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Author's Chapter Notes:
The day after the dinner at school, and a bit of embarrassment.
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.





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