I started wiping down the counter and cleaning up the tables. There were only a few customers in the seating area, nobody I recognized. I practically had the orders of the Sunday afternoon regulars memorized so at least tonight would be a nice change of pace.

"Elizabeth?" I looked up to find Colin studying me.

"Oh, hey, Colin. What can I get for you?" I walked over to the counter and tried to look busy so I wouldn't be stuck in a conversation with him.

"I didn't think you worked on Sunday nights."

"I had to trade shifts."

"How nice of you. I figured there had to be a reason. You seem to be someone with a disciplined schedule, which I greatly admire. How was your weekend?"

"Good ... yours?"

He studied the blackboard menu for a few moments. "It was very pleasant. Thank you for asking."

"No problem. Can I get you something?"

Colin placed his order after what seemed like an hour's deliberation. As I steamed the milk for his latte, I couldn't help but feel he was studying my every move. I wasn't the kind of girl that thought every guy was checking her out, but Colin's gaze seemed to linger over me.

"Here you go," I said as I handed him his order, hoping there was enough finality in my tone to end the conversation.

"Wonderful. Thank you, Elizabeth."

I smiled and began to wipe down the espresso machine, even though it was already clean. Colin eventually got the hint and left.

"Tara," said one of the few remaining customers from a nearby table, "I don't know how you deal with those Pemberley guys."

"As I recall," Tara replied, "you were once a Pemberley guy, Wick."

I hadn't noticed this guy before, which was surprising since he was very cute with his short, dirty-blond hair and hazel eyes.

He laughed. "Well, I did get kicked out. You can't really count that against me."

Tara motioned toward me. "You better be careful what you say -- Lizzie here is a Longbourn girl."

He got up from his seat and approached the counter. "A Longbourn girl working at the Java Junction?"

"Make that Longbourn scholarship girl," I corrected.

He smiled warmly at me and extended his hand. "Longbourn scholarship girl, former Pemberley scholarship boy."

I shook his hand. "Pleased to meet you. Elizabeth Bennet, but you can call me by my commoner name: Lizzie."

"Ah, George Wickham, but my friends call me Wick. So, obviously, at Pemberley everybody called me George."

"A Pemberley scholarship boy? I thought such things were an urban legend."

He laughed. "True, true. We're a rare breed. More difficult to spot than Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster."

"Wick here is the rarest of rare," Tara said. "He's a townie who made it through Pemberley's gates."

"Wait a second." I looked at him suspiciously. "The esteemed Pemberley institution would let in ... a local? The scandal!"

"Yes, oddly enough, it didn't rain frogs. It was the strangest thing." He had an easy laugh about him, very different from any guy I'd met here. I instantly liked him.

"I know. All the girls in my dorm are convinced I'm single-handedly bringing the apocalypse to Longbourn."

"And by apocalypse, you mean noncouture outfits?"

"Wow. You really did go to Pemberley. Only a Pemberley boy would know what 'couture' means."

He nodded his head and blushed. "You caught me. You can kick the boy out of Pemberley ..."

"You really got kicked out?"

He grimaced. "Yeah, I guess there is only so much charity one school is able to give...."

"Or scholarship students that can be tolerated."

"I see you're a quick study." He winked at me. I noticed that he had cute dimples when he smiled.

I could feel my pulse quicken. I didn't even notice when the bell signaled the front door opening. Wick looked over to see who it was. Once he did, he suddenly tensed up, his entire demeanor changing.

I turned around to see Darcy staring at us with a look of utter contempt on his face.

Wick abruptly left the counter and returned to his seat. Darcy's eyes followed him the entire time, his jaw clenched tightly. Wick picked up his book and turned away so Darcy couldn't see his face.

"Can I get you something?" I asked coldly.

Darcy jerked back to life. For an instant he looked at me as if I had somehow betrayed him. He shook his head and his stoic facade returned to his face. "Um, yes." His eyes darted back to Wick again. "I guess I'll have a large decaf, please."

There was something about the former scholarship boy that had rattled Darcy. Which made me like Wick even more.

I handed Darcy his coffee and rang him up. Before he left, he hesitated for a moment. "How late are you working tonight?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Depends. Why?"

He began to play with the lid of his drink. "Is it really safe for you to be walking back to the dorm this late at night?"

"Do you mean besides the usual torture at the hands of my fellow student body?"

Darcy clenched his jaw.

"I'll be fine."

He nodded and walked out. He stared straight ahead as he passed by Wick. As soon as the door swung shut, Wick turned to me and said, "Well, that was awkward."

"I take it you know Will Darcy from your Pemberley days?"

He sighed. "Yes, unfortunately. You could say that we were once on friendly terms. But you seem to be friends with him, so ..."

I groaned. "Hardly. I've known him for a week, and I find him to be the most egotistical, condescending person on the planet."

Wick laughed. "So you do know him well."

"You got me there."

Wick approached the counter. "You really need to start being more careful about who you're seen hanging out with."

I smiled at him. "Are you referring to Darcy or yourself?"

"Depends on who you ask."

"Hmm, I guess since there isn't a way for the esteemed ladies of Longbourn to despise me even more, I will hang out with whoever I choose."

"Well, then, Longbourn scholarship girl, do you think you'd ever entertain giving charity to a disgraced Pemberley boy such as myself?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"Your phone number would be a good start."

I gave it to him without hesitation.

I was ready for a good start.

Ten

WE HAD OUR FIRST DATE ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT. WICK took me to a pizza place that was in a part of town that I hadn't been to before, a very non-Longbourn establishment.

"Hey, Wick!" a girl behind the counter greeted him. "Couple of slices?"

"I didn't know you were working tonight." He leaned over the counter and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Couple slices would be great. Lizzie, this is Cassie. Cassie, this is Lizzie." He motioned toward me and the girl smiled at me. "I'm saving her from the elitists over at Longbourn." He looked over his shoulder and then said in an exaggerated whisper, "She's a scholarship student."

I couldn't help but laugh. I knew that nobody in this place would care. It was nice to be somewhere that I didn't feel the need to constantly look over my shoulder or think that I was being set up.

"Here you go." Cassie handed us each two slices. "You know your money isn't good here, Wick," she said as Wick reached into his pocket for his wallet.

"Aww, you're the best." He winked at her and we headed over to a booth. "See, Lizzie, you need to start finding the right kind of friends." He motioned down at our free food. "I've known Cassie since kindergarten. There's a group of us that have been close friends for ages. I don't remember life before them, you know? I'm sure you have people like that back home. It was hard for me to leave them behind and I was only down the road; I can't imagine what it must be like for you."

It was the first time in a while that I'd felt comfortable and open around a new person. Being with Wick felt normal, natural. He was open, honest, and self-deprecating in a very, very irresistible way.

"I still can't believe a Longbourn girl has agreed to be seen with me in public," he said after I'd told him more about life back home in Hoboken, and the switch to Longbourn. "The prima donna police have probably sent out a search party."

"Not likely. They're probably changing the locks as we speak."

"Still" -- he gave me a smile that made my stomach flip -- "you're a brave one."

"Believe me, the bravest thing I'll be doing this evening is entering my dorm. The goal is to try to get back to my room without someone throwing something in my face. But you're all too familiar with the treatment of our kind."

Wick played with the wrapper of his straw. "Actually, things weren't that bad for me at Pemberley."

"Really?"

For the first time since I'd met him, I didn't know whether or not to believe him. I couldn't comprehend that the guys at Pemberley would have any compassion for people like us.

"Really. I even had friends, if you can imagine that."

"Wow, that's impressive. I have Jane and Charlotte, but that's it. Jane is always trying to get me to go out more, but every time I do, the evening ends in either bodily or emotional harm. She's pretty relentless, though. I've already agreed to go to this party on Saturday night, despite my better judgment."

"Charles Bingley's party?"

I was surprised. "Yes -- how did you know about that?"

"You don't give us townies enough credit. We find out about the parties, and a few of us usually crash. With all the students around, nobody seems to notice."

"Please tell me you're going to come on Saturday." I tried to hide any hint of desperation in my voice. Having Wick there would make it bearable. Plus, I wanted to spend more time with him.

"Now you've put me in a tough spot. If you're going to be there, how could I not show up?" Wick smiled at me, but then his smile faded. "Sadly, I have a feeling someone else will be there, and there's no way I'd be welcome." Wick hesitated. "There's something I want you to know, and I want you to hear it from me."

"Okay ..." I leaned in.

"It's about why I got kicked out of Pemberley."

"Wick, you don't need to --"

"Yes, I do. I'm surprised people haven't started trying to turn you against me yet."

I hadn't really told anybody about Wick. Jane knew I'd met someone from town, but I hadn't told her he was a former Pemberley student. I didn't know why, but I wanted to keep Wick to myself.

"I don't care what anybody thinks of you," I told him now. "You should realize that I would know better than to believe anything anybody at Longbourn or Pemberley would say to me."

Wick nodded. "I'm so thankful my caffeine habit brought you into my life."

What a clear, powerful emotion -- thankfulness. It hadn't occurred to me in a long time that I could be someone that another person would be thankful for. Not for anything I'd done or said, but simply for who I was, and who I had the potential to be. After spending the school year in a world of torture (at worst) and indifference (at best), to have such open thankfulness expressed to me gave me something I hadn't felt in a long time: hope. Maybe this semester was going to be good after all.

"Okay." Wick took a deep breath. "Here's the story. I started last year as a sophomore. Met a lot of cool people, and the fact that I was a scholarship student wasn't an issue. I knew a lot about the students at Pemberley from being a townie, and Darcy and his family's reputation preceded him. I was looking forward to meeting the infamous William Darcy and we hit it off really well. We were friends from the moment we met.

"Darcy took me under his wing. It was only a few weeks into the semester, and he brought me into the city to meet his family. I fell in love with them. His dad is this incredible man, which is why I don't like saying anything bad about Darcy, because his father is a kind, generous person. He even arranged for me to have a summer job last year at his law firm. That would have set me up -- not only with a way to earn money, but to get experience that would have been amazing on my college transcript. Things were going well for me. And Darcy couldn't take it. He loved having me under his wing, having some sort of control over me. But he didn't like seeing me fly by myself, making things happen without his influence. He became increasingly competitive with me. And when he thought he might lose, he stabbed me in the back. Before I knew what was happening, I was being escorted off campus."