Let Me In ( Anne with an E fanfic)

Chapter 1

Hi everyone!

So, Anne, Gilbert and the gang live in 2020 and guess what? Covid happens.

We published this story originally in AO3 (you can find us there as Hikari89 and Anouk88), but we're tying to expand our horizons. It's a long story. As in over 250,000 words long and counting. So just know, it is a slow burn. It will get there. It will evolve. There are some relatable things (banana bread, anyone?), a very old issue between Anne and Gil that will need some addressing at some point and very funny situations as well as many, many tears.

There's also many very very detailed things drawn from real life (such as the Atlantic bubble and yes, google that), but some are just what we need for the story (like how hospitals work). We will add a note when we deviate a lot from reality if it's necessary. Neither of us is Canadian or has English as a first language. So any comment to correct some writing or inaccuracy is, of course, very welcomed.

Also, playlist for today, in case you need to get into the mood: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/274pqCrgHZTz63YQ1Mo0oG?si=skPbMzsBTvamfewUIlfBPg

We really hope you enjoy reading as much as we've enjoyed writing. Now, on to the chapter!

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Anne left a breath out as she exited the AGO, forgetting for a moment all her worries and trying hard to concentrate on the exhibition she had come for. She wasn't ready to confront reality. Not yet. She took out her phone, looked where she was again on the map and decided to go to the park next to the gallery.

**Anne S-C (14:08): You should have come with me. You would have so enjoyed the exhibition. It was fantastical and so expressive and... Oh, Cole!!

**Cole (14:10): I know, but I can't get away that easily now. We'll plan our Toronto getaway soon, Nan. How's the big city treating you?

**Anne S-C (14:10): It's way colder than Vancouver. I had somehow forgotten how it is to have the chill in my cheeks and it's the most refreshing feeling. But I've been living in a big city for a while now, so it's not as bad. I want to go home now, though.

**Cole (14:11): Tomorrow! I'll pick you up at the airport and give you the biggest hug. Send me your flight details :*

As she sat down, she could no longer ignore her worries. At some point she was going to have to face them. At 27, she had just been fired for the first time and she wasn't quite sure about what to do over that. Going to another school in Vancouver with "fired" on her resume was not going to look well (neither in PEI, probably) and she truly had no idea what to do. Cole had tried being optimistic: you could write your book! Diana had been, as always, more realistic: you have to earn money to eat so you can write your book! And they both reminded her of how much she hated her teaching job in Vancouver, anyway.

It wasn't that she hated teaching. She actually loved being with kids and teaching. She just hated... the school system and the rigidity and how it seemed to limit children and form them as if it was a factory. Well, it was the prussian style, after all, she thought as she groaned, thinking back on how she had shouted just that to the principal. With some more flowery words and way more details and examples of other faculty members than necessary. In front of the whole school assembly. She would have kicked herself out, honestly.

If she didn't have so little in savings, if she had a home and anything close to stability, she would actually consider the book writing thing and maybe go to school again to get a certification and be able to teach in the sort of schools she believed in. Mainly writing. She had just been surviving for so long that neither seemed like a real alternative. Taking the time to write? A dream. Getting a certification to be able to teach in more humane schools, that actually gave any importance to the kids and not only the money? Even bigger dreams.