Alright, I felt pretty bad about leaving it in a lurch at the end of The Wedding (even though it was completely necessary to end it like that, in my mind), so I thought I would write a sequel for you guys. So instead of doing homework tonight, I did this, but don't feel too indebted or anything ;) I'm screwing with the timeline a smidge so that my plot flows a little easier, and this is set right around the convocation for Anne. Much thanks to L. M. Montgomery for her characters, and I hope you enjoy!

It was a day that brought no one any good. The charcoal clouds dampened the air and the mood, and the late-spring evening seemed unseasonably desolate. Anne blew into Patty's Place, her gray eyes huge and her auburn ringlets disheveled.

"Phil, I did something I don't think anyone's going to like," Anne started, her forehead creased like a linen shirt at the bottom of a hamper.

"Did you accidentally feed the pigeons at the park Roy's leftover squab confit again?" Phil mused disinterestedly, her eyes fixed on her laptop.

"Phil..." Anne's voice hollowed. "Phil, it was worse than that..."

"Did you make Roy try pad thai again at that place you like? You know he's allergic to peanuts, honey," Phil joked. "I know we agreed that maybe it was his all in his brain because, goodness knows, that boy can down a Snickers somehow, but I really think—"

"No! No more Roy, Phil!" Anne shouted, her hands twisting in front of her. "Just... Listen... Just for a minute."

Anne had Phil's attention now. As Phil recalled Roy's subtle hints for the past few months and took in Anne's smeared eyeliner, it all fell into place.

"Oh, no, Anne," Phil whispered. "Tell me you didn't..."

Sitting just a few feet from Anne's position by the door, Phil had never felt so distant from Anne. This Anne with dead eyes, slumped posture, and raspy breathing.

"I did something no one's going to like, Phil," Anne repeated and slid down the door frame.

"Oh, hon, tell me what happened," Phil said as she practically sprung over the couch to the crumpled heap of Anne. "He asked you, didn't he?"

"Mmm."

"And you said..." Phil started questioningly, letting the thought drift indefinitely.

"No," Anne answered. "I said no."

"Oh, Anne..."

"I took his heart and his dreams and ripped them up. Threw them right in his face!" Anne exploded, the thoughts coming quick and jumbled. "These past few years, I've just been playing, and I've wasted his time and his emotions, and I am just the lowest scum of all humans!"

"Now, Anne, you are not the lowest scum of all humans," Phil comforted.

"I am though! I just play with these men. I say what they want to hear. I follow along with them, make them think everything's fine! And then I crush them, Phil! I crush them!" Anne hyperventilated as Phil soothingly rubbed her back. "Everyone will be so disappointed! His family, our friends! Everyone expected it. I expected it, and then I turned him down; I gave him every hope, every last hope, Phil! I encouraged him, and I turned him down. And why? Because I..."

Anne's harried train of thought derailed into silence.

"Anne? Why did you?" Phil asked, her own brow furrowed now.

Anne sat up and locked eyes with Phil; Phil saw her friend's spirit spark through, through the smeared make-up, the frazzled curls, and the deadened face.

"Because I think I'm…" Anne began, her words slowly forming. "I'm…. I just wasn't in love. With him. I truly thought I was, Phil, but I was wrong. Don't you understand?"

Phil's eyes softened. She sensed Anne's sentence had been intentionally redirected, but she decided to leave that impression alone for now. As much as she wanted to know the whole truth, she needed to comfort Anne more.

"Oh, sweetie, you know you don't have to tell me about convincing yourself you're in love." Phil smiled. "Don't you remember Alex? No? Let's go get some donuts,and I'll tell you all about it. And honey bun, I know at least a few people who won't dislike what you've done…."