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"I wouldn't want to marry anybody who was wicked, but I think I'd like it if he could be wicked and wouldn't."
- L.M Montgomery, Anne of the Island
Chapter twenty-nine - Kindred Spirits
"No."
"Aww. Come on, Kat."
"No" she shook her head "I am not sharing my candy with a liar, Neil."
"But you're sharing with Todd!" He pointed accusingly at the boy in question, who sat innocently against the school gates with a mouth-full of strawberry candies.
"I like him more than you" she poked her tongue out, passing the striped paper bag over to Nancy, who popped a candy into her mouth with a laugh.
"Face it, Puck. You're not getting one until she forgives you."
"I was trying to help" he whined, "it's not my fault that we befriended an idiot like Dalton."
Rolling her eyes, Kat chucked the bag to Neil who whooped with delight, prompting the other three to collapse into another fit of giggles.
Nancy flopped down on the gravel - using her folded, banana yellow cardigan underneath her head as a pillow - and sighed.
"What was that for?" Kat asked.
"It's freezing out here."
"You just took a layer off?" Neil said furrowing his eyebrows.
"I thought there would be a gentleman around to lend me a coat" she groaned, "but you're all too accustomed to this weather to bring one."
Todd smiled into the bag of sweets, amused by her plight. Turning to Neil he threw a sweet at his nose to get his roommate's attention. "Open" he said once a pair of familiar, warm, brown eyes looked his way. Neil complied, and Todd began to aim them at his mouth. His laughter increasing in volume as Neil's attempts to catch them got wilder with each try.
"Speaking of gentleman, where is yours today, Kitty Kat?"
Throwing a glare in her direction, Kat said shortly "with Cameron."
Nancy's eyebrows shot up, "I may not be an expert on the dynamics of this place. But isn't that concerning?"
"I think he took up my suggestion to teach Cameron the clarinet. In exchange for homework, of course" Kat shrugged. "How badly it will turn out unsupervised is not my problem today."
"I thought you two sorted things out in detention yesterday" Neil turned to look at the girls, his sudden movement caused a pink candy to hit his nose and his face to scrunch up. Earning a sound of utter delight from Todd. Neil failed to hide the grin which spread across his face at the sound.
"We talked-"
"In an argument way or a mature way?" Interrupted Nancy.
"Uhm, a mixture" Kat admitted. "We're not fighting, but I'm still annoyed because he doesn't see what he's done wrong. Maybe it's silly, but it's like our friendship started as a gender thing, not a kindred spirits thing to him. All he cares about is making the school co-ed."
"Maybe at first, but he stopped hitting on you after a week" Neil said seriously, "and then it became about you, as a person. You made him laugh, you got along with us and you tolerate his antics, even join in. That's why he became friends with you. I swear. This co-ed obsession is becasue of you, maybe it's a subconcious effort for you stay. We all want that."
Kat nodded, running her hands over the gravel. Dusting the little stones and dirt off her palms.
"I agree with Neil, sweetie. You're important to him and Ginny, bless her, exploited that thinking she was helping and I think he was a little jealous of Thomas. It's an awful thing, but I think he used Gloria and Tina as distractions, not girls to befriend."
"Why would he be jealous? I'm friends with most of the boys here!"
"Boys he knows aren't interested or wouldn't dare express any" muttered Neil. Ignoring the look of exasperation on her face.
"What are 'kindred spirits'?" Nancy shuffled into a sitting position, jumping in before her best friend had the chance to sail further down the river of denial.
"Anne of Green Gables" answered Kat and Neil simultaneously.
"The main character, Anne Shirley, is always searching for them" Kat explained. "It's a person with similar interests or life views as you. Someone you bond with because they understand you, enough to know what you're thinking. They can be a best friend, close family or a partner."
"My Mother loved those books" smiled Neil fondly, "she started reading them to me when I was younger. Dad stopped her and to his horror, I checked the rest of them out of the library the following week."
"And you see Charlie as one?"
"Yes" Kathleen nodded, "and the three of you."
XXXX
As evening approached, the group split away. Nancy heading back to town and the three Welton students back through the woods towards the school. By the time Kathleen reached Keating's room for detention, she was five minutes late.
"I am so sorry Captain" she apologised, closing the classroom door behind her.
"I can forgive any student who gets caught up appreciating the beauty of nature, Miss Murray" He responded.
"You brought the outside in with you" clarified Charlie, seeing confusion flash across her features.
Looking down, Kat saw that she had muddied the hem of her skirt and flecks stained her school jumper.
"Oops" a smile tugged at her lips, "I'm glad Hager has a meeting tonight."
Mr Keating chuckled. Rising from his desk, he crossed the room and heaved a pile of books from the shelf over to one of the front desks. "I'm afraid we're in for a hard night, prisoners. I decided upon a discussion of Othello in class tomorrow, but I forgot which copies are annotated. Our task is to find them and erase the pencil notes."
The two students nodded and began the job in silence, something which their teacher had not been expecting. After several failed attempts to maintain conversation, he gave in.
"Out with it you two. What's bothering my favourite troublemakers, hm?"
"Read the school paper tomorrow morning, and you'll know" Kathleen replied.
"Know that I've done something important" the boy opposite her corrected.
Looking between the two, Keating saw the tension and wondered why he hadn't identified it earlier. "Am I not allowed a preview of the content?"
"It's a petition published in the name of the society, Captain" explained Charlie with a look of satisfaction, "I decided to take action that the others are unhappy about."
Kathleen shook her head "what we are unhappy about, is the naming of the society and the timing of the article."
"I see. Is it a sensitive topic?"
"More provocative" smirked Charlie.
"I'm not sure which way to interpret that comment, Mr Dalton. But I assume it will provoke the faculty either way."
"You assume correctly" Kathleen finished erasing her last copy of the play, placing it on the pile of clean books.
"Well, I shall look forward to the surprise which awaits me at dawn. Off you go, I want you both to have the evening to relax." Keating waved them out of the room, "away with you. I have a coffee calling to me from the teacher's lounge and you have a Hager free evening. Enjoy it."
The students returned to the common room; where Charlie continued to alternate between helping and yelling at Cameron while he practiced the clarinet. And Kathleen curled up by the radiator with her book, which Neil decided to read over her shoulder out of childhood nostalgia.
XXXX
Breakfast on Thursday morning was conducted in an unusual manner.
Rarely did they end up eating together this early, but on this occasion, they were all sat down within ten minutes of the doors opening. Too anxious to feel tired and too nervous to eat. Worryingly, Pitts managed only a few bites of toast before pushing his plate away in favour of drumming his fingers on the table.
Their heads turned like owls every time they spotted a flash of white paper and black print, but all were false alarms until a younger student came barrelling through the doors, shouting over to his friends "GIRLS. WE MIGHT BE GETTING GIRLS AT WELTON" which caught the attention of everyone in the room. Staff and student alike.
The chaos was instantaneous.
Amongst the cacophony of scraping chairs, excited whispers and bewildered teachers trying to maintain decorum, Richard Cameron met Neil Perry's eyes from across the table, and with a nod from Neil they hauled Charlie from his seat and pulled him out of the room. Signalling for the group to follow.
Once they were safely away from the initial disturbance they went straight to Keating's classroom at Todd's suggestion. The perfect hiding place and conveniently, their first class of the day.
"Good morning, you're startlingly early" The Captain greeted as one resentful boy and six anxious students piled into the room. "Not that I don't love your company, of course."
"Have you picked up a copy of the school paper yet, Captain?" Meeks inquired, cleaning his glasses.
"Indeed, I have "nodded Mr Keating. "Excellent writing, Charlie. If only you paid the same attention to your grammar in your homework..."
"Thanks, I'll take it under consideration" the author chuckled.
"Powerful piece. If it wasn't in the name of the society I would tell the others to be proud, but it is. Which will only anger the faculty more."
"We didn't say we weren't proud of him" Interrupted Neil, "it's his lack of reason that we're not proud of."
"Does that mean you'll read it?" He looked at each of his friends.
"Oh, no. The less I know, the more innocent I'll be when we're interrogated later" exclaimed Kathleen, earning murmurs of agreement from the group.
Knox put a hand on his shoulder, "we'll read it afterwards, Nuwanda. If we're still here."
"Very funny" Charlie scowled, shaking Knox's hand off, "no one is going to do anything about the paper until after lunch. Relax for a while."
"May I suggest Shakespeare?" Keating held up a copy of the play, "we're discussing the love between Othello and Desdemona in small groups today. You can get a half hour head start."
XXXX
True to his word, thirty minutes later the class was in full swing. Separated into groups of four, the students were sitting in circles around desks discussing ideas while Keating went to fetch academic essays and reference books from the cupboard.
Kathleen, Charlie, Neil and Todd were in one group, gathered around Kat's usual desk, debating whether the characters had really been in love, or if it was lust, infatuation or admiration induced passion.
"Love isn't white knights, it creeps up on you in friendship, to paraphrase L.M Montgomery" Neil winked at Kat.
"What the hell has that got to do with Shakespeare?" Asked Charlie frowning.
"Nothing, I'm just thinking about Anne's ideals and blindness" he nodded towards the book titled, 'Anne of the Island' on Kathleen's desk by L.M Montgomery, "I would hope that it doesn't take a Roy Gardner and the love of my life nearly dying to come to my senses, don't you agree Kat? The Gilbert Blythes of the world are taken for granted."
"I suppose" she responded. Confused by the sudden turn in conversation.
"I mean" Neil continued, "Diana Barry told Anne but she wouldn't see it, even when the whole of Avonlea could."
"What is he jabbering on about?" Charlie asked.
A wave of dread washed over her as she caught onto to Neil's game, but she just shrugged. Feigning nonchalance.
"I know your Diana has an opinion" Neil smirked, staring meaningfully at the red-cheeked girl, "and us Welton lot see as clearly as the town of Avonlea."
"People can make up their own minds quite capably" she said. Ignoring Charlie in favour at staring back at Neil, trying to tell him to stop talking with her eyes. Either she failed, or he pressed on regardless.
"Kindred spirits, after all" he said, "shouldn't be pushed away for their mistakes. Although, honesty is best as even the most well-matched souls can't read each other's minds. Look how it turned out for poor Marilla" he hummed.
"Why don't you take your own advice and let me know how it goes" Kathleen snapped, irritation coursing through every fibre of her being as Neil carelessly threw her own words back in her face. Her harsh tone shocked the other two boys who watched the unfolding argument in bewilderment.
"I'm inclined to believe I'm a Fred Wright, I know where I stand" he shrugged, "but Anne is so stubborn. Maybe a Christine Stuart or two would be good to hurry things along."
Kathleen glowered, "Neil Perry, stop this nonsense and get on with the work."
"Neil" Todd warned, not liking the turn in Kathleen's mood. The usually sunny girl was practically a thunderstorm. Sitting rigidly like she might explode at any moment.
"I know that Sydney Carton was Lucie's dearest friend, but he was unrequited, so I thought Gilbert Blythe was a better fit for the situation" he ploughed on. Hoping to break through the wall to Kathleen's true feelings.
Her eyes flashed.
"I don't understand what's going" Charlie said trying to ease the tension, "but I think-"
"We're not supposed to" whispered Todd.
"Please, stay out of this" Kathleen closed her eyes and breathed deeply for a second, wrestling with her emotions for control over her body.
"Kat" Neil said, his tone softer, "I just think that-"
"You've done enough thinking" her eyes opened to reveal a face clear of any expression, "and enough talking. Perhaps Todd should voice his opinion on the love between Othello and Desdemona. Since you seem to respect his opinion more than mine" she said calmly. Rising from her seat to fetch some books from Keating's desk before anybody had the chance to respond.
"What the hell was that?" Charlie scowled, watching Kathleen select four battered books from the pile.
"Nothing for you to worry about" he shrugged.
"Neil" pleaded Todd, "don't."
"I'm helping, she needs it" his brown eyes melted as they landed their gaze upon Todd's distressed face, "I'm sorry. I know you don't like conflict."
"And I don't like it when you talk in your exclusive literary code" sulked Charlie, "that was over my head, Neil. You did that on purpose."
"It's in your best interests" he protested.
"Well, it doesn't seem to be in hers."
Neil studied his best friend of six years, "Charlie. I promise you that it is. I know that she's under a lot of pressure, we all are. This is helping her, I swear."
Charlie said nothing, but eventually he nodded.
"Thank you" Neil breathed quietly, watching Kathleen draw closer to her abandoned seat.
She distributed the academic books before sitting down, her posture stiff and her face still infuriatingly neutral.
"Todd, how about you go first" said Charlie, his tone unusually subdued as he eyed the novel laying innocently on Kathleen's desk. He couldn't for the life of him remember who Sydney Carton was, but he recalled Kat mentioning the name several times, and he had certainly never heard of Gilbert Blythe. Suddenly he found himself regretting all the time he wasted in English over the last few years, if only he knew what had unsettled her so much, he thought, tuning out Todd's stammered words about betrayal, choosing to study his two best friends instead. One of them would drop a hint, he assured himself. It was just a question of who would crack first.
Okay, explanation time for those who have never heard of Anne of Green Gables.
SPOILER WARNING:
1) Anne becomes close friends with Gilbert Blythe, who falls in love with her. Anne loves him too, but she hasn't realised it yet. She is convinced that she only sees him as a friend and this temporarily ruins their friendship.
2) While they have stopped talking, Anne thinks she falls in love with a man called Roy Gardner, but later realises that she was blinded by her childhood dreams of love. At the same time Gilbert befriends a girl called Christine, whose brother asked Gilbert to look after her while she settles into college. Christine is engaged to a man at home, but rumours spread that Gilbert is planning to propose to her.
3) Misunderstandings and angst enthuse before things are resolved. Diana Barry is Anne's best friend and Avonlea is their hometown. Diana and everyone in Avonlea can see how much Anne and Gilbert love each other, before Anne realises herself.
4) Fred Wright is Diana's fiancé. They both knew they liked each other and acted on it. In contrast to the struggle between Anne and Gilbert.
= Neil is using these characters to tell Kathleen that she and Charlie are like Anne and Gilbert. Charlie like Gilbert knows he likes his female bestfriend.
= Neil warns Kat that she might trick herself into a false love if she continues, and suggests that jealousy of other girls around Charlie might be good for her.
=Welton, like Avonlea can see that they like each other. Kathleen is in denial much like Anne. Nancy is like Diana who is trying to talk sense into her friend.
= Marilla is a character who lost her chance at love after an argument with the man she loved when they were young. They never made up and she never found love again. Neil uses her character as a warning.
= Neil argues that he is like Fred Wright because he knows his crush likes him back.
That was more complicated in words than it was in my head. Very sorry if my explanation has confused anyone.