Unrequited// OC x Gilbert Blyth // OC x OC

13

SCHOOL HAD BEGUN ONCE AGAIN. Katherine sat in her seat, staring at the front, bored out of her mind. Mr. Phillips' dull voice seemed like it begged for Katherine to fall asleep. No matter how interested she was in what they were learning, his voice made her lack interest.

Looking around the room, she had made eye contact with Thomas. She gave a small, awkward smile back. Then, she saw one boy, Cole, drawing.

"'... answered Lancelot, the chief of knights: / 'And with what face, after my pretext made, / shall I appear, O Queen, at Camelot, / I before a King who honors his word, / as if the word... '"

"I think the entire poem is shameful," Josie spoke. "They should be tarred and feathered."

"Josie?" Mr. Phillips questioned, annoyed.

"Guinevere is married to the king, not Lancelot," Josie said.

"Oh, Mr. Phillips, can't you skip to the part where Elaine's pure and true love turns most tragical?" Anne asked.

"No," he replied, stern. "Do not interrupt me again."

"'Yea, ' said the Queen, / 'A moral child without the craft to rule, / else he had not lost me... '"

Katherine had seen Billy use a yardstick. He knocked over Cole's ink. As Cole stood, his books had fallen on the ground.

"Hey!" Thomas whisper-shouted at Billy, shaking his head.

"Cole?" Mr. Phillips called, walking towards him. "What have you got there? Cole!"

"My apologies, Mr. Phillips," Cole said quietly. "I'll clean it up."

"Are you doodling... while I'm tirelessly dedicating my life to your education?" he snarled. "Blackboard! Now!"

Katherine got out of her seat as Mr. Phillips had his back turned. She picked up his books, then set her eyes on his sketch. It was a castle with ink on half of it. Katherine found it beautiful. She set it at his desk, then walked back to hers.

"You like to draw?" said Mr. Phillips. "Draw that. Make sure it's legible. Back to your readers!"

"'Yea, ' said the Queen, / 'A moral child without the craft to rule, / else he had not lost me... '"

Katherine watched as Cole wrote. His strokes were truly of a painter. His lettering was fancy and Katherine knew he was skilled.

"Less flourish," said Mr. Phillips as he erased it. "You're gonna need room for fifty of those."

"You are such an ass," Thomas muttered to Billy, who just gave an amused smirked.

~

"You should have stopped him from getting on that steamship, Anne. If Gilbert falls overboard and drowns, it'll be your fault," Ruby told Anne as Katherine sat down next to Diana with her basket in hand.

"He'd come home soon enough if he knew there was gold on his farm," Josie said, taking her food out.

"I think Gilbert's too stubborn," Katherine said, taking out her bread. "He would stay on that boat even if the news of gold in Avonlea came across him." They stared at Katherine. "That's what Thomas says anyway."

"Well, Anne's writing a letter, aren't you, Anne?" Ruby asked.

"He looks so awfully lonely," Anne, who had not been paying attention to the conversation, said.

Katherine looked to where Anne was looking. Cole was sitting near the blackboard, eating his lunch alone.

"I think he's more sad and handsome than lonely," Josie said.