That Fateful Night

Chapter 16

Anne's POV

The children all sit in a circle on the floor, excited murmurings and exclamations drift around the room as they wait for Ms. Stacey to tally the votes for where they will take their trip. Anne wrings her hands in anticipation as her 'beach' suggestion takes the lead with 11 votes on the blackboard. She closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths, waiting for Ms. Stacey to make the announcement. 

With three claps of the teachers hands all the murmurings and whispers cease as she has the children's full and undivided attention. 

"Okay class, as you can see-"

"We're going to the beach, Cole!" Anne exclaims as she reads the 14 tallies next to the word 'beach' on the blackboard. She hugs him tightly and he winces before hugging her back. 

A million thoughts race through Anne's head as she prepares herself for the short walk to the rocky shore with the crashing waves and beautiful horizon. She remembers the first time she went to the beach with Marilla and Matthew, and how she almost drowned under the crashing waves. 

Oh how thrilling it would be to write a riveting tale of a drowning maiden saved by a handsome merman prince.

She gets lost in her imagination, the plot of the story spiraling through her brain, enrapturing her thoughts with every perfectly scrumptious plot twist she can come up with. Someone nudges her and she blinks a few times, her sight focusing on Jerry, who has his arm held out to her. 

"Most of the class is already outside, I didn't want to disturb you but- uh- we kind of have to go," he says lightly, his french accent thick.

"Oh yes Jerry, I was just imagining a tale of a-"

"Okay Anne, but can you please tell me about your imaginative tale as we're walking out the door? You don't want to keep everyone waiting." He interrupts as he grabs her hand and pulls her up, careful not to ruffle one of her nicer dresses. Anne glances down too, the beautiful paisley print with mixing blue and green shades compliment her red hair, slightly puffed sleeves adorn her arms, with lace trim at the end of the sleeves, and the bottom of the dress, which lands just below her knees. 

Marilla says it won't be long before she is gifted some longer dresses, indicating her maturity, but Anne quite enjoys the freedom that shorter dresses come with. She can run quicker through the woods and climb trees, long dresses won't offer her that kind of freedom. But oh how she longs to be seen as more mature. As a girl of the ripe age of sixteen she yearns for the freedoms that come with being an adult woman in an advancing society, and she is especially excited to begin her studies to be a teacher at Queens academy in just a little while. 

She knows that Gilbert will begin his Queens exams at the end of this school year, and she is dreading the day she has to say goodbye to him. As she walks outside her eyes immediately fixate on the boy she's been longing for since she beat him in the spelling bee. 

Her heart skips a beat as he returns her stare, his hazel eyes piercing hers with an intensity she can only hope is returned feelings of attraction. Even though he kissed Josie Pye, it only hurt so much because of how foolish she felt to have been deceived by a boy. But, she spent so much time being angry at him that she doesn't believe he would even consider being more than friends with her now.

Oh how she longs to officially court him, but she feels she missed her chance. She looks away quickly, thinking to herself that she's just trying to convince herself of things that aren't there, like when she used to get scared of ghosts in the woods by Green Gables. Gilbert doesn't return her affections, he's just simply a sweet boy that wants to please everyone. She makes her way over to her friends, feeling the ghost of Gilbert's gaze on her as she links arms with Jerry and Diana.