Ablaze with possibility

Chapter 12: To forgive and to forget

A curious Moody Spurgeon was watching as Anne wrote page after page about each insect they'd found. She had not been lying when she said that she was very familiar with the names and qualities of them, she had only needed the book once and he was very impressed. 

He saw as some of the pairs, such as Diana and Charlie, gathered their things and walked towards Miss Stacy. The big oak was far away from their teacher and maybe they hadn't heard something that the other pairs had?

"Anne, when do you think you are done?" She looked up from the paper in her hand and shrugged lightly.

"I'm not quite sure, maybe in a couple of minutes. It depends on how much I should and want to write about the...The tiger beetle!" She looked down at the beetle walking around her hand. "Have you ever seen such a glorious color on a beetle before, because I sure haven't! It's as green as an emerald! Though I've never actually seen the color emerald green it sounds ever so resplendent! Don't you think?"

Although Moody was used to Anne's big words and chattering after hearing it almost every day at school, he still was taken aback by it every time. Like every other student in Avonlea. 

Or maybe even every person in Avonlea.

He'd never even heard the word "resplendent" before nor what an emerald was. He wondered if it was eatable but quickly dismissed the thought. The last time he'd thought that was during a lesson with Miss Stacy about electricity, which didn't end so good.

 And didn't taste so good either. He really wished it had tasted as sweet as chocolate though. 

"Now I'm done!" Anne burst out and stood up. 

When she looked around them, she noticed they where the only ones left. 

"Where is everyone?" She asked as her gaze wandered along the great field. 

"Oh, they left." Anne's eyes widened immediately. 

"They left!?" She asked him, feeling anxious at the thought of being the last group. 

She just couldn't let them be. That would mean that Gilbert would be there before her which meant that she lost. Not that it was a competition-of course-but still. 

"Run, Moody." The boy furrowed his brows. 

"What do you mean?" He asked her as he picked up the biology book from the ground. 

"I said, R-U-N, RUN!"

And with that, Anne rushed away, the wind in her red hair, a paper fluttering uncontrollably in her hand and her arms flung up in the open air. 

"Wait for me!" Moody shouted at her but knew she wouldn't listen. He tried to run after her but compared to her, he was no runner. He decided to walk for the rest of the way. 

Anne loved the freedom that came with running. She could be whatever she wanted, feel whatever she wanted and imagine whatever she wanted when her feet drove her forward. It felt liberating to know that her body could move so fast and that she was in control of it. She was in control of every step she took. She listened to the sound of her feet brushing through the high grass, the twittering birds flying above her and her lips grinned from ear to ear. She realized how close she were getting to where Miss Stacy was sitting with the other students and quickened her pace. The next second she was laying flat on the ground, with a soiled dress and her face down in the muddy dirt.