Darcy was having a hard time looking past the poster's garish color choices and overuse of bubble writing as she stood glaring at it. She was in a nook across from the door to her English class, waiting for the second bell to ring.

A few weeks in and Darcy had mastered the art of avoiding the crushing crowds. She had nooks and crannies all over the school, all conveniently located near her classes where she could hide out until the second bell rang and then saunter through blissfully empty hallways into her classes, not even a minute late.

But this nook, her personal favorite, had been graffiti-ed, defaced, marked for attention. The offending poster, Darcy finally realized, was announcing this year's theme for the junior and senior prom.

'A Sadie Hawkins Dance', the bright pink bubble letters read.

The sign had been hand done, clearly the work of some hardworking member of the dance committee. Had these people never heard of a graphic designer before? Or printed posters? Meriton Charter was still living in Cave Man times when it came to their school activities, apparently.

Darcy scoffed, the offending colors darkening her already dark mood. A flash came from behind her and Darcy's hair flicked her cheeks as she turned, her glare moving from one offending object to another.

If it was Eli's camera that had made the flash, had taken the picture, it didn't so much as swing across his chest, where it lay innocent of invading her privacy. But since the halls were quickly emptying as students rushed to class, there was no one else who could have taken the picture.

Darcy's glare deepened and she turned back to the poster.

"Offensive, isn't it?"

Darcy could hear the humor in Eli's voice. She was shocked he was speaking to her after their confrontation at her house only the night before, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of spotting her shock on her face.

"I mean, how dare they? A time-honored tradition? A staple in the high school experience? And now, of all things, they have to go and level the power balance between the sexes. It's disgusting if you ask me."

Darcy dared a glance his way. He was smirking, enjoying himself.

"I take it you'll be attending this so-called 'rite of passage'?"

Eli shrugged. "If I get asked. And you?"

"I already filled my requirement for high school dances."

"Yes. Because you can only attend one. God forbid that you participate in school functions and activities. You wouldn't want it getting out that you actually attend this school, now would you?"

Darcy looked around to gauge her timing. She had maybe thirty seconds. As she went to move, she found Eli blocking her way.

"Tell me, Darcy, besides myself and Jamie, who else do you know here?"

Darcy refused to answer. Eli's smirk deepened.

"I mean, as a possible representative of this fine establishment at our forthcoming graduation, you must know some people, interact with some of your peers. But wait, no, it's just about grades to you, isn't it? It's not about becoming a part of the community. Why would it? It's just the salutatorian position. What does it matter if the salutatorian doesn't even know anyone."

"I know Gina."

Darcy felt her own smirk spread at the dark look that passed over Eli's expression. She saw her chance and took it, pushing past him to get to class. Unfortunately, they shared this period and so he followed her inside.

The second bell rang half a second before they entered the room and Miss Austin was yelling over the sound to be heard.

"Groups of two, everyone! Groups of two! Eli, Darcy, you two together."

Darcy and Eli shared the same wide-eyed look, both lasting only a second before they started arguing with Miss Austin and her selection for pairings.

"I said you two together now sit down. I've got essays to grade so you'll be discussing the progress of your 'Feminists of the 19th Century' term papers. Inside voices, everyone!" Miss Austin yelled over the din of shifting desks and chatting students.

Darcy turned her desk to face Eli's, a full ninety degrees. He barely shifted his forty-five. His camera sat on the edge of his desk and Darcy's mind passed over the thought of what his photo of her would look like.

"So."

He was the first to speak. Their days of the silent treatment were evidently over and Darcy already missed them.

"So," She replied.

"Who did you get assigned for your project?" Eli asked.

"Louisa May Alcott. And you?"

"Jane Austen."

"You're 'barely a 19th-century author' favorite. Figures."

They were the only two not leaning close in to murmur back and forth as the rest of their classmates were. They both kept as far away from each other as possible.

"What book of Austen's are you doing?" Darcy finally asked, when the silence between them stretched out so long that even Miss Austin had noticed and was glaring at the two of them.

Eli sighed and sat up from his slouched position, leaning in closer on his forearms.

"'Emma'."

"'Emma'?"

"Yes. Emma. You got a problem with my selection choice?"

"I mean, it's not her strongest. Not even close."

"You would have chosen Pride and Prejudice."

"Of course," Darcy answered. "It's the ultimate classic."

"Except Elizabeth doesn't change so what's the point?"

"Elizabeth doesn't need to change. It's Darcy that does."

Eli was amused at her words and it took Darcy a second to catch up to the joke. She looked away so he wouldn't catch her cheeks heating in frustration.

"Elizabeth is the main character. She's essentially perfect from the beginning, never wrong, a little naive about a few things, sure, but she doesn't have to change. That's boring."

"And 'Emma' isn't?" Darcy scoffed.

"Emma is a fascinating character. She's stubborn, obstinate but she does what she thinks is right until someone has to tell her she's wrong, and then she learns to change and be open to other people's opinions and perspective."

"Still doesn't defeat the fact that it's a boring book."

"Okay. Which of Lousia's fascinating books did you choose?"

Eli's tone was mocking and Darcy sat up straighter, ready to defend her choices.

"'Little Women'."

"Ha!" Eli's bark of laugh gained him a stray glance or two. His smile was bordering genuine and his shoulders had relaxed. "Typical. Her only good book."

"I was going to do 'A Long Fatal Love Chase' but Miss Austin thought it a little too dark for this project."

"She's not wrong."

Darcy couldn't help notice the spark in Eli's eyes, a spirit of enthusiasm she had yet to see in. Her heart was racing and her blood was pumping but not in the way that warned her of oncoming anxiety.

"So," Eli started again. "Little Women. You think Emma's stubborn, what about Jo?"

"What about Jo?" Darcy retorted.

"Jo is the single most stubborn, hard-hearted character in all of American fiction."

"No, she isn't!"

"Yes. She is. She pushes away everyone that tries to love her and it takes the death of the only person she has ever truly loved to finally get her to understand what she's been missing all these years."

Darcy dove into a tirade, pulling apart every single one of his points in an orderly fashion. As the class went on, the two of them leaned closer and closer together, their words getting heated but never angry, only enthusiastic.

They were both shocked when the bell rang and class was over, maybe even a little disappointed that their discussion had to end.

Darcy hadn't had so much fun in ages.

*

Darcy's bright mood buoyed her all the way home, listening to Charlie gush over the funniest thing Jamie had said at lunch. Darcy's mood dipped when she asked about Charlie's test results over her calculus midterm. Charlie stammered too much and talked too fast for it to be good. They were home by the time Darcy had gotten it out of Charlie that she had gotten an 89%.

"You need to focus, Charlie! An 89%? You think MIT is going to let you in on an 89%?"

Charlie slammed her door harder than usual after climbing out of the car. She raced up from the front steps to the door, calling back over her shoulder, "I'll do better, geez. Get off my back, Darcy. You're not my mom."

There went Darcy's good mood. And to make it worse, Darcy found Lois waiting for her in the foyer, a giant grin on her face and her hands hiding something behind her back.

"Hey. What's going on?"

Darcy didn't have to wait long for an answer as Lois was already hurrying towards her, various sizes of envelopes stretched out in front of her.

"They came! College letters came!"

Darcy was dreading the next thirty minutes. And school on Monday, knowing that the rest of her peers would be getting similar letters just like these over the weekend.

"Open them! Open them!"

Darcy stalled for time by moving to the dining room and placing her bag down on the table, moving towards the kitchen to get a cup of water and something to eat.

"Come on, Darcy! You're killing me! Open them. Please? I've been waiting all afternoon for you to come home from school."

"Did Carson get anything?"

Lois's smile faltered.

"No. Not yet. Open it!"

Darcy's distraction tactic had failed. She had no choice but to take the envelopes from her aunt's outstretched hand.

Netherfield had a policy that every student must apply to at least three colleges, one of them Ivy League, simply for the experience of applying, whether or not they intended to go to college.

Darcy had had every intention of going to college. She had a dream of her brother George going to Berkelee School for Music, Charlie at MIT, and herself and Carson at Harvard. Or maybe Boston University for Carson. Either way, the four of them would stay together.

But Carson hadn't applied to any schools within the city, George wanted to go to Julliard in New York and Darcy had gotten wait-listed for Harvard.

The three school applications she had sent in during the holiday break had been crap-shoots as her dream of going to college had been fading, slowly being replaced by a much grander dream, a dream much harder to achieve.

Darcy sighed as she ripped open the first envelope.

Stanford. Waitlisted.

Northwestern. Denied.

Columbia. Accepted.

Lois squealed as she read over Darcy's shoulder those famous words, "We are pleased to inform you..."

"New York! That's not that far away! And they have such a great art history program. You'll be near George if he gets into Julliard! Your Aunt Katherine is going to want to hear about this. Oh, sweetie, I am so proud of you!"

Darcy was suddenly wrapped up in her aunt's arms. She squeezed back as it was simply nice to be held. But she couldn't ignore the pit in her stomach as the weight of her aunt's expectations fell heavy on her shoulders.

Darcy knew she could tell her aunt anything. Mostly everything. She had kept the Gina situation from her but that was because she didn't want Lois to worry.

But ever since Darcy had broken down into tears at the age of eight, her fears of being separated from George, kicked out, or sent to an orphanage all coming to light, Darcy had known her aunt would support her in anything she chose to do. Lois had made that very clear, speaking in between Darcy's racking sobs that she was family, that she was Lois's daughter now, that nothing she could ever do would ever change that. That she was loved and accepted, a part of their family forever. Darcy's anxiety on that particular subject subsided from that night on.

Lois took Darcy's face in her hands and made her meet her eyes. They were Charlie's eyes, Carson's eyes, warm brown ones Darcy knew she could look to for comfort.

"I am so proud of you. You know that, right?"

Darcy nodded but had to look away.

She did know that. It just didn't help that such a declaration was tied to her college acceptance letter. Darcy didn't have the heart to tell Lois the plan that had been secretly growing in the back of her mind ever since her last visit with her father. Not yet, anyway.

"Hey, um, have you heard from my dad lately?"

Darcy swallowed hard to keep her voice even. She had been emailing him but he hadn't been responding. That wasn't what worried her. He rarely responded as he was rarely in a place with service or internet access. But after the time they had spent together last summer, Darcy had had a vain hope that that might change, that this time he would stay in contact. And it had, for a while.

"No, sweetie, I haven't."

The glow in Lois's eyes dimmed and Darcy thought she was going to throw up.

"Oh. Yeah. Okay. So no plans so far on his summer visit then?"

Lois placed a gentle hand on Darcy's hair.

"Not yet. But he'll be at your graduation. I'll do everything I can to get him there. I promise."

Darcy made it one more long look into her aunt's eyes before her legs insisted that they get up and move. Now.

"Right. Okay. Well, I'll keep this."

Darcy grabbed the Columbia letter and headed for her room, the letter destined to sit with the rest of her acceptance letters until she found enough courage to make the most important decision of her life.

A/N:

The subplot. She thickens.

Okay people. What do we think so far?

Thoughts on Eli? How much do we hate/love him?

Also thoughts on the whole enemies-to-lovers trope in general???

I'm just now realizing that that's kind of what I wrote....

Here comes the meme!!!