it was my fault

Chapter 5: wait, what?

Anne's perspective

It's a lovely Monday morning. The weather isn't the best, but it's sunny enough for the colorful flowers to bloom.

"Good morning Anne!" Diana shouted from the distance and we run at each other like we haven't seen each other for entire years! It was the same every morning, and every time I met Diana in general, when we're not together I miss her dearly.

When we entered the school building, all the girls were gossiping on the corner, and giggles were escaping everyone's mouth. The most excited one was probably Ruby, she was basically jumping around and her smile had reached her ears.
Why?
What happened?

Then it hit me.

I finally understood why everyone was acting like this.

Obviously, the news that Gilbert is returning to school today had reached every house in Avonlea. Ruby seemed extremely nervous but excited as well. While glancing at her, trying and failing to form a smile on my face, a wave of guilty feelings hit me. I remembered how Ruby was acting the first weeks Gilbert was gone. She was crying almost every day and when we tried to lift her up, nothing worked. We all had promised her that if we happen to meet Gilbert before her, we would have a small talk or maybe even avoid him a bit so she'll be the one that Gilbert says the most to, his news and everything.

Right then and there, I realized I have disrespected my dear friend Ruby.
How could I?
I am the worst friend on the planet.
How could I forget all she had said to us?
I am extremely disappointed at myself.

"Anne? Are you okay?" Diana's voice interrupted me while I was cursing myself.

"Yes. I'm fine Diana."

It felt wrong lying to Diana, but I had to sort things out in my head first. I knew that eventually I would tell Diana what happened, because surprisingly she is very good at giving advice. But for now, I needed my time and we were at school too, in front of everyone.

"Hey." Cole approached us.

Cole is one of my new friends. He came to school some months after Gilbert was gone. He is definitely a kindred spirit, and he's also an incredible artist, although he may not realize it yet. He's a lovely friend and I've learnt a lot through our friendship.

"Hey Cole!" I said, Cole always seemed to appear in the perfect moments, saving me in a way from weird situations.

"Hi." Diana answered.

"Anne, I actually want to give you something, could you excuse us for a bit Diana?"
Cole wanted to give me something?
My day is turning out a bit better than I thought.

"Yes of course! I'm going to talk to Ruby and the girls now, see you both later!"

I grabbed his hand and we walked to one corner of our classroom, where no one was standing there at the moment.

"My curiosity will kill me Cole! Just show me already!"

"One second!"
He said while talking a piece of paper out of his bag. "Close your eyes."

"Show me!" I told him excitingly while closing my eyes.

"Okay, open them."

I gasped at the sight of the prettiest portrait of myself I have ever seen.

Wait.

Have I seen another portrait of myself before?

No.

"Oh, Cole! This is incredible!"
He smiled while handing it to me.
"Thank you so much!" I gave him the biggest hug ever, and placed my head on his shoulder.

Suddenly, not much to my surprise, the door was wide open and everyone turned their heads and ran to it. Just because I already knew who it was, and the greetings from everyone proved me right, I didn't let go off Cole. Instead, I actually hugged him tighter. I knew that for better or for worse, I'll have to face Gilbert and Ruby at some point, but I was desperate to make that wonderful moment with my friend to last a bit longer. I also didn't wanna see the sight of everyone being around him and greeting him, it made me feel kind of..
angry?

Cole finally pulled away after he realized I was not planning to myself.

"Who is this?" He asked, pointing at Gilbert.
"He seems kind of.. well-known around here."

"I guess he is, in a way. His name is Gilbert and he left school a couple months ago but now he's back, and that's why everyone is greeting him."
I said, while turning my face to see him.
He was looking at... me? Not me exactly, but my way, he was looking at me and Cole with a confused expression on his face. He had already seen me the day before, so why would he look at me? He had everyone in front of him, talking to his face but he was completely ignoring them. Thankfully, he looked away after a bit, and actually talked to his friends. The classroom was quickly filled with questions all over the place, but he didn't have time to answer all of them. Everyone seemed enthusiastic about the whole situation except.. well... me and him, actually.
Of course he tried to answer questions as politely as he could and made sure to talk to everyone but he seemed a bit overwhelmed and worried for some reason.

"Alright, alright. Everyone settle down."
Mr. Phillips announced and everyone sat at their seats.

***

Lunchtime arrived, finally, and I seemed to be in a better state of mind. I was actually talking with my friends, Cole and Diana about making flower crowns after school was over. Ruby didn't sit with us today, she was too enthusiastic and was with the other girls, talking and giggling about something. Ruby was with us half the days and the rest with the others. It didn't bother me, personally, and it didn't seem to bother Diana, too. Cole loved the idea of flower crowns and Diana said she wasn't sure about it. They both agreed making them, but they insisted to not wear them at school.

It was a deal!

I am very grateful for my friends. They always make my day, and they help me take my mind off of things. Stupid things usually, such as Gilbert Blythe. Although, I shouldn't be thinking about him, instead, I should be thinking about Ruby. I can't just walk up to her and say 'You know what Ruby? Yesterday morning, Gilbert and I drank tea and ate muffins together while we talked about multiple subjects for entire hours!'
I needed to find a way to tell her, but finding a way to tell her without hurting her feelings seemed to be pretty difficult. 

For the time being, I have to avoid both of them, praying that Gilbert doesn't tell her that we were together the previous day.

Suddenly I felt a hand grabbing my wrist and making me stand up.

It was Gilbert, with a worried expression on his face.

"Can we talk, please?" He mouthed. "Alone."

What is happening? And why does he want to talk to me privately?

Still holding my wrist, he pulled me on the side.

"Do you like him?" He said, pointing at Cole.

"What? Who? Cole? Oh, but of course I like him! He's one of my best friends how could I not like him? He's very nice funny and-"

"No. Do you like him?"

Wait, what?

****

A/N: hiiiiiiiii well.. yeah that's a cliffhanger, don't kill me lol. It's the first time I left you guys on a cliffhanger, so yeah. I have thought of the continuation don't worry haha, I actually was planning for this chapter to be longer but it would be TOO long if I included everything I wanted, so I cut it in half. PLEASE COMMENT YOUR OPINIONS AND THEORIES. FEEDBACK IS ALWAYS HELPFUL!
thank you for reading once again, you're very cool.
- athina