Baker - G. BLYTHE

|04|

-ˋˏ *.·:·. [ONE WEEK LATER] .·:·.* ˎˊ-

CHARLOTTE'S FIRST WEEK AT SCHOOL PASSED AND THE TWO BLYTHE MEN LEFT FOR THE DISTRICT OF ALBERTA. The girl still hadn't become true friends with any of the girls apart from one. The day after her first day a particular girl came into the bakery with her mother after school. That girl being Tillie Boulter. With Charlotte's rule about being kind to all customers, she smiled at the girl once she crossed the threshold and was happily surprised to see her form her own matching smile. That simple interaction told Charlotte she had been wrong to think Tillie was anything like her friend Josie. She actually apologized about everything, even though she hadn't said a word against Charlotte -  in fact it was quite the contrary. Tillie actually made an attempt to stand up for Charlotte, saying that the dibs rule on Gilbert had gone too far. That you can't tell someone they can't be friends with someone who they're already close with, something which Charlotte made sure to thank her for. The two girls went on a short walk around the Rayhill's land whist the two mothers talked. Charlotte learned some much-needed information for school, including that Prissy Andrews and Mr Phillips had some sort of romantic involvement. Charlotte wondered if that was legal but Tillie quickly changed to talking about something else. Charlotte liked that about her, she wouldn't dwell on one thing and kept the conversation moving, it was very different to talking to Gilbert. She asked Charlotte about her accent, which she followed with a quick explanation about Ireland. And with that small conversation and a decorated pound cake, she finally found a friend from school.

News of there being a new girl in town quickly spread, as the bakery was a hub for gossiping mothers trying to get a break from their families. Charlotte knew that the girl had red hair, freckles and went by the name Anne Shirley. Why she hadn't attended school yet was a mystery but Charlotte hoped she would eventually turn up, Anne would be an opportunity for another friend. A scheduled picnic rolled around, meaning that the bakery was very busy creating people's cake and biscuit orders. Most nights the two Rayhills worked by oil lamp light to have everything ready for the next day, leaving very little time for Charlotte's studies. She was doing okay without Gilbert but had constructed a list of things she and her mother were unsure about. At the picnic Charlotte was too busy handing out cakes and biscuits to a very enthusiastic crowd to notice the red-headed girl walking amongst the crowd, she was definitely far too distracted to even comprehend the horrid things people were saying about her.

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

CHARLOTTE HADN'T SEEN A HINT OF BLYTHE FOR A WEEK AND A HALF AND SHE WAS STARTING TO MISS THE TWO TERRIBLY. School was going well, she had Tillie now so she never found herself sitting alone. The other girls were slowly getting acquainted with her, even though Josie Pye wasn't exactly someone Charlotte wanted to be friends with. Tillie helped a lot to reason with the group and they eventually saw that no matter what happened Charlotte would never stop being friends with Gilbert, so there was no point holding a grudge any longer. Ruby was still a little apprehensive to talk to her, but after figuring out that Charlotte had no romantic feelings towards Gilbert (and promised that she never would), relief replaced the apprehension and the two grew to be friends. The mysterious young girl called Anne was still nowhere to be seen and quite the rumour was spread amongst the children. Charlotte, of course, did not participate in any of this, in her eyes people who spread rumours without knowing even an ounce of the truth weren't the type that one should even spend time talking to and her mother agreed.

One cold autumn morning Charlotte awoke to find she had been blessed with her womanly flowering time, blessed being a highly sarcastic exclamation made towards her mother that morning. Charlotte had had the visit a few times before but never on a school day, she consulted her mother who suggested that she stay behind just in case. To begin with, she was very against the idea of not going to school but after the more rational part of her brain took over, that and the fact that she desperately wanted to go back to bed, she took her mother's advice. She spent the next few days off of school, reading books, doing some schoolwork and helping mother around the bakery. The days felt like the time before school, only this time she had people to actually miss.

On the night of her fifth day away from school and thankfully the last of her flowering time, a rapping on her bedroom window bought her out of a sleepy daze. At first, she thought it was the cherry blossom tree outside the window crashing against the glass, but after the rapping continued and got more frequent she climbed out of her bed and stepped towards the window. There stood Gilbert Blythe with a smile on his face.

"Gilbert?" she asked almost to confirm the fact that he was back, he told her that they would be gone for weeks. He did that only to see the surprise which currently covered her face. Charlotte found herself running downstairs pulling on a dressing gown over her nightgown after putting on her boots. Gilbert gathered, from the way that she had disappeared from the window, that she would run through the front door of the house at any moment. Charlotte threw herself into Gilbert's arms as soon as she passed the threshold and the hug was very much welcomed by the both of them, they missed each other more than they thought they would. "What are you doing here?" she asked quickly, a grin tugging at her lips, as they pulled away from the hug. The closeness lead Charlotte to quickly realise that Gilbert had a mixed purple and brown bruise formed underneath his eye.

"It's nothing," he quickly brushed off noticing the look of concern which filled her eyes as her grin fell. She however refused to believe that even for a second.

"What did you do?" she asked, concern overwhelming her voice as she traced the shape with her finger, lightly so she didn't cause him any more pain. A million different circumstances for the injury ran through her head at that moment and with every passing second without an answer she got even more concerned.

"You know Anne? She broke her board on my face," he whispered softly due to the close proximity the two were in along with her sleeping mother upstairs. Charlotte's hand immediately dropped in shock, she wasn't one to judge someone before hearing the entire story so she urged Gilbert to continue with a shocked look. "It's my fault I teased her about her hair,"  he added, guilt contorting his features as it tugged on his brow.

"Her hair?" Charlotte asked in confusion, from the one time she caught a glance of Anne she saw red gorgeous locks falling from her head. She thought it was the most beautiful hair colour and no one around here had anything like it, she already knew that Anne was far from ordinary. "Why would you do that Gil?"

"She wouldn't talk to me after something happened with Billy, I was concerned and she seemed nice and..."  he sighed deeply trying to refrain from spiralling any further, at this Charlotte's judgemental look turned to a softer one. He regretted the action as soon as it happened and Charlotte figured that out straight away, instead now choosing to try and make him feel slightly better. Which she struggled with having never had a friend in this situation before.

"Ruby's dibs rule, probably," she replied softly with a slight smile. Just then a chilled breeze passed pushing back a few strands of her hair along with causing goosebumps to form on her arms, she pulled her gown closer and wrapped it around her body to try and keep some of the warmth in. Gilbert noticed this and, with a slight laugh, took his cap from his head and put it on top of hers along with his scarf.

"Anyway, why weren't you in school? Charlie said you haven't been in all week," he asked this time being the concerned one, why she wouldn't go to school after only two weeks of education was a complete mystery to him.

"Oh," she blurted, a pit of nervousness building in her stomach for reasons Charlotte thought were completely stupid. Why should she keep such a natural thing a secret? So she struggled to rack her brain for a logical reason for her absence. "I had a head cold and the work got a little too hard, I needed a break," she stuttered leading Gilbert to not believe a single word, he didn't feel it would be right to ask any further questions so he didn't. 

The two talked outside for a while, he told her all about his trip with his father until Charlotte's eyes grew heavy with sleep. She didn't want Gilbert to walk through the forest at night, so she suggested it was a better idea that he sleep in the spare bedroom. Knowing she wouldn't relent, Gilbert accepted this invitation. The conversation with her mother in the morning was an interesting one, considering that she had no idea that he had spent the night in her son's old room ( a room which her daughter never let anyone else touch.)