every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end.

October 18th

We walk through the school building, halfway through the first term as the school buzzed with excitement at the upcoming events and the new students because in a town of this size, new students were a rarity. The clock on my wrist told me we had arrived 10 minutes later than usual. I sighed, great. Because of Lydia and her outfit that by my definition was not school appropriate, I couldn't go get help on my English paper. I didn't see why she took so long to get ready; we been in school with the same exact people since birth and there was no one new to impress.

. . . or that's what I thought up until last night when we had been seated all around the dinner table and the twins were gushing over the new gossip that had just 'hit the press', so to say. Mama had shot over the moon, as she does. Her shortness was over-compensated by her bubbly personality. It didn't help that with us being not exactly rich, but in good enough wealth, she thought that that meant the boys might take notice of us. As we walked down the hallway to our lockers, I though back on it with a roll of my eyes. Crazy woman. Just because we had money didn't mean that boys were drawn to us. I open my locker as I think back to just what was said at dinner . . .

"Mommy, did you hear?" Lydia asked over the pork. The dinner table had been covered with the usual delicacies. Mama looked up to hear what our youngest sister was talking about and being mother, she'd dropped everything to hear what the obnoxious Lydia had to say. For the twins were the gossips—and embarrassments of the family; Lydy was worse. "Apparently, the house on the top of the hill, Old Lady Netherfield's?" Mama nodded excitedly. "Well, it had finally been sold!" She squealed. I locked eyes with Papa, who sat at the head of the table, he rolled his eyes toward me in a private joke, and I giggled behind my napkin.

Papa was a good looking old fellow, I guess. His hair was speckled with gray and he wore glasses that had a silver frame. His eyes were just like mine, except a wash out version due to his 51 years. He wasn't like Charlotte's dad who had a beer belly and smelled like chips all of the time, though he was a nice enough bloke. He was in good shape for his age and for what mother put on the table. He also knew to carry himself high- he was a lawyer. It always made me wonder how Mama and Papa had gotten together.

Mama's shrill voice shook me back to the dinner table. "Do you know who bought the place?" Mama asked Lydia, but it was Kitty who answered. Kitty was 1 ½ minutes older then Lydia and was much more . . . in her place then Lydia. She was Lydy's better half, in other words.

"They are the Bingleys, all the way from Bristol, or someplace near Wales." She added onto the first of Lydy's explanation. "They have two kids, a son and daughter and two adopted kids." She looked very proud of her word of mouth.

"Word on the grapevine is their parents died and the woman who was supposed to look after them was too busy with her sick daughter." Lydy picks up another piece of pork, with her mouth already taken by the last piece that had been occupying her plate. It was quite disgusting to watch. I wasn't the thinnest at the table, which was Jane, than Mary, than Papa, than me, and then Kitty, Lydy, and stout, little Mama.

My oldest sister let out a gasp of air, "Lydia!" Jane scolded our youngest sister. "That is personal!" I reproached at the same time. It was no secret to anyone in this town that they had . . . competitions to see who could score more gossip and that included delving into people's private affairs.

Our mother ignores it. "And the names of these kids? Their grades?" In fact, I think she eggs it on behind Papa's back.

"There's Charles, or Charlie, who prefers Bingley by close friends and his twin sister Caroline. The adopted children are William Darcy, or Will, who also prefers his last name to his first and his little sister who is 2½ years younger named Georgiana, who prefers Georgie." Kitty stuck out her tongue toward Lydia. They were nothing but little stalkers! I shared a shocked look with Jane and Papa.

Mama clapped joyously, happy with the news. "Not at the dinner table, you two. Leave your teasing for after." Papa chided and they both simmered. Seriously, how did he decide to marry her?

"Where do you guys find this stuff?" Mary asked, leaving us surprised, because she usually stays out of it. Mary is what you would call the odd sister in between us all. We all have our pair, Jane and I, Lydia and Kitty, and then Mary is just there. But luckily my good friend Charlotte stayed around to keep her company.

Lydia and Kitty share smiles, it makes us all, who actually have a conscience, have the internal creeps. "Oh, just some random sources." They give us ominously and Lydia shoves another piece of the meat ungracefully into her mouth. I looked away, grossed out.

I shook my head as I put my hand in to the metal box and pulled out my algebra book and place it in my bag. I shut the door as two years of constant repetition that has been drilled into my brain automatically take over like a reflex as I link my arm through Jane's. It's reflex to nod hello to Jane's friends. It's reflex to pull out my book and read while waiting for class to begin. The time just clicks down; always going but slower it seems to me to be when I am just waiting for it to ring so I can suffer through the torture of my first period.

All around our lockers there were posters of the Fall Dance. It happened every year and this year was the year I had decided not to go, but Jane had, of course, talked me into it, so we bought our tickets and got the dresses. We didn't have dates, but at a dance like this no one really needed them. It wasn't prom, which was limited to seniors only and the dates of the seniors which could not pass the junior year. Since we lived in such a small town the dances in the fall season weren't just for high school but extended to the middle school 8th graders at Meryton Junior High.

What wasn't part of the repetitious system of the usual boring school day was that I thought I saw some boy and the actually odd thing was that I knew I haven't seen him before. This wasn't the thing where I went to school every day with this guy and finally something snapped into place and I just knew we were meant to be; this was someone I actually had never seen before- strange. I shook it off but I felt certain he was staring at me and when I looked back over my shoulder to check, he was gone. He was probably looking at Jane- the beautiful one. Wait! No. . . Oh my god! That's when everything clicked and I turned full force around, scaring Jane half to death as I pulled her with me. She even screamed a little bit, I think. Back to point, the reason I had never seen him was because he was one of the new guys. I did a mental head snap, how could I be so stupid! I replayed it my head, finding him in the crowd walking toward the library area.

They were lucky they choose to start on a Friday. To me it was the best day of the week. Jane, personally loved Tuesday's. With Jane, friend of everyone in her bright colors, you couldn't help but love her. She said nothing bad about anyone, an angel, to an extent. Then you had me, in browns, black, blues, and beige usually; perfectly fine with my book. I let Jane turn me back around as I come down from my thoughts, the warning bell ringing out around us. She walks me to class, promising to walk me to next hour like we have done every year since I started sixth grade.

I sat in math class, listening to Coach Wills, who was currently droning on and on about the newest way to solve variables. As if the twenty-two other ways were helpful. I think sarcastically to myself as I read a book in the back corner of class. It was hard though to keep the thoughts on a sentence which I read once and then again and now I was just staring at the page as I kept thinking about the guy I saw in hall. I hadn't really reflected on it, except for the few moments in the hall, until I actually thought about it. He was cute, handsome even. With his hair close to black, he would definitely be one of the guys every girl drooled after. His eyes were the color of a jade. I wonder what he is like.

"Miss Bennet?"I look up out of my book to see his and every other set of eyes in the class room on me. "Ah, now that I have your attention, care to tell me how to find the problems x?" I look at the equation on the smart board and guess that you had to FOIL it by the way it had been set up. That Part I got right, but then I had to combine it with another set of numbers and became helplessly lost in it. History and English are my strong suits. I can ace those with flying-freaking-colors, but math class: just shoot me now. Jane is passing with straight A's and I'm barely keeping up with a B in this class. He moved on once it was clear that I had no idea what I was doing and I went back to my book. I think he regrets calling on me.

My computer class was after this and I was very good in that class, mostly because my computer and I are almost as attached as Jane and I were. All classes I had an A in all except for Algebra II. I looked at my book and back at the board, deciding now would be a good time to get out my notebook and copy down as much as I could if I didn't want to flunk this term. Trying to get caught back up with notes he was writing at 20 mp/h was not easy. He wrote them down so fast that I wondered how he thought any of us would keep up.

But thankfully, the bell finally rang and we copied down our assignment. Jane was waiting outside the door, like she promised and we began the trek to the library. She leans close and says into my ear: "Sister, I think you are going to fail math." I laugh.

"Thank you captain obvious." Sarcasm drips off of my tongue in a playful manner. It's then that I see him again. He leaves the library right when we are to enter. Pushing the door open as I go to pull, I jump back. He looks startled too. "Sorry," he apologizes and his voice is a rich tone, very . . . complementing. He holds the door for us.

"No problem." I reply, turning to Jane, with a hug. "See you." I turn to enter the library where the computer waits for me. She nods with a smile. "See you later, Lizzie!" Then walks away once again. I bow my head at the guy, and then turn around into the library. Certainly one of the new guys.