𝑺𝑵𝑶𝑾𝒀 𝑫𝑨𝒀𝑺 - Gilbert Blythe [1]

FIVE

5|LIPS

Her face scrunched up in grimace as Anne read another passage from the book Diana's mother was teaching her. It was the same book she had to read over and over again until she could recite it in her sleep.

"I never want to be a lady." Anne clearly stated before moving on to the next passage. "If little girls could understand the vulgarity of putting heads together and giggling as if the whole world was a ridiculous affair, they would refrain from such unmitigated nonsense."

"I was taught this book." Marie revealed, sighing as her eyes scanned the pages. "It only gets worse."

""No laughing. No waddling. Only look straight ahead of you when walking. Burping is social ruin"? Ah..." Anne gasped at the serious small details a lady must follow.

"We can no longer afford finishing school in Paris, so Mother's determined to finish me herself." Diana almost spat out the words, her anger at her mother's forcefulness slipping through. "She says childhood is over."

"Paris sucks anyway." Marie hummed, leaning back against the wall behind her, the cool wood seeping through her navy blue dress and sending a shiver down her spine.

"But - but how can you be done having a childhood when I've only just begun?" Anne asked with sorrow.

"Oh, Anne." Diana sighed in defeat, upset by her mother's choices. The two shared a meaningful hug before grabbing Marie and bringing her into the embrace. The door behind them opened and Cole stumbled into the room, dropping off the dusters.

"Sorry." He apologised, putting the dusters back to where they came from.

"It's alright." Anne said grimly. "We've only just learned that our friendship has been sentenced to death."

"Is there a ridiculous, hateful book that teaches boys to be men?" Marie asked as Anne dropped the book by Coles feet, it landed with a slight thump.

"If there was, it...wouldn't help me."

"What do you mean?" Anne asked. Marie tilted her head in confusion, watching as the blonde boys face fell from exhausted to sorrow. Then she realised. Or at least she thought she did. But his secret was his to keep until he was open to sharing.

"Nothing. Sorry." Cole ran out the room, leaving the door open behind him. The three of them held hands and sat in silence, mourning the soon to be loss of their friends childhood. Mr. Phillips entered the room next to theirs, burping ungracefully before leaving again.

"Social ruin!" Diana whispered as the girls held back their laughter. Once they heard the door click shut they each let out a fit of laughter.

"Shh." Diana tried to hush the other two.

"I'm sorry." Anne apologised, holding a hand over her mouth. Marie bit down on her bottom lip to try and contain her laughter.

___

The girls each sat in a circle in Annes room blowing a feather, trying to keep it in the air. Each of them giggling as the feather moved away from them.

"Ruby, this is serious. We're supposed to be studying each others lips." Anne lectured. "I think yours are delicate and inviting."

"Really?" Ruby asked through her laughter.

"And Tillie's are soft, even to the eye. And Jane's are shaped like a rosebud that's beginning to bloom." Anne continued. "Mine are awful. Like the fat caterpillars that live in our old willow tree."

"They do look a bit swollen." Jane added.

"It's my own fault. I have a terrible habit of chewing my on my bottom lip when I'm thinking. The trouble is that I'm always thinking." Anne giggled. "Are they unpleasant to look at?"

"They are perfectly pink and luscious." Diana rubbed Anne's shoulder comfortingly.

"If I were a man I would want to kiss your lips and never stop." Marie added, finally speaking after a long period of silence.

"Diana, you without a doubt have the best, most kissable Cupid's bow. The brightest smile to light any heart." Anne smiled at Diana before twist around to look at Marie. "And you, Marie, have the most plump and pinkest lips here. I would want to kiss them all day if I were a boy."

"Do you think that Prissy and Mr. Phillips have kissed?" Ruby giggled.

"Not yet." Jane answered. "But soon, I imagine. Prissy is studying for her Queen's Academy entrance exams, and sometimes Mr. Phillips stops by her house to give her extra help."

"Prissy is only two years older than us." Tillie reminded the small group of friends.

"I mean to have an official beau by the time I'm 15." Ruby said seriously. "I hope Gilbert will be back by then."

"You think of nothing but beaus, Ruby."

"Well, what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing is wrong with that, Ruby. I think it is adorable." Marie smiled at the golden haired girl. "I am to be married off by the age of eighteen. There is even a contract. I am sixteen, almost seventeen."

"You have a fiancé?" Jane asked with excitement.

"Yes but I have not even seen what he looks like yet." She sighed sorrowfully, trying to picture what his face could look like or what his personality is like.

"I've never even seen a real kiss before." Tillie revealed. "My parents don't go in for that kind of thing."

"I once heard Mrs. Lynde and her husband share a kiss. It sounded like a cow dragging it's hind hoof out of a swamp." Jane laughed causing all the girls to burst into a fit of boisterous laughter.

"If someone were to kiss me, I'm afraid I would do something silly, or forget to do something I should do." Diana began to grow worried. "What are the rules? Why don't they teach kissing etiquette?"

"We could make a game." Anne jumped up from her spot in the circle. "To see who could conduct the most romantic courtship. With brave knights, and enchanted princesses, and sorcerers and desperadoes! It'd be great practice."

"Diana, you can play the gallant young man." Diana quickly kneeled before Anne. "Prince Wisteria, wilt thou let fly the Feather of Fortune and choose thy heart pure maiden?"

"I shall." Diana accepted the feather. She dropped the flower in front of the other girls and they all watched as it landed in Tillie's lap.

"What should I do, Diana?" Tillie asked through her excitement.

"Tillie, you shouldn't talk to Prince Wisteria as though he were our friend Diana. It spoils the effect." Anne lectured.

"I-I'm waiting for my handsome young prince to come and claim me."

"Why, who is this fair and noble maiden?" Diana made her voice deeper to sound more manly. She spun Tillie around and kissed her cheek causing the other girls to go hysterical.

"Why must the girl wait for the boy?" Anne questioned aloud.

"What?"

"Anne!"

"Are you mad?"

"If I wanted to kiss a boy, couldn't I just kiss him?" Anne stated causing Marie to nod along in agreement.

"No, Anne!"