kindred spirits || anne and gilbert

chapter ten .

the cold, bleak avonlea winter has finally turned around- the snow has turned to water and mush, the blossoms are finally blooming again, and the weather is slowly becoming warmer and warmer. on monday, anne steps outside of green gables and exhales happily, her heart soaring with excitement and glee. she loves spring and everything that comes with it.

she begins her venture to school, skipping happily the entire lonely walk. gilbert let her know the night before that he wouldn't be walking with her, as he arrived at school earlier than usual to discuss his education and future plans with his teachers.

although the clouds are thick, dark gray and ominously hanging low, anne still finds it to be beautiful. 'the first day of spring, oh, how wonderful!'

anne walks into her school and immediately feels uneasy by the silence. students are standing around in groups of friends, as usual, but the usual chatter is hushed to secretive whispers and mysterious glances between each other. anne shuts the door after herself, the heavy piece of wood creaking as it closes.

diana turns around in her seat along with a few students, her heart dropping. 'dear god, please no.' she's already heard a few conversations as she walked past circles of friends and everyone seems to be discussing one singular topic- anne and gilbert's relationship.

"anne," diana frets as she rushes towards her bosom friend. but ruby gillis, tillie boulter, jane andrews and josie pye are already storming in her direction.

anne turns around after hanging her hat and coat up on the rack and smiles at the girls. "hi ruby," she greets the tiny blonde.

tears fill ruby's eyes- she's never felt so betrayed before. before, she was angry, fuming after finding out the rumors about gilbert and anne are true. but now, because she's looking anne in the face as she smiles so sweetly and innocently at her, treating her kindly, her anger has morphed into a sullen emotion.

noticing the tears nearly escaping from her sad blue eyes, anne's smile disappears and turns downward to a concerned frown. "ruby, what's wrong?" she asks quietly, as to not embarrass the girl and catch the attention of other students.

josie scoffs as the door leading to mr philips room opens and closes, gilbert stepping into the room with a handful of papers. tillie boulter gives him a disgusted grimace. "what's wrong?" josie retorts. "are you serious right now, shirley? what's wrong, is ruby knows about you and gilbert- we all do." she crosses her arms and continues, "ruby and i saw you at his house, holding hands."

gilbert frowns. "you stalked us?" his eyebrows shoot up in shock, whilst anne's stomach drops. cole and diana look at each other with matching worried expressions before jumping to their feet and joining the group.

"i-i-" anne stutters, but josie raises her hand to silence her.

"why would you lie to me?" ruby shouts at the redhead, sobs wracking her frail body. the entire room grows quiet. "you knew i love gilbert, you knew he broke my heart, you knew i had dibs on him."

diana steps forward. "ruby," she says softly. "gilbert, he doesn't love you back."

ruby twirls around on her feet to face diana. her face is red and eyes are puffy as she cries, "and why not? what's so great about anne? of all girls you could get, why her?" repugnance is clear in her voice as she is seemingly sick to her stomach, making anne's bottom lip tremble. she, too, has wondered the very same thing multiple times before, but hearing some other person, someone so close to her, question the same thing, hurts her immensely.

"ruby gillis, how dare you say such things!" diana exclaims contemptuously.

josie laughs mirthlessly. she opens her mouth to say something witty, but diana glares at her. cole questions her, "why are you even here? how does this have anything to do with you?"

josie looks at him in disgust, turning her nose up in the air with pride. "because anne shirley-cuthbert and gilbert blythe broke my dear friends heart."

cole rolls his eyes. "but this doesn't include you."

"and how does it include you?" tillie interrogates him. "unless anne or gilbert told you, and not her."

gilbert steps further into the circle, his hands up in a calming manner. "okay, that's enough. seriously, it isn't a big deal." he looks down at ruby, who's still slightly crying, feeling a small bit of remorse for her. still, he wonders, why is she making this such a huge deal? "yes, ruby, anne and i are together. we should have told you, but we knew you would have made it into a big deal and we didn't want the drama."

ruby's eyes widen into two huge saucers. she glares at the taller boy, shaking her head, before turning back to anne. with her hands at her sides, balled into two little fists, shaking in anger, she closes her eyes and exclaims loudly, "i hate you anne shirley, with all my being! i'll never forgive you." as tears fill her eyes again, she grabs the doorknob and throws the door open, rushing out of the school and slamming the door after herself.

anne stands frozen in the original spot she's been in, her mouth slightly open in shock, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. jane andrews, tillie boulter and josie pye turn their noses up in the air, grimacing at the group before waltzing away with pride. the other students are dead silent after hearing the argument, some giggling or whispering ear to ear.

as tears fall from her eyes and gilbert steps towards her, anne whips around and pulls the schools door open, slamming it behind herself as diana shouts after her. anne ignores her closest friend and dashes out of school, feeling humiliated, guilty and torn between what to do.

she loves gilbert, she truly does. but she's never seen ruby so hurt and upset over something, and knowing that she caused it is hurting anne's heart.

now in the woods, anne drops to her knees and begins to cry. mud from the ground sleeps through her jeans and leave two round, dirty and wet patches on her knees. in between heavy sobs she tries to breathe evenly, but finds it hard to do so. she doesn't want to break up with gilbert, as he makes her happy, but would ending their relationship fix all of her errors? the answer appears to be an enigma.

'i need to find ruby,' anne thinks to herself as she steadies her breath. 'i need to talk to her. that's what we're missing here- communication.'

anne slowly brings herself up from the ground and wipes her muddy palms on her now dirty jeans. she looks around and follows up the path, figuring out which way is which and which pathway will lead her to the gillis' household.

'she always departures left,' anne thinks, remembering which direction ruby runs off in, following up the trail with her blue eyes. 'oh ruby, please forgive me!'