₁.₀ SUPERCUT; gilbert blythe ✔

045.

Marianne wishes she was a better liar so she could have excused herself from attending church, but hiding the truth from Marilla is never a good idea. No matter how much she dreads seeing Gilbert after being so crude towards him, she still puts on one of the more elegant dresses and gets onto the cart with her family in the morning...

And she holds her breath through the entire mass, having noticed Gilbert's dark hair somewhere in the front.

Now, standing outside the church along with the other girls (who were very persistent that she should accompany them while they hand out the press, and she had no choice but to comply, considering she didn't wish to tell them of her predicament) she recalls that terrible moment he caught her staring at him. Gilbert's head turned back abruptly, just as she was beginning to feel save with the though that he might not see her at all today. And suddenly she found herself unable to look away, her gaze held in place by his eyes piercing into hers. She could see a mixture of emotions passing over his face, and yet some part of her expected the boy to smile, like he always would.

Today, however, he just looks at her, nothing more, and Marianne is the first to break the eye contact, casting her eyes down onto her hands, fingers twisting nervously in her lap. She blinks, and then he's facing the front of the church once again.

It's quite a funny thing, really, because Marianne's wishes contradict each other now. She's torn between wanting to talk to the boy - to explain, to beg him on her knees if need should be - and to run away in order to hide in the darkest corners of her bedroom. It's instinct, one could venture to say, self-preservation.

"I'm sure she wasn't herself at all," Anne says somewhere next to her, the girls still contemplating Miss Stacy's words regarding pregnancy. Just as Marianne thought, the teacher's explanation resulted in more questions arising in their heads, in fuelling their confusion. "And for the first time ever, I was completely astounded by what Miss Stacy was saying."

"What did she mean by 'steps to consent'?"

"Perhaps it has to do with being escorted home," suggests Tillie, understanding the phrase quite literally.

"Walking home? But there's no touching."

Jane leans in to Josie, knowingly adding, "Unless there's rough ground."

"So it's like... animal husbandry?"

Tillie's questions causes the tiniest of smiles to creep onto Marianne's lips involuntarily. The insinuation sounds rather ridiculous to someone aware of how... how the mechanism of conceiving a child works, so it's not easy to suppress a chuckle at least. But the analogy is quite accurate, if one was to think about it.

Though it must be much less funny to a person who knows not of the true nature of such matters, like Josie. "That's disgusting!" she basically spits out, as though the mere suggestion offended her to the very core. "We're not filthy animals."

"But... animals don't have to think. Perhaps that's why they bear offspring so easily." Diana pauses, looking at the other girls with wide eyes, her expression mirroring theirs. A gasp is heard, and suddenly she realises, "Oh no... that means-"

Anne nods, looking just as terrified. "Perhaps Charlie is right. Maybe intelligent and emotional females can't bear children!"

My, thank God Charlie Sloane does not intend to become a doctor.

"Emotional?"

"You definitely aren't pregnant, Ruby," Jane laughs, looking the blonde girl up and down. She's perhaps the only one to resist giving in to the sudden fear that engulf her companions.

"But I don't want to be barren!"

"Surely there must be someone who can answer all this."

And in that exact moment, Gilbert steps out of the door. Marianne inhales sharply, knowing well enough that there is no way to avoid confrontation now, and all her muscles tense in preparation. She glances at the other girls, suddenly realising they stopped talking and are now looking straight at her, their eyes full of expectation. "What is it?"