Broken (Gilbert Blythe)

chapter 9

It was finally winter time. Nova's favorite time of year. The snow falling from the sky, the chilly weather, to Christmas time, and to her birthday. Everything about this time of year makes it special for Nova.

Nova gets dressed in a purple dress with her traditional braided half up, half down with curls in her hair. Her mother calls her children down for breakfast before school. They all sit down and start eating. "Make sure you all put on your jackets and hats, so you don't catch a cold. Okay?" Their mother instructed them. They all nod.

All of them finish their breakfast and head off to school. There was a lot of snow on the ground, up to their ankles. Nova decided to wear boots so her feet wouldn't get wet, which was a good idea. Nova and her siblings walk inside to a warm classroom. Nova lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding because it was so warm. She takes off her hat and jacket. On her way to walking to her seat, a boy said her name. She looks over and sees Gilbert. She smiles, "Yes, Mr. Blythe?" Nova said teasingly. "Are you ready for the spelling bee today?" He asks, with a sly smirk. She smirks back and raises an eyebrow, "Of course I am. If you think you are going to win, your sadly mistaken." She turns around and walks over to her seat.

The spelling has started, the class was down to the last five. Anne, Nova, Tillie, Moody, and Gilbert. Mr. Phillips looks at Tillie, "Spell 'amorous'."

Tillie smiles, "Amorous. A-M-O-R-...U"

Mr. Phillips groans, "Wrong. Sit down." Tillie takes her seat. "Nova. Spell 'jaunty'." Nova takes a deep breath, "Jaunty. J-A-U-N-T-Y." The teacher nods his head, "That's correct. Moody, spell 'gorgeous'." He says looking at Prissy.

"G-O-R-G-I-" Moody spells the word wrong, Mr. Phillips cuts him off, he groans again. "Ugh! Sit down, you butcher of beauty." Nova watches Moody sit down, she glances over to Gilbert. "Ostracize." Mr. Phillips says, still looking at Prissy. "O-S-T-R-A-C-I-Z-E." Gilbert finishes. "That would seem to be correct." The boys cheer for him and Gilbert smiles. "Reverie." He says, still looks at Nova's older sister. Anne thinks for a few seconds, "R-E-V-E-I-" Mr. Phillips looks to Anne. "That's wrong. Take a seat."

He looks over to Nova then to Prissy. "Haughty."

Nova sees him looking at her the way he is, she furrowed her eyebrows and shakes her head. She looks forward, "H-A-U-G-H-T-Y." She looks over to Gilbert to see him already looking at her. Nova looks away. "Callous."

"C-A-L-L-O-U-S" Gilbert says, not being able to take his eyes off Nova. "Penitent." Nova closes her eyes, picturing the word, "P-E-N-I-T-E-N-T."

Gilbert looks back to the front. "Intentions." Mr. Phillips still not taking his eyes off of the girl. "I-N-T-E-N-T-I-O-N-S." Gilbert finishes and looks to Nova with a smirk on his face.

Nova rolls her eyes, ready for the spelling bee to be over. She intertwines her hands together in front of her, messing with her fingers, a nervous habit of hers. "Persevere." Nova sighs, "P-E-R-S-E-V-E-R-E."

Nova looks at her sister and the teacher. Seeing Prissy wasn't wanting to look at him. "Engagement." Nova eyes widen slightly. Prissy looks over to Mr. Phillips and they make eye contact. She gives him a slight smile. "E-N-G-A-G-M-"

"That is incorrect. The... spelling, not the sentiment." Nova looks over to Gilbert and sees he has a smile on his face. She gives him a small smile. The girls cheered for Nova. "Congratulations Nova, who would've thought I would forget the "E"?" Gilbert smiles and laughs. Nova giggles, "I knew I would win." She said teasingly. "I'm a writer, remember?" She laughs. Gilbert shakes his head, "How could I forget?" They look at each other for a couple of seconds before Nova breaks eye contact and goes back to her seat. She sits down, Anne turns around to face Nova. "Congratulations." She said with a smile. Nova smiles back, "Thank you." She notices Anne isn't as chipper as always. "Are you feeling okay?" Anne shakes her head and turns back around.

The school day went by fast, nothing too special happened. Nova was pretty occupied in her 'own little world'. Fantasizing about what her life could if she was free, free of people telling her what to do and where to go.

-The Next Day-

Nova and the girls were at lunch in the corner, with a curtain, shielding them from the rest of the classroom. All of the girls were giggling, Josie shushed them. "Shh, not so loud. I got mine three months ago, and I feel extremely mature." Josie says, with a small smirk. Nova didn't like talking about these types of things. It made feel nervous and sort of anxious.

Diana nods, "You seem mature." Tillie butts in,, "You do." She says with a smile. Josie leans in so all of the girls can hear, "I think the boys take me more seriously, too." Nova looks down and starts messing with her fingers. Anne gets nervous and looks around at the group, "It's not like they can tell. Can they tell? That would be awful." Josie shook her head, "Not tell, per se, but I'm not a little girl anymore and I believe that's noticeable." Josie looks over to Nova, who is looking down at her food, not wanting to be part of the conversation. "What about you, Nova? Have you started yours?" Josie giggles, saying it in a crude way. Nova looks up, "Um..." She starts to feel nervous, she didn't know what to say. "Yeah I have." She says quietly.

Josie looks at Nova, "Well obviously, I can't tell. I doubt anybody else can." She said looking at Nova, up and down in disgust. "My bosoms are growing, unlike Nova's." Josie looks back at Nova. Nova felt a pang of hurt. No one has ever told her that before. Nova looks to Anne. The red haired girl was already looking at Nova with sadness in her eyes. Nova felt so small in that moment, her heart was racing, sweaty palms. Anne looks down at her chest, "This is another reason why this is explicable."

Nova looks to Diana and Anne, "I'll be outside, if you need me." They look at her confused, "What's wrong?" Nova shakes her head. "Nothing I just need some fresh air." She says, walking out of the schoolhouse, grabbing her coat before she makes it outside. She sat down on the front steps. Gilbert was with the boys outside, playing football, when Nova came out of the school.

He walked over and sat down beside her. She didn't look up to see who it is. Nova had her curly, blonde hair in her face. Gilbert took a few seconds to gain the courage, but he gently pushed her hair out of her face and behind her ear, which made her turn her head to him. They looked at each other. Nova looks away, Gilbert looks at the snow-covered field in front of them. "What happened?" He said, looking down at his hands.

"I hate being this outcast to everyone. Where they think they can dictate on what I can do with my life." Nova pauses, taking a deep breath. Gilbert looks at her, resisting the urge to hold her hand.

"I'm tired of people making fun of me because I'm not the way they think I should be." Nova eyes fill up with tears. "I just want to be me, not what everyone else wants me to be." A stray tear falls down her cheek, Gilbert wipes the tear away from her face. He keeps his hand on her cheek, making her look at him, she shivered at the touch of his hand despite the cold wind from the winter weather. Nova looks into the boys hazel eyes. Gilbert's heart quickens, so does Nova's. You could see their breaths in the air. Anxiety at these moments are a big pain, Nova starts panicking.

She pulled away after a moment of looking at him. "I have to get back inside, class is starting soon." Nova say abruptly, quickly looking at him, giving a small nervous smile, running back inside. She puts her coat back on the hanger.

Nova thought to herself, 'Did they just have a moment? Why did he look at her that way?'

She sits down at her seat, opens her book quickly, grabbing her fountain pen. Taking a deep breath before she writes, not looking anywhere else other than her journal.

'A moment. A moment can change everything. A friendship, a life. I met someone. I had a moment with that someone. I don't really know how I'm feeling about this person, but I finally feel like something is falling into place, but I can't quite put my finger on it.'

authors note

I know these past chapters have been short but I have been so busy! I will make sure to publish (maybe) another chapter tomorrow!