𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 ~ 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐲-𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭

Chapter Three

Chapter Three:
Repression
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Once Mabel realized what had happened, that she had been blushing because of Anne, she began to panic.

It's just Anne. The same old Anne from last week. Nothing has changed. Nothing. She repeated to herself in her head.

So why did I blush? It must be the weather. Or maybe I'm getting sick. There's no way it was Anne who caused me to do that. Absolutely no way. After all, it's just Anne.

Mabel shook her head, trying to shake away the thoughts of her friend. She stood at the end of the classroom, looking at the empty seats on the girl's side.

"Mabel, you can sit with me if you'd like." Jane offered, patting the seat next to her. Mabel smiled and smoothed out the white cover of her dress as she sat.

She pulled out her slate and placed it on the table in front of her, forcing down the worries and thoughts from earlier.

Yet when Anne passed by to sit, and Mabel caught a whiff of her scent, the thoughts came rushing back.

Mabel couldn't quite describe how Anne smelled. It was fruity, yet with a hint of smoke no doubt from her candles.

Whatever it was, it was intoxicating. Anne sat down next to Diana in front of Jane and Mabel.

While cleaning her slate, her eyes drifted up to Anne.

She looks really pretty in the sunlight. Mabel thought, her brown eyes focusing on the red head diagonal to her.

No! Mabel scolded herself for her thoughts. Something must be wrong with me..

Mabel sighed, a frown on her face. She pushed the thoughts down with all her might.

She didn't want to think of Anne like that. It wasn't right to do that. Mabel knew that.

She was supposed to think that about someone like Charlie or Moody. Or any other boy in Avonlea, at all.

That's what she had always been taught by her parents. Who had always been right. Why would they lie to her about this anyway?  They don't lie to her.. Except about Santa Clause.

Mabel shook off the thoughts, trying her best at repressing any thoughts like that about Anne.  She didn't want to ever think about her like that again. Absolutely not.

"You okay?" Jane whispered, her face showing concern for her friend.

Mabel nodded, before turning her attention back to the board where Mr. Phillips stood. Thankfully, she managed to finally calm her thoughts about Anne and replace them with thoughts of school.

~~

Brown leaves crunched under Mabel and Ruby's feet as they began their walk home.

Ruby was rambling on about something, probably Gilbert Blythe, but Mabel wasn't listening.

Her mind was on another, yet again. She tried to distract herself, again. But it didn't work.. again.

But part of her was okay with that. A very minuscule part, but it was there. She liked thinking about Anne. About her smile. Her laugh. How she spoke. How she-

"Mabel? Are you listening to me?" Ruby cut off her thoughts, as she stopped to turn to look at Mabel.

"Uh, yes?" Mabel said, glancing away from the girl.

"I simply don't believe that. What on earth were you thinking about?" Ruby stepped closer to her and gasped, "Are you thinking about a who?"

Mabel was pretty sure China would be able to hear her based on how loud she shrieked that sentence.

Mabel's face paled. "N-no.."

Ruby gasped loudly, "You are! Who is it? Better not be Gilbert Blythe! I have dibs."

"No, no, no, it's not." Mabel laughed, the larger part of her thankful for the small distraction from Anne plaguing her mind.

Ruby lifted her pointer finger to her chin. "Is it Charlie? He's handsome, too. Not as handsome as Gilbert, but-"

"It's Moody." Mabel blurted, avoiding Ruby's eyes. She knew that Moody liked her, so maybe if she started liking him everything would go back to normal. She would go back to normal.

"Moody?" Ruby shrieked, yet again. Mabel knew China would be able to hear her this time, too.

"Yes." Mabel squeaked, "He's rather handsome, don't you think?"

"I suppose so..." Ruby shrugged, turning and walking down the path again.

"He asked to walk me home today.." Mabel said, catching up with Ruby, "I told him next time because I was walking home with you."

"Well, that was very kind of you.."

Mabel breathed a sigh of relief and continued beside her, listening to her rambling about Gilbert.

Mabel shook her head with a smile. Really, it was impressive. How someone could like someone for so long even if they show zero signs of liking the other back. How highly they could talk about them.

Mabel wanted that. But at the same time, she couldn't imagine herself with a husband. She wanted to be married, of course. She wanted so desperately to be loved. But she just couldn't imagine herself to have a husband. To be married to a man.

That hurt. It did. A lot, if she was being obvious. But, of course, she would never tell anyone that. Why would she? To be ridiculed by her friends and family?

No. No, that wasn't at all what she wanted. She didn't want to disappoint either of her parents. She never wanted to disappoint anyone. Disappointment scared Mabel. And so did her inability to imagine herself with a husband.

She knew she could never ever tell her friends. Josie Pye would have her head on a stick. She couldn't even imagine what Ruby would say.

What her brothers and sisters would say. What anyone would say..

Mabel waved good bye to Ruby as they parted ways, each heading down a different path.

Once alone, Mabel could finally get her thoughts together. Well, as much as she could under the circumstances.

"Oh, Anne." She mumbled quietly to herself, stopping to look up at the bright sky.

Birds chirped, flying as a group due to Mabel's disturbing them.

"Why must you confuse me like this?"

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

{ Word Count: 1026 }

{ A/n: Episode 3 has me ugly sobbing!! Also i hope you enjoyed this chapter! }

{ Exited: No }