Love in Avonlea; Gilbert Blythe x Reader <3

Meeting Gilbert Blythe

Golden sunlight peeks softly through the windows of my new house in Avonlea. Opening my eyes, I can see small red birds chirping just outside of my window. I get up from my bed and look at the time on the clock: 7:45am. I shudder with the realisation that I won't have time for breakfast this morning. School starts at 8:00am and I need to be there on time. This is my first day, of course.

I put on my favourite blue dress, and admire the puff sleeves and the lace embroderies on the cuff of the garment. I grab two pieces at the front of my hair, twist them and bring them to connect at the back of my head. I tie them together with a ribbon that matches my dress and inspect myself in the mirror. My (y/h/c) hair is elbow length, and is very (curly/straight/wavy). I have never thought of myself as beautiful, although I am often told that I am. My mother always said to me that beauty is irrelevant as long as you have a kind heart. I think of that phrase often when I am feeling down about my looks.

I look at the clock again: 7:55. I'm going to have to almost run to get to school on time. I grab my basket that has my lunch and school supplies in it and head off the school.

As I sprint towards the schoolhouse, I breathe in the crisp early-autumn air. It is late September, and my vision is filled with the vibrant reds, yellows and oranges of the fallen leaves. My shoes crunch on a few of the leaves that are scattered along the pathway, and I pray to God that I don't get any dirt on my dress. I come to a stop just outside the Avonlea schoolhouse. I take a moment to catch my breath and just as I am almost ready to enter the classroom, a bell rings signifying the start of school. I open the door and set down my things. It appears that class must have already started, because when I try to find a place to sit, all eyes are on me. I catch the eye of a handsome boy with hazel-green eyes and curly brown hair. He smiles at me, distracting me from the noise being made by the rest of the class.
"Take a seat, please! You are late." says the teacher, Mr. Phillips. 
"Yes sir." I respond calmly.
"Your name please, dear?"
"Oh of course- my name is (y/n) (y/l/n)." I say.
"Great. Now please, take a seat next to Diana."
A pretty girl with nice brown hair puts up her hand. I sit down next to her and she stares at me.
"Hi!" I say. "My name's (y/n)."
"I'm Diana." she says. "It's so nice to meet you (y/n). Did you see how the boys were staring at you? You are so gorgeous."
"What?" I sputter in shock. "No- I mean, I don't think I saw them staring?"
"Well," she continues, "they were. And I saw Gilbert smile at you! You know, he's the dreamiest boy in all of Avonlea!"
I smile to myself. Maybe I do have a few suitors.
"Quiet down, class." Orders Mr. Phillips.
"Open your books to page 43."
I open my book and begin reading.
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The lunch bell rings and I get up from my desk. As I am walking out into the school yard, the same boy who smiled at me this morning stops me in my tracks.
"Hey, (y/n)" He says. "I'm Gilbert. Gilbert Blythe. Nice to meet you." He sticks out his hand and I shake it. His hand is warm and smooth, like freshly churned butter. I must have been staring into his eyes for a little too long because he looks down a little awkwardly to break eye contact.
"Uh- sorry." I say quickly. "It's nice to meet you too, Gilbert Blythe."
I begin to walk away to find somewhere to sit, when Gilbert grabs my arm, causing me to turn back around.
"Actually, I was wondering if you would want to sit with me and the other boys?" He asks.
"Oh yes, I would love to!" I say excitedly in return. He smiles warmly and leads me over to where the boys sit, still holding my arm. I sit down next to Gilbert as he introduces me to the rest of the boys.
"(Y/n) this is Moody Spurgeon, Charlie Sloane, Billy Andrews, James, William and Cole Mackenzie." He says, pointing to each boy as he goes.
"Hiya sweetheart." says Billy, clearly trying to make some sort of move on me. Judging on what Diana had told me during last lesson, Billy was definitely someone to avoid. So, I ignored his advances and continued talking to Gilbert. There was something about the way he smiled, the ends of his soft pink lips curling upwards, his eyes brightening, that just made me get butterflies. I am sure that he is the handsomest boy I have ever seen. I ate the food that I packed for myself yesterday and continued making conversation with Gilbert. He told me all about his time in Trinidad, and how he lived with this guy called Bash since both of his parents had died. I told him about my past, including my parents and where I had come from. We bonded a lot over the shared loss of out parents, as it turned out we had both become orphans pretty recently.

Lunch went smoothly, despite a few of the boys trying to awkwardly flirt with me. It was clear that none of them had much practice, but it was sweet of them to try.

By the end of the day, I had received multiple death stares from a few of the girls in my class. It seemed that my popularity with the boys was not well received with my fellow females. Oh well, I think. I'm sure they'll come around to me eventually.

As I made my way home, I pondered over my first day at the Avonlea schoolhouse. I hope that my second day of school will be just as good as the first, and I am sure hoping that I will get to see a lot more of Gilbert Blythe in the coming weeks.
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A/N:
Hey guys! I hope you are enjoying the story so far. I'm going to try to be a bit more descriptive in my coming updates but this one was just so long I felt any more description would be unbearable lmao.
Anyway, please make sure to comment what you think I could improve on, and if you want to make any suggestions for the storyline please make sure to do so. Although I have a basic idea of what's going to happen, I would love to hear some ideas from you guys!
Love,
TMRfan06❤️