Read Online One Word From You: A Pride and Prejudice Adaptation by Natalie Penna - Free Book Online
Authors: Natalie Penna
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and jumped when she rested her chin on my shoulder. She smirked, “Did I just see you blush?”
“ No,” I said, “I was just thinking about how everyone is going to go crazy over that guy.”
“ Gideon?”
“ Yeah, if that was his name,” I said as if I hadn't been paying much attention.
“ Beth,” Jenny elbowed me gently, “He's a teacher, remember?”
“ And if he's the same age as Wyatt, then he's only four years older than us. And we’re almost eighteen, so we’re practically adults. Besides, they're student teachers, and we're barely students. That's practically the same thing.”
“ You're giving this a lot of thought,” Georgia teased.
“ I'm not!” I ignored the fact the headteacher had started to speak at a higher volume. I wasn't the only person discussing the new additions to the faculty. I whispered, “I'm just saying that it's not impossible they might end up dating a student or something. Not me, obviously, because I'm not interested.”
“ Not interested in who?” Lisa asked on my other side, “What are we talking about?”
“ Beth's crushing on Gideon already,” Georgia said.
“ No way! I didn't think you even had normal hormones! Chrissy, you'll never guess -”
I hid my face in my hands. The first Music class wasn't going to be the romantic haven of harmless, casual flirtations that I'd been hoping for. It was going to be an hour of me trying to look at anything but our teacher, all while Lisa, Chrissy, Georgia, and Jenny smirked and made suggestive comments about my feelings.
Not that I had any feelings on the matter.
I just wanted to be able to look without getting the third degree about it from my friends.
Which, admittedly, was never going to happen.
It was like a rule of friendship, that you had to make some fun of the person your friend was slightly interested in. It didn't matter if it was just that they thought they were physically attractive, or if they were completely head over heels in love. Jokes had to be made, questions had to be asked, and suggestive comments had to be audibly whispered in that person's presence. It was just the way things were.
As it happened, I didn't have to worry about Gideon at first. Mostly because it was Wyatt who tracked me down. I did try to avoid him, but the boy was determined, and he caught me while I was on the way to lunch.
“ Look at you!” he said, grinning like a total idiot at me, “You've really grown up!”
“ Yeah, ten years will do that to a person,” I said, very conscious of the way people were looking at us. If they thought we were anything other than family, it was going to really dent my reputation. I mean, I didn't have much of a reputation, but that didn't mean I hadn't been working hard to be perceived as being cool and kind of rebellious. Being on good terms with a Maths teacher was going to completely shatter that image.
Wyatt didn't seem to notice my tone. He asked, “Do you want to have lunch with me? We have a lot of catching up to do.”
“ I usually sit with my friends.”
“ Well, this can be an exception.”
Eurgh.
If Wyatt had talked about something remotely interesting, it might not have been so bad. But he kept talking about Mum. I hardly ever saw her, and it sounded like he was going out to visit at least once a year. Not to mention all the emails and everything. Given they weren't blood relatives, they were way too close than was natural. I didn't know anything about Wyatt's actual parents, and I'd never met his Dad. For all I knew, Mum might have been the best role-model he'd ever had.
That was a truly terrifying idea.
The only way I could find to cope with the seemingly endless babble was to drift off into space, until Wyatt was just white noise. It was working well until he asked, “Are you listening?”
“ Huh?”
He smiled as if he wasn't offended, even though it
“ No,” I said, “I was just thinking about how everyone is going to go crazy over that guy.”
“ Gideon?”
“ Yeah, if that was his name,” I said as if I hadn't been paying much attention.
“ Beth,” Jenny elbowed me gently, “He's a teacher, remember?”
“ And if he's the same age as Wyatt, then he's only four years older than us. And we’re almost eighteen, so we’re practically adults. Besides, they're student teachers, and we're barely students. That's practically the same thing.”
“ You're giving this a lot of thought,” Georgia teased.
“ I'm not!” I ignored the fact the headteacher had started to speak at a higher volume. I wasn't the only person discussing the new additions to the faculty. I whispered, “I'm just saying that it's not impossible they might end up dating a student or something. Not me, obviously, because I'm not interested.”
“ Not interested in who?” Lisa asked on my other side, “What are we talking about?”
“ Beth's crushing on Gideon already,” Georgia said.
“ No way! I didn't think you even had normal hormones! Chrissy, you'll never guess -”
I hid my face in my hands. The first Music class wasn't going to be the romantic haven of harmless, casual flirtations that I'd been hoping for. It was going to be an hour of me trying to look at anything but our teacher, all while Lisa, Chrissy, Georgia, and Jenny smirked and made suggestive comments about my feelings.
Not that I had any feelings on the matter.
I just wanted to be able to look without getting the third degree about it from my friends.
Which, admittedly, was never going to happen.
It was like a rule of friendship, that you had to make some fun of the person your friend was slightly interested in. It didn't matter if it was just that they thought they were physically attractive, or if they were completely head over heels in love. Jokes had to be made, questions had to be asked, and suggestive comments had to be audibly whispered in that person's presence. It was just the way things were.
As it happened, I didn't have to worry about Gideon at first. Mostly because it was Wyatt who tracked me down. I did try to avoid him, but the boy was determined, and he caught me while I was on the way to lunch.
“ Look at you!” he said, grinning like a total idiot at me, “You've really grown up!”
“ Yeah, ten years will do that to a person,” I said, very conscious of the way people were looking at us. If they thought we were anything other than family, it was going to really dent my reputation. I mean, I didn't have much of a reputation, but that didn't mean I hadn't been working hard to be perceived as being cool and kind of rebellious. Being on good terms with a Maths teacher was going to completely shatter that image.
Wyatt didn't seem to notice my tone. He asked, “Do you want to have lunch with me? We have a lot of catching up to do.”
“ I usually sit with my friends.”
“ Well, this can be an exception.”
Eurgh.
If Wyatt had talked about something remotely interesting, it might not have been so bad. But he kept talking about Mum. I hardly ever saw her, and it sounded like he was going out to visit at least once a year. Not to mention all the emails and everything. Given they weren't blood relatives, they were way too close than was natural. I didn't know anything about Wyatt's actual parents, and I'd never met his Dad. For all I knew, Mum might have been the best role-model he'd ever had.
That was a truly terrifying idea.
The only way I could find to cope with the seemingly endless babble was to drift off into space, until Wyatt was just white noise. It was working well until he asked, “Are you listening?”
“ Huh?”
He smiled as if he wasn't offended, even though it
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