Broken (Gilbert Blythe)

chapter 5

They were almost to school. Nova felt like her life was normal for once. Where nobody is trying to dictate who she can and who she can't be friends with and where she can and can't go. But she knew that wasn't going to last long. Nova let go of Gilbert's hand, wishing she didn't have to. Alas, they made it to the schoolhouse to have all the girls staring at them when they walked in, once again.

Gilbert sees Nova looking at the girls from across the room. He leans in and whispers to her, "It's okay, you got this." He backs away, smiling at her. He goes to the boys side to talk to them. The blonde took the jacket Gilbert let her wear, off and hung it on a hook before walking anywhere remotely close to the girls.

Nova nervously walks over to her seat. Waiting, no, anticipating the harassment she's about to get for walking with a certain someone.

She hears footsteps approaching her, she closes her eyes, ready for whatever is coming her way. Nova looks up to find Diana.

"Hey Nova." Diana says with a welcoming smile. "Hi?" Nova says, confused. Diana doesn't talk to Nova unless she needs to, that's one of the perks of being quiet, nobody talks to you.

"I was wondering, would you like to sit with me today? Since Anne isn't here?"  She approaches the idea apprehensively. Nova hesitated. She wasn't sure if this was a joke or not. She's not used to many people being nice to her. "Sure." Nova said with a small smile.

Nova grabs her things and moves up a seat. Gilbert looks over and sees her. He thought back to their walk together to the schoolhouse. Her laugh, her shyness, her love for writing, everything. He wanted to find out more about her. Not be a stranger, a shadow in the dark.

Diana looks over to Gilbert seeing him gazing at Nova. Gilbert notices and looks down at his things, starts to get his things ready for class.

"So how was your walk with Gilbert this morning?" Diana whispers to Nova. Nova looks at her and shrugs her shoulders. "It was fine. I just left the house early and he saw me, so we decided to walk together." She said, quietly. Nova looks down to her slate, doodling, since she can't write. "I'm sorry about what Billy did yesterday. I wish he wouldn't be such a monster to you." Diana says with a hint of pity in her voice. Nova shrugs her shoulders again, "It's fine. There's nothing we can really do about it anyway."

"But I know how much you like to write. Even though I might not seem like I'm there for you, I am." Nova looks at Diana and smiles. "Thank you. That means a great deal. Um, question." Diana raises her eyebrows, telling her to continue.

"Why hasn't Josie and all of the other girls said anything since I've been here? I thought they would come over here by now and cause a scene." Nova says giggling, looking over at Josie, who is talking to Tillie. Diana shrugs, "Hopefully, it's because they don't care? But I doubt that." She says giggling as well.

The school day was pretty uneventful. The day was almost over until Josie Pye decided she was going to stomp over to Nova while she was grabbing her things.

"You know, I thought you would've figured it out by now." Nova looks up, with no care in the world, sick of always being so scared to stand up for herself but then again, this was new for her. "Figured what out?"

Josie rolls her eyes and looks to the group of girls looking back at them. "We told you yesterday, that you're not allowed to talk to Gilbert Blythe. Now you are walking with him, two days in a row?" She says with annoyance and anger in her voice.

Nova had no response. She liked walking with Gilbert, he wanted to be friends with her and vise versa. He seemed like he cared for her even though they just met. "I don't know what you want me to say, Josie. I don't get it, that you or Ruby or whoever, can't seem to understand that people are going to do things that THEY want to do. Even if someone tells them not to. So like I said to my sister, he is his own person. He can be friends with me and talk to me all he wants. I'm my own person and I'm going to be friends with Gilbert Blythe even if you think I shouldn't be. So please, just back off." Nova rolls her eyes and starts to walk away, Josie grabs her arm and turns her back around, just to slap her across the cheek.