Chapter song- Home to you by Sigrid
It had taken a while to get used to everyone's staring and snickering, but it soon came to a head when Gilbert decided to take matters into his own hands.
"We have no choice Anne, we must simply give the public what they want!" he declared one morning.
"And what on earth is that?" she asked, eyebrows pinched in confusion.
"This!" and with that, he strode over to the chalk board that hung in the farthest corner of the entrance hall. Anne gasped as he picked up the chalk and wrote right below the latest pairing of Ruby and a boy from from out of town, in pin neat writing:
Gilbert Blythe and Anne Shirley Cuthbert.
One by one the entire school caught sight of it, and it turned out Gilbert was exactly right. No one paid too much notice to them after, and it all died down as everyone turned their attention to the Queens' exams which loomed large, only a matter of weeks away.
Anne had been trying to ignore the gnawing in the pit of her stomach that she would fail, and the dreams that invaded her sleep most nights did little to quell this.
"Anne, of course you'll pass!" Diana assured her.
"Well if you fail Anne none of us have an ounce of hope!" Ruby wailed. Despite setting her sights on snaring a rich husband, she'd decided that it might be good to keep her options open after all.
Gilbert had of course been calm and reassuring, and had even offered to help her with her mathematics, much like those earlier times they'd shared picnics and tutoring together at lovers lane. Wednesday nights had become a regular routine of Gilbert coming to dinner, and then Marilla clearing the table and the both of them settling down to coach and test each other whilst Matthew sat silently to the side smoking his pipe and occasionally smiling over at them in encouragement. There had been several instances where Marilla had to intervene and remind them of the time.
"You two will strain your eyes and be asleep all morning in school if you don't stop!" she'd scolded the previous week. "Come now, books down and time for you to head home Gilbert. You both need rest as well as study."
Gilbert had sleepily said his goodnight and left at once, not wanting to stir the famous wrath of Marilla by overstaying his welcome or disobeying her. He knew that although she was stern, she was a caring woman, and clearly only had both their best interests at heart.
Now the exam was getting closer and closer, Anne still felt woefully unprepared. She stayed behind that day and shared these thoughts with Miss Stacey.
"I don't feel nearly ready enough, and now there are only 340 hours give or take, and I have to do my chores and eat and sleep in amongst that all!"
"Anne stop it. You are one of the brightest pupils I've known, and you are completely ready for this entrance exam- you must stop doubting your own abilities," she soothed.
"But what if they don't want me?" Anne whispered, finally voicing her biggest fear. "What if I get the grades, but then they meet me and turn me away?"
Miss Stacey's eyes widened, and she reached forward to take Anne's hand in her own.
"Why on earth would you think that?"
"My own parents didn't want me, and then Mrs Hammond only wanted me to care for her children, even Matthew and Marilla didn't want me at first, and then the whole of Avonlea didn't want me either." Her voice became smaller and smaller as she finished her sentence.
"You listen to me Anne Shirley, they will want you, they will be lucky to have you, and you will do wonderfully at Queen's I just know it. Don't you ever think that you're not wanted! Matthew and Marilla love and want you very much, and you won over the people of Avonlea make no mistake, and I want you to be my pupil forever, but I know you have to grow older and move on, and Diana wants you and Ruby and Gilbert and Jane and..."
Anne rushed at her teacher and hugged her tightly, "Thank you Miss Stacey."
Miss Stacey pulled back a little and looked at Anne, her eyes shining slightly.
"Remember Anne, your past doesn't dictate your future, and however you might have felt before or how things may have been, things are always changing and moving. You can't let the bad things that have happened in your life hold you hostage and stop you from moving on. When my husband died I never thought I'd be happy again. But this job, this lovely place, all you wonderful children, you have brought me more joy that I thought possible. You have a great big chapter right ahead of you and it's just waiting for you to trust and turn the page- don't let your past, or fear of what might happen, stop you from turning it."
Anne nodded her head and smiled at her teacher.
"Thank you for always knowing what to say."
"You are so very welcome" she smiled back. "Now, you best be off home or Marilla will worry!
On the walk home Anne thought about Miss Stacey's words, and realised she was right. Things had changed so much since she'd first arrived in Avonlea, almost all of them for the better. She thought about all the changes that would soon come, and she sped up her pace as it dawned on her that her time at Green Gables may well be more limited than she'd realised. She had a sudden urge to be at home right in that moment.
YOU ARE READING
Forever Red - an Anne and Gilbert Story
Fanfiction"Don't you know Anne?" his voice barely a whisper as he shook his head disbelieving. "Know what?" she breathed back. "You're beautiful." Anne and Gilbert didn't set off quite on the right foot, and after two years of arguments, misunderstandings and...
