Pride and Prejudice is the second novel by English author Jane Austen, published in 1813. A novel of manners, it follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist of the book, who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreciate the difference between superficial goodness and actual goodness. [Source: Wikipedia]

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Fun Fact about Emily Kingsley (FFAEK): When Emily was thirteen, she stayed up all night reading Pride and Prejudice. After a few hours of sleep, as soon as she woke up the next morning, she watched the movie, the Keira Knightley one.

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Chapter one: Pride and Prejudice

I never thought I'd fall in love with someone else's boyfriend.

It was a cruel twist of fate. For as long as I could remember, I have dreamed of love, ever since I was introduced to the word. It has been a dream of mine, the same way you dream of becoming an astronaut, a pilot, an engineer, a pop star, or a dancer.

So, of course, it was only natural that I would fall in love with someone who would have no way of loving me back; because he was someone else's boyfriend.

I was seventeen, a junior at Newton High.

I had grown up reading romance stories from the young age of nine, although I cannot pinpoint exactly when this passion for romance began. If I am correct, it probably wasn't even a completely romantic story—only romance as a side story—but it comforted me. The idea of admiring someone, secretly or openly pining for them, trusting that person more than anything, and finally confessing were the stepping stones for romances.

But what was good about romance as a genre, and happily ever after was the insurance that the other person always, always loved you back. They would end up happy at the end, and it would make me smile, cry, and hug myself to sleep with a satisfied heart that waited for a romance of its own.

I was so in love with the idea of love.

So far, my ideal lovers, or my crushes have always been one-dimensional or two-dimensional; considering they were fictional characters written in black and white, animated, pop stars, or movie stars. Even if they were celebrities and real people, at the end of the day, they were inside a screen.

I couldn't remember who my first love or crush was, but I distinctly remember crushing on Jack Frost when I was six. I liked one of the One Direction boys too, the Irish one, Niall Horan. I definitely had crushes on all the Spidermans so far; Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland. If they were Peter Parker, they were my crushes.

Then there was Tadashi, whom I would never forget for the rest of my life. Talking about Disney characters, I must list my favorite thief, stealing hearts and running off and never saying sorry, Flynn Rider, aka Eugene Fitzherbert. I also had a crush on Nick the Fox from Zootopia. It wasn't my fault, he was so cool.

Then I started reading books, and if I began listing the boys I had crushed on, that list would never end. But we should mention Mr. Darcy, since he was one of the firsts. And end it with Jacks, The Prince of Hearts, one of the recent.

Even though my romantic endeavors in the fictional dream world had no end and no pattern, I was helpless when it came to liking actual, real three-dimensional, non-fictional, living, breathing boys around me. I had never liked any single one of them until I joined high school, or perhaps I should say, until I joined the debating club and set my eyes on Landon McArther.

When Landon McArther looked at me, smiled and said I was the best debater he had come across, I fell a little in love. It was when he said my name every time someone talked about who should win the debater of the club this year. Perhaps it was when he defended me in front of other seniors when I didn't go to the club and saved my back. Or it could be the connection I felt when I looked into his blue eyes and found it looking into mine, as if I were tethered to his soul. As if he were the one who could take one look at me and figure me out.

I always felt like that, like I had a deeper connection with him, even though I didn't know him that well. We had only talked five times in three years, as you do with your crushes.

But that was what crushing was all about, wasn't it?

Now everything was in shambles. I had very little time left—two months in total, to be honest—if I wanted Landon to ever fall in love with me.

Landon McArther was a senior at Newton High. He had blonde hair, blue eyes and a very kind smile that was always on his lips when he looked at me. He dressed well, in button-downs and khakis, with an Apple Watch on his wrist, and blindingly white sneakers without a single speck of dirt. Not only that, but he was different from all those immature boys around me. He was sophisticated, more well-spoken than anyone I knew, and a genius when it came to debate. His passion for debate kept our debating club alive.

But when these two months were over, he wouldn't be in the same debating club as me, like he had always been. I would lose the only connection we had.

I sighed, reminding myself of how little time I had left as I set my backpack by my stool and flopped down on it, sitting in the chemistry lab. While chemistry wasn't my favorite subject, I had to pay extra attention to this class. My mother was a chemistry professor at the community college. (Which was extremely unfortunate for me, first because she was a teacher, and second, she had to choose chemistry out of all things. Why, Mom, why?)

This class should have been the easiest for me. According to my mother, chemistry was in my blood. (It wasn't). But my lack of focus and Mr. Wong's boring lecture weren't the only things that made this class the absolute worst. No, the main reason was, the guy who was sitting down right beside me in my station, my seatmate, Nathan.

Nathan Callahan.

The absolute nightmare.

If Landon was the prince on the white horse; humble, mature, calm, and friendly, Nathan was the antagonist, the villain, rude, moody, grumpy and immature; raining down on everyone's parade, glaring at them if they ever came close, and pushing them away if they dared to look at him with their peasant eyes.

Since the day Nathan Callahan joined Newton High, he had earned himself those narratives. I remember the first day of high school, back in Freshman year, when Nathan punched a senior because the said senior had told him to walk in a straight line.

In the past three years, his reputation had only worsened. I’d heard some crazy rumors about him, like his involvement in underground boxing, that he worked for the mafia, and he sold drugs at the back of school for high prices.

Some stupid girls back in sophomore year had crushes on him. They were probably thinking they could fix him (Insert my eye roll here). I heard a few of them had even confessed, but they were turned away with apathy.

Nathan had no friends, as far as I knew, and he wanted to keep it that way. He always ate his lunches alone at one corner of the cafeteria.

So naturally nobody wanted to sit with him, in any class.

He and I shared lots of classes, and in most of them, I successfully avoided him, except chemistry. When Mr. Wong passed down the seat plan for the junior year, I knew my life was done for.

Nobody would swap their seats with me, so I could get rid of Nathan. I didn't even ask because I knew.

As we sat there in silence, I glanced at him sideways. He was facing forward, with his hands in his jacket pocket, his jaw flexed like he was in a mood. I had never really looked at his eyes closely, so I couldn't tell exactly what color they were, but I suspected they were green.

He had jet black hair, long strands on the front and shorter on the back. He wore this silver chain around his neck, which he kept hidden under his shirt, but I saw it a few times, being his lab partner and all.  He always wore something black, and today it was a black washed-out denim jacket with a black shirt underneath, which he paired with brown pants.

While I was about to look away, he ran a hand through his hair, making it messier than it already was. I also saw him chewing his lower lip at the sides. I knew it was a habit of his. I had caught him doing it a few times before.

What irked me was his lips were fuller than mine. Never mind that.

I looked away and didn't look back as the class filled up with students. Everyone started chatting with the people around them while our station was silent. We might have been sitting together for almost a year now, but we hadn't talked once. I was not going to start now. Besides, I was no conversation starter. Awkward silences were much better.

Nothing could be more awkward yet solid than the silence between us.

Thankfully, Wong walked in and saved me from it. He yelled at the students to shut up, told us to open our copies, and started his awful lecture.  I kept my attention half of the time, lost it the other half, took a few notes and told myself I'd remember the rest and go through it. My focus was on last Monday's test, the result of that would be given out today.

I hadn't studied for that test. The reason was procrastination, self-sabotage and the fact that I was not only a rising debater but also a rising masochist.

I wasted all the time I had for preparation and then completely assed the test. I knew the answers. I knew the questions were easy, but I messed them all up because I hadn't revised.

So I sat there and waited for my doom. The lesson was over earlier than I would have liked. My leg was shaking on its own, replicating the nerves I felt as Wong walked by the stations, handing back the sheets.

He walked by us, setting the marked tests down, both Nathan's and mine in front of me as I was on the outer side of the desk.

I looked at the test copies, kept the one that said Emily Kingsley for myself, and slid his sheet down towards him. I looked at my grade, and then I looked at Nathan's.

I gasped. Audibly. Loudly. At least loud enough that Nathan heard it.

He had a perfect score. The perfect A.

I had scored a C, which I had expected. I expected even less. But to have a perfect A? I was blown out of my mind.

“What was that?” Nathan said as he folded his sheet. I covered my mouth and looked away. Wong was done distributing, and the class was almost over.

“Did you just gasp?” I heard Nathan say it in a low but dangerous voice.

Uh oh. I had done it. My life on earth was over. I should say goodbye to mom, if I ever get the chance. Nathan Callahan would make sure I vanished now. Yeah, looking at his grade and gasping like I couldn't believe he was smart enough would definitely do that.

Landing on Nathan's bad side was probably worse than getting a C in chemistry.

“I believe I asked you something,” Nathan said again.

“We believe in a lot of things, but that doesn't mean those are true,” I said like the stupid I was. I should've stayed silent and pretended I didn't hear him.

“So you can hear me perfectly fine,” he said. I decided not to look at him, but I knew he was turning my way and looking at me.

I should start packing my backpack like everybody else, but the shock of this conversation and the imminent danger looming over my head made me a little immobile.

“Did you gasp looking at my grade?” Nathan asked, a little less dangerous than before.

I cleared my throat and stayed silent.

“Wow. Then,” he was leaning towards me. And I leaned away, “Maybe you should let me see your grade too.”

Umm, no, thanks.

“Come on,” Nathan said, “Give it to me. That's only fair.”

He was leaning all into my personal space, and I was leaning more to the left, towards the space between the two rows of stations, to get away from him. I heard the bell ring, and Wong walked out. I could feel the footsteps behind me as people were rushing to leave.

Nathan and I had never talked. But we crossed a few boundaries at once when he pulled me, by the right arm, towards him. I crashed into his chest, as he was perhaps six feet, and I was a little more than five. The students rushed beside me. But Nathan's pull wasn't so philanthropic to save me from the students, no, he was actually aiming for my test sheet in my other hand.

I elbowed him and held the sheet away from him. He yelped and I stood up. I reached for my backpack as Nathan sat there, glaring at me. I finally spared him a glance. His face was the stock photo for Wonder.

It made me smile. Kind of.

“You just elbowed me because you wouldn't let me see your test sheet, Kingsley,” he said, looking at me as I unzipped my backpack.

“Yep,” I said. I didn't exactly know why we were suddenly talking.

Then the complete sentence he had said registered in my brain, and my eyes widened.

“Wait a minute,” I said, looking into his green eyes, “You know my name?”

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A/N: Hi.

Welcome to a new book by your favorite author.

Who am I kidding?

Anyways, I'm trying to write a fun romcom this time around. But of course it won't be all fun because it's written (clears throat) by me. So you can expect a series of introspection , just like always. Monologues about tough life and this time add: dreaming about love.

With all that, I really hope you'll follow me along in this ride. I've been working hard on this book and I should mention these two people who had been helping me immensely.

sapforepilogues who is editing the book

And

HigherthanHeaven who is brainstorming with me and giving me awesome ideas.

Love and stay amazing this around <3

I hope I'll see you in the next chapter.