Lady ~ G.Blythe [2]

five.

+ strawberries +

I sat at the long table filled with girls, a bowl of fruit sitting in front of me as I pierced my fork through a strawberry. The room was filled with chatted, much like every breakfast, but I stayed silent, still thinking that it was way too weird for people to be so awake this early in the morning. Ellie sat next to me on one side, chatting to a few girls sitting around her, their laughter piercing through my head like I had just been hit with a hammer. I winced at the sound, my brain still telling me that I should be asleep right now, especially after spending the weekend at Tom's where I could sleep in until I wanted to.

"Kate, do you not think so?" Ellie asked as she turned to look at me, the eyes of the three girls she was chatting too also turning to look. "Sorry?" I asked, my hand covering my mouth as I chewed the strawberry slowly, figuring if I chewed it for long enough I would delay having to have a conversation. "Matron Lumlay is looking rather peaky" Ellie repeated for me, making me turn to look at the Matron who sat at the main table with the teachers and faculty, all eating their breakfast as they kept a close eye on us with sour looks on their faces like they despised us.

"Not particularly" I replied with a small shake of my head, finally swallowing the strawberry as the girls who were awaiting my answer sighed a little bit. "If Matron Lumley is ill then that leaves Matron Cumbert to look after both wings of the boarding house" Ellie explained to me in a hush whisper, making me stare back at her blankly, having no idea where she was going with that. "And?" I asked, one of the girls sitting at the other side of the table leaning over her bowl of oatmeal. "We can stay up later if she isn't there to check on us" one of the girls said, Contessa I think her name was, one of Ellie's friends.

"Why don't you just turn the light off and light a candle if you want to stay up late?" I asked her, putting another strawberry in my house as I raised an eyebrow. She looked at the girl sitting next to her with a confused look on her face for a moment before looking back at me. "You do that?" she asked me, a tone of shock in her voice as I nodded my head slowly, looking over at Ellie. "I normally write my letters are curfew" I told her, Ellie nodding her head to confirm it, having to face the opposite direction of my desk she she can get some sleep as I write.

"I didn't think of that" Contessa replied quietly, shaking her head as she retreated back to her other friend who was whispering something to her. "Speaking of letters" Ellie said as I looked behind me, seeing Matron Cumbert walking down the isle with a stack of envelopes in her hands. "Catherine Prewett" she said as she stopped next to me, rifling through the pile as she picked out 5 different letters, passing them to me. "Thank you, Matron" I replied as I turned away, letting her pass Ellie a letter as I looked down at the envelopes.

I had become very good at reading people's handwriting over the past few months just from her influx of letters I had been receiving, so I knew who's to open right away. I grabbed one at the bottom of the pile, the stamp in the corner having bee in stamped over in black ink with a Canadian Post imprint, like most of my letters. I pulled the letter out, holding it in one hand as I picked up my fork in the other, my eyes running over the neat black handwriting of Anne Shirley-Cuthbert.

Dear Kate,

I'm afraid to say that Ruby was mildly exaggerating her status with Moody. No news on courting yet but she does seem quite smitten, I mean it is Ruby after all what must we expect.
In other news you will never believe what is happening back in Avonlea. Not only has the school been rebuilt, Miss Stacy asked Marilla for your address to send a picture so expect that soon, but Miss Stacy has managed to secure a seat on the council. The people of Avonlea decided that as the teacher of the town no one knows what the school needs more than her, so she must have a say on the decisions made for it. Isn't that great? Considering less than 6 months ago we were on the stage fighting for a women's voice to be heard I think this is absolutely amazing, my heart couldn't be fulled with happiness and pride.
Anyway, you best tell me more about your life back in Australia, is it as magnificent as I think it is? It must be dreadfully hot there right now no? I read in a book about how how the southern hemisphere gets it must be dreadful to be in a corset, I can barely handle in it in the Canadian weather and as you know it isn't anywhere near as bad. Give my best to Gilbert as well, it must be nice to have at least a small part of Canada out there with you.
I must be going, I have mound of work to do for college and none of it is complete yet.

With love, Anne Shirley-Cuthbert.

I let out a smile at the letter, making a mental note to write in my reply asking for Miss Stacey's post box number in Charlottetown so I could congratulate her on her new post. It was remarkable really. That the councilmen who I shouted at months ago actually listened to what I said. Or maybe it was just Rachel Lynde actually doing something right for once, who knows. "You have a lot of letters don't you Catherine?" Contessa asked me, making me look back up at her as I was tucking Anne's letter into its envelope once again.

I smiled at her slightly, not knowing if her tone was coming off sarcastic or not, especially considering she had exactly one letter in her hand. "I have a lot of correspondents" I replied with a small nod of my head, being met with a smile as I looked back down at my letters, grabbing another one to read before breakfast was called to a close and classes started for the day.

Kate,

Harvest season went great this year, the fact Gilbert managed to wriggle out of the apple deal before it even got started makes me want to throttle that boy. You can try carrying 100 boxes of apples a day and tell me what you think about it huh?
Delphi sends her love, she is definitely missing having you around, not much more than I am that is for sure. She has been asking for 'Kaka' a lot when she gets bored of my face, but who can blame her I wouldn't like to see me every morning either. She's also very close to walking, she can stand now when holding onto my hands but she just needs to take her first few steps. No injuries yet though but I don't doubt there won't be lots of those when she finally figures it out.
It's odd to not have Gilbert in the house anymore, granted my mother is keeping me on my short temper just as much as he was but it just isn't the same to hear him moaning about how exhausting school is. I am not jealous that he's gone though he was dreadfully annoying sometimes, have fun with that.
I've sent Gilbert a package with some stuff in it he has asked for me to send from Avonlea, and there is a few things in there for you so make sure you ask for them, no doubt he will forget about it.

Hope to hear from you soon, Bash and Delphi.

"You better hurry" Ellie said to me with a nudge of her elbow, making me put the letter down onto the table as I looked over at her. "Hmm?" I asked, her head nodding towards the big clock on the wall, girls already leaving the room to head back to the boarding house before classes started for the day. "Right" I told her, nodding my head as I tucked Bash's letter back into the envelope, piling all the letters back on top of each other, dreading the process of having to write 5 different replies tonight next to candle light.

——

A/N: so I know that the letters sent from the characters in canada probably wouldnt be this short but I was struggling on thinking of stuff to write so let's imagine they are much longer then they are
as i said there are going to be quiet a lot of letters in this book to keep kate in contact with everyone else back at Queens and in Avonlea so I hope you don't mind about that!
please do not forget to vote and comment and i will see you soon