~Thirteen Years Later~

A carriage rode by a forest of trees, and only green was seen all around. A man with a latch and ropes in his hands could be seen sitting on the outside.

The sun was shining brightly, as the man guided the two black horses in front of him to the arranged destination. The silence of the forest was filled with the sounds of hooves thudding against the ground, birds singing sweetly and crickets faintly chirping.

More carriages had used the same path the black one was taking, since there was a trail along it.

Sitting inside of the black carriage, a nineteen year old Y/n Brooksbank was staring out of the carriage window with a frown. Her mother sat opposite her.

Both the daughter and the mother in the carriage were wearing dresses like every woman did in their century. Y/n wore a f/c dress, and had curled hair that was half up and half down. The dress wasn't as lovely as her mother's, although it was very nice.

A pair of white boots covered Y/n's feet, despite the fact that her mother wasn't very fond of them.

It's honestly absurd, Y/n thought to herself. She just wasn't happy about being forced to attend a lively garden party at the snooty Ascot residence.

Lord Ascot was a kind man - Y/n knew that, because of the many times she had met him with her late father. His son, however, was quite unpleasant. And Lady Ascot wasn't exactly the kindest lady, either.

At least Alex would be at the garden party. Y/n's best friend since birth, Alex Kingsleigh. The last time they were together was just three days ago.

As the girl looked out of the carriage window with a blank expression, her mother leaned forward and used one of her gloves hands to fold a strand of hair behind her ear. She wanted her only daughter, and her only child, to look perfect for the party.

But when the woman continued, Y/n moved her head and finally looked away from the window.

"Must we go? I doubt they'll notice if we never arrive." Y/n told their mother, imploringly.

"They will notice," said Victoria, Y/n's mother, before she leaned forward and placed her hands on her daughter's torso. "Where's your corset?"

Y/n didn't answer. Instead, she just glanced down at her boots. Victoria took a deep breath, to hold in her frustration, then leaned down and lifted up the skirt of her daughter's dress slightly. She was disappointed to see bare legs, instead of stockings.

"And no stockings." Victoria pointed out, dismally. "I'm against them," said Y/n, matter-of-factly. "But you're not properly dressed." Her mother stated.

"Who's to say what is proper? What if it was agreed that "proper" was wearing a codfish on your head? Would you wear it?" Y/n questioned, sharply.

"Y/n," sighed Victoria, with a slight head shake. "To me, a corset is like a codfish." Y/n informed her.

"Please, not today." Victoria told her daughter, firmly. "Father would've laughed." She murmured.

At the sight of her frown, Y/n immediately looked at her mother apologetically. "Mother, I'm sorry. I'm tired. I didn't sleep well last night." She explained.

"Did you have bad dreams again?" Victoria asked, in concern. "Only one. It's always the same, ever since I can remember. And I know Alex still has the same one, too. Do you think that's normal? Don't most people have different dreams?" Y/n asked. "I don't know," said Victoria, as she shook her head.

The h/c-haired girl could only nod, whilst she watched her mother take off her necklace, lean forward, place it around her daughter's neck and clasp it around her before leaning back in her seat.

"There," said Victoria, with a proud expression. "You're beautiful. Now, can you manage a smile?"

To please her mother, Y/n's lips curled into a little smile. Victoria smiled back, before her daughter returned to gazing out of the carriage window.

Soon enough, a large building came into view.

***

Once the carriage came to a stop, Victoria stepped out. Y/n tried to keep up with her mother, as they both rushed over to Lord and Lady Ascot.

Lady Ascot was clearly trying to hide her frustration over Y/n and her mother being late. "At last. We thought you'd never arrive. Y/n, Hamish is waiting to dance with you. Go." She calmly demanded.

After a glance at her mother, Y/n nodded and promptly did as she was told, stepping down the stairs and approaching the busy dancefloor.

On her way to dance with the snippy redhead she wasn't very fond of, Y/n glanced around the crowd in search of a familiar face she wanted to see.

Just before she stepped onto the dancefloor to dance with Lord and Lady Ascot's son, Hamish, she had caught sight of a familiar head of blonde hair.

"Hamish," said Y/n, just as she and Hamish stepped forward and began to dance with almost everybody else, "do you ever tire of quadrille?"

"On the contrary." Hamish informed Y/n, automatically. "I find it invigorating."

Y/n let out a soft sigh, then looked in the direction she had seen her best friend. Smiles appeared on their faces, as soon as they looked at each other.

Hamish was still dancing with Y/n, whilst Alex seemed to be dancing with a woman that was slightly older. Y/n was fascinated to realise that it was his sister, Margaret. Y/n hadn't seen the woman in years. She was still so beautiful.

Alex's gaze snapped away from the h/c-haired girl he cared about and to the redhead beside her. The snooty young man seemed to have a proud smile on his face. But proud of what? Alex had no idea.

When Alex looked back at the girl, he scrunched up his face to make a funny face at the choice of man she was dancing with. Y/n let out a small giggle, at the sight of that.. something the redhead heard.

"Do I amuse you?" Hamish questioned. Y/n quickly shook her head at him, with a lie in mind. "No. I had a sudden vision of all the ladies in waistcoats and the men wearing dresses." She told him, casually.

"It would be best to keep your visions to yourself. When in doubt, remain silent." Hamish advised.

Y/n's smile quickly faded. Alex, however, heard Hamish's retort and shot him an unnoticed glare.

When Hamish and Y/n continued to dance, Y/n's eyes met Alex's once again. He resumed his funny faces, which swiftly caused her smile to return.

Once she heard the sounds of cawing, Y/n's eyes trailed upwards. There, she saw a flock of birds flying above. Her mind wandered, when she began to wonder what a bird's eye view would be like.

What immediately snapped Y/n out of her trance was when her shoulder accidentally bumped into the shoulder of another woman who was dancing.

Hamish turned to the affronted woman, who was dancing with a man. "Pardon us! Miss Brooksbank is distracted today." He apologised, before he sternly turned to Y/n. "Where is your head?"

Y/n shrugged. "I was wondering what it would be like to fly." She admitted, to the confusion of Hamish. "Why would you waste your time thinking about such an impossible thing?" He questioned.

"Why wouldn't I?" Y/n justified, with a smile. "My father said he sometimes believed in six impossible things before breakfast." She recalled, in awe.

Hamish didn't look interested. He just placed his hand on Y/n's lower back and led her off the dancefloor. Neither she or the red-haired young man noticed Alex's indignant glare towards him.

Confused, Y/n glanced around as Hamish escorted her elsewhere. "Y/n, meet me under the gazebo in less precisely ten minutes." He instructed.

Before Y/n could reply, Hamish walked away. At the sound of giggling, the girl turned around to see the Chattaway twins behind her. Faith and Fiona.

"We have a secret to tell you." Faith informed Y/n, with quite an eager smile. "If you're telling me, then it's not much of a secret." She pointed out, puzzled.

"Perhaps we shouldn't," said Fiona, as she looked at her twin. "We decided we should!" She argued.

"If we tell her, she won’t be surprised." Fiona replied. Faith looked back at Y/n. "Will you be surprised?" She asked. "Not if you tell me. But now you've brought it up, you have to." Y/n insisted.

"No we don't." Faith pointed out, with another cheeky smile. "In fact, we won't." Fiona decided.

"I wonder if your mother knows that you two swim naked in the Havershims' pond." A voice spoke up.

Y/n glanced over her shoulder, then relaxed upon seeing her best friend walking over. A smug smirk was on his face and his arms were crossed.

The Chattaway twins frowned at Alex and their mouths were agape. "You wouldn't," said Faith.

Alex wasn't spying on the twins, of course. He just knew what Y/n knew, after she had accidentally caught them swimming. It wasn't a great day.

"Try me." Alex challenged, glancing over at the far right and pointing. There’s your mother right now."

Fiona quickly looked at Y/n. "Hamish is going to ask for your hand!" She revealed, without hesitation.

Y/n's eyes widened and Alex glared at the Chattaway twins, before he put one of his arms around the shoulder of his best friend and steered her away from the gossip-obsessed ladies.

"Does everyone know?" Y/n asked Alex, just as she noticed his bitter expression. "Did you know?"

"It's why they’ve all come. Apparently, this is your engagement party." Alex grumbled, whilst he glared down at the ground in dismay. "It's like they're all expecting you to say "yes" to him."

"But I don't want to marry Hamish." Y/n told him, instantly making him stop and turn to her.

"Who, then?" He asked, in a hopeful tone.

For a moment, Y/n hesitated. She had never thought much about the possibility of marriage.

At the sound of a sneeze, Alex and Y/n turned to its direction. Both their faces wrinkled in disgust, at the sight of Hamish sneezing into a handkerchief, wiping his nose and then opening and checking it.

Alex couldn't help but shudder in disgust, before he turned to look back at the beautiful girl he cared so much about. "Apparently, it's already decided that you'd marry him." He explained, in a whisper.

When Y/n noticed how tense Alex was, she leaned forward, grabbed his hands and held them in hers.

As Alex gradually began to relax, Y/n brought one of her hands up to his face and cupped his left cheek with a little smile. Alex started to smile back, as he glanced between her e/c eyes and her soft lips.

Y/n's thumb gently caressed the skin of Alex's cheek, which was how the girl often responded to his anger. The only times the blonde-haired boy had ever gotten angry was if himself or Y/n, especially Y/n, were bullied in their school years.

With their unique imaginations and insightful personalities, along with the fact that Y/n was one of the only children that wasn't very wealthy, the only friends she and Alex had were each other.

Additionally, Alex and Y/n were forced to deal with bullies at school. Whereas Y/n was hardly able to stand up for herself as a little girl, Alex had gotten into fights that put him in detention many times.

With the reassurance that Y/n was all right, Alex never minded the detentions. He would much rather be yelled at by his parents than see his best friend physically or even emotionally wounded.

He never told Y/n, but Alex recieved lots of stares, that almost looked like judgemental glares, from several guests when he and his family had arrived at the party. It was mostly from Hamish's family and especially from his unbearable mother.

"Y/n, dear," said a drawling voice, all of a sudden.

Alex and Y/n looked away from each other and to the source of the voice. Lady Ascot was standing in front of them, with her hands clasped together.

The wealthy woman faintly glared at Alex because he was standing too close to Y/n for her liking.

With the decision to make Lady Ascot even more irritated in mind, Alex smirked, leaned over to his best friend and pressed a gentle kiss against her cheek, as he often did when they were growing up.

Lady Ascot was glaring at the blonde boy from the back of his head, whilst his lips continued to linger on Y/n's cheek. When Alex pulled away, he gave his best friend a soft smile and reluctantly walked off.

Once Alex left, Lady Ascot turned to Y/n with a small smile. "Shall we take a leisurely stroll through the garden? Just you and me?" She suggested.