OMG! I'm so sorry that I haven't updated this in more than a year. I just completely forgot about everything in the amount of homework and practices, etc. I won't bore you with the details, but here's Chapter 8! Enjoy!

Gilbert turned in his chair and saw Anne standing, frozen, by the door. He frowned slightly and waved her over, smiling slightly as she slowly started to move towards him.

"Good morning, Anne. Tonight's the big night. Are you prepared to perform for everyone?" Gilbert smiled kindly at her, lest she interpret it in the wrong way.

Anne looked at him blankly, and only responded after a sharp elbow in the ribs from Diana. "Oh, sorry. Of course I'm ready for tonight. Who do you think you're talking to!" She demanded huffily, and much more confidently than she felt.

Gilbert turned to Diana and raised an eyebrow, silently asking What was that about? Diana shrugged and moved to her own seat as Anne sat down beside Gilbert.

Miss Stacey started her lesson, teaching the class all about Greek mythology. As she turned to the board to write down the names of a few Greek myths, Gilbert turned to Anne and asked, "What's wrong?"

Her head snapped to the side to look at him, and he saw her tired eyes. She glared for a second, then seemed to remember that they were on speaking terms and said, "Absolutely nothing. Why would anything be wrong? Everything is perfectly alright. I'm just excited for tonight." Then she abruptly turned away and looked to the front again.

Gilbert looked at her profile strangely, and then turned to the front as well, thinking Something's definitely wrong.

After the lunch break, Miss Stacey gave everyone the rest of the afternoon to practice their plays for the big performance that night. Diana tapped Anne on the shoulder as soon as Miss Stacey finished talking, and asked urgently, "Are you going to be Juliet?"

Anne turned back to Diana, and glared at her, then said, "I'm still deciding," in a tight voice. She turned back to her seat and put her head down on her arms and closed her eyes. Diana looked at her friend's back worriedly and decided not to pester her anymore.

After letting Anne ponder for fifteen minutes, Gilbert tapped her arm and recoiled as her head snapped up and she looked at him with wide eyes. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Are you ready to practice Anne?"

She nodded mutely and brought out her script from her desk. The rest of the group followed her as she got up and went to 'their' practice corner of the room. Thus, the final practice, with the whole group present, began.

"Anne! Gilbert!" Miss Stacey called to them from the front of the room, where she was tidying up her desk. Both students made their ways up to her desk, where she looked at them sternly. "You two are to stay behind at the school today to study for Queen's. I don't want to come back here on Monday morning and find that anything has been broken, like your slate, Anne!"

Anne blushed slightly and hung her head, while Gilbert looked ready to burst out laughing.

"I promise I won't break anything in the classroom Miss Stacey." Anne mumbled, and turned away to go to her desk.

"Me neither." Gilbert said and followed Anne back to their desks.

Miss Stacey watched the two of them walk away and sighed, while rubbing her temples tiredly.

" 'Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interr'd.'" Gilbert pronounced dramatically.

"No, no no! You have to say it as if you're regretful of the loss of his life. Not as if you're pronouncing it for an audience. Forget the audience, and just pretend you're alone in the tomb with Paris' slain body, and you're very sorrowful because you've caused his death." Anne was gesturing wildly by now as she tried to explain the emotions behind the scene.

"Yes ma'am!" Gilbert saluted her smartly, and began his lines again.

Anne listened and nodded slightly when she heard the wistful note in his voice as he talked of the dead Paris. Then, all too soon, she heard him pronounce, " 'O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.'"

Gilbert looked at Anne expectantly, and saw she was shrinking away. "Oh for heaven's sakes, Anne! We have to practice the kiss before tonight. Now would be the perfect time. There's nobody around, and you won't have to get embarrassed."

Anne blushed and looked down. Then she looked up, and there was indecisiveness in her eyes. When she looked down again and sighed, Gilbert knew he'd won. Finally! He'd get to kiss Anne Shirley after all these years of pining away for her.

"So you'll do it?" Gilbert couldn't keep the glee from his voice.

"If we really have to…" Anne trailed off. Then her head snapped up and she went on hurriedly, "But we have to start from the very beginning of the scene to do it right. And it's got to be a very short kiss!"

Gilbert grinned and nodded. Seeing as the other people in their group weren't there, Anne insisted that they each read a part that wasn't theirs so that they could do the whole scene.

Anne was quaking inside. The end of the scene and the…kiss…was coming up very quickly and the moment would come when she would have to…kiss Gilbert Blythe! It was something that she had never imagined doing. Never in her wildest dreams! She was dreading it now.

"O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die." Gilbert recited and began leaning slowly in towards Anne.

Why hadn't she noticed how close he had come to her? She was lying on a desk, pretending to be dead, and Gilbert was hovering above her. She moved to sit up, but Gilbert's hand on her shoulder-When had that gotten there-restrained her.

Then, his lips touched hers and every coherent thought she might've formed about the situation flew out of her head. All she could think of was his kiss. It was so sweet and chaste, yet so full of passion. Upon later scrutiny, she was mortified to figure out that she was indeed kissing him back. She'd even brought her hands up to wrap them around his neck.

Suddenly, she realized what was going on, and she abruptly pushed Gilbert away. Anne could feel her face burning. She mumbled an incoherent apology, quickly gathered her things and ran out of the classroom, ignoring Gilbert's call of "I'll see you tonight!"

Meanwhile, Gilbert stood there after Anne had pushed him away, dumbstruck. She had kissed him back, and she had wrapped her arms around his neck. Perhaps there was hope that she didn't hate him after all. And the kiss! It had been amazing. Sure, Gilbert had kissed girls before, but this kiss had just seemed so special that he intended to cherish the moment forever. Or at least until next time he got a chance to kiss Anne Shirley. Tonight.

Anne ran blindly towards home. She stopped at the foot of the forest to drop to the ground and lean her back against a tree, hiding her head in her knees. What did I just do? Did I actually enjoy kissing Gilbert Blythe?

Well, truth be told, he was a very good kisser, but it wasn't like she had anyone to compare him to. As she reached her house, Anne saw Marilla sitting on the front porch sewing, so she mumbled a quick 'How do you do?' and hurried into the house.

Marilla stared after Anne as she shut the door rather forcefully, shook her head, and turned back to her sewing.

Anne had spent the past hour dwelling on what she should do. The performance was less than two hours away, and she still hadn't made up her mind about whether or not she would go. She sighed, dropped her head in her hands, and closed her eyes.

Gilbert paced back and forth at the White Sands Hall, unable to think of anything except Anne. Would she show up tonight? She had seemed very distraught as she had run out of the schoolhouse that afternoon. What if she didn't show up?

Diana came up beside him and placed her hand on his arm in a comforting gesture. She looked at him reassuringly, and said, "She'll be here. Don't worry."

He nodded silently, and silently remarked, I hope so.

Fifteen minutes later, and after endless pacing on Gilbert's part, Miss Stacey came backstage and announced to the students that the performances would be starting in a few minutes. Then she spotted Gilbert and came over.

She looked around sadly, and said, "Anne's not here." It wasn't a question. It was a statement, an observation made by an outsider.

Gilbert slowly shook his head, but said desperately, "She might show up before our scene. Anne wouldn't let us down like that, would she?"

Miss Stacey looked at Gilbert sadly, then turned away and called Diana forward. "You will need to play Juliet, Diana. Anne is not here. And despite the disappointment I'm sure you are all feeling, the show must go on."

Diana was paler than Gilbert or Moody had every seen her, and they looked at her worriedly. Then she said in a high voice, "I can't be Juliet. I simply can't. I get stage fright, and I-I-I'll forget my lines."

Moody moved towards her and tried to calm her down. By the time Diana was calm, the performance was already in progress and two of the groups had already performed their scenes.

As he looked out the window, Gilbert didn't hear Miss Stacey until she came up behind him and laid a hand on his shoulder. "It's time to go on," she said quietly.

His stomach dropped, and his heart sank. Anne wasn't here, and it was all his fault.

DUN DUN DUNNNN! What a cliffhanger…well, not really, but I'll seriously try to update really soon. I have a few days off before semester two starts, so I might be able to type another chapter. There will only be a couple more chapters, at most, so this story's almost done. Thanks for reading and leave a review!