VII

Author's note: Yes, I know, it took me a long time again. I apologize. But at least this one is a little longer. Thanks, everyone for reviewing. By the way, Emma, you made a wonderful pineapple.



Anne stepped blithely down the main road through Avonlea. She had stopped at the post office on the way home from Echo Lodge, and there had picked up an interesting-looking letter. Upon opening it, she discovered it was an invitation to a banquet/dance at Avonlea Hall (of the infamous blue shade) in honor of Jane Inglis (nee Andrews). Apparently she and the Winnipeg millionaire she married had returned home from their honeymoon in Europe. Anne smiled at the irony. No one in Avonlea had cared much about Jane before, but now that she was the wife of a millionaire, they deemed her important enough to require a welcome-home banquet.

Anne abruptly turned down a side road, the one that led toward the Blythe residence and, more distantly, Green Gables. She had intended to visit Diana and Fred, but had an ulterior motive for passing by Gilbert's house. Of course all the old set would be invited to this banquet, which looked, from the formal invitation, like it would be a major splurge.

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Gilbert stood in his front yard, attempting to make some headway in painting the fence. Goodness, what had possessed his father to paint it red, of all colors, before? Now he wanted it changed to white. This meant, naturally, that Gilbert needed to cover the fence with several layers of paint so it wouldn't look pink.

He paused, leaning against an unpainted portion of the fence. He, too, had already received his invitation. He planned to later amble over to Green Gables to see if Anne was attending the banquet, and then, casually, of course, ask if she would go with him.

He looked up to see a female figure walking up the road. He craned his neck to see if it was Anne, but then grimaced upon realizing it was Josie Pye. Needless to say, he had no great liking for Josie Pye, who was antagonist to Anne's protagonist. He didn't, however, have nearly as much antipathy for her as Anne did, and at least attempted to be civil. He braced himself for a long, boring conversation.

"Hi, Gilbert," Josie simpered, sidling up to him. She had always thought Gilbert Blythe very handsome, but he only had eyes for that carrot-headed vixen Anne Shirley. Anne certainly wasn't pretty, Josie thought, nor especially remarkable. She must have put a spell on all the men who had proposed to her, especially that rich Kingsport man.

She looked down to see a piece of paper with fancy print on the ground near his feet. "Oh, Gilbert, did you get the invitation to the party for Jane? That should be such a splash! I hear they're getting the food from Charlottetown! And the musicians and decorations, why, the Andrews' are getting those all the way from Kingsport! Are you going?"

Gilbert groaned inwardly. Could Josie's conversation possibly be dripping with any more italics? "Yes, I'm going," he answered in a monotone.

Josie was not to be thus discouraged. "I have no idea where I'll get my dress. Certainly nothing I own will be good enough. I'll have to get something new, maybe from Charlottetown. I wonder if Jane will look any different after having traveled to Europe. What do you think, Gilbert?" she asked, looking up at him.

Gilbert had caught, out of the corner of his eye, a familiar redheaded figure trudging up the lane. He stared at her, thinking of what he could possibly say to her when asking her to the dance.

Josie turned around to see what Gilbert was gazing at. She rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh, of which Gilbert was oblivious, upon realizing it was Anne Shirley. Was Gilbert still under her spell? She had been thinking of dancing with him at the banquet, but now that was out of the question. Unless… A wicked thought began to take shape in her head.

Josie inched closer to Gilbert, and said, "So, Gilbert, who are you going to the dance with? I was going to go with my cousin, George, but he's out of town, so I don't have an escort."

"Mmmmm," Gilbert mumbled in response, not really listening to Josie. Anne was advancing, and all he heard Josie say was "blah, blah, blah, blah".

"So," she continued, taking another step nearer to him, so her shoulder was brushing against his, "I know you want to be a gentleman and take me to the dance, right?"

"Mmmmm," Gilbert grunted again, completely wrapped up in his thoughts and insensible of Josie's words.

Anne was now within hearing distance of the two, her face shaped into a slightly bemused expression to see Josie standing right on top of Gilbert. No doubt she was attempting to flirt with him, like always. Thank goodness Gilbert had always shared her dislike for Josie, and all of the Pyes for that matter.

Josie smiled maliciously to herself. Her plan was working perfectly. She suddenly grabbed Gilbert's arm, and exclaimed loudly, "Oh, thank you Gilbert, I'm so flattered. Of course I'll go with you to the banquet, I would love to."

Gilbert snapped out of his reverie and his face contorted into a look of bewilderment. Huh? What was she talking about? His head was spinning.

At that moment, Anne approached the pair, her eyebrows raised.

"Oh, hi, Anne!" Josie said in a falsely bright tone. "I was just talking to Gilbert about how I hadn't seen you since you'd returned from college, and then we got to talking about the banquet. Did you get an invitation?"

Josie's question was evidently rhetorical, since she didn't stop speaking long enough for Anne to answer it. "Gilbert was talking about how he didn't have anyone to go with, so we decided to go together."

Anne looked at Gilbert, stunned, as if to confirm this.

Gilbert frowned. "Wha--" he started, and then thought for a moment. Oh, no, was that what Josie had been saying while he wasn't listening? What had he said? For the life of him, he couldn't remember. Had he agreed? How was he going to get himself out of this mess? She had probably asked him to the dance, and he, unknowingly, had agreed. Could he just reject her, or should he explain it to Anne? In despair, he panicked, and in his panic, couldn't think of a thing to say.

Anne took his silence and the blank, glazed look in his eyes for indifference. For a moment, her face, totally crushed, could be read like a book.

"Wait, no, I mean, no--" Gilbert finally stuttered.

"Oh, it's okay, Gilbert, we can tell her," Josie interrupted. She had to make sure he didn't tell Anne what really happened, so she would just try to confuse him more and make Anne mad at him. To Anne, in a confidential manner, "We had intended it to be a surprise to people, but oops, you found out. Oh well."

Anne seethed with anger. Not only did she absolutely detest Josie Pye, but how-how could Gilbert do this? Why didn't he say anything? What was going on? Goodness, she had been made a fool again-what had possessed her to show her disappointment so openly? She had been so sure that Gilbert loved her.

Then, drawing up her ruffled dignity, Anne said icily, "Oh, it's okay, I won't tell. But--" her eyes brilliant with rage, fury finally getting the better of her, "Josie, just between you and me, watch Gilbert closely at the dance. He's been a bit muddled since his illness."

Gilbert, who had been about to open his mouth to clarify the whole situation, closed it again. "Hey!" he said.

"I am," Anne continued cruelly, ignoring him, "glad he found someone to go with. I was just in the depths of despair because I was afraid he would ask me to the dance."

She dropped her tone to an audible whisper, as if to speak just to Josie, but loud enough so Gilbert could hear. "Ever since he begged me to marry him, I've been attempting to shrug him off, and goodness, I thought he was back to following me around again. Thank you, Josie. I hope to see you two at the dance."

She turned to walk away, but Gilbert, now infuriated himself, grabbed her by the arm. All thoughts of trying to explain the circumstances flew out of his head.

"What are you talking about? I hardly begged," he said in a dangerously quiet tone.

"Begged, pleaded, asked, it's all the same to me," Anne responded, glowering at him and wrenching her arm free.

Gilbert glared after her, then turned to Josie. "What time do you want me to come pick you up?" he asked.

Josie smiled. It has worked like a charm. Today had been a good day. Not only had she infuriated Anne Shirley, but she had gotten handsome Gilbert Blythe to attend the banquet with her. She would do her best to captivate him there.