Chapter One.

Elizabeth stepped off the slippery wet ramp leading down from the large ship that had been the bane of her existence for the last few weeks. Sighing, she smoothed her coat out over her dress, bent down to rub some shine in her boots, stood up straight again and surveyed her surroundings.

London was the last place she wanted to stay in, but since the death of her parents, that she hardly saw anyway, she knew she probably wouldn't see Ireland again for as long as she lived. Elizabeth straightened her beret and waited as the man with the list called out the names of the orphans that needed to be retrieved. She had enough time to bide, she was basically in the middle of the list. She could have positively died if her name was at the bottom of the list. She never enjoyed waiting for
anyone or anything. Being rich granted her the access to whatever she wanted, when she wanted.

Looking around her once more, she noted that London was rather drab and lacking in colour. At least her large home had been a brilliant white and extensively decorated throughout. She was very vexed at the fact that
she couldn't stay in Ireland, but no one had the time for her and she couldn't access her own money until she turned twenty-one or entered wed lock.

She began to wander through the docks, taking her sweet time, dragging her large trunk behind her on a small, rugged trolley. She adjusted the bright red bow on her coat and started to fidget with the buttons. Now she was getting annoyed. She really hated waiting. She was thankful, however when the podgy, shiny faced man called out her name and a nervous looking man, adorned in a pin-stripe suit, oiled back hair and glasses rushed up to her, holding out his hand for the trunk. "I shall be taking Elizabeth with me, thank you very much. Yes, yes I am her second cousin. No I do not have any papers with me, I was in a hurry. Oh what do you care anyway? You probably couldn't care less what happens to any of these children when they leave, as long as they leave. Yes, good day to you sir."

Elizabeth looked at the man with a bewildered expression on her face. This man could certainly talk his hind leg off a mule, as she had heard John, the stable boy say one day. The man scurried off, the trunk in tow and Elizabeth not far behind. It hadn't been three minutes until he started talking again.

"Now, my name is Wesley. You will remember this, it's rude when people don't,"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at this. It was common sense to remember names. You'd have to be a simple peasant to just forget.

"I understand your name is Elizabeth and you are fifteen, correct? You're very small for your age. You look almost twelve,"

ALMOST twelve? Elizabeth seethed with anger. Oh, so it was completely uncouth for one to forget someone's name, but all together it doesn't matter what
you say about a person? This man certainly had some strange upbringings.

"You will be living with me for however long it takes for you to get married, or until you turn twenty-one. You will then receive some of your inheritance to become an old maid if you really feel you must. I am not rich, I work at a local library for a man named Rupert Giles. You will be meeting him tonight, a dinner will be held in the honor of your arrival," he paused to load the trunk onto the carriage for a great deal of time. He certainly wasn't very strong, noted Elizabeth. Before she had time to fully process her thoughts, he started up again.

"You will have a maid, that much I can grant you, and your own room in the house. Your maid's name is Ruth. You will start school tomorrow, I can't have a child around the house with nothing to do. It is simply not a house made for young women. That's about all I have to say. I am in an awful rush and.. Goodness, Elizabeth, get into the carriage. I know this is a lot to take in but you simply must hurry. I'm not this rude, usually, I assure you, it's just been rough lately. Driver, go."

Well, how.. eventful thought Elizabeth as the movement of the carriage slowly rocked her to sleep.

Chapter Two.

After an evening of Wesley and Rupert chortling away at jokes that only the two of them could understand, a boy about her age named William with a mischievious twinkle in his eyes started following Elizabeth throughout the house.

Elizabeth wasn't usually one to confront someone on a matter, but this boy was beginning to try her very last nerves.
Whirling around, to meet his face, Elizabeth straightened her hair and said, "What do you want?" 'Well, not exactly my best words I have come up with', she thought to herself.

William didn't answer, he simply cocked his head to the side and grinned. Elizabeth placed her hands on her hips and glared. So this boy wanted to challenge her?
He could grin and she could glare. Neither of them would prevail at this game.
William was just about as stubborn as Elizabeth, and he knew deep down that this girl was just like a boy. He knew that he could get her to crack, and join in on the fun. He also thought she was rather handsome. He wouldn't admit that, though.
Not even on his deathbed would he mention the likes of the girl in front of him. It would ruin his reputation.

"William Edward Giles, darling, come here!" shrieked a feminine voice.

William groaned inwardly. His mother, Anne Giles a very lavish woman was always one to spoil his fun. She coddled him too much, made him into a prized china doll of hers, she didn't really love him anyway. He was just another thing for her shelf.

Anne was a small, plump little thing with rosy cheeks and long hair that curled around the ends. She wore large, frivalous dresses no matter what the occasion and spent
from the moment she woke up until noon preparing herself for the day. William was always embarrassed to be in her presence. She was like a pony putting herself on display. She almost reminded him of the mother in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin. Although, he would never admit he had read such a book.

He did love her, though. Of course he did, she wasn't mean to him even if she did scold him.

Of course, he wouldn't admit this even if someone made him reveal all of his secrets in exchange for saving someone's life.


"WILLIAM!" her voice had risen about five octaves and the sound of skirts could be heard coming down the hall.
William sighed and bowed at Elizabeth, who was watching the boy's inner turmoil with amusement.

"Till we meet again, fair lady." and with that William
Giles grinned and bounced lightly away, hiding from his mother with amazing grace.

"Oh, it's you." Anne said with a slight air of disdain. She reached for her fan and fluttered it lightly over each of her cheeks. Clicking her tongue, she rearranged her hair and looked Elizabeth up and down.

"Where is my William? I have a new hat for him that he simply MUST try on. It is absolutely DEVINE. Oh, but
I don't suppose you have seen him though, have you? He seems to be ever so wonderful at hiding. If he spent nearly as much studying as he did avoiding conflict but getting into it all the same, he would be the most intelligent boy I have ever had the pleasure of knowing." said Mrs Giles, rather proudly that she could produce such a child.

Elizabeth just stared dumbly at the woman. She was a peacock, that was for sure.

"Oh, are you a mute? Deary me, that is most unfortunate. What will the children say? Au revoir, darling!" and on that note, she scurried off with much less grace than her son.

Elizabeth turned around to watch Anne waddle away, mouth agape.
"Londoners are awful queer," Elizabeth said quietly off into the emptiness as she usually did when she was getting her usual thoughts. "I do believe I will never be bored while I am living here."

Chapter Three.

Elizabeth awoke to the sound of muttering and the occasional clang. It took her a few moments to realize that she was in a house just outside of busy London. 'Great, so it wasn't just a dream.' she thought to herself warily, rubbing a good night's worth of sleep out of her eyes. She must have made a noise because a tiny girl around Elizabeth's age scurried over towards her and propped up her pillows.

"Ahh Miss Elizabeth. You are awake at last. Me name's Ruth, and I am your maid." Ruth, as her name was said, rushing over to the tiny stove in Elizabeth's room and removing another pot of hot water. "I'm just preparing your bath. Master Wesley has instructed that you bathe at least twice a week and of course today you shall be bathing because it is your first day of school! I know it is all so sudden, are you nervous, Miss Elizabeth?" Ruth said as she tested the water in Elizabeth's bath and placed a large scrappy looking piece of fabric on the chair next to the bath.

"What on Earth is that on the chair, and why are you talking to me as if I have known you for more than ten years?" Elizabeth demanded. Ruth confused Elizabeth. She was rather motherly, and she was just a little taller than her. She had small brown eyes and red lips that made Elizabeth cry with envy. She wanted lips that colour! How annoying it was for her to have to apply rouge to them whenever she left the house.

Ruth just giggled at Elizabeth's demands for answers and replied simply, "It is a towel, Miss Elizabeth. You dry yourself with it, you goose. I call everyone Master Wesley knows by their first names because Master Wesley believes that it shows more respect to talk to someone with their given name, ma'am."

Ruth pulled a fuming Elizabeth out of bed by her arm and over to the bath. She removed her night gown and nudged her towards her bath. She had never felt more violated in her life. First of all, she did know what a towel was and she didn't appreciate being called a goose. She found it highly disrespectful that a simple maid should find it right to call her so. Secondly, maids always called their mistresses and masters by their last names, and they said it with respect. Elizabeth was down right offended.

Ruth wasn't silly, however, she sensed Elizabeth's discomfort and said, "Oh calm yourself, Miss. You're not an aristocrat anymore, and I doubt you will be for quite some time. You are a middle class woman and it will be best for you if you remember so. Children at the local schools in small towns do not take lightly to other children who find it in them to think they're better than them."

"You sound educated." Elizabeth said simply, washing herself quietly as Ruth rummaged around for an outfit for Elizabeth to wear.

"Oh, of course I am. I may be poor but my father had always made sure I talked correctly, and learned to read. He was quite a proud poor man. He said he'd rather I was a beggar with nice manners who would possibly get money or food every few nights than a beggar with poor regard for the English language who would be frowned upon." Ruth stated proudly. "Ah!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Either of these will do nicely," she held up two dresses for Elizabeth to inspect. "The black one, or the brown one?"

Elizabeth sniffed in disgust. Those weren't her dresses. Those were ill-fashioned children's dresses from goodness only knows where. "Neither of those will
do nicely."

Ruth frowned at Elizabeth and jiggled the black one a little bit. "You seem to have plenty of ribbons, and a perfectly fine straw hat in your trunk. Perhaps you can dress the dress up a little?" Ruth giggled at her own play on the English language and placed the black dress on the end of Elizabeth's bed.

Elizabeth would only ever wear black dresses while she was in mourning. She wasn't mourning, she had worn black on the ship quite enough. She was glad to see the back of the bland shade. Elizabeth reached for the thin scrap of material on the chair and pulled herself out of the bath. Once she had finished drying, she ordered Ruth to leave her be so she could dress. Ruth was right, if she was going to wear this awful thing, she could at least dress it up.

By the time Elizabeth was finished with her dress, she was rather happy with it. She had found a nice pair of boots beside her trunk and had cleaned them up
nicely. Her fashionable coat disguised the hideous dress, and her straw hat was decorated with a pale pink bow which complimented her complexion. She had left her long, blonde tresses down because she didn't care much for the latest fashion in hairstyles as it was, she thought it looked rather silly. Staring herself up and down in her mirror, she nodded approvingly and walked out into the hall. She assumed, out of common knowledge it was time for breakfast now so she headed for the dining room.

Wesley was scurrying about in a complete fluster, letting out tiny whimpers of "oh dear!" and "oh my!" while flinging a book around exasperatingly.

"What are you doing?" Elizabeth asked so silently, she wasn't even sure if she had said anything at all.

Wesley dropped his book and turned to look at Elizabeth. "Why, this is certainly a change, isn't it? Ruth told me you could speak, and William Giles said
you could, also but I didn't think it was true!" Wesley feigned horror but quickly stopped when he noticed his charge glaring at him.

"Oh, yes well I was.. uhh. There has been a page ripped out in this book. Naturally, I would say it was an accident, but it was here yesterday. I would blame William, but Rupert's so quick to defend his son when I accuse something. Anyway, breakfast has been served. Be quick about it, I must go into the library and you must be off to school." on that note, Wesley hurried out of the room, muttering something about odd little boys with even weirder little mothers. Elizabeth couldn't help herself from smiling.

After breakfast was said and done, Wesley and Elizabeth hopped into the buggy. Wesley eagerly, and Elizabeth with no hidden annoyance. Wesley told her to cheer up a little bit and said that she would be meeting new friends and could have some chums to visit once and a while, but under no circumstances was she to court with anyone unless they had reached his approval. He was such a father sometimes. Elizabeth couldn't understand why he hadn't become a father in reality.

The carriage stopped off at the town house school and Wesley gave Elizabeth an awkward pat on the head, or straw hat in her case, and said he was really in a hurry and would love to stay and help her but really couldn't. Elizabeth, out of scorn kicked at the dusty road and got her boots dirty. "So much for polishing them. Now it looks as though I've walked to school and there isn't a doubt these children know just how far away I live." she muttered angrily.

Elizabeth noted that most of the children seemed pretty happy to be waltzing into school, she couldn't understand it herself. Just having a tutor was enough to make her want to throw her slates at the walls. The school house wasn't so bad, it was quite elegant, or so she thought. For such a place of torture it seemed to be rather well presented. It had two floors, one possibly for the younger children and the other for the elder children. The banisters on the outside steps were painted red, a harsh but respectable colour and it looked elegant on the inside. She was really quite confused.

The handbell signalled the start of school, she assumed and she waited by the teacher's desk, as Wesley had instructed her to do. A kind, dark haired woman walked in, said good morning to the class and sat down. She looked at Elizabeth, smiled gently and said, "Oh, good morning. I trust you're a new student. May I have your name to add to the class attendance list, please?"

Elizabeth refrained from gawking at the teacher and nodded, "Elizabeth O'Connor." she said simply.

The teacher marm nodded and spoke again, "My name is Winifred Burkle. I am of course, your teacher. Where are you from?"

Elizabeth flushed, slightly. Admitting she was from Dublin wouldn't be that great amongst her fellow pupils. Clearing her throat delicately as she had seen some women do, she replied "Dublin, Ireland, Miss Burkle. I'm staying with Wesley.." she cut herself off and grew wide-eyed. Of all the things she had been taught to remember, the last name was the most important and she had just forgotten Wesley's. She snapped out of it and noticed that Miss Burkle was blushing profusely. Someone had a yearning for Welsey, it seemed.

Miss Burkle cleared her throat also delicately and looked up at Elizabeth. "Yes, yes of course. Well I am afraid for today, you are going to be sitting next to William Giles as no one else appears to want to sit next to him right now."

Elizabeth looked over at William who was leaning back slightly on his chair, with a twinkle in his eye and a grin from ear to ear. Sitting next to him wasn't a bad thing,
was it? He was just a boy her age. She could deal with it.
Elizabeth moved slowly and sat next to William. She wasn't happy, that was for sure.

William was happy, that was for sure. He had the girl he had been thinking about all night next to him. He'd make sure she stayed there, and that was certain. He had to get this girl to crack, the boys in his class had been brought up too proper, and the one boy who was naughty, Riley Finn was William's sworn enemy. Riley was another kid who had come from Ireland, but mainly because his father had been exempt from the military in Ireland and wanted to escape the shame. Of course, William wasn't sure this was the reason why, but he just loved to think that Riley's family was cowardly. He spotted Riley glance appreciatively towards William's new project and gave him a mean look. Riley would keep his paws off this girl, even if they were both Irish.

Leaning his chair towards Elizabeth, William whispered, "'Ello, Goldilocks." prodding her in the arm gently.
Elizabeth brushed him off and said, "Pig."

William grinned. There was fire in this girl yet.

Elizabeth was almost ready to pitch the boy next to her in the face. He was constantly making wise cracks at Miss Burkle, and she could just tell that Winifred was getting more than slightly flustered at William's antics. At one point, William had pulled a worm out of his pocket and placed it delicately over Elizabeth's slate whilst she was busy making moon eyes at Riley Finn. Of course William was angry, so he just had to do it. Elizabeth had let out a dignified squeak, jumped back and glared at William. Who of course was laughing his head off.

Elizabeth picked up the worm and threw it in William's face. To Riley's delight. Around noon all of the children were excused from class for lunchtime out in the quaintly manicured garden around the back of the school. William wouldn't leave Elizabeth's side and Riley continued to watch from afar.

When Elizabeth had finally accepted William's presence and had sat down to begin rummaging through her basket for her lunch, Riley lumbered over with a giant
smile on his face. Elizabeth, who of course found Riley to be rather cute, squealed and dropped her basket. Riley, attempting to be a gentleman picked it up for her and grinned down at her.

"Hello, Miss O'Connor. I'm Riley Finn. William." he said with a slight glare.
William glared back at Riley.

Elizabeth flushed and smiled at Riley. "Hello. You're from Ireland too?"

Riley smiled proudly and said, "I am! I came here last year. Well, anyway, I better be going. It was nice to meet you." and with that Riley lumbered away again.

Elizabeth reached for an apple in her bag and glanced at William who was glaring at the back of Riley. "You don't like him much, do you?"

William looked at Elizabeth, who was trying, and failing to find a way to eat her apple in a lady-like fashion. "Can't say I do, no."

Elizabeth took a small bite out of her apple, swallowed and turned back to William. "Do you actually like anybody in this school?"

William looked thoughtful for a moment then said, "You."

However, his words were drowned out by cheering from Riley's group. Elizabeth, completely oblivious to what William had just quietly revealed watched the group of people carefully. They were playing a game of "Authors" that they had learned about in Little Women and wanted to put it to the test. A girl with alarmingly red hair was narrating with fervor. Elizabeth longed to a part of their group, she had never had a real friend before, and William wasn't exactly the best company for her. He was so rude!

William, on the other hand was thinking just how rude Elizabeth was being. She had completely ignored him! He supposed she didn't hear him as he barely heard himself when he said it, but he was feeling very sorry for himself. He'd rather blame her than blame himself. He hated having to take the blame. He noticed she was staring longingly at a few girls and decided to introduce her to them from afar.

"Miss O'Connor?" he said gently. When she looked at him he said, "I couldn't help noticing that you were staring at those people over there so longingly as if they were a tasty plum cake."

Elizabeth looked at him strangely. What the devil was a plum cake?

William continued, "The dark skinned girl with the dark hair is Cordelia Chase, she is very well to do, but I would imagine her father lies about his taxes. The red-haired girl is Willow Rosenberg. She is strangely enthusiastic for a girl with her hair colour. The boy next to her is Alexander Harris, but he prefers if people call him Xander. Couldn't tell you why, I think he's a stupid whelp. The blonde one is Harmony Kendall, Cordelia's friend and of course, you've met Riley." he said with a scowl.

"Why are you being nice to me all of a sudden?" Elizabeth asked curiously. "Are you up to something?"

William looked Elizabeth in the eyes and said, "I know how it feels to be left out." Elizabeth actually looked into William's eyes and realised just how blue they were. 'He's almost.. handsome.' she thought to herself. Gulping, she shook her head mentally. No, William was bad-mannered at the best of times and even naughtier at the worst. Riley Finn, on the other hand was gentle, polite and rather sturdy.

"..I.. I have to go uh.. clean slates." William said and skipped away.

Elizabeth decided then and there that William was even weirder than she thought.

After lunch, the children all filed back into the classroom and sat in their previous seats. Elizabeth noted the absence of William next to her but shrugged it off. The red-haired girl approached Elizabeth's desk and greeted her for the first time, "I'm Willow Rosenberg. I'd like it if we could be friends, perhaps?"
Elizabeth glanced around, to make sure she wasn't being set up.
"Oh, I suppose so."
Willow smiled and sat down next to a small girl with long, light brown hair. The girl glanced at Elizabeth, smiled and turned back to talk to Willow.

Miss Burkle arrived and told the class to quiet down, checking each seat to make sure all of the children were present.
"Where's William Giles?"

Elizabeth glanced at the seat next to her and sighed.

"He's probably writing his dreadful poems again, Miss Burkle." said a dark-haired girl at the back of the class. Her hair was rather curly, and her eyes were rather large. She disturbed Elizabeth a great deal.

"Cecily Abrahms, that is enough. His poetry just needs more.. direction." responded Winifred awkwardly.

Parker Abrahms, a completely different contrast against his sister, with dishevelled brown hair and faux innocent looking eyes decided to put in his opinion,
"I think you'll find his poems are bloody awful, no amount of direction will fix them."

A series of giggles erupted through the class and Elizabeth frowned. So the boy was a little annoying, there wasn't any need to be cruel to him behind his back.
Elizabeth might not agree with most of the things he did as she was raised differently, but there was something deeper to him than his little pranks and crude conversation skills. He was quite educated behind the village idiot mask he wore. Elizabeth noticed that Riley was also laughing, and she decided that perhaps he wasn't as wonderful as she had originally thought.

When the class had finally settled down, a very grim looking William walked into class and plopped down next to Elizabeth, burying his face in his arms on the desk.
William had heard everything the Abrahms siblings had said through the door when he'd taken to hiding in the hall just outside the class. He was hurt, to say the least and his ego was fairly battered, something he was used to. He guessed Elizabeth had probably laughed at him, too.

Elizabeth, however, hadn't laughed and felt a great deal of sorrow for the boy who was only a little bit bigger than her sitting next to her. He had lost that twinkle in his eyes, she realized, when he had walked in and she thought that he had perhaps heard what the children had said about him.

Elizabeth wrote, in a perfect hand across her slate, "I didn't laugh, William." and handed it to him.

William lifted himself up off the desk and looked at the slate and wrote back in a perfect hand, "Thank you." a ghost of a smile graced his features and he returned the slate to the owner.

'Well,' he thought. 'there's a start.'

Chapter Five.

Elizabeth got into Wesley's horse drawn car late after school had finished. He apparently had to work late at the library and couldn't pick her up any earlier. Soon after they had started off on the road, Elizabeth had fallen asleep, primly propped up against Wesley's shoulder. Wesley smiled down at his charge, children he was sure, weren't really his thing but something about this one softened his heart. Someone else in particular did, too, but that brought a blush to his cheeks just to think about it.

When they arrived back at the house, Wesley gently nudged Elizabeth awake and notified her that they would be having dinner at Giles' house and that she should dress nicely. Wesley didn't mention that the two men had chuckled between themselves about how Wesley's niece twice removed, or however he was related to her and Rupert's son would find themselves together at some stage.

Elizabeth, smiling to herself, walked into the house and headed for her room. Ruth was stoking the small fire in the corner and she looked up at grinned at Elizabeth. "Hello Miss Elizabeth, did you have a good day with your studies?"

Elizabeth nodded absently as she inspected each of the dresses in her trunk. She had to look nice, she wouldn't admit to herself why exactly. She kept telling herself it was just to help make Wesley look presentable, but she knew just as well as Ruth did, who was now watching her with an unhidden amusement that this wasn't the reason she wanted to look pretty.

Finally, brandishing the dress she wanted to wear the most, she pulled it out and held it up to herself. It was a light blue with a modest broach attached to the collar. It had just the right amount of frills and ribbons without being too formal. Ruth nodded and giggled at Elizabeth's choice and was ushered out in a flurry so Elizabeth could put it on in silence.

A good while later, when Elizabeth was satisfied with the way she looked, she went outside into the hallway for Ruth's inspection.

"You look beautiful, Miss Elizabeth. I'm sure William will appreciate the effort you've put in." Ruth said with a wink.

Elizabeth blushed as Ruth scurried away to clean up Elizabeth's trunk of dresses. She tried to stammer an answer but ended up getting flustered and stamping
her boot on the hard wood floor. She started grumbling, "Pff. She doesn't know what she's talking about. Silly girl." Elizabeth scurried down the hall to meet Wesley, cheeks burning red. She fluttered her hands over here cheeks to take away the blush and ended up bumping straight into Wesley himself.

"Oh dear! Sorry, Elizabeth but you really must watch where you're.. fluttering." he said kindly.

"Oh yes, I'm sorry. I was worlds away!"

"Well, we must leave now, Elizabeth. I was just coming to collect you. You do look lovely tonight, if may say so." Wesley really did think she looked great, he couldn't say whether she had done it to make him look good, or to impress William.

A few minutes later, Wesley and Elizabeth were on their way to the Giles' house for tea and conversation.

By the time they arrived at the Giles' house, Elizabeth was beside herself with nerves. Did she look silly? Could she have done with less primping?

Wesley helped her out of the carriage and walked her up to the front door. The house was pleasant and quite.. large? How on Earth could a librarian afford that? Perhaps his wife gave him a large dowry when they were married, Elizabeth reasoned with herself.

Wesley knocked on the door and Rupert Giles threw the door open with enthusiasm, "Oh thank God," Elizabeth gasped and hid her face, she was quite religious when she felt like it. Rupert threw Elizabeth an apologetic but annoyed glance and she calmed down. "William's driving me up the wall, Wesley. I am so glad you arrived when you did, his questions were beginning to become rather awkward, to say the least."

Rupert ushered the pair inside and brought them into the sitting room for drinks. Anne was flitting around handing out orders this way and that, and William was torturing the family cat with a makeshift slingshot he had put together just recently. As soon as William noticed Elizabeth, his breath caught in his throat and his eyes began to twinkle more. Looking down sheepishly at his childish device, he threw it under a nearby couch and grinned.

Wesley and Rupert exchanged glances and smiled knowingly, settling themselves down for another one of their long, men only conversations. Anne studied
Elizabeth over the rim of her glass, narrowing her eyes and sniffing every now and then. There was something about this girl, she just had to know everything about her. The local women were already gossiping, and she just HAD to have the lead news about her before all of them got to it.

The Giles' servant came in announcing that dinner was ready, and the party transferred to the dining room. William continued to glance at Elizabeth slyly and Anne continued to fidget in her seat. She just had to know something. When desert was being served, Anne decided her chance would be now, seeing as Elizabeth was currently happily eating her ice-cream.

"Ahem," Anne cleared her throat and looked towards Elizabeth expectantly. Elizabeth, who had felt a set of eyes on her looked up and noticed Anne waiting for her to say something. "If I may ask this, and I shall, Elizabeth, how did your parents die?"

Elizabeth, who had a spoonful of ice-cream in her mouth choked most un lady-like and dropped her spoon.

"Good grief!" exclaimed Rupert, "Must you have so little tact?"

Anne made a shushing motion at her husband with her hand, ignoring him and continuing to wait for an answer from her guest.

"Well, I uhh. It was a terrible accident, you see." Elizabeth looked at Wesley, silently begging him for help but he sent his own plea back that there was no getting out of this.

"Yes, yes, I know. Everyone knows. We just don't know how." Anne said impatiently.

William glanced sympathetically at Elizabeth, he knew how tough his mother could be on some people. "They.. they were.. umm. Killed by.. an enemy of my father's business." Elizabeth said quickly and looked down, tears shining in her eyes.

"Oh, how scandalous!" cried Anne and clapped her hands together excitedly. Anne noticed her husband glaring at her and added, "and very, very terrible."

Elizabeth plonked her napkin on the table and rushed out of the room, and out of the house. She made it to the side of the carriage before she collapsed on the ground and began to sob. She hadn't grieved once for her parents' death outside of her fashion choices, and as much as they filandered around, she still loved them. They were never cruel to her.

Back inside the three adults were argueing amongst each other, Anne's voice rising higher than the two the men were speaking with. William frowned, realised
he wasn't needed to defend her honour as two men were already doing so and ran outside to find his Elizabeth. Well, not his, but he'd like her to be. Someday.
He found her sobbing uncontrollably next to the carriage and he felt his heart ache a little bit. He might be a bit of a git to everyone at school but he never enjoyed seeing a girl cry.

Kneeling down beside her, he attempted to tap into his other, sensitive half of him to try to comfort Elizabeth. Pulling her gently into his arms, he let her cry it out then picked her up carefully, placing her inside the carriage.

Elizabeth tried to protest, but it was rather comforting and she'd rather not have to move at all. She didn't know if she could face talking to anyone right now. She had been so humiliated because of William's mother and didn't think she could ever show her face anywhere ever again. She knew she'd be the talk of the gossip group in no time, if only for a short time and this made her feel quite awful.

William whispered, "We all grieve sometimes, pet." and closed the carriage door. Elizabeth smiled in spite of herself, feeling comforted knowing that boys cry too, and drifted off to sleep while waiting for Wesley.

Wesley found William waiting patiently by the door of the carriage and he smiled gratefully at William. "Thank you, you're not so bad when you're not being a complete bother."

William chuckled and his eyes twinkled mischieviously. "Few people are worth the bother being good to." He said as he jumped away in his usual fashion, disappearing off into the night.

Smiling, Wesley hopped in across from Elizabeth and they drove off back to the comfort of home.

Chapter Six.

The morning after the somewhat disastrous dinner at Rupert's house, Elizabeth woke up feeling red-eyed and puffy. She remembered being slightly awake when Wesley carried her back into her room. She looked down at noticed she was still in her frivolous dress. She vowed never to wear the thing for as long as she lived.

William had been different last night, he was his naughty self when she arrived, but he'd changed to suit the mood. She doubted many people really noticed how he changed between personas.

Ruth was at Elizabeth at once with a wet scrap of fabric and began to wash her face. She didn't say anything, she knew what Elizabeth was like without really knowing her. She wouldn't want to talk about it right now. Elizabeth smiled gratefully at Ruth and sleepily wandered to the bath. When she was done, Ruth left as usual and Elizabeth set about trying to find a dress that was nice but wouldn't look silly.

Eventually she settled on a simple black dress with elegant lace. At least she didn't look too sad or depressed. She bid her farewell to Ruth and walked to
the dining room to meet Wesley. She didn't know that her guardian was still fuming angry about Anne's display. The woman had always pushed the moment too far and ended up hurting someone. She liked her fanciful gossip and she didn't really mind too much how she came about with getting it, as long as she got it. Elizabeth found him frowning over his coffee, reading Macbeth. Elizabeth couldn't help but smile, the guy was a complete book worm, especially with his coffee in the morning.

Wesley looked up and noticed that Elizabeth looked quite worn out. "Oh, Elizabeth. I apologise about Mrs. Giles. She really doesn't know how to treat people on a good day as it is, she had no right to say what she did, though. I don't care if I'm used to her flamboyant ways. She has to realise that not everyone can tolerate her, and I'm going on about something you possibly don't even want to give a fig about ever again." He fiddled with his glasses and
pushed his book aside. "We'll leave for the school soon."

Elizabeth gave him a genuine smile that almost reached her eyes. "It's perfectly fine, Mr. Wesley. There's nothing that can be done about it. She is who she is. Besides, I haven't cried like that since Hazelnut, my pony died. Even then, I was only nine."

Wesley smiled at her attempts to lighten the atmosphere and grabbed his book and Elizabeth by the arm and led her outside.

Elizabeth wasn't really glad to be back at school, most of the children were very disagreeable and she didn't care for the way they talked about people. Willow seemed all right, though, and William had more depth to him than his childish appearance.

Elizabeth spotted William and caught his eye. She smiled delicately and waved girlishly. Before he could walk over and greet her, Cecily Abrahms and her friend Harmony Kendall stepped into the picture.

"Oh hello, Elizabeth. Isn't it just a beautiful day? So bright, and cheerful. A complete contrast to the night when your parents were killed, I suppose. I am willing to believe it was a storm, wasn't it? Perfectly tragic and oh so heroic. Like something out of a woman's magazine literature column. Oh and of course we've heard all about it, haven't we Harmy? Anne is such an informative woman. Did you know that Anne is dying of consumption? Yes, it's perfectly dreadful. Seems you and William have so much in common." Cecily sniggered, Harmony giggled and they walked away, quite pleased with themselves.

William had heard every word Cecily had said and was staring at Elizabeth, mouth agape. How could anyone say that to her, and how did they know his mother was ill? She hadn't told anyone, had she? She was far too proud.

Elizabeth ran up to William and hugged him tightly. He was momentarily stunned until he hugged her back.

Elizabeth drew back quickly and looked at William with wide eyes. "Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry. That was terribly improper of me."

William chuckled in spite of the situation and smiled down at the slip of a girl in front of him. "Improper people need hugs too." he said impishly, winking and he hurried off into the school house.
Elizabeth huffed and followed after him. They'd have to talk about his mother some other time, the fact that he was avoiding it meant he wasn't quite ready
to tell all.

Miss Burkle announced to the class that day that for their poetry segment of the term they would be studying Edgar Allen Poe's the Tell-Tale Heart. Of course William would be excited. Secretly, obviously because he'd never admit to actually reading poetry, even if they did all know he wrote it sometimes. Elizabeth was doing a happy dance inside her head, this was the only poem she had ever liked because it was just so haunting.

Winifred made each child in the class read a verse each, when it came to Elizabeth's turn she was already quite into the poem. She got up out of her seat as she had noticed all of the other children had done that lesson and began to recite. By the end of her verse she got down on one knee on the floor, raised her arms above her head and yelled, "I admit the deed! I admit the deed!"

She suddenly became aware of everybody in the class watching her, which was followed by an uproar of laughter. William couldn't help but laughing, too. She was full of surprises it seemed. Elizabeth blushed prettily, coughed daintily and sat back down in her place. William nudged her and whispered, "wouldn't figure you for a Poe fan, pet."
Elizabeth pitched him on the arm. "Just the one."

Smiling to himself, William turned his eyes back to the front of the class.