In the Woods When First We Met

101. Fresh Start

As they went up the steps, Jane said, "I wonder if you should apologize to her."

"I'm not doing that," Billy immediately stated.

Jane looked at him as if she was going to argue. But then she said, "Well, what she probably wants most is for you to just keep away from her. ...But if an opportunity presents itself for you to do something nice, then you should." As she pushed the door open and went in, she whispered, "And I'm watching you."

After putting their things in the cloak room, Billy went to his desk and Jane went to hers.

Billy was annoyed by Jane already. As if it wasn't enough that he had Saint Gilbert on his back, he was now getting bossed around by his kid sister. He got his ink bottle out, and shook it, for no apparent reason. It wasn't something that needed to be shaken but he was annoyed and had to do something. Seeing the ink brought back a memory that made him smile: the day Mr. Phillips made Anne sit with him, and he'd put his pen in her ink. It had been...there was a word for it- one of their vocabulary words- but try as he might, he couldn't think of the word he meant for it...Anne would probably know, he thought with a laugh. Anyway, the point was, he'd wanted to scare her like he'd scared her in the woods, but he couldn't really do anything to her during class, so he figured putting his pen into her ink bottle would bring to mind some unpleasant thoughts. He couldn't do things like that now, though- Gilbert was in his way, and now his own sister had turned against him.

When Jane took her seat, Tillie leaned over and asked her, "Is Prissy sick now, too?"

Jane nodded and then looked at the desk ahead and said, "I see Diana's still out." Then she had a thought. She moved up to Diana's seat. Anne looked over at her, surprised.

"I thought since Diana's out today I might sit with you. Prissy's out, too," she told her. "I hope we don't get sick." She said 'we' in a confiding sort of way, leaning in toward Anne, trying to make it seem as though they were old friends.

Anne felt surprised, but smiled at her. Maybe she was making a friend, finally. She was glad that Jane seemed to want to be her friend- especially since she was without Diana for the time being, and it was hard to sit with the girls when she didn't have her bosom friend beside her.

Jane went on, "I bet you didn't have any trouble with the math homework, did you? I did. I wish I was as smart as you. Maybe while we eat lunch today you could give me some pointers?"

Anne couldn't help grinning. "Sure," she said. Then she admitted humbly, "I mean, I'm still catching up in math, really. But I liked last night's homework. Word problems are so more interesting than regular problems."

Mr. Phillips called the class to attention and began the day with geography.