Engagement

Jenny could not focus on class at all. Her mind was filled with what to say and ask. After being in class for a mere ten minutes she decided she couldn't take anymore. So she excused herself and asked if she could visit the infirmary. The teacher was quite surprised, but allowed her to go regardless. She would be mad to refuse anyone connected to Mr. Westwood. Jenny left the classroom with Jason and Harry's eyes piercing her back. She used this chance to run back to the classroom where she had last seen Julia. She wondered if she would still be there and gently knocked on the door. After hearing nothing, she slowly opened the door and peered inside. The moment she wanted to look further inside, she heard sobbing come from behind the door. She entered the room and closed the door behind her. "Julia, right?" Julia did not look up and continued sobbing softly. "My name is Jenny. I ran into you before when you were about to enter our classroom, remember?" Another silence followed. "I have seen you following us and was wondering what the reason could be. Jason told me that you are Harry's fiance and that things aren't really great between you guys right now. I wanted to see if I could hear your side of the story and see if I can help you guys."

Finally the girl spoke. "What's it to you? For all I know you are my competition. I have seen you hanging around them every day since the day you started attending school here. Laughing away happily. Even getting in the same car with him. Hmph" Jenny showed an awkward smile before saying, "He, he, he. Don't misunderstand. Although Harry is a very nice person, I am already taken. I am engaged to Jason. So I have no such ulterior motive" This time the girl looked up from her knees with a shocked expression. "You are what..? Are you really Jason's fiance? How could I believe that. Do you have any proof?" Upon hearing this, Jenny showed her the engagement ring around her neck and the pictures on her phone that Jason and her had taken together. The girl looked at everything with "oohs" and "ahs" not believing what she was seeing. After confirming Jenny was indeed who she was, she explained how she had been following Harry since the beginning of the year. She had wanted to make up with him, but didn't know where to begin. She thought if she followed him, she would be able to find out where he hung out and could see if there was any competition on the horizon. The day she was standing by their classroom she planned on taking something of his to have a reason to talk to him. She would pretend to have found it and could ask him to meet her somewhere to give it back. She could use that opportunity to try and apologize. Jenny felt bad for the girl. She could see how desperate she was to make up with him. The least she could do, was give her a chance to explain herself. So they agreed to meet up tomorrow after school to talk some more and try to think of a plan. After that they both decided to return to class.

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Once class ended, Jenny and Jason returned to the car waiting for them in front of the school. Once they got in, Jenny started thinking about how another member of this group was engaged. They were all so young. She thought she would be the exception in this class to be engaged at such a young age, but in this world this seemed normal. She shared her thought with Jason, who told her a bit more about all of this. Jason revealed that George too already had a fiance. She was going to an all girls school a few minutes away from here. Unlike Harry, he got along with her and was quite happy with the arrangements his parents had made for him. He said that probably at least a third of the people attending this school were already engaged. Some recently, some for a couple of years and others from birth. Another third would be engaged before they graduated or after they attended and graduated from University. In the world of the rich, not having an arranged marriage was rare. Sure the current generation was given more freedom than the one before them. They would usually just be sent on matchmaking dates with people from their circle and had the option to choose from different options. If both parties were unwilling, they could also object when an engagement agreement had already been made. This was more than their grandparents were given. Plus they would attend many social occasions with the same group of people, so many of them had come into contact with each other before words of engagement were spoken.

In Harry's case the engagement had already been formed before he was born by their grandparents. They had been close friends for many years and had made a pact to engage their firstborn children. However they both had sons, so the promise had been passed to the next generation. When they both reached a suitable age and hadn't shown any interest in other people, their parents decided to uphold the promise. Harry did not want to have his life partner chosen by his parents. He had seen many unhappy marriages in his inner circle, so he wanted to find happiness on his own. Knowing that Julia was the partner his parents had in mind, he felt unable to look at her in that way. So when his suspicions were confirmed, he talked to Julia and asked her to refuse the marriage. His parents were very strict and would not hear no for an answer. He knew that Julia's father considered her the apple of his eye and would give in to any of her demands. If she would speak a few words against this engagement and made him think that she would be unhappy if he pushed this through, he would surely have the engagement cancelled. He even offered to help her convince him. Thinking they were on the same page he was putting all his faith in her, but when the parents asked them after a month what they thought of the idea, she went back on her word and agreed to the engagement instead.

Once Jenny heard the story of Harry in more detail, she got lost in thought again and stared out of the window. Thinking of what Julia's version of this story would be and if she would be able to help her. All would hopefully become clear tomorrow.