Baker - G. BLYTHE

|03|

-ˋˏ *.·:·. [TWO DAYS LATER] .·:·.* ˎˊ-

AFTER A SINGLE DAY OF THINKING, CHARLOTTE MADE A DECISION ABOUT SCHOOL. Mother was very happy with the decision and, even though she was shocked by the sudden question, she quickly gave her permission. Charlotte walked quickly to the Blythe's house, she ran through the forest as she still hated walking through there alone. By the time she reached their house, she was pink in the face and breathing heavier than usual. Gilbert opened the door after she lightly knocked on it and grew concerned upon first seeing her. That concern quickly left once she gave the news that she would be going to school.  A young girl on Prince Edward Island deciding to go to school after a long time was such a small thing, yet the Blythes and Charlotte celebrated it like some great achievement. Gilbert offered to help her catch up once again, which this time she quickly accepted. She knew she needed all the help she could possibly get, one of the main worries being that she would be too far behind everyone else. Charlotte didn't care that she would have to meet new people, boys and girls who would say whatever they wanted. She hoped she would make friends but if not she would be fine on her own, after all she had been doing perfectly fine without them since she was seven. 

Gilbert was quick in keeping his promise. The day after finding out her decision he was in the bakery with books and a spare chalkboard. They went through the simpler things first, things that Charlotte had no problem with. The breaks without customers in the bakery were filled with numbers and problems for her to solve. Gilbert arrived at the same time every afternoon, he came straight from school. They would sit on one of the tables in the bakery and she would do whatever work he had done that day, with other past things mixed into it. Some of it was difficult, mainly spelling and mathematics which consequently took up the majority of work she needed to catch up on. Gilbert was a very good teacher and Charlotte found herself loving the lessons even though they were sometimes very confusing. Some lessons were in his house, where John Blythe would sit at the kitchen table and watch the two work, he added any helpful knowledge that he could think of but mostly just enjoyed seeing how happy the two were doing something so mundane as school work. It reminded John of his childhood and now, especially with his sickness getting worse, he found himself reminiscing more often than not. Gilbert noticed the change in his father and put the plans to go to the District of Alberta in place, making sure it would be after Charlotte's first day at school. She would need support and he wanted to be that for her because that's what friends are for, and his father wanting everything to go smoothly for the girl added to the decision.

-ˋˏ *.·:·. [THREE WEEKS LATER] .·:·.* ˎˊ-

AFTER WEEKS OF LESSONS FROM GILBERT SHE FINALLY FELT ACADEMICALLY READY ENOUGH TO GO TO SCHOOL. Feeling physically ready to go however was a different story, these boys and girls would have known each other since they were younger. Her arrival would be something new and in her eyes a large number of problems could come with that. She may not make any friends and would have to rely on Gilbert, becoming even more of a burden than she believed herself to be already. The lessons with Gilbert may not have had the desired effect and she would be swimming in questions about every little thing. Needless to say, the girl woke up on the morning of her first day at school with nerves gnawing and swirling in her stomach.

Normally getting dressed in the morning took a few minutes but now Charlotte found herself pondering over what dress to wear, on a few occasions she ran out of her room with dresses in hand and asked Mother's opinion. Eventually, after having discarded multiple dresses on her chair, Charlotte decided on a sage green dress with small white flower buds decorating it. She tied her white lacy pinafore and went downstairs for a quick breakfast since her stomach wasn't settled enough to handle anything too heavy. Boots were laced onto her feet, a hat placed on top of her wavy hair, a basket containing lunch placed on her arm and with a reassuring word from her mother, the girl set off for a first day with books in hand. Gilbert met the girl at the fence which surrounded Rayhill's land like he had promised and the two walked through the forest towards the school, Gilbert tried to make her feel less nervous and tried to help her feel more comfortable with the conversation. Charlotte did feel better in Gilbert's presence but once the Avonlea schoolhouse came into view along with the children walking through the doors, the gnawing feeling quickly returned.