Based on Billy Andrews from Anne with an E. Canon Billy wasn't nearly as nasty.
Thanks to OriginalMcFishie and Excel Aunt for thinking this one through with me.
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The Golden Rule
He groaned as his father called out "Billy, come and have a cosy chat." Ugh, not another one of his father's 'cosy chats' which were anything but. What his father deemed a chat, Billy found a tiresome lecture.
It wasn't easy being the only son of Mr Harmon Andrews, Avonlea's most esteemed gentleman. Billy Andrews felt the sting of his father's disappointment every time their eyes met. Billy desperately wanted to live up to his father's ideal, he just wasn't sure he was capable of it.
Billy and Gilbert Blythe had always sparred at school and around town. Then Gilbert and his father had to leave to find a cure for Mr Blythe's illness, which made Billy pretty much the king of the school. Always feeling slightly inadequate to the task, he ruled with a teasing, somewhat cruel manner. Girls were easy prey. It was fun to dip their hair in ink wells or pin them down on the desk behind, unbeknownst to the hapless victim; until they were called to stand up and had their head jerked backwards. Billy could never stop laughing when that trick was perpetrated. It was strange though, Gilbert liked to prank the girls as much as anyone, but when he did it the girls laughed. When Billy played tricks, he made them angry or cry. He couldn't work out why.
One night in early September the dinner talk turned to the first day back at school.
"Anyone new at school this year?" Mrs Andrews enquired of the children.
"Oh yes Mother, there's a new girl, we saw her at the picnic remember." Jane replied.
"Is she the red-headed girl the Cuthberts have taken on?"
"Yes, that's right Mother, her name is Anne Shirley."
"Yes well, Mrs Gillis told me this new girl, Anne, said something terrible about your relationship with the teacher Prissy. Do you know anything about that?"
Prissy hung her head and whispered, "No Mother."
"Are you sure, Prissy? Your father and I want to have a little chat with you after dinner."
Billy hung over the bannisters and tried to eavesdrop on their discussion. All he heard were the words 'trash', 'slander', 'inappropriate' in muttered tones. Whatever it had been about, the next thing he knew Prissy was in tears and continued to cry all night.
The next morning Billy decided to confront the girl they called Anne of Green Gables. She might be called that, but she wasn't anyone really at all, she was just some worthless orphan. She was ugly and skinny with wicked red hair; everyone knew red-heads had terrible tempers. She was staying with those peculiar Cuthberts, they had gotten her from the asylum by mistake. Labelling her of Green Gables might fool some people, but not he. The girl had to be taught her place, like a dog. Yes, a dog, that was what she was. He decided to call her Fido.
Billy knew Anne would have to go through the forest to get to school, so he decided to lie in wait for her. He scrunched his way through the autumn leaves to a good secluded spot. The forest was alive with small animals, birds were calling up in the branches, but he was so set on his task that he was oblivious to the nature that surrounded him. He just needed to defend Prissy's honor. It wasn't right that 'Fido' could get away with saying such things about an Andrews. His father would be proud of him for sticking up for his big sister and defending the family name. Unfortunately, that damned Blythe kid decided to come back to school that very day and thwarted him. Just as he was just about to teach Anne a lesson Blythe turned up. Talk about rotten timing.
Over dinner that night, the Harmon family's talk was still of the incident with 'Fido'.
"I don't know what the world is coming to, letting a child, like her, into our Christian community. There's no place for trash like that here." Mrs Andrews was quite indignant.
"I agree Mother" Billy asserted, "you know I tried to defend Prissy's honor this morning.
His father looked up from his dinner plate and at him sharply "What did you do?"
"I just wanted to, um, you know, um…" Under his father's unyielding gaze, Billy's courage nearly failed him, but then in a rush he blurted out "I just wanted her to know that her words were ill-mannered. You said it was slander."
"Did we? You weren't supposed to hear our discussion with your sister. What did you say to her?" Mr Andrews asked suspiciously.
"I told her she said some pretty nasty stuff about Prissy. I thought she needed to be taught a lesson. Didn't she Father?"
"William! You may not accost young girls, no matter the reason." Harmon said sternly as he pierced him with such a look of disgust it made Billy's cheeks burn with shame.
Later in bed, Billy thought that it was all 'Fido's' fault. If she hadn't said those things in the first place, he wouldn't be in trouble now.
Unfortunately for Billy 'Fido' stuck around at school and rather than behaving herself and staying out of his way, she turned out to be too clever for her own good and thrived. She and Blythe showed him up. Without them both around Billy had been an average student, but they were both brilliant in their own way. His parents tut-tutted over his marks. Prissy was doing so well and was bound for Queens and even Jane was pretty smart. Billy didn't think he needed to be clever, he was going to follow in his father's footsteps, taking over the farm when he grew up. He made up for it in class by being a bit of a joker. He was popular with the boys, mostly because he livened up a dull afternoon with his antics. Sadly though, that popularity did not help him out at home.
He came home from school one winter's afternoon with a black eye. Blythe had attacked him for some reason, he really wasn't sure why. Blythe had told him to call him Bud and he had done so and then Blythe had hit him. It was all very confusing. Of course, after he was punched, he gave as good as he got. An Andrews wasn't some fool to be trifled with. His mother commented of course and wondered what braggard had hit him. His father looked at him in a disgusted manner and commented that he was becoming rather a tearaway these days.
Cole started school after Christmas. His family were new to Avonlea. There was something a bit off about him. He didn't play sport and he was always hanging around the girls. Between them Billy, Fletch and Eli decided he was a bit of a sissy. The boys delighted in teasing him whenever they got the chance, and odds on he would over-react every time. They took to devising new and unusual tricks to play on him, and then watching as he got madder and madder. Running off they would laugh and punch each other in the arm, laughing about what a fool Cole was, for falling for their jokes every damn time. It was excellent fun.
One time in class Cole was holding some ball of clay. Billy grabbed it out of his hand, it was so easy it was ridiculous. When Cole demanded Billy return it, he did by chucking it hard at him. Because he was such a sissy Cole missed the catch, and the clay cracked the window pane. Best of all, it was Cole who got into trouble, rather than Billy, for once. Mr Phillips really had it in for Cole. Billy didn't know why. Maybe Mr Phillips hated sissys too.
Billy wasn't sure what to make of Mr Phillips. He had a bad temper that was for sure. Billy had often been on the receiving end of the cane. Something he took like a man, which is not to say he enjoyed it. But he held out his hand when his time came and refused to flinch, smirking at his mates Fletch and Eli on the walk back to his desk, clenching and unclenching his smarting palm as he went.
Still, it was obvious Prissy liked Mr Phillips, they were engaged to be married after all. Billy wasn't sure what he thought of having Mr Phillips as his brother in law. Somehow Mr Phillips didn't seem the marrying type, though Billy couldn't put his finger on why that was.
Harmon called Billy in for another one of their cosy chats one weekend. "So, how is school going Billy? Are you applying yourself to your studies?"
"Yes, Father." Billy answered in a bored manner.
"It is so important to gain all the knowledge you can Billy. It will set you on the right path, you understand." His father leaned back in the armchair, his long legs stretched out before him. Harmon took a breath before he launched into a long discussion, in his mind, a lecture in Billy's; about the philosophy of academia and how it pertained to the life of a gentleman. Billy had learned the trick of looking interested while his mind wandered. He would far rather be out with Fletch and Eli shooting birds, their latest sport. Instead he was stuck inside while his father droned on and on.
They made a merry party. The children all kitted up in hats, gloves, coats and scarves and of course skates. The ice on Barry's pond was considered to be thick enough for skating by now, after the cold spell just after Christmas. Marilla was slightly concerned, after all Anne hadn't had much skating experience but Matthew said they ought to let her go, he wanted her to have as much fun as she could. His own childhood had been too quiet, he wanted his girl to have more fun than he had.
Anne felt full of life as she ran down to the pond, hand in hand with Diana. There was a crowd of children already amassed on the shore. An expanse of white ice transformed her lake of shining waters into a winter wonderland. "Have you had much of a chance to skate, Anne?" Diana enquired.
"Barely ever. You'll have to help me Diana." She sat down on the snow to put her skates on and watched the others as they skated around the pond. Billy and his mates were there, skylarking as usual. Anne would have preferred they weren't around, but as this was the best skating location in Avonlea she guessed their presence was to be expected. She hoped she could avoid them, Billy was annoying enough at the best of times.
Gliding over the ice, she found herself on a patch that seemed darker than the rest. She heard a shout from Diana and looked across at her bosom friend who looked back at her in fright, "Anne that's thin ice. Get off, get off."
"Oh." Unfortunately, Anne skated to a stop and stood there for a moment before the ice suddenly cracked and she felt the water's icy fingers grab her ankles and drag down, down into the depths; all air was forced from her lungs in the sudden rush of cold. Billy saw her surprised expression as she dropped suddenly. He thought it was hilarious to see her eyes open so very wide and her little dog mouth open to a perfect circle before she suddenly disappeared from view.
Diana screamed, loud and high and piercing.
Tilly, Cole, Moody and Jane quickly skated over, but Billy who had witnessed the whole thing, just stood and laughed. "She's a dog, everyone knows dogs can swim. Woof, woof Fido. You can swim, right?" He made no effort to rescue her. The others looked at him angrily, but he took no notice and skated off to the other side of the pond, even his mates, Eli and Fletch deserted him and hovered over the others in a vague pretense at assistance.
It wasn't easy to get over the thin ice and rescue Anne, but they did manage to haul her up and over the rim of the ice to safety. Wrapping her up in all their coats and scarves Cole bundled her into his arms and set off at a run to Green Gables. The girls hurrying along, trying to keep from sinking into hysteria.
Marilla was washing the lunch dishes and happened to look out the window as they came into view. Her blood ran cold, she knew precisely what must have happened as soon as she saw them. She hurried to the door and ushered them in as they came close. Anne was hidden under a mountain of woolen coverings, her eyes were closed, and her lips were quite blue. She was breathing very fast, hypothermia was setting in quickly.
Laying her on the sofa, Marilla fetched all the blankets she could find. It was important to get her out of her cold wet clothes. She told Diana to fetch Matthew quickly, he took one look at Anne and rushed back out to fetch the doctor. Anne was put to bed before the doctor arrived and lay there under the covers hovering between life and death, a very worried Marilla praying by her side.
Word of the accident got around town very quickly. Mr Andrews heard and worst of all, in his opinion, was the information that Billy had not behaved at all appropriately. He decided to interrogate him.
"William, tell me about the skating accident."
"I didn't do anything, Father."
"That's what I'm worried about, Billy. You didn't do anything. Folks are saying you stood there on the ice and laughed at her plight."
"She's just a dumb orphan, Father. She's worthless."
"You disgust me. Go to your room and stay there."
Harmon couldn't bear to watch him go, instead he cradled his head in his hands and gave a great sigh. What was he going to do with his boy?