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MARGARET knew better than to immediately come home after she bolted out of the classroom,but she couldn't stand spending even a second there. So she sat in the forest,under a tree, alone with her thoughts.
'Maybe I was a bit harsh' she thought to herself, remembering the incident with Gilbert. 'He must be so angry. Poor guy. Hey,why do I care! I told him to stay away!'
With a frown, she inspects the fruit in her hand. It was the apple Gilbert gave her. She put it in her dress pocket before she literally screamed at her teacher and ditched school. All because of an apple.
After cleaning it with her dress, she took a bite, her eyes wide. 'This is really-
"I told you it was sweet." Oh ,no
'Of course he would follow me'
Turning to face the boy, she prepared herself to yell at him and shoo him away, but then she noticed that he brought her her books and clothes. Her gaze softened.
"Indeed it is. Thank you."
"Can I sit next to you without getting slapped again?" he chuckled,motioning towards the grass below.
"I don't know. You might as well try." moving her dress so he could sit,she took her belongings out of his hands and thanked him.
He let her eat the apple in silence, looking at how beautiful her blonde hair looked over her face. He was taken out of his trance when a petite hand waved in front of his eyes.
"Hey,earth to Gilbert!" chuckling, the girl moved stray pieces of hair out of her face. Suddenly,her face went serious and once again she looked at him.
"I'm sorry." she blurted out.
"For what?" he got closer to her,now looking her straight in the eye.
"For hitting you with a book. For avoiding you. All in all ,for being extremely rude to you. It's just that Ruby's got dibs and then Josie won't leave Anne alone, and then Billy-" she continued rambling until she felt a hand over her mouth.
"Woah slow down! Dibs?" he laughed.
Taking his hand off her mouth, Margaret continued. "Yeah. Ruby likes you. Supposedly for three years."
As soon as those words left her mouth,she slapped her forehead. "Oh Goodness, I wasn't supposed to tell you that!"
Chuckling,he added "So you didn't want to talk to me because Ruby likes me?"
"I didn't want her to be sad. Besides, Josie already threatened me and Anne, not that I'm scared of her. But, Anne... She's a good soul. I don't want people like Josie to ruin her." plucking the grass and throwing it away,Margaret turned towards Gilbert only to be met with his loving gaze.
"What?"
"So it's not because you find me repulsive?"
"Oh, Gods no! I find you very smart and attractive actually." she said, eyes widening when she realized what just left her mouth. "I-I mean,"
"Don't worry. I won't get you in trouble with Josie. If you don't want me to talk to you at school, I won't."
"Seriously? No." she said ,getting up and motioning for him to get up too. "I think we should start over." smiling,she reached out her hand for him to shake.
"Hello, my name is Margaret. Margaret Brown."
Taking her hand in his, he replied sharing the same smile "I'm Gilbert Blythe."
"Can we be friends?" shyly tugging on her sleeves, she started walking down the road.
"I would love to be friends with you." following her, Gilbert decided that he'd make the best out of the moments spent with her.
"So, my dear friend-" Margaret said, emphasising the word friend "-where do you want to go? Since we can't come back to school ,and if I return home, Marilla would strangle me."
"We should go to a place where I like to go and think. It's pretty cool, my horse is also there." taking her hand in his, he leads her to his barn.
"Oh, I love horses. But I never got a chance to ride on a horse."
"Well, what better time than now?"
. . .
"It's absolutely wonderful! The Cuthberts have a barn but it's a little bit smaller. Although I wouldn't recommend you to sleep in one ,because you'll get hay all over your hair and clothes." the girl started rambling again, brushing the night black horse, and giving him a few kisses and hugs here and there.
"Why would I ever sleep in a barn if I have a bed?" chuckling, Gilbert threw a handfull of hay at her.
"Hey! You'll pay for this!" taking as much hay as she could possibly fit in both her hands,she chucked it at the boy who gasped in disbelief. Hay was sprawled all over his sweater and there were some pieces in his hair.
"Oh, so that's how you want to play?" before she could even blink, Margaret was on the ground,surrounded in hay with Gilbert on top of her,taking the hay and shoving it in her hair.
"No!Stop!I'm serious!" she laughed as she tried to shove him off,but to no avail.
Finally calming down,the two laid down next to each other, surrounded by hay.
"Hey, Gilbert?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you. For being my friend. Even if I was rude to you."
"No need to thank me. In fact, I should be thanking you. For telling me the truth. Although that book was pretty hard." he said, touching his cheek but soon wincing in pain.
"Goodness,I am terribly sorry." reaching out her hand to caress his cheek, she noticed it was indeed red,with tiny purple specks.
Gasping,she took his face in her hands, and ,to his surprise ,kissed his cheek.
"There. That should be better."
"Already feeling better." he inspected her face that was now faint red, before she turned around in embarrassment and giggled.
'Man, she truly is something' thinking to himself,he continued laying in the hay,talking to his friend.
