Worst Impressions

Chapter Thirty Nine

'What?'

'I've tried to ignore it. I thought if I went with Charlie to Switzerland then it would go away. But it didn't, and here you are again, like you're determined to be in my life.'

'I'm really not.'

He closed the distance between us and took hold of my shoulders. I should have pushed him away, but I wasn't sure what was going to come next. As far as I understood it, William had always hated me. I'd made the worst possible impression on him at the opening night party and then had continued to prove to him that I detested him more than any other person on the planet. So, the fact that he liked me made no sense. There was nothing in our relationship to show that I would encourage those kinds of feelings, and I certainly hadn't worked to fuel those stirrings in him.

For a moment he didn't say anything at all. He was scrutinising and searching, like he was looking for a sign I was okay with his declaration. I was certainly not okay with it. I was about as far from okay with the idea of William being in love with me as a person could possibly be. Without warning, he pulled me against his chest and hugged me so tightly that it left me winded. It was eerily reminiscent of how Wyatt had treated me; possessive, like I was an object to be clung onto rather than a person to be embraced tenderly.

'After you threatened me at the party, I realised that you were different. I've been surrounded by girls like Chantelle my entire life, but you weren't afraid to talk back to me, like we were equals. And I know that it'll be difficult for people to accept you. I mean, even I find it difficult,' he said, his head resting atop mine with all the impression of affection and none of the sincerity.

The words spilling from his mouth were too toxic to convince me that he knew what love was.

He continued, completely oblivious to my feelings, 'You're not rich. Your mother is obviously a gold-digger. Your clothes are always shabby, and you don't make an effort, and your friends shouldn't be allowed out into polite society without muzzles and handlers. Yet, despite all of this, I'm still in love with you.'

My anger built with every vicious word. It caught me entirely by surprise when his mouth crushed against mine, my shock having been taken for consent and not abject horror. We were connected for barely two seconds before I pressed my hands against his chest and pushed the boy backwards. William had no time to ask why I wasn't suddenly violently in love with him or climbing him like a tree. The shove was followed by a slap so powerful that it made my palm sting and needle immediately. His head snapped to the side and his eyes widened.

If no one had ever talked back to him before, then I had to believe that William had never had a girl slap him, either.

Served him right.

'What is wrong with you?' William shouted at me. 'I thought you'd be happy!'

'Happy? What, because you're such an amazing catch?' I shot back.

'Yes!' he declared. 'I'm rich, handsome, my standing in society is –'

'Okay, first,' I said, 'your standing in my society right now is lower than a rat.'

'A rat?!'

'Yes, because rats are more intelligent than you!' I said. 'Second, no one should refer to themselves as being handsome. Check your ego, you total dick! Lastly, and probably most importantly, the only feeling that I have for you is complete hatred! You insulted my mum, my friends, me, and then you expect me to snog you? Do you even know how relationships work? Have you ever even told a girl that you like her before?'

'I don't –'

'Not to mention,' I continued. I was on a roll and didn't see the point in holding back any longer, 'that you broke my friend's heart by interfering in her life!'

'Your friend's –'

'Jenny! You decided that she wasn't good enough for Charlie, and you made his parents transfer him to Switzerland! Jesus William, that's overkill by anyone's standards! She's the nicest, sweetest, most innocent person in the world, and she loved him! What the hell were you thinking?'

William's eyes narrowed. 'Are you done?' he asked. His tone made me want to kick him in the balls for good measure, but I thought better of it. If I caused irrevocable damage to Madame Courtenay's future son-in-law, she'd see to it that I was thrown into a French prison with no chance for escape. When I said nothing else, he took it as permission to proceed. 'I was happy to get Charlie away from your friend. It doesn't matter that your friends have money, they're still not fit to be a part of decent society. Jenny was nice enough, but if he fell in with the rest of you, then he'd have been the laughingstock of everyone he knows! Christ, I should have taken my own advice and stayed away from you. You have nothing to offer a relationship and I still –'

'Is that how you measure the people you pick to be your friends? By their bank balance? Is that why you were such an arse to Gideon? Because he was poor like me?'

'Gideon?' he asked. 'What's he got to do with anything? Oh,' he shook his head, 'don't tell me. He's another one of your boyfriends? I could see that Wyatt was interested, but I didn't think you'd be stupid enough to fall for –'

'He's not. I only like him as a friend and a teacher. He told me everything about when he worked in your school. You almost ruined his career, and he could have gone to prison. How can you treat anyone like that? What is wrong with you?'

'And this is what you think about me?'

'This is why I hate you,' I corrected. 'And why I wouldn't have said yes, even if you hadn't asked me out in the middle of completely insulting me!'

'I was just telling the truth!'

'You were being spiteful!' I shouted. 'Because you can't say anything without turning it into something poisonous!'

'So, I should be happy that the girl I like is going to drag down people's opinions of me?'

I balled my hands so tightly that my nails dug into my palms. In a voice which wavered with the calm I forced into it, I told him, 'I'm going inside, and I'm going to bed. In the morning, I'm leaving. And I never want to see you again.'

'Fine by me.'

God!

I never thought I'd meet anyone that hateful, but there he was.

William-bloody-Darcy.