Chapter 10: In The Spotlight

Three weeks passed since the quarrel among the four men vying for Anne's affection. Anne had since forgiven Roy, and things went back to normal. Sort of. Back at KLC rehearsals for Mary, Queen of Scots had not been going as well as planned. Jen Pringle would often show her diva like attitude, demanding that certain roles go to her friends even though they weren't as talented as the girls who were awarded the parts and would show up late because she could. Anne grew more and more frustrated the longer the rehearsals went on but couldn't give up on Jen due to the constant threat of parent backlash. She calmly kept things under control and stood her ground, making sure that she had the upper hand in this game and not the competition. Tickets to the benefit were already sold out, and each Pringle parent wanted to see their daughter on stage with the makings of a future Hollywood star at hand. As hard as it had been for Anne to get this far with little to no support, she couldn't give up now. The play was scheduled to open on Friday night to high expectations, and Anne knew her job was on the line.

Ms. Brooke called Anne into her office the day of the scheduled opening to deliver shocking news.

"I'm afraid Jen Pringle has been forced to pull out of tonight's play," she told her. "She has come down with strep throat and has been ordered by a doctor to stay at home to rest. I'm afraid your play is in jeopardy, and you will need to cancel."

"Cancel?" shouted Anne. "I will not cancel this production because of Jen Pringle!"

"And why not? She is your star, and you cannot continue without her."

"Jen is only doing this because she wants to get rid of me. I will not let her get the best of me this time. She has tried to get of me once, yet she will not win this time. There is an understudy for this production, and we will go on with the show. I'm sorry, Ms. Brooke, but there is nothing you can do about it."

"I am not responsible for any negative outcome of this, do you understand?"

"I agreed to that when I suggested putting on this production, didn't I?"

Katherine sighed. "You do have a point there, Miss Shirley."

"Thank you, Katherine. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a class to teach. Good day."

As much as I hate to admit it, thought Katherine, I think she'll pull this off.

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"Emmeline," called Anne after class.

"Yes, Miss Shirley," said Emmeline.

"I need you to perform tonight. Jen's called in sick, and we need someone to play Mary. You're our only hope, Emmeline, or else we'll have to cancel everything. Do you think you can do it?"

"Of course I can. I know I haven't been able to rehearse with everyone else that much since Jen's been hogging up everything, but I've been studying this role really hard. I don't care what Dad or anyone else thinks. We're going to put on this show, and we'll show those Pringles who's boss in this town. Miss Shirley, don't fret. It will all be fine, I promise."

"Thank you, Emmeline. I know I can count on you, but what about your father? I know he's been against me and the production since the very beginning."

"After countless hours of careful planning, I've finally persuaded him to come. He'll be fine and so will you. Don't worry."

"I won't." Anne gave Emmeline a hug and proceeded to get ready for the night's events.

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The highly anticipated premiere of Mary, Queen of Scots debuted without a glitch, and any worry that Anne had beforehand vanished. Emmeline Harris' interpretation of Mary moved so many Pringles that they choked on their previous criticisms of her, her family, and her teacher. At the end of the play, the entire house was on its feet. The director of the school board went up on stage and signaled Anne to come up on stage with him.

"Miss Shirley," he said, "I am honored to present you this check made out to the Kingsport Ladies College in the total of $10,000 from tonight's benefit."

Anne gladly accepted the check on behalf of the school and turned around to applaud her students. She was proud of each one of them and couldn't be any happier. She took this opportunity to address the audience.

"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I just want to say that it's been an honor teaching all of your daughters, and it has been a rewarding experience from Day 1. I would like to thank you all for making me feel welcome to this town, and I hope that we could provide another wonderful play like this for you all in the future. Thank you again."

Anne walked off the stage and met the parents of her students. After flooding the KLC office with complaints and demands of firing her, the parents complimented her on the way she handled things and urged her to put on a second play before the year ended. It seemed as if she won over the entire Pringle clan in over a span of two hours, and she finally had them on her side. After meeting with all the Pringles, Anne came face to face with Morgan Harris.

"Forgive me for all that I've said," he said. "It was rude of me to jump to conclusions like that without considering the facts, and I'm truly sorry. I want to make it up to you, Anne."

"That's awfully kind of you, Morgan, but I'm afraid I have to go now."

"Is there anything that I can do?"

"Could you possibly put your funds back into supporting the school?"

"You're asking me to reconsider?"

"Yes."

Morgan stuck out his hand. "You have a deal."

Anne shook his hand. "Thank you." She smiled, gave Emmeline a hug for a job well done, and walked away. Knowing that her job and reputation were now secure, Anne could now go home with a heavy burden lifted off her shoulders.

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"Hey, Gil. Did you see this?" asked Roy as he read the morning paper.

"See what?"

"There's an article about Anne in the paper."

"Oh."

Roy threw the paper at Gilbert as he was getting out of bed. He saw her picture on the front page and smiled. He read about her success with the opening of the play and couldn't have felt more prouder of her; Gilbert knew she could do it all along. That was the Anne he knew and loved; she could do anything if she put her mind to it.

"I knew she could do it," Gilbert said.

"Me, too," commented Roy. "I'll be back, Gil. I'm gonna send Anne some violets as part of my congratulations."

"Okay."

You know violets aren't her favorite, right, buddy? Gilbert thought. You have a long way to go, my friend.

After eating breakfast and getting dressed, Gilbert went over to the nearest flower shop on campus and sent Anne a bouquet of lilies-of-the-valley, her favorite. He included a card that read, "Congratulations on your success, Carrots. From your good pal, Gilbert." He hoped she would like it. After all, she deserved all the success in the world and deserved nothing but the best.

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Anne came back to school the next day after forgetting a stack of papers that desperately needed to be graded in her classroom. When she entered, she was shocked to discover four bouquets on her desk, each from a different man pursuing her heart. Her eyes wandered from Roy's bouquet of violets to Morgan's bouquet of roses to Jack's bouquet of irises to finally Gilbert's bouquet of lilies-of-the-valley. She assumed the other three knew of her success because of the story written in the paper. Anne noticed Gilbert's arrangement immediately as well as his card. She opened the card, read it, and smiled. Good ol' Gilbert. So he hadn't forgotten her. How sweet of him to send her her favorite flowers! And she thought maybe Roy would have sent her that particular bouquet himself. Anne sighed. With her hands full of papers, she could only afford to bring home one arrangement of flowers. Without hesitating, Anne grabbed her lilies-of-the-valley, locked her classroom door, and headed for home.