The Arrangement | Gilbert Blythe

11

Gilbert had been mourning the loss of his father, and the last thing he wanted to do was talk to anyone. Every single person he came across since the death of his father had something to say to him. And it was all the same "I'm sorry for you loss."

So when Billy and his friends snuck up on him while he was out walking, just wanting to be alone, he was pissed.

"Hey Gilbert!" Billy yelled, catching up with him and sliding into step so they were walking side by side. "How's it going, Blythe?"

"Fine."

"You've gotta come back to school, bud. That pretentious Hebert girl is getting out of control."

"What do you care?" Gilbert responded, not accepting any criticisms or rudeness towards Adeline.

"We need a guy to show her she's not so smart," Billy rolled his eyes as if this weren't the most obvious thing ever.

"She's smart. Deal with it."

"Why you gotta be like that, bud?"

"Why don't you bust out a book and deal with it yourself?"

"Yeah right," Billy said, as if that was insane, "good one, bud."

Stopping and turning to face Billy, Gilbert was beginning to become more and more pissed, "I'll give you a tip, ok? I'm not your bud."

"Yeah, right," Billy said again

"And if you ever hassle Adeline again, you'll regret it." Gilbert was done. He was done with Billy being rude to Adeline. He wasn't sure why he was so protective over her. Maybe it was the fact that he teased her so much over the years, that if anyone else was mean to her, he felt it was his job to protect her. Only he could tease her. He loved the way her brow would furrow when he would get called on instead of her, or when he teased her about school. Especially recently, when they weren't arguing, in the woods, when they would bump into each other and walk. He had really gotten to know her, and he liked her. She was sweet, funny, sassy, and wasn't afraid to put him in his place, unlike the other girls, who looked at him like he was just there to be looked at.

"Hey what's your problem?" Billy interrupted Gilbert's thoughts of Adeline.

"Ask me that again," there was a few seconds of silence before Gilbert continued, "no, seriously, go ahead."

"Why you gotta be like that?"

"Ask me!"

Silence.

Shaking his head, Gilbert turned around and continued walking away.

"Come on bud, I don't get you. Seriously, what's your problem?" Billy called after him.

And that's when Gilbert snapped. Maybe it was because his father was dead or maybe it was because he was sick of Billy being jealous of the fact that Adeline was smart, maybe both, but he snapped. He punched Billy.

This caused a fight of pursue, Billy and Gilbert throwing punches, Billy's fist going straight to Gilbert's eye. Gilbert finished it though, leaving Billy on the floor, his friends watching from afar as Gilbert walked off back to his house.

CELESTE SPEAKS:
heyyyyy my luvs! i hope you enjoyed this chapter! how do you like the changed pov? lemme know if you want more from gilbert's pov! make sure to vote and comment!