicker and turned to find Eli smiling, laughing.

"Oh, shut up," she muttered.

"Gives you an idea of what the car ride here was like. Trust me, you got off easy."

He had leaned in to murmur his reply so only she could hear as they entered the dining room.

Missy had the honor of sitting to Katherine's left at the head of the table. The only two seats remaining were the two leading up to Katherine's right. Darcy sat next to her aunt and Eli took the seat next to her.

Her heart gave out a whimper of hope, the stray thought that the night possibly wouldn't be the worst after all.

"Ladies and gentleman, welcome."

Katherine stood with her glass raised, the rest of the guests following suit. Her narrowed eagle eyes scanned each of their faces. Some of the less hardened at the table squirmed. Katherine waiting an extra-long pause before finally speaking again.

"Let us begin."

At her word, servers appeared from the kitchen with platters of food. Dinner had begun.

Darcy didn't eat much. She hardly ever did at these events. But tonight it wasn't because of her nervous stomach. Darcy was transfixed at the sight of her aunt and Missy Collins in deep conversation. Katherine seemed enthralled with this particular candidate of hers.

"Religious studies, you say? Fascinating."

"With a focus on eastern cultures in particular. I'm also interested in minoring in interpretative dance. I sent in an audition video along with my application on a piece I choreographed and danced myself focusing on the economic crisis in Greece and its effects on our world as a whole."

"Amazing. You must show it to me."

Darcy's ears hurt from straining to hear any hint of sarcasm or incredulity. Her aunt was genuinely interested in Missy's studies.

"And was Harvard impressed?" Katherine asked. "With the piece?"

"I got in, didn't I?"

The two of them laughed, their high-pitched crackles almost harmonizing.

"Did your interpretive dance piece get you into Harvard, too?"

Darcy jumped, forgetting that Eli was sitting right next to her, hearing everything she was of the conversation happening across the table.

"No, it didn't," Darcy answered, after collecting herself. "I simply wrote about my family's legacy in perpetuating the preservation of great art along with our attempts to find new artists among the noise of today's artistic scene."

"And did you get in?"

Darcy shook her head.

"No. I didn't."

"Maybe you should have sent in an interpretative dance on the subject instead of a well-written essay."

Darcy almost laughed.

"I probably should."

The two of them stopped talking so they could hear the extraordinary conversation happening before them.

"Is your aunt always this enthusiastic with her candidates?" Eli asked in a whisper. Neither would dare speak loud enough to get the attention of either Katherine or Missy.

"Not usually. But my aunt has a particular soft spot for outrageous art, interpretative dance especially."

"Well, then. Maybe Missy won't need the scholarship after all. Your great aunt can become her patron instead, support her for life."

"I wouldn't put it past my aunt."

Darcy glanced towards Eli and found the distance between the two of them had shortened considerably. She didn't pull away. If he noticed how close they were sitting, he didn't either. They remained like that the rest of the dinner, sharing quiet remarks on the birth of Katherine and Missy's burgeoning friendship.

After dinner was served, all guests were led into a large drawing room, complete with a grand piano in the corner and a fire burning in the large fireplace. It wasn't that cold outside but as the ceiling of the room stood at two stories high, the room tended to chill.

Dessert was served as a buffet, as was coffee and tea. One of the piano prodigies sat at the piano and started in on a Debussy piece from memory. If it was to impress Katherine, it wasn't working. This was the part of the night where she pulled each student aside, one by one, for a private conversation, to get to know them better.

Darcy hovered in the corner, watching the students mingle and converse, working up the courage to join in. She wanted to show her aunt that she had been practicing being social. She had given it a solid effort. It hadn't gone great with Eli at Charlie's party but at least she had tried.

Eli gave her an excuse to avoid engaging with the room of strangers in front of her by joining her in her corner.

"Nice place," he said, looking to the walls filled with large paintings, the expensive furniture, the ancient rugs.

"It's a bit big in my opinion. But don't tell my aunt that. This place is supposed to go to me when she dies."

"Do you think that will ever happen?"

Darcy let herself laugh.

"Probably not in my lifetime."

"She's a bit intense."

"To say the least."

They watched the room before them in companionable silence until Katherine waved at Darcy to get her attention. She was simultaneously nodding at Darcy to mingle with the rest of the guests as well as to send Eli her way.

"You're being summoned."

Eli followed Darcy's gaze.

"So I am."

"Good luck. You'll need it."

Eli left her with a wink and a smile before venturing across the room to meet with Miss Katherine herself.

Darcy used them both as courage to dive into conversation with the rest of the candidates. They were halfhearted conversations. Darcy kept her eye on Eli's progress with Katherine. Some candidates understood that she was related to Katherine and therefore the foundation and tried to win her over with compliments and false enthusiasm in response to anything Darcy said.

Darcy kept their names in mind to report back to Katherine, a part of the process to figure out who deserved the scholarship the most. Those trying to win it with flattery were automatically disqualified.

Missy descended upon Darcy while she was in transition from one group to the next and Darcy found herself stuck in a conversation she wasn't totally sure was about. But that didn't matter to Missy as she spoke enough for the both of them. Darcy slowly moved them to a position where she could see Eli's face while talking to her aunt and catchphrases of her aunt's conversation.

Amid the chattering of Missy's every thought, Darcy heard her name along with the words family, duty, and responsibility. She watched as Eli's expression of interest hardened and then turned cold. Soon enough he bowed to her aunt and then headed out of the room.

Darcy cut Missy off mid-thought and followed him.

She checked every room along the long corridor that led out of the drawing-room and finally found him in the library.

It was dark, the only light the flickering flames from the fire and the low ambient lighting from the reading chairs in the corner. Eli stood at the opposite side of the room, inspecting one of the bookshelves from what Darcy could tell, his hands clasped behind his back. Darcy approached slowly until she was staring at the same bookshelf.

She had expected him to soften when he looked to find her standing next to him but he didn't. Darcy squared her shoulders, tried to remember everything her brother had told her the night before. She cleared her throat, the silence reaching a tense tightness that made her chest hurt.

"How did it go? With my aunt?"

"Fine," Eli replied.

Darcy tried again.

"Did you tell her about your photography?"

"She was already aware of it."

"Right. Of course."

Darcy had seen the files on every candidate herself. It was a stupid question. She didn't know what else to say.

Well, there was one thing. But it was stupid and she knew it. Worse than the question she had just asked but she didn't have anything else to say. She didn't want to return to the drawing-room and she didn't want Eli to leave either.

"So, hey, um...."

Darcy cleared her throat again, squared her shoulders, and turned to face Eli head-on. The most he did was turn his head toward.

"Prom is coming up. It's a Sadie Hawkins dance so the girls ask the boys."

"I'm aware of the concept," was Eli's cool reply.

"Well, I figured, since you're a boy and I'm a girl, we could, you know, possibly, if you're interested..."

Darcy let her words trail off but Eli didn't pick them up. Darcy kept talking just to keep from letting silence fall between them.

"It's an important rite of passage. At least that's what my aunt tells me. And it is our last high school dance and so, I figured, since you're the only person I know at Meriton who I'm not related to, well, I figured, we could, I don't know, go together."

"What are you saying, Darcy?"

His voice sounded tired. Darcy's heart refused to stop pounding in her chest. It rang so loud in her ears that she hadn't heard half of what she had said. But she knew what she was going to say.

"Eli Bennett, will you go to prom with me?"

He didn't move. He didn't blink. Darcy's heart was starting its climb up her throat. Her next word came out in a crack.

"Please?"

A smile broke across his face but it held no humor. It was a harsh, cruel smile, that turned his face mean.

"Wow."

That was it. That was all he had to say. Darcy found his lack of response triggering anger in her. It helped that there was already adrenaline coursing through her veins and her heart was pounding at a mile a minute.

"What? What's 'wow'?"

"You. You are 'wow'. You are absolutely incredible, do you know that?"

It wasn't a compliment coming out of his mouth, not in that tune, not with that look on his face.

"I don't know what you mean."

"You're asking me to prom because you don't have anyone else. That definitely makes me want to go with you. Especially after everything you've done."

The sarcasm was thick in his voice, the smile long gone. Now there was just anger in his face. And it was directed right at her.

"What I've done? What have I done?"

"Don't do that. Don't pretend you're innocent. I know about Charlie. I know what you did to get her to break up with my brother. Your aunt was bragging about your loyalty to your family just now, how you were willing to do the hard things for their sake. You made Charlie break up with Jamie. Don't even try to deny it."

Darcy was speechless. Her mouth tried opening, tried finding words but the words wouldn't come. So Eli kept talking, his tone growing harsher and louder, the sound doubled in the empty library with nothing to compete with.

"This is what you do, Darcy. You ruin people's lives. I've had to watch my little brother mope around for the last week because the girl he cares about won't even answer her phone after she broke up with him over a text message! It's just like what you did with Gina! You don't care who you hurt."

Gina's name was a slap of reality. Darcy knew how to speak again.

"What does Wickham have to do with any of this?"

"You ruined her life!"

Darcy let out a harsh bark of laughter.

"Is that what she told you?"

"You got her kicked out of school. Dumped her as a friend. Got her mom fired-"

He was ticking off Darcy's supposed grievances on his hand. Darcy slapped his hand away, cutting him off.

"You know NOTHING about that situation. You're just going to believe everything Wickham tells you?" Darcy could hear her fury bounce off the walls and come racing back to her.

"Yeah!" Eli replied, his tone matching hers. "I am! Why shouldn't I? You've proven you're just as horrible in the situation with Jamie as you were with Gina. What else am I suppose to believe?"

"I was trying to help Charlie! She has bigger plans than some high school boyfriend. She was getting distracted-"

"She's her own person, she can manage her own time-"

"He didn't like her half as much as she liked him-"

"He's shy!"

"I was trying to protect her!"

Darcy's yells bounced off the walls and faded away with each additional echo. Eli stared at her, silent as her words were soaked in.

"I was trying to protect her," Darcy tried again.

"From who, Darcy? Jamie? My family? Are we really so despicable in your eyes? Just because we don't have money or the right connections or we didn't go to some fancy school, my brother isn't good enough to date Charlie? Is that what you're saying?"

"No, it isn't. You don't understand-"

Eli held his hands up in surrender, cutting her off.

"No, Darcy. I don't. And I don't want to. As for the prom thing, you are the last person I would ever agree to go with."

That was the true slap in the face. Darcy stepped back without noticing. She had to close her mouth so it didn't hang open.

"Forgive me, then," she finally managed to say, "for wasting your time."

Darcy turned and walked out of the room, forcing her steps to be even and steady, when all she wanted to do was race upstairs, fall face-first into her aunt's spare bedroom and cry her eyes out.

Instead, she squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and wiped away the only tear she let fall from her eyes.

A/N:

Anyone else like super nauseous??? No?? Just me??

Cuz I feel like we just stepped off a ROLLER COASTER OF EMOTION!!!

I need to go lie down now if you please.