staring at the stars {Anne and Gilbert}

chapter three ~ early risers

e a r l y r i s e r s

Gilbert awakens early on Saturday morning, the sun shining through a gap in his curtains and hitting his face in bright rays. he checks the clock hanging on his wall and sees its just past 5, and he sighs groggily. he's used to waking up at this time, as he used to wake up this early when he had to help out on the farm, too, but since he sold his cattle he has little farming to do.

he drags himself out of bed, peering at his reflection in the mirror. his dark curly hair is frizzy and standing up at all angles, and his face is pallid and the bags under his eyes are as dark as ever. he rolls his eyes at his reflection and leaves his bedroom.

after making some breakfast and getting dressed (of course, he also made his hair look half decent), he decides the only way to wake himself up from his current exhausted state is to go outside, get a bit of fresh air.

he grabs his jacket and heads out the door, locking it behind him with the rusty key his Dad gave him. it's beautiful, warm day again today, the sun shining bright and hot against Gilbert's skin.

he roams around for a while, admiring the flowers in the meadow that make him think of Anne, and thinks about what Anne would be saying if she were here with him. he realises there's no way to possibly predict what she would say, becuase no one in this world has an imagination quite like hers.

as he's getting deeper into the forest, he hears a quiet voice talking, soft and sweet. he can't hear what the voice is saying, but somehow, in the back of his mind, he knows who it is.

he follows the voice through the trees, until he sees the girl he expected to see, jumping from rock to rock, talking to no one. she has a wreath of flowers around her head, her bright red hair tied in two braids, both of them messy and half falling out. Gilbert can't figure out how she can look so messy, and yet so perfect.

"good morning, Anne," Gilbert says, breaking the girl out of her thoughts with a start.

"Gilbert! you startled me," she says.

"i'm sorry, i didn't mean to," Gilbert apologizes, smirking slightly at her. "do you mind if i ask what you're doing at this time of the morning? i thought i would be the only one wandering around this early."

Anne smiles widely, looking around. "oh, it's just so beautiful here during the spring, don't you find? the trees are ever so interesting. they of course don't talk much but they're marvelous listeners, and the flowers are just so glorious and vibrant. i think i might pick some to bring back to Marilla for the dinner table," she says, while Gilbert stares at her, mesmerized by how... unique she is. she's not like anyone Gilbert's ever met.

the other girls in the class are beautiful, he can't deny that. but there's just something about Anne that makes her stand out. acctually, there's a whole bunch of things about Anne that make her stand out.

the other girls are very uniform, they all act proper and lady-like. it gets on Gilbert's nerves sometimes, they never seem to want to have fun, they just want to appear grown up.

Anne — Anne is the opposite. she isn't lady like in the slightest. she stands up for herself, and she isn't obsessed with how she looks or dresses. she's intelligent — she cares more about her education than dresses or hairstyles.

she sees beauty in everything, and her imagination is vivid and endless. Gilbert could listen to her talk for hours.

Anne notices him staring, and bites her lip. "i'm sorry, am i being weird?" she says suddenly, looking very worried. she tucks a piece of her hair behind her ear self-consciously.

"no, no of course not," Gilbert says. he bites his lip, and thinks for a second. "i have something to show you. come on, follow me."