₁.₀ SUPERCUT; gilbert blythe ✔

033.

Marianne's day begins with a scream.

She's just about to finish tying her shoes, ready to leave for school as soon as Anne brings back the eggs so they can walk together. Then the sound is heard, the other girl's voice resonating through the silent morning air. It's followed by another one, the second scream louder and more terrified, and Marianne is this close to tripping as she rushes outside.

She's out of the door just in time to witness Anne standing up from her kneeling position by the chicken coop. "Why won't you listen to me?!" shouts the redhead girl in response to Matthew's worried question. And then, she runs.

Without thinking it through, Marianne is after her, school forgotten completely. She's just had enough of Anne's uneven attitude and uncontrollable outbursts these past few days. What happend with Miss Stacy on her first day of teaching in Avonlea was certainly an unpleasant event - Marianne understands that Anne is still feeling bad about the whole thing, seeing as she wants to impress the new teacher so badly. Shouting at everyone who's being nothing but civil, nice even, to her is surely not a solution.

As her feet touch the ground over and over again, Marianne's breath becomes ragged, her cheeks being pinched by the cold. I'm her head, she tries to push back all those thoughts about her hate of running that whisper for her to just give up - she needs to figure out what she's going to say when she actually manages to catch up with the other girl.

However, as it soon turns out, none of that matters. When Anne stops at last, lecturing her is no longer Marianne's purpose. Her own eyes became filled with first tears as she takes in the sight before them: the hideout in the woods destroyed completely, walls torn down and the roof crumbled, all the little things that used to make the place magical lying around, between the broken shells of Cole's sculptures. She might not have been as attached to it as the others, but Marianne is not unfeeling. It breaks her heart as much to see all of it destroyed, evidently on purpose - a home to happy memories suddenly stolen away.

She can hear Anne sniffle. Saying her name, Marianne places a hand on the girl's shoulder, squeezing gently. "I'm so-"

She staggers back when a pair of skinny arms is thrown around her neck. Anne pushes her head into Marianne's shoulder, digging her chin into it, a sob leaving her lips. Marianne is frozen for a moment before she swallows the lump in her throat, own arms reaching around Anne's back to rub soothing circles into it.

"I'm so sorry, Anne," she whispers, her eyes fixed on the nearest three. "I know it doesn't fix anything, but maybe we could-"

Her sentence is cut short before she has a chance to find the right words. Cole emerges from the trees, his state disheveled before he realises what happened, the boy turning around with a look of disbelief and heartbreak painted over his features.

Anne breaks free from the embrace just in time to hear him accuse her, "You sold me out". Cole's voice breaks as he adds, "I trusted you!".

"What are you talking about?"

"You brought the teacher here!" He gestures angrily to the remains of their hideout. "You told her about me! Are you that desperate to be liked?!"

Instinctively, Marianne steps in front of Anne. "Hey-"

"She told my parents I'm not in school!"

"I was trying to help."

"Well, you ruined my life!"