Chapter Text
This is not your typical love story. It’s also a story of trust, friendship and knowing yourself and what you want. And more importantly, it’s about learning that no one else can tell you what to do or who to love, and that, in your own life, you play by your own rules.
It was the middle of September, and summer was just wrapping up its few days as the students of Highbury College start to return to school. Not everyone was thrilled to be back at school of course, but if there was one person that was, that would be the student body president, Frank Churchill. Frank was considered the most good-looking fellow at Highbury – everyone either wanted to date him or be him. Not that any of this really mattered to Frank though, the guy was aware of his fame but he just tried to be lowkey about reacting to all of it.
And just like in any educational setting, the societal food chain requires that the most popular and good-looking guy on campus be partnered with his female counterpart as his girlfriend. At Highbury College, this young lady was in the form of Emma Woodhouse. Not only was she the most gorgeous in the entire town, she was also the richest. Her father, Henry Woodhouse, a retired human rights lawyer and hypochondriac, owned pretty much half of the town. Frank was fairly wealthy too, but not as much so as the Woodhouses. And like Frank, Emma had the reputation of either wanting to be dated by everyone or everyone wanting to be her. The difference between them is that Emma thoroughly enjoyed the attention and made sure everyone knew she did.
What a match made in heaven, doesn’t it sound?
Also, and more importantly, is it possible to have too much vanity in one relationship? Frank was just about to find out.
Frank had just gotten off his Ford Ranger, which was the latest model, by the way - just another reminder where he was on the societal food chain. As he pressed the keys to lock the vehicle behind him without looking, he walked coolly towards the main hall and went to look for his best mate, Randall Weston.
“Hey man!” Randall greeted Frank near their lockers and clapped their handshake together.
“Randall, man! Hey there,” Frank smiled. “Hey I was just wondering, have you seen Emma at all lately?”
Randall made a face. “Uh, no, not recently. Why? Haven’t heard so much from her all summer too.”
Frank found that weird. Emma loved to be the center of attention, so her being all quiet was not really her thing. He decided to walk towards the courtyard where they would usually meet up and hang out for lunch as Randall followed.
He sat at their usual bench for a couple of minutes and was just about to forget about it and thought about calling her later instead when he heard a slight commotion headed their way. Highbury’s it girl made her way towards the bench dressed ever so fashionably, all eyes on her, and beside her, her constant and loyal companion, Anne Taylor.
As she approached the bench, Frank found himself smirking. For how could he be ever so lucky to be paired with such a beauty as Emma?
“Hey babe,” he said, grinning as he leaned in for a kiss – one that Emma surprisingly pulled away quickly from. Frank blinked. “Did I do something wrong?”
Emma took a breath and sat down. “Frank,” she began.
Frank was starting to get weirded out for real this time. He didn’t like the sound of that. He squinted and looked suspiciously at both Randall and Anne, both who were also trying to avoid his eyes as if they knew something he didn’t. Before Frank could let out another word, Emma went ahead of him.
“I want to break up.”
“The fuck?!” blurted out a flabbergasted Frank. “Come again??”
“I said, I want to break up.” Emma repeated casually.
Frank was at a loss for a reply. He looked again at Randall and Anne who have already moved slightly away from their sitting spot at this point. When he finally found the words, he said, “Where the hell is this coming from, Em?! Is there someone else?! Did you meet someone this summer?? That’s why you haven’t been responding to my messages lately, haven’t you??—”
Emma rolled her eyes annoyingly. “Oh my God Frank, can you relax? Stop being so clingy, ugh!”
“No but, what is this, Em? What did I do for you to want to break up??”
“Jesus I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Emma muttered to herself. Then she placed her hand on Frank’s shoulder and looked him semi-sincerely in the eyes and said, “It’s not you, it’s me.”
“WHAT??? Did you just use the stupidest and lamest excuse to break up in the entire history of break ups on me?!” Frank exclaimed and stood up.
Emma stood up as well. “No, I’m being serious right now.”
“Oh, you are? I didn’t notice!” Frank said sarcastically.
Around them, they could feel the students’ eyes on them. Ah, the perks of being the it couple!
“I did a lot of self-reflection this summer, Frank,” Emma said, looking dead serious now. “And I want to be alone, independent. I don’t want to date anyone.”
“You’re breaking up with me because you want to be a spinster?!”
“What the fuck, no of course not! Me not wanting to date does not equate to me being a crazy cat lady for the rest of my life, dumbass. Stop being a misogynistic idiot and wake up,” Emma snapped. “For now I just want to be independent, to be able to do my own thing, you know?”
Frank could see now that she was indeed serious. They both sat back down again, emotions a little calmer now. Emma was still looking at him, waiting for a reaction or a reply. After a while, he looked up at her, quite frustrated.
“I don’t understand, Em,” he said quietly. “Don’t you love me?”
Emma scrunched her nose. “Erm… I’m not sure, exactly. Yeah, you and I are the most envied couple in the entire town, and you’re pretty good in bed, but you know, I don’t think you’re ‘the one’,” she said as she motioned her fingers quoting the last part of her statement.
Frank put his hand on Emma’s which was on the seat of the bench. “But what about me, Em? Please don’t say that we can just be f—”
“Friends,” Emma smirked. “Yup, that sounds about right!”
“Nope, no,” Frank said, letting go. “This is bullshit.”
“No, it’s not!” Emma contested. “I bet you that you will totally move on from me sooner than you think!”
“Ha! You wanna bet?”
Then Emma’s smirk grew, as if a light bulb just went off inside her brain. “You know what? You’re on.”
“What?”
“I bet you will be able to fall in love with someone else!” Emma emphasized. “And I bet you 50 pounds on that!”
Frank chuckled lightly. “A bet? You can’t be serious. This is ridiculous, Em. First you’re breaking up with me, now you’re making a bet with me?! Don’t my feelings matter to you??”
“It does! Which is why I am saying you will fall in love with someone else,” Emma replied. “And you know I’m never wrong about these things.”
Frank stared, almost glared, at her. “Fine,” he said finally. “Then I bet you 50 pounds that you will find a guy that you will actually fall in love with and your whole independence scheme will go down the drain. How’s that?”
Emma nodded and smiled sarcastically. “It’s a deal,” she said as she offered her hand for a shake. At this point, Anne and Randall have been listening from a safe distance the entire time, but they approached closer as the former couple seem to have come to a conclusion.
Frank looked down at Emma’s hand and just as he was about to shake it to formally lock in their deal, she pulled back. “Hold on,” she said.
“What now?” Frank groaned. “50 bucks not enough for you?”
“Nope,” Emma replied, lost in thought. “Your bet’s too easy, at least more than mine. Let’s level it up a bit.”
Before Frank could contest another word, Emma continued, “She has to fall in love with you too! Like the REAL you. Not the whole Mr. Popular image you have going on.”
“Emma, what the heck are you talking about? This IS the real me—I’m… you’re nuts, lady. Absolutely nuts!” He got up from the bench again and was about to walk away from it all with Randall when Emma, who apparently wasn’t done yet, smirked and continued further.
“And I get to pick the lucky girl!” she giggled.
Frank turned around. “You? What, is this another one of your match-making bullshit schemes? I don’t want any part of it! I’m done!”
Ignoring him, Emma scanned the grounds quickly. She wanted to pick someone who was unique for Frank, someone who she knew would give him a hard time. It’s not that she wanted the money – she already had too much of that. It was more of showing him who’s the boss between the two of them, and especially after his snarky spinster comment, she wanted to give him a piece of her own mind.
Just then, entering from the other side of the courtyard, a young and fair-looking girl was hurriedly approaching the steps. The girl had long brown hair, rosy cheeks, and hazel brown eyes hidden underneath an old pair of specs. She was carrying a large canvass in one arm and a big brown satchel with pens and brushes on the other. She obviously seemed to be late for class as the bell just rang and as she hurried on, she accidentally tripped on the steps, the contents of her satchel scattering on the ground.
Emma cackled. “People, we have a winner!”
Frank followed Emma’s gaze and his eyes grew. “No, no way!” he refused, walking away and walking back. “Not Jane Fairfax?! The new transferee? Nuh-uh!”
“Yuh-huh,” Emma teased and laughed. “She’s your soulmate, Frank. Believe me. I’m right,” she said confidently.
“Soulmate??” Frank panted. “Goddamn, my soulmate was supposed to be you, Emma! But that doesn’t mean shit to you anyway, right?”
“Nope, because I know what’s best for everyone,” she said coolly. “I even know what’s best for my own dad. Anyways, there you go. Jane Fairfax is your guinea pig for our dandy little bet, Frankie,” she smirked.
Frank now glared at Emma. “You’re serious about all of this, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Emma replied. “And because I picked the girl, that’s an added 10 pounds. Won’t be a big deal, would it be now, Frankie?”
Frank rolled his eyes at his now ex-girlfriend. He couldn’t believe what had just happened in the last hour or so. First, he gets dumped because his ex-girlfriend, the most in demand girl in campus and in town, wants to “be independent”. Moments after that, said ex-girlfriend then decides that they should have a bet about his love life after her. And she’s not contented with that, no! She fucking chooses the girl he is to fall in love with. This is all too much damage on one’s ego, even for Frank and his reputation.
Determined to keep his image in tact and not allow his now ex-girlfriend to demolish whatever dignity he had left that day, Frank grabbed Emma’s hand and shook it. “Fine,” he finally said after having all of those thoughts run through his mind. “You want your stupid bet? It’s a deal.”
“Good man,” Emma sneered. “So, here’s the terms of your bet—”
“I thought we already discussed terms?!”
“No, shut up, listen. You have to fall in love with Jane and get her to fall in love with you all at the same time on New Year’s Eve. That’s about 3 months or so away. I’ll be having a party, and then,” she stopped and looked at him. “We’ll see who has the last laugh.”
“So, what are you waiting for?” she giggled, looking at poor Jane who was still collecting her things. “You gotta get going! The new year is upon us!” she teased as she got hold of her bag, signaling Anne that it was time to go.
And as Emma and Anne walked off away from a pissed off Frank, Emma turned around again and added, “No hard feelings, okay, Frankie? It’s just that… In the short time that we’ve spent together, it’s me who always knows what’s good for you and us! You’ll thank me later, trust me,” she winked.
When Emma and Anne were finally further away, Frank took a deep breath and looked at Randall for support.
“You knew all about this bullshit, didn’t you?” he glared at his friend, who was just trying to hide his smile.
“Well, Anne, you know, she might have told me about it…” Randall scratched his head, avoiding Frank’s stare. Randall and Anne had an on and off fling, so Frank was about to forgive him for that.
“Anyway, whatever,” Frank mumbled. “Who does she think she is?! I’m gonna prove to that spoiled brat that she’s wrong, and I’m going to win this bet!”
Before Randall could ask what he was up to, Frank began to walk towards Jane, who had just gathered the last of her pencils. She looked up, surprised to find Frank looking down at her. He squatted and offered his hand.
“Hi Jane, do you need any help?” he said coolly.
“No, I’m fine, thank you,” Jane said, almost whispering. She hurriedly tossed everything in her satchel, and as she got her canvass, stood up abruptly.
“Well, I was wondering if you would—” Frank began, but as he did, she quickly excused herself, and ignored any more of his sentiments, completely weirded out at the gesture.
“…embarrass me in front of the whole student population,” he sighed sarcastically. He looked to where Emma was watching and caught her laughing at his state of defeat.
Randall walked up to him and patted his best friend on the shoulder. “It’s okay, man. You did your best.”
“Nope, that wasn’t my best, Randall,” Frank said confidently. “I’m not giving up that easily. I need to rethink my strategy...”
As the two began to walk, Frank added, “Because there is absolutely no way in hell that Emma Woodhouse gets to break up with me and win our bet.”