Please Read and Review! Just what I think should have happened. Seriously guys the reviews make my day.
"Your parents were tramps, obviously." Jane spat. "It only makes sense. That's why your temper is as coarse and disgusting as your frizzy, muddy hair!" She sank back onto her feet, fully satisfied.
The room quieted, all curious eyes trained on Anne. She clutched the slate to her chest, her face matching her hair in all its red intensity. Her eyes were wet with rage.
Jane sniffed. "What, Anne? Are you going to crack your stupid slate over my head, just like you did when you were a child? It wouldn't surprise me."
"It is for that very reason that I am withholding myself from falling ill to my disgraceful temper. Perhaps you could learn to do the same." She replied, and all around her could see what a toll it was taking on her nervous system. Her brow was slick with sweat and her jaw was clenched terribly.
"Class I believe that is all for today. You may go." The teacher announced from her seat in the front. Anne whirled from her seat like a flurry, leaving her books. Diana, still on her dreadful probation, held back while waiting for her replacement friends.
Anne muttered to herself as she walked.
"Foolish girl, Marilla warned you against listening to her, don't listen, she is but one devil-like wind amidst a vast sea of fair breezes. Yes, she is the weed in a garden full of springtime begonias and lilacs. She is—"A sob cut through, and Anne swerved off the path to let all of her angst and rage flow.
Gilbert followed closely behind. The pang in her heart that always happened around him did nothing to help her from her depths of despair.
"Carrots, you mustn't listen to a word that girl says, it doesn't matter if you're an orphan, it's what you do that people should judge you on."
She sniffed, looking him straight in the eye.
"That may be true, but there is nothing in the world more horrid than to be falsely accused based on immature jealousy. My heart yearns to have proof to show her…" she drifted off, wiping hot tears from her eyes. "And as a matter of fact, Gil, it might not be the best way to go if people were to judge me based on my actions." She laughed at herself when she saw the lopsided grin on his face as he sat down next to her.
"Yes, I suppose acting out the Lady of Challot and almost drowning wouldn't lead them to think of you as mature." He laughed outright at the immediate indignation on her freckled face.
"Why, Gilbert Blithe, you never stop! Whatever shall I do with such a wild young man?"
"I am not that wild. I could've left you on that bridge post as penance for not forgiving me." He reminded her, and she quieted down. They stayed like that for a while, just staring at one-another, wishing to know what the other was thinking.
Of course with this Anne began to daydream of all the other things she wished for, like Diana and her to be reunited as bosom friends once more, or her hair…which reminded her of the insult. It seemed like so long ago already.
Gil noticed her expression.
"Ah, come on Anne, what's wrong? You shouldn't listen to her, I don't even understand why she does it—"
"Oh blast Gil, you really are blind! She torments me so because she is wickedly jealous at heart, like the countess refused in Jane Eyre. She burns for you to notice her, for she can't stand me getting you instead!"
In that startling moment, Anne had never been more terrified in her entire fifteen years of existence. Gil stared at her in shock, and she wondered if she was only imagining the glimmer of hope in his wide eyes.
"Did you mean it, Anne?"
"Mean what?" she said, standing up and brushing herself off nonchalantly. Her heart was full to bursting, and she worried it would simply fly from her chest in a fit.
"Don't play games with me, Anne. Is she jealous? From all the attention you've been giving me, it doesn't seem like there's much to be jealous about." He said sarcastically, making her bristle.
"There is too something to be jealous about, blast you! That's it. You have challenged me, and Gilbert Blithe if there is one thing you are going to learn eventually, it is that I do not back down."
And with that, she grabbed him by the lapels of his shirt, yanked him close, and kissed him with all of her wild, untamed might. He jerked in surprise.
It wasn't at all like she had imagined so often a time, partly because he only let it last a second before pushing her away.
"I don't want that, Anne! You and your awful pride. I don't want you kissing me because you have something to prove. I don't want it to be a challenge to fulfill. I want you to kiss me because you want to! And Anne…well… I want you to want to!" He burst out, rubbing his neck furiously. His face matched hers.
And so they stood, a mere few feet away, and for once, for the first time ever, Anne Shirley of Green Gables had absolutely nothing to say. Well, almost.
"I do believe I shall faint and just die, for I no longer have words to fill my head with." She whispered, staring at him in wonder.
He'd been in love with her? Is that what he meant? Oh it mustn't be, it couldn't be, she'd been so cruel, and what was there to love? She was scrawny and freckled, with hair as red as an ugly fire, and a temper to match. He was…well, he was just…
Then Anne realized something she'd kept locked away in the back of her mind, in a treasure chest full of secrets even she was not curious enough to explore. She was in love with Gil too.
He looked away, ashamed to have said anything. She clearly was appalled. He'd wanted to say those words for so long, though not quite in that way, and now… and the kiss… and her expression…
He grimaced and picked up his hat, ready to leave her. That was obviously what she wanted.
Anne stamped her foot.
"Gil, where in all the stars above are you going? You are not allowed to say that to a girl and run away. You come back this instant, for I am madly in love with you, by golly, and I am dreadfully tired of not saying anything about it. Ugh, you do annoy me so!"
He rushed over, a grin on his face that reminded her of warm spring sunshine, the color of Camelot's flag. She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him, and this time, he responded the way he'd always wanted to. With one hand settled around her waist, he leaned in and tugged a curl loose from her bun.
"I love you, Carrots." He whispered against her mouth. She laughed until he found her lips again.
-The End-
Love,
Doppelgnger08