Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1

As she unpacked her bag to start on her homework, Anne was already dreading the daily task. It wasn't that she couldn't understand or complete the extra work. The girl merely hated the waste of precious time that could be spent on better things.

To make the tedious work easier to get through, Anne liked to sing. She sang whatever song she was feeling at that moment. One day she wanted to write her own songs. The redhead already wrote poetry, which she knew could just be altered a little and set to a tune to produce the stuff of her dreams.

Anne took her math workbook out of her bag and flipped to the pages Mr. Phillips had assigned. This year she had him for Algebra II. Just my luck, Anne thought. Of course I get stuck with the one teacher that gives homework on the first day of school.

As if high school wasn't enough already, Anne was taking advanced Math and ELA. Marilla had said, "you need some challenge in your work to keep you busy child."

The only reason Anne was against the decision was that she would have less time with Diana, her kindred spirit and best friend. Diana was in advanced ELA with Anne, but the only other class they had together was PE. Thank God they had the same lunch period though.

After getting her supplies settled, Anne took out her phone and started playing Envy Green by The Arcadian Wild. She loved the Summer meets Fall feel of the song and felt it suited the start of the school year.

"Envy green, growin' ivy vines that hold me…"

She started on the simple math problems and her brain divided in two. Half focused on the mundane equations and the other half putting effort into her voice and the song she sang out her window.

Her consciousness was already divided in two, so she didn't notice the boy that was walking up the road to his house. But man, he sure noticed her.

Just as she was getting to the best part of the song, something hit Anne in the forehead. She looked down and saw a rock. Did someone just throw a rock at me?

Anne leaned out the window to see who had thrown the stone, expecting Billy to have been the culprit. She had been made fun of for her hair and upbringing all of the past year. When she instead saw a cute boy smiling up at her, she was surprised and annoyed that he had the audacity to throw something at a stranger for seemingly no reason.
She would have asked his name if she weren't already pissed at the boy. "What do you think gives you the right to throw stones at me through the window?" Anne yelled.

"I wanted to know who was singing so beautifully, I didn't mean to hit you miss!" The boy was being really polite, but he sounded like a nineteenth century flirt.

"My name is Anne Shirley-Cuthbert, I spell it with an 'e'. Now what gave you the idea of throwing a rock, if not at me, at my house?"

Anne noticed the boy contemplating before he responded, "My name is Gilbert, and I guess I wasn't really thinking when I threw the rock." As he said this, he scratched the back of his neck. Anne noticed that Gilbert's shirt dragged up a bit and showed his toned lower stomach.

“Okay Gilbert, I hope you have a nice day, but I have homework,” Anne stated, snapping her eyes back from his stomach to make eye contact.

“I thought I only missed the first day of school!” Gilbert exclaimed.

“If you’re going to Avonlea High, then yes. But I have the unfortunate luck of getting the one math teacher who gives homework on the first day.”

“I am going to Avonlea High, maybe we’ll have classes together, Anne with an ‘e’,” Gilbert said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Anne rolled her eyes at him and replied, “Maybe we will, goodbye Gilbert.” She shut the window to end the somewhat bothersome conversation.

Anne tried to begin her homework again, but her mind remained on Gilbert and his flirting personality. She wondered if he would be in any of her classes. Anne found herself imagining a scenario where the painfully empty seat next to her in Algebra was taken by the cute boy from earlier. Her music and homework lay forgotten on her desk as she went downstairs, letting her mind wander.

She thought about the next day, and the fact that a cute boy just walked up to her house and started talking to her, even showing an interest! I'll have to tell Diana. Anne pulled out her phone and sat at the dining room table to text her Bosom friend.

Anne
Diana guess what

Diana
what Anne

Anne
This really cute boy just came up to my window and said that I sang beautifully and that he missed the first day of school and that he hopes we have classes together!

Diana
Oh?
do i smell a …. r e l a t i o n s h i p?

Anne
no
not yet at least
We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Diana
Ok, I have to go eat
See you and mystery boy tomorrow!

Anne
Bye Diana!

Anne didn’t share Gilbert’s name with Diana because she would know the next day. And for now, she wanted that bit of information to be her little secret because she felt like sharing it would make the moment so much more … public.
After her conversation with Diana, Anne started on dinner with Marilla. They were talking about her first day of school while they made pulled pork and grilled potatoes.

“How on earth did you end up with homework on the first day of school?” Marilla asked as she took the pork out of the oven.

“Well Marilla, it was my Math teacher that gave me the homework. You know, the class you made me take because I ‘needed the challenge’”. Anne smirked. The conversation lulled after that; the mother and daughter working on the assigned dinner duties. Just as Anne was setting the table, Matthew got back in from work.

Anne immediately stopped what she was doing to give him a hug. “Anne-girl, how was your first day?” Matthew asked softly. Anne’s father was a soft-spoken man. It’s part of the reason why they just clicked that first day she came home with him from the orphanage. Her tendency to ramble and love of words made it so that she almost never stopped talking. Matthew enjoyed this because then he didn’t have to contribute much more than a yes or no to the conversation.

“It was great to see everyone again, I only really hung out with Diana this summer. I feel like a lot of people have grown up so much since last year. I find it peculiar how much can change the summer before high school. On another note, I had homework on the first day of school! How unlucky is that?”

“Very,” Matthew remarked.

After their conversation, everyone sat down and said grace. Then Marilla served the three of them their portion of the meat and potatoes. As she chewed, in typical Anne fashion, she dove into great detail about her interactions with her friends and teachers. Everything was positive except for her narrative about Algebra and how Mr. Phillips is not a good teacher, she can already tell.

“Well, who gives homework on the first day, number one. Also number two, he talked about how we should always be studying, and that memorizing is the key to learning. However, if someone doesn’t understand an equation, how on earth is memorization of something seeming completely senseless going to make them suddenly understand? That's what the teacher is for, the book is only supposed to be a guide on what to teach!” Anne finished her rant and shoveled the rest of her food in her mouth. She excused herself to finish her homework.

After she was finally finished with her worksheet, she went through her nighttime routine, put on some music and went to sleep.

—

The next day, Anne almost snoozes her alarm forgetting for a minute that she had school. She dragged herself out of bed, played some music and got dressed. She decided to wear some black shorts with a graphic tank top and a flannel on top so she wouldn’t get dress coded. After getting dressed, she applied some eyeliner and highlighter. She didn’t like makeup very much; it was a hassle to get off at night. After searching for a bit, Anne got on her stomach to fish her converse out from under her bed. Once she laced them up, she grabbed her backpack and headed downstairs for breakfast.

“Good morning Anne, how did you sleep?” Marilla asked.

“Good morning, I slept very well because I was already tired from my homework.”

Marilla huffed after hearing this and handed Anne a plate of eggs and bacon. Anne expressed her hopes for the coming day to Matthew and Marilla while they all ate. “I really hope that the rest of my teachers decide not to give so much tedious busywork like Mr. Phillips,” She mumbled through a mouthful of eggs.

“Well, I think the most you’ll have from your other classes is a project or two,” Marilla assured her while Matthew nodded his agreement. “Besides Anne, I’m sure it’s nothing you can't handle.” She added.

“I agree. But the reason I don’t wish to work so hard on studying this year is because I want to focus on my relationships and be a little bit more social. Sometimes I feel like people only tolerate me, but I want to change that.”

“If you say so…” Marilla replied.

Anne finished her food and slammed her fork down as if to punctuate the end of her meal. “Well, I’ll be off! See you after school, I love you both.” She hurried to put her dishes away, then grabbed her bag and rushed out the door. Anne saw her raven haired best friend waiting for her at the end of her driveway.

“Splendid morning, Diana!” She said while they hugged.

“It really is,” Diana said while she admired the pleasant weather.”

They began walking and Anne started ranting about how much she loved the weather at the beginning of the school year. After they were walking for a bit, Diana decided to bring up the boy that came to Anne’s house last night.

“So Anne, are you excited to see mystery boy today?” She cooed.

“Admittedly a bit more than I should be, I only met him yesterday. But he was the picture of a nineteenth century gentleman. He called me Miss! He was also flirting with me a bit, and I’m afraid I scared him off because I was mad at him for accidentally hitting me with a rock when he was just trying to get my attention.” Anne kept on rambling for a bit, not noticing that there was someone else behind her and Diana.

“What are you two talking about?” Gilbert asked from behind.

Anne and Diana whirled around, and Diana immediately screamed, “Gilbert! You’re back!” Anne looked between the two of them as they bear-hugged.

“You two know each other?” she asked, confused.

“Yeah, Gilly boy over here moved away a year before the Cuthberts adopted you.”

Gilbert smiled a bit before asking, “Can I walk the rest of the way with you two?”

“Of course! I’m sure everyone will be very excited to see you.” Diana said, grabbing Anne's elbow and starting off again.

Gilbert moved to the other side of Anne and asked, “So what were you two talking about before I interrupted to make your day with the news of my gallant return?”

Anne flushed while Diana explained to Gilbert how a really cute boy had come by Anne’s house yesterday and complemented her singing. She didn’t notice how stiff Anne had become beside her as she continued to tell him about how the mystery boy had acted like a “nineteenth century gentleman” and how he had flirted with Anne a little.

At this point Anne was beet red and Gilbert was smirking to himself while Diana repeated the gossip to him.

“Well I hope that you and this mystery guy have some classes together so that you can get to know him better, he seems like boyfriend material.” Gilbert said with a wink as they approached the school.

Diana agreed and Gilbert left saying that he needed to get to the office early for his schedule. As soon as he had jogged out of earshot Anne could contain herself no longer. “Diana, that was the mystery guy!” She yelled.

Diana finally looked at her bosom-friend and noticed the severe blush all over her face. “Oh my goodness Anne, I’m so sorry!” They both just stood there awkwardly for a few moments before Diana said, “Ruby liked him for years before he moved away, but I’m sure she’s over him after not seeing him for such a long time.”

Anne's spirits withered as she groaned and exclaimed, “Why can’t I have anything go right?” Diana hugged her best friend and advised her to ask for Ruby’s blessing before she does anything with Gilbert.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

Anne felt as though her first two classes dragged by. She was anxious to go to third period and talk to Ruby about Gilbert. As she sat and listened to her geography teacher ramble on about her whole life story, she had to fight to stay awake. Her only break from trying not to fall asleep was looking at the clock behind her every five minutes.

Finally, the bell rang and Anne jumped out of her seat and grabbed her bag. As she was rushing to third period science, she searched the halls for Ruby. Ruby walked up behind Anne and greeted her with a side hug.

“Good morning Rubs, I have a question for you when we sit down.” Anne told her.

“Oh, ok. Is it important?”

“I just need some advice on a matter of the heart, and Diana told me to ask you.”

“Well you’ve come to the right place,” Ruby said as they sat down.

Anne struggled to find the right way to word her question. She knew that Ruby had been crushing hard on him a long time before she was even in the picture. She decided to tell her that Gilbert was back first to see how she would react.

“Well, I don’t know if someone else already told you, but Gilbert Blythe is back in Avonlea!” Anne mustered enough joy to mask her nervousness as she told Ruby.

“You’re kidding! This is amazing!” Ruby squealed and bounced around in excitement before leaning in to tell Anne something secret. “I’ve actually had a crush on him since, like, forever,” She whispered.

Anne’s heart sank at Ruby’s use of the present tense, but she tried to hide it to prevent drama. But of course, her efforts were in vain. Josie Pye strolled up to the table as Ruby asked, “What does this have to do with the matter of the heart you wanted to talk about?”

“Ooh, gossip!” Josie said as she sat down to join the conversation.

“Well, I wanted your advice on something,” Anne said, stalling for as long as she could. “Gilbert heard me singing with my window open while he was walking home because he lives down the road from me.”

“Gilbert’s back?” Josie inquired.

“Yes now shush, I want to see where this is going!” Ruby whispered.

“He was very kind, and I think he was flirting with me a bit,” Ruby’s face fell and she turned away. Anne continued, “he was saying I was an excellent singer, and asking what classes I had to see if we would be in any together.” Anne explained this while wincing because she watched Ruby struggle to keep it together.

As Ruby sniffled, Josie hugged her and said, “You need to nip this thing in the bud Anne. Ruby already has dibs on him, and we can’t have him getting the wrong idea.”

Anne nodded and sank to the depths of despair as the bell rang and Josie had to go back to her seat. The teacher assigned them work to do and She helped Ruby with it since she was on the verge of tears because of her, or rather Gilbert’s actions.

At the end of class, she and Josie took Ruby to the bathroom to comfort her and Anne apologized and assured the emotional blonde that there would be no more Gilbert in their lives. Unless of course he asked Ruby out. As much as she had hoped for some romantic fun the night before, Anne did all of this with a smile on her face, just wanting to be there for her friend. She was not prepared to lose all of her relationships with the girls she had come to love dearly over the past two years. She especially was not ready to risk everything over a stupid boy. Even a stupidly handsome one.

—

Anne was walking to her locker, sad over a perfect opportunity missed. But she was resolute in her decision to respect girl code. She was glad to have English next period, so she might debrief Diana on the situation. 

Anne was mourning how she might have finally gotten a chance at her secret dream: a fairytale romance. Really, just any romance would be fine. She longed to have somebody to experience all those firsts with, first date, first kiss, first boyfriend, first love. Was it too much to hope for?

Sometimes she put it down to her bright red hair, which was useful in attracting all the wrong kinds of attention, and other times she thought her unfinished figure might be an influence. She tried to only group her looks in with her fear that she was just not romantically desirable. Anne did not want her mind to even approach the whisper of a thought, her darkest fear, that she wasn’t going to find a lifelong partner because there was something inherently wrong with her.

She knew this seed was planted by how society puts pressure on young people to start dating, and then the seed was watered by how her friends always had a boy they favored. She knew the sprout would soon grow from the light beating down on it, shone from all the high school couples surrounding her. Running through the veins of this barren tree would be the fear of her brokenness.

Anne was lost traveling this train of thought as she walked to English. As she sat down with Diana, she didn’t even notice Gilbert until he had plopped an apple on the corner of her desk. Debriefing out the window then.

“Hey Anne, I brought you an apple from my family’s orchard!” he started.

“Oh that’s alright! I don’t really like apples…”

“But Diana was telling me how you raved over Marilla’s Apple pie like it was a long-lost sibling during World Geo last period!”

Anne side eyed her friend, saying, “well that’s because the pie isn’t just apples, it’s got cinnamon, dough, sugar—”

“Well my orchard’s apples are the sweetest on the island, you would really—”

“Gilbert! I said I don’t want the apple!” Anne snapped.

Diana gave her a look, and Gilbert ducked his head. He took his stupid apple and walked to his seat with some ginger boy Anne didn’t know.

Diana whispered, “what was that about? I thought you liked him.”

“Not yet and not ever. Ruby still likes him, and she was inconsolable after I told her about him flirting with me,” Anne continued, facing forward.

“I was so sure she’d be over him by now! It’s been years for goodness’ sake!” Diana whisper yelled. 

“I might be more inclined to accept Gilbert’s gestures if Josie Pye hadn’t told me to nip this thing in the bud because Ruby had dibs. She was comforting Ruby, and the way she was looking at me made it feel like it was my fault. I’m not going to risk any possible friendship with the girls over a boy, no matter how cute or interested he is in me.”

“That stinks, Anne. I’m sure once Ruby sees how much she and he have changed, she’ll move on. You’ll just have to bide your time.”

“There’s already been too much drama with this situation, and it’s not even lunch yet,” Anne sighed.

Shortly after, class started, and Mrs. Stacy gave them a presentation on the book they were going to start reading the next week. It was a contemporary classic called The Outsiders. It was about staying good against all odds and gang violence in a small town. She heard a few girls seated to her left talking about how hot the actors were in the movie. Maybe I’ll get some eye candy after all. 

Once the presentation was over, they did a research worksheet on the author’s life. They worked with their seat partner, and Dianna helped her make quick work of it. After they finished, the girls discussed potential plans for the weekend, agreeing to a sleepover on Saturday night at Diana’s after her annual back-to-school pool party.

“Okay class, as we read our novel, there will be various quizzes and activities for grades. Since this class is already so studious we’ll have a bit of fun and make a competition out of it. Whichever student has the highest Grade in the class by the time we’re done with the essay will receive a prize!” Mrs. Stacy announced this with three minutes left until lunch. Everyone looked around, eyes all asking the same question: What kind of prize? Mrs. Stacy beat them to it.

“The prize won’t be revealed until we’ve finished the movie, which we’ll watch after finishing the book. This means you’ll know what the prize is when you write your essays. Don’t try to ask me questions or guess. I won’t respond.”

—

As the girls walked to lunch, they saw a small gaggle of teens standing around a poster. When they had left, Anne discovered a sign-up sheet for choir auditions. 

“Diana, my dearest, most sweet friend, if I sign up, will you?” She pleaded.

“Sure, but you know I’m much better at playing music than singing it.”

They both signed the paper and then entered the cafeteria. Ruby waved them over to her, Josie, and Jerry’s table. After the group had finished talking about their first real day of classes, Gilbert joined them, plopping down next to Anne. He was opening his mouth to speak, apple in hand, when Anne blurted, “Hey Ruby, I need to talk to Josie about science today. Can we switch seats?”

“Yeah, sure!”

Once they were both seated, Diana caught Anne’s eye and seemed to ask what the heck? Anne ignored her and started asking Josie mundane science questions to keep up the ruse. Even if she had been a bit rude to Gilbert, she couldn’t let his infatuation with her go on for Ruby’s sake. 

Ruby, Diana, and Gilbert were discussing Mrs. Stacy’s vague project plan.

“My older cousin had to read The Outsiders a few years ago, and she said that all the actors in the movie are super hot. I can’t wait till we’re done with the book.” Ruby sighed.

“Isn’t Tom Cruise in it?” Gilbert asked.

“Oh I love Tom Cruise! He just has a kind of boyish charm I enjoy.” Diana confessed.

“Have you seen Top Gun?” Gilbert asked.

“Yeah, I loved it, but it was so sad!”

“It was super sad, but I think Maverick needed that to really understand the stakes of what he was doing.” Gilbert noted.

“I couldn't enjoy the movie because Maverick’s character bothered me. Tom cruise was hot though.” Anne added.

“Really? Maverick was my favorite character!” Gilbert exclaimed.

“He was just too over-confident and made some pretty dangerous decisions. I think Goose’s situation could’ve been avoided. I also didn’t particularly like that he continued the relationship with the blonde lady once he knew she was his teacher,” Anne said. She truly couldn’t stand guys like that. Even after Goose’s death in the movie, Maverick was still, well, a maverick. She didn’t think it bode well that he was Gilbert’s favorite character.

“I don’t think that Goose’s situation was Maverick’s fault, but he did blame himself for it. That’s why he became a bit more responsible afterwards and almost stopped flying altogether. And about the teacher thing, she could’ve broken it off too since it was more her job to be professional,” Gilbert argued.

“I’ll agree that she should’ve broken it off, but I really just couldn’t get past Maverick’s ‘I’m the best’ attitude and enjoy the movie.”

By then the whole table was watching the two of them, and Josie was side eyeing Anne. She supposed that it could be seen as flirting, but it was just a friendly debate over a movie. However, she resolved not to talk to Gilbert for the rest of lunch to make up for it.

Afterwards, everyone chatted about Diana’s pool party. She invited everyone at the table and told them to bring whoever. Anne suddenly realized that Gilbert would be there, why does it matter if he’s there? I don’t like him. He might try to flirt with me more though, that would make things messy. 

The bell rang, bringing Anne back to the real world. She, Ruby, and Tillie made their way to French III. It was taught by this wonderful woman from the Québequois countryside named Mme. Diane Soucy. At the beginning of class, Mme. passed out worksheets with all the verb tenses, explaining to them that they weren’t for a grade. She just wanted to see what the class knew, so she could start them at the right place. As the class worked, they spoke quietly amongst themselves.

“Thank you, Anne, for switching seats with me during lunch. I don’t know if it really did any good though, I couldn’t speak a word to him, I was so nervous!” Ruby said.

“Are you still in love with him?” Tillie asked incredulously, “It’s been years since you last saw him!”

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder, dear Tillie.”

At this, Anne could only keep working. She worried silently whether she could keep Gilbert, and Josie's accusations, away. If she even became friends with the boy, it would be construed menacingly by Josie, who Anne suspected only tolerated her. She had always shut Anne down when they disagreed because she always had to be right. Josie also accused Anne on more than one account of trying to make other people feel stupid with her flowery language. She hadn’t tried to do anything more than fit into her surroundings for the past two years. Anne knew the other girl probably had something going on to make her act this way, but it didn’t hurt any less. 

She had always been ostracized for being different. Anne had skipped a grade at her old school, making her the youngest in the grade by far. She was still top of the class though, and her peers had called her “curve buster” under their breaths whenever there was a particularly hard exam.

It also didn’t help that her bright red hair basically made her a walking highlighter. It wasn’t much better here, but Anne tried not to bring up her grades unless asked, and after her first few weeks in Avonlea, she dialed herself down. Nobody here, except Diana, knew that she’d skipped a grade, and Anne wanted to keep it that way. If Josie found out, it would just be one more thing to tease her for.

Tillie noticed Anne had been staring at her worksheet, not moving for a minute, and slid over her paper with the correct answers to let Anne copy. Anne nodded her thanks and pushed anything not related to French out of her head. The class continued to work until a few minutes before the bell, when Mme. Soucy stopped them to tell them about the French Club and why they should join. Anne, Ruby, Tillie, —and surprisingly— Moody all joined. Moody said it was for the food, but Anne caught him glancing at Ruby before signing the sheet.

————

When everyone had changed for PhysEd, they all met in the gym to see what their coaches wanted today. Anne, Diana, and Ruby all had coach Nanette, while Gilbert, Jerry, and Moody had coach Sam. The girls were instructed to run/walk a mile around the track, and then they were free to do whatever. The boys were told to play rugby the whole time, and whichever team won got to shower first. Anne noticed as they were headed out to the track, which surrounded the sports field, that Gilbert had to stay behind and talk to Coach Sam. 

“I hate the mile, I always end up sweaty and gross for the rest of the day,” Ruby complained.

“Yeah, but we should have about 30 minutes to cool off afterwards,” Diana said.

“Ooh! I see someone I know, I’m gonna go catch up with her!” Ruby said.

“Kay, bye!” Anne called after her.

“How are you feeling about the pool party? I know how nervous you get about these things.” Diana asked.

“I’ll be fine, I still can’t fill out a swimsuit properly though. I’m just worried I’ll be the only girl in a one-piece.”

“Well, you can always just sit on the edge and say you forgot to pack your swimsuit.”

“Diana, that’s even more pathetic,” Anne grumbled, dragging her hands down her face dramatically. Plus, somebody might get the wise idea to push me in, She thought.

“What’s up ladies!” Gilbert called as he jogged up to them. He just got out of the gym, and Anne could see Coach Sam had just arrived at the field.

“The sky,” Anne replied dryly, not facing him.

“Nahh, I thought it was the ground!” Gilbert joked.

Anne stared blankly at the boy and said, “you must be directionally challenged, pity.”

“Sorry about her, she’s just grumpy,” Diana told Gilbert.

By this point, their group had made two laps around the track and were halfway done with the mile. Coach Sam was approaching with a stern look on his face. He told Gilbert to head towards the team without scrimmage jerseys, and to start warming up. Once the two girls were alone again, Diana said, “Look over at Jerry! Doesn’t he look so much more handsome than last year? I think that summer job helped a bunch.”

Jerry had worked at the community pool as a lifeguard over the summer, and had developed an amazing tan, as well as lost some baby fat from all the swimming he did with his free membership. His dark hair also had some texture and looked sun-bleached. Anne had seen him many times throughout the summer when their dads carpooled to work together, so she hadn’t really noticed the change until now.

“I suppose it has, hasn’t it Diana?” Anne teased.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Anne decided to shift to something Diana could help her with while they were still alone. “How am I supposed to get Gilbert to stop flirting with me? It’s going to become an issue soon since he seems to be oblivious to my attempted ‘nipping.’”

She looked over to where the boys were playing rugby just in time to see Gilbert grab the ball and start running. He didn’t look half bad running, muscles shifting under the skin with such strength to outrun everyone. Gilbert leaped over one of the other boys who dove at him for a tackle. He made it look impossibly good to be scrambling across a field. As Gilbert sprinted past them, he winked at Anne. Winked!

“He always was a little stubborn, I suppose it makes sense that he wouldn’t immediately drop this. Even with your ‘nipping.’” Diana mused.

“He needs to take a hint.”

The two girls, having finished walking the mile, made their way back to the gym and the cool air. Anne remembered that she had algebra next period with Mr. Phillips. Ugh. She wasn’t looking forward to sitting by herself at all. 

Wait.

“Diana, from what you can remember, would Gilbert try to take algebra II?”

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

Anne’s question was answered when she walked into class and saw Gilbert in her seat. After checking for any open seats—there were none—, she made her way to the back middle of the room.

“You’re in my seat.” Anne said after stopping abruptly.

“Are you still mad at me?” He asked dryly while moving to the other side of the desk pairing.

Anne simply put her bag down and took out her notebook, calculator, and a granola bar.

“Why are you mad at me?”

Anne finished her granola bar, staring straight ahead. Even if she felt really bad for ignoring him, she would feel worse if she had to see Ruby cry again. She got up to throw away her wrapper, and when she turned around at the trashcan, Gilbert was right behind her.

“Have I done something?” He was looking at her with such sincerity, she couldn’t help it.

“No.”

“She speaks!” he exclaimed far too loudly.

Several people turned to the back of the class and Josie started glaring and whispering to Tillie.

“Shut up!” Anne hissed at him.

She walked back to their table, Gilbert in tow, and saw that they still had five minutes before class started. This might be the only time in her life that she was anxiously waiting for Mr. Phillips to arrive.

Then, her stomach had the nerve to growl. Loudly. Gilbert silently placed his damn apple on the corner of her desk, and she could feel him staring at the side of her head. Anne refused to look at him, lest those eyes persuade her against her mission to ‘nip this in the bud.’ Gilbert wasn’t having any of it.

“If I haven’t done anything, then what happened?”

Anne forcefully put the apple back on his side of the table, then she wrote a heading on her notebook paper. Gilbert huffed, and she could picture him rolling his eyes as he leaned back in his seat. He seemed to drop it, and thankfully, Mr. Phillips arrived and started class.

When they were going over how to isolate variables and solve for them when they’re in the denominator, Anne felt something hit her in the head. She looked up from her notes to see a crumpled piece of paper on her desk. She flicked it back at Gilbert, who was looking at her with something to say. Before he could start talking and draw attention to them, Anne turned back to the board.

Why does this have to happen in math of all places? Why not Art where the teacher doesn’t care if they talk?

Anne felt another piece of paper hit her head, and this time, it got stuck in her hair. When she untangled it, she realized it was larger than the last one. She unfurled it to read what Gilbert had written.

Hey Anne, I don’t know why you’re mad at me, but since you won’t talk to me, You can at least answer me through writing. What happened between this morning and English?

Anne pondered for a minute whether she should answer the note, but then she looked up. Josie was staring at her, mouthing, “nip it in the bud”.

So, Anne did just that. She crumpled the paper back up and put it next to the apple on Gilbert’s side of the desk. Gilbert huffed again and whispered something unintelligible.

In the last 10 minutes of class, Mr. Phillips assigned them their homework and let the class do their work silently. Gilbert had grown increasingly frustrated over the course of the period, exhaling hard through his nose every few minutes and eventually not taking notes.

He kept trying to poke her or nudge her shoulder to get Anne’s attention, but she just moved over or shot him a dirty look. While the students were working silently, Mr. Phillips left the room to go use the facilities.

“Anne”

She kept working but got stuck on one of the last problems. She looked over to see if Gilbert had solved it yet. To copy his work, of course. She immediately realized her mistake when he captured her gaze and opened his mouth to speak. She whipped her head back to look at her work.

“If you need help, I’ve already worked that problem.” Gilbert told her.

Anne shook her head stubbornly and erased her previous work to start over. Gilbert slid his paper over for her to copy, and said, “Carrots, just copy my work; I don’t mind.”

Anne slid it back to his side of the desk roughly. Unfortunately, Mr. Phillips walked back into the classroom just in time to catch the interaction.

“Anne, Gilbert, this is an individual work assignment, you shouldn’t be sharing answers with your desk partner. This goes for the rest of the class as well.” Mr. Phillips barked out.

The rest of the class turned around to see what happened, and Tillie had to force Josie to turn around and focus on her work. Anne took a moment to glare at Mr. Infuriating, and he had the gall to smile, no, grin at her. He opened his mouth to say something as she started another attempt with the problem she got stuck on.

Anne moved her hair to rest over her shoulder and block him out. Unfortunately, Gilbert decided that he just had to be heard.

He reached over, gathered all her hair in his hand, and gave it a sharp tug while practically yelling “Hey Carrots!” in her ear.

Anne felt her face heat up, and she hit him hard over the top of the head with her textbook.

Mr. Phillips jumped to his feet and started yelling. “Anne Shirley! Come to the front of the class right now.”

Gilbert got up with her and tried to explain that it was his fault because he provoked her, but Mr. Phillips just told him to take his seat.

While Anne walked to the front, Josie gave her a demented smirk, Jerry glanced back at Gilbert, and Tillie just looked confused. Every step, Anne thought about how Josie would surely use this as an opportunity to turn Ruby and the other girls against her. She was so done.

When she got to the front of the room, Mr. Phillips directed her to stand against the whiteboard in the center.

Anne could tell her face was still red, and she glared at Gilbert. The boy in question was staring at her sheepishly. I’m so sorry, his face seemed to say. You should be, she said back.