Pomp And Circumstance [COMPLETE]

Chapter Nine

Darcy didn't think her year could get much worse.

Her premier private school had been shut down, taking with it her debate club and volleyball team. The only person she truly hated now haunted the halls of her new school. She was in consideration for the position of salutatorian, something she had never dreamed possible at Netherfield Prep but her competitor seemed to simultaneously disdain her and everything she stood for as well as enjoy goading her into heated conversations.

But alas, Darcy had spoken too soon. Her year could get worse. Falling in line with her current track record of bad luck, Kit Bennett refused to forget the fact that both Charlie and Carson Bingley had promised to throw a party at their house.

It was now all anyone talked about at school. The little time Darcy spent with Charlie at school, (at their lockers before class and after) was now accompanied by not only Jamie but both Kit and Eli. As if Darcy hadn't seen enough of Eli as it was.

Eli had even taken to talking about it in English, affirming Darcy's suspicion that she would never be able to escape this nightmare, let alone avoid it.

She spoke on the matter once, putting her foot down on a very serious subject and in doing so, seemed to silence the entire crowded hallway around them as the five of them loitered by Darcy's locker, waiting for the first bell of the day to ring.

"... and we've got some of the football team coming, they're a tough set to get a hold of but Gina-"

Darcy cut Kit's party-planning ramblings short.

"Wickham's not coming."

Her word hung heavy over the five of them. If the world continued on around them, none of them noticed. Darcy couldn't look anywhere other than Eli's dark glare, seemingly trying to pierce her to her very soul. As if he could somehow change her mind on an immovable decision.

"But she-"

Darcy cut Kit off once again.

"Wickham is not invited."

As if to punctuate the seriousness of her statement and the solidity of it, the bell rang. Kit looked to Jamie, then to Eli, then to Carson, and finally to Charlie. Darcy knew both Carson and Charlie would stand strong with her on this fact. While keeping eye contact with Eli, she could see Charlie shake her head. The matter was over, end of discussion. Darcy's word was final.

With Kit's voice prattling on about the party, ringing out from every corner of Meriton Charter, dogging Darcy's steps, gone was the small amount of security and serenity Darcy had discovered for herself among its hallowed halls. And it seemed to be the same for her home life as well.

Lois wasn't thrilled with Charlie's plan to throw a party on the last day of school, just before spring break began. When Charlie argued that she needed to keep her word, Lois threw the same argument right back at her, reminding Charlie that her scholastic decathlon championships were that same weekend and that they would be leaving for the city early the next day.

Charlie's already thinning patience with Darcy was stretched even further when Darcy sided with Lois. It didn't help that Darcy also sided with Lois on her opinion of Jamie and his current role in Charlie's life.

No one could ignore the dark circles that had appeared under Charlie's bright eyes in the previous weeks. If she wasn't up late talking to Jamie, she was up late studying to make up for all the time she had lost hanging out with Jamie. Her grades were reflecting her distracted state.

Lois agreed to the party, but just barely, and on one condition: Charlie had to take a break from her relationship with Jamie for spring break so she could focus on her championships and focus on spending time with her family and resting up from all the sleep she had lost.