“We all know what happens, Director,” interrupts Tiffany. “Raise your hand if you don’t know how the book ends.”
Not a single hand goes up.
“We’ve seen the movie,” Tiffany tags on with a shrug.
“Okay then,” says the director. “Finish that thought, Miss Navarro.”
“I just don’t find Darcy likable, and I don’t know why he’s so romanticized,” I say, and I don’t dare to look at Salma because I can feel her incredulous gaze on me. Mr. Darcy has been my fictional boyfriend since I met him in ninth grade. “He’s rude, prejudiced, and arrogant.”
“He is also loyal, protective, and misunderstood,” says William.
Of coursehe’s defending Darcy. Assholes have to stick together.
“He’s only in a position to help because he’s a rich man,” I point out. “That’s his only real accomplishment, and he didn’t do anything to earn it.”
“Do you think you are being kind of hard on Darcy?” asks Minaro. “After all, Elizabeth makes mistakes, too.”
“It’s not amistakewhen you’re beingmanipulated,” I argue. “Darcy deliberately misrepresented himself for the worse, just like Wickham did for the better. They’re both liars and manipulators. Elizabeth’s only mistake was wasting her time on romance in the first place.”
WHEN WEget to the dining hall for dinner, the wall outside the entrance is covered with photos from the dance.
“We look fuckinghot,” says Tiffany as she and Salma find their photo.
I look around for mine with William, but I don’t see it. He probably got rid of it.
The vampire doesn’t come to dinner, and a thought crosses my mind:What if he’s gone for good?
The question plagues me all evening, while readingPride and Prejudice,doing my homework, studying for our history test… I should be relieved he’s gone, not worried I might never see him again. I wish I could shout those words at myself, but there’s no privacy in this damn place.
I go with the girls to the bathroom, and while they shower, I wash my face and brush my teeth. Then I start to head back upstairs—
Bands close around me, and my surroundings melt away.
It takes my mind a moment to settle, and then I’m face-to-face with William in the folds of those velvet curtains again. As his arms fall away, I demand, “What the hell do you want,Darcy?”
“I will take that as an upgrade from Rochester.”
“I don’t care how you take it, just leave me the fuck alone.” There’s a roaring in my chest that makes my voice sound raw and primal. I don’t know where all this emotion is coming from.
“You are hurt,” he says, his tone almost gentle compared to mine. “I did not mean for that.”
“Then what did you mean?”
“I was merely stating facts. This whole school seems to be under the impression that there is something romantic between us—”
“Who cares,as long as they don’t know the truth?” I hear my voice rising again, but I don’t tamp it down. “You basically humiliated me just for being your cover! And after I’ve had your back this entire time—”
“Only because you mean to save yourself and your friends,” he reminds me in a low tone more lethal than my loudness. “We have a symbiotic arrangement. That is the only reason you are still alive.”
“And here I thought it was because I was your Familiar.”
“Familiardoes not meanfriend. Given the deterioration of relations that took place in my day, it has become clear to me that vampires and humans should not become emotionally involved.”
“You’reprejudiced?” I ask, with a mirthless laugh. “It should be me, the human, who should not want to be friends with a vampire, not the other way around!” I feel tears burning in my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. “You’rejustlike Darcy! You feel superior to me and want credit just for letting me and other humans breathe your air. The way you treated Trevor—”
“Trevor is different,” says William, more icily than usual. “He is Legion.”
All the words I was going to fire off abandon me, and I’m left with a baffled “What?”
