In the Woods When First We Met

68. Bosom Friends

There wasn't time to talk to Diana before class, but when she sat down next to her, Diana gave her a smile. Anne smiled back.

Diana had promised to eat lunch with her today, so at least she knew lunch time would be better than before.

When lunchtime came, Anne waited to get her basket from the cloak room until after she saw Billy leave it.

She hated that she had to constantly be aware of where Billy was at any moment of the day. She didn't want to think about him, she didn't even want to look at him. But she had no choice. Having to watch Billy to keep track of where he was, was better than accidentally running into him. This was her life now.

Once she saw that he was out of the way, she went to get her lunch.

When she came back, she saw that Diana was talking to the girls in their lunch corner.

"She's my friend, Josie. And we need to give her a chance, because everyone has judged her rather harshly. She's hardly had a chance to prove herself to be a true friend."

Anne was glad Diana was still trying to get the other girls to accept her, but she wondered if that time would ever come.

When Diana came and sat down again with her, she did not look especially relieved. But she said, "Don't worry. Josie's just being stubborn. Sometimes I think she's jealous of you."

Anne's mouth dropped open. "Jealous of me? Why?"

"Lots of reasons," Diana said. "You're interesting. You're always thinking of something new and exciting, Anne. You're so much more creative than any of the rest of us, and you're a lot smarter than Josie is."

Diana smiled, "Plus, Josie hasn't got a beau, and I think she's jealous of the way Gilbert seems to be noticing you these days. No boy has paid that much attention to her yet. You know she's been waiting for it for a while now. I think she thought by this time all the boys would be falling all over themselves for her, and while they do think she's pretty, of course, they haven't exactly been fighting each other over her."

Anne flushed. "Gilbert doesn't notice me. The whole thing has been an extreme misunderstanding. You all think we're...spending time together, and we most assuredly are not."

Anne felt bad about lying to Diana. But how could she not?

Diana said, "Honestly, Anne, I hope he isn't interested in you. I don't see how I can ever get you back in with the girls if he is. Ruby already cries all the time; if she thinks Gilbert is sweet on you, she'll cry until she drowns in her own tears. And Josie is awfully protective of Ruby, so if she thinks you've gotten in the way of Ruby...And of course Tillie follows whatever Josie does, so..."

Anne looked down at her food. "I wish Ruby wasn't so stuck on Gilbert. I don't see the point in mooning over boys like that."

Diana asked, "You haven't liked anyone?"

Anne blushed. Then she said, sounding quite a bit like Marilla, "Certainly not. I have no mind for such foolishness."

"I don't think it's so foolish," Diana said with a quiet smile.

"What's the point in thinking about boys at this stage of our lives, anyway?" She said stoutly, stabbing at her food with her fork. "It'll be years before we can court or marry, and we have plenty of other things to think about. I don't plan to waste away my youth thinking about romance."

Diana smiled, not believing a word she said.

"Well, all right, so listen. The first step, I think, is to get Ruby to like you. See, I thought I could get you in with the whole group, but they present as such a united front that it seems impossible to infiltrate that."