Chapter 3: The World Turned on its Head

The entire afternoon session, periods five and six, was made up of double English Lit. Hannah Pattison was an outstanding teacher, one of my favourites, and I always looked forward to her lessons. She had this way of guiding your thinking in the right direction without you realising she was doing it.

English Lit was probably the most subscribed of all the A-level courses, so while in some of my lessons, like French, I could sometimes have a desk or two all to myself, there was no such luck in English.

Wherever possible, Miss Pattison preferred that we sit with one boy and one girl at each double desk for some reason. I asked her about it once after class last year, expecting her to say it was something to do with controlling behaviour in the class or something. But instead, she told me that because different sexes typically approached literature from differing perspectives, placing them together provided a more balanced picture.

Then she’d laughed and said that if she could also play matchmaker, it would be a bonus.

I was one of the first to arrive at class that first day and sat at the desk I’d occupied the previous year, expecting Kelly to sit next to me as she had last year. Like I said, she might have dumped me, but we were still good friends. And even if I didn’t get the chance to discuss what did or didn’t happen over the weekend, I wanted her to know we were still friends no matter what.

But if Clarissa had made my day weird up to that point, she was about to flip it completely on its head.

She, Emily and Grace strode into the room as if they were walking through their own front door, chatting to each other as if they were the only ones in the room. You could see why so many people called them arrogant. There were more girls than boys in this class, so Miss Pattison’s ideal seating arrangements were compromised. Last year, Clarissa had sat with Emily, but this year...

“This seat taken?” she asked, gesturing to the seat next to mine with her books.

I looked at her wide-eyed. “N ... No. Not really. I mean, I thought that—”

“Do you mind?”

I fell silent and shook my head. This wasn’t happening. Or, if it was, she was setting me up for something. And if she was, there wasn’t much I could do about it. I mean, you didn’t tell Clarissa Liddington she couldn’t sit next to you. You didn’t tell Clarissa Liddington she couldn’t do anything.

“Great,” she said with a solar-bright smile as she took a seat. Grace and Emily took the table in front of us. Clarissa flashed me another one of those knockout smiles and said, “Thanks.”

In front of us, Grace and Emily were giggling.

What the hell had just happened?

Before I could figure anything out, Kelly and most of the rest of the class came in. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw me. She furrowed her brow, then her eyes narrowed. Seconds later, she raised her eyebrow in question and quickly picked up on my own confusion from my expression, shrugged, and found another seat.

Miss Pattison walked in, carrying a pile of novels, which she immediately began distributing. She hesitated at my desk, glancing at me, then at Clarissa, and back at me. It appeared I wasn’t the only one who thought there was something wrong with this picture. Still, Miss Pattison smiled and handed Clarissa two copies of the book. She passed one to me, accompanied by another of her knockout smiles.

“I love Austen,” she said enthusiastically. I glanced at the cover. ‘Pride & Prejudice.’ Why was I not surprised? It felt like a very Miss Pattison choice of book.

After Miss Pattison had finished handing out the books to the rest of the class and deposited the spare copies on her desk, she turned to face us, holding up her copy. “So, who’s read it?”

A whole bunch of hands went up, I didn’t count how many, but did notice they were all girls, including Clarissa.

“Anyone care to summarise the plot? Clarissa?”

Clarissa put her hand down and straightened her back. “Well, it’s basically a love story. You’ve got Elizabeth and Mr Darcy, and they’re destined to be together, right? But neither of them can see it or will admit it because they don’t believe society would allow them to be a couple. She thinks he’s too good for her, and he thinks she’s beneath him. Except that they don’t, not really, they just think like that because everybody thinks they should. It’s sort of complicated.”

“I hear that Chloë Goodman’s going to play Elizabeth in an American remake of the mini-series,” said Emily.

“Oh, she’d be perfect,” said someone from the other side of the room.

“Nah,” said another voice, “She’d be too old by now, wouldn’t she?”

“She still looks young enough, though,” said someone else.

“Yes, yes,” said Miss Pattison, nodding. “Well, we shall see. I hear the project has been put on hold, but we’re not here to talk about any television adaptations. We’re here to discuss the novel and the complexities that Clarissa mentioned. It’s those complexities that we will explore. So, any volunteers to begin reading?” She raised an eyebrow while looking at me. “Paul?”

Resigned, I nodded and opened the book. I’d have to read at some point because she always made everyone in the class read aloud at least once a week. She said it was good practice. Practice for what, I’m not entirely sure. I took a deep breath and began.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. However little known...”

After the lesson, Clarissa smiled at me as she rose from her chair and hurried away with Emily and Grace. Kelly stood with her arms crossed over her chest, her eyebrow arched, as she waited for me to gather my things and cram them into my bag.

“Sitting with Clarissa Liddington?” she asked when I looked up. “I’m not good enough for you anymore, huh?”

I gave her what I thought was my friendliest smile. “If I remember right, I wasn’t good enough for you, which is why you dumped me. You, on the other hand, will always be good enough for me. Maybe even too good.”