In the Woods When First We Met

144. Flight

After leaving Anne- and wishing he could go with her- Gilbert turned back. He decided to go back to school.

He thought about just going home. Gilbert put a lot of importance on being in school, but he had thoroughly had it with Mr. Phillips, and with it being Friday, if Mr. Phillips would be angry he hadn't come back, he wouldn't be able to do anything about it until Monday anyway. But then he figured he may as well go back and finish the afternoon.

At least if something was said about Anne he'd be there to step in.

Mr. Phillips looked him up and down with just a hint of a sneer when he stepped through the door of the school, saying: "You certainly took your time in walking back."

Gilbert walked down the aisle. Then, seeing Mr. Phillips was waiting for some kind of explanation, he told a lie: "I had to help her in. And speak to her mother. I was being polite."

"She doesn't have a mother," Josie said. "You mean the generous lady who was willing to let her stay with them."

"No," Gilbert said in a hard voice, "I mean her mother." He knew Anne didn't call Marilla 'mother', but he hated Josie's snide way of downplaying Anne's lack of a family, as if it had somehow been a personal fault of hers that her parents had died.

Mr. Phillips looked back and forth between the two of them, not knowing what the issue was.

"Well, sit down," he snapped at Gilbert.

Gilbert sat down at his desk, still giving Josie a hard stare.

The afternoon went on, passing uneventfully, but the end of the day could not come soon enough- both for the heavily burdened and for those who couldn't wait to get home and share gossip.

Gilbert did not jump out of his seat right away like many others did when the school day was over. He was going to stay until he had finished what he was working on: He needed to make a second copy of the notes he'd taken on the lecture that afternoon, to bring to Anne, so she'd be ready for the test next week...until he remembered that according to Mr. Phillips note, Anne wasn't welcome back at school just yet.

He stopped a moment, but then shook his head- he would continue writing notes for her anyway. Even if Anne wasn't going to be taking a test on the War of 1812, there was no reason she shouldn't still learn about the War of 1812.

He remembered, then, that he had promised to look into the matriculation system for her; to see whether it would be possible for her to take graduation exams even if she could not stay enrolled in school in the following years.

Suspecting Mr. Phillips would be of no assistance, he decided to seek that knowledge directly from the school board, by way of a certified letter. He would not reveal that he was asking in regard to an unwed mother, of course- there was no need for that sort of detail yet. He would just inquire as to whether matriculation was possible despite no official school enrollment, and if so, what were the requirements to pursue it?

He'd go into town later today or tomorrow and get that taken care of. Then at least he'd be able to give some sort of positive news to Anne, if it turned out that her temporary break from school was destined to become a permanent one.

As he packed up his things to go, he heard a small, timid voice say, "Gilbert?"

Gilbert knew recognized the voice as Ruby's. He turned back to her, warily.

"I wondered if...if you were going to invite us to the wedding. Maybe...um, us girls could be in the wedding. You know, bridesmaids?"

"Now why would you want to do a thing like that?" he asked, trying very hard not to sound as harsh as he felt.