For the thousandth time in her young life Anne thought there was nothing more lovely than morns.

"I never can be in the depths of despair in the morning," she mused to herself as she stretched against her pillow, revelling in the milky coloured beams that had managed to creep into her bright bedroom and paint it with their light. "Although I suppose I wasn't truly in the depths of despair last night, either. I don't think one can be in the depths of despair when they're working over their geometry exercises – as hope divesting as they can be, they're also terribly unromantic, and there is nothing like a bit of practicality to lift you out from your misery."

All of this was true, although even in her current, cheerful mood Anne had to admit that she had not felt entirely peaceful when she had finally gone to bed last night. The memories of her earlier revelations were still fresh in her mind and regardless of her own resolutions, she had feared they would reflect in her dreams, bringing back even more memories, ones so much more difficult to deal with. Her fears had been in vain; the general exhaustion, combined with her extra studying session had turned out to be the best recipe for a long, undisturbed sleep. Now she was awake, well‑rested and ready to face whatever was waiting for her.

At this point of day, she was sure she could conquer the world.

No one had ever achieved that from their bed, however, and Anne had enough humility to realise that she was no different. She threw away her duvet and jumped on the floor, only to spring towards the window immediately after. She opened it and leaned forward to kiss Snow Queen's last white buds.

"I am so glad it is May already," she shared her thoughts with the old tree, certain that she understood her. "I do not mind rain or snow, or even the howling wind of the other seasons, but it is far easier to stay hopeful when the Sun is smiling at you the way it is now – even if it is hard to stay indoors and study instead of just going out to dance around the trees. But then again, who said I could not practice geometry outside?"

Thus resolved, Anne made her way back to the bed to make it. She did the job carefully, recalling the first few times she had done it under Marilla's scrutinising eye with a smile.

They had both come a long way since the day Anne had arrived to this house. They had learnt a lot, lesson after lesson, making and fixing mistakes, coming to understand things neither of them had dreamed they'd even come across. They had talked and listened, argued and joked. They had surprised one another a great deal, sometimes on purpose and sometimes so spontaneously that they had been surprised themselves.

Anne had always known that her understanding with Matthew was instant and natural. But her closeness with Marilla was earned.

The breakfast on Green Gables was nothing but usual that day. Since Anne had regained her usual confidence, she was as ready to chat as ever and neither Matthew or Marilla interrupted her careless twittering, except the one time when Marilla felt it was her duty to remind her ward of the toast on her plate before it would get cold again.

All in all, it was a promising start of a promising new day.

"I am going to see Rachel today," Marilla announced near the end of their meal. "I'll be leaving soon after breakfast, so make sure you clean up after it, Anne. I may also need some help with the baking later in the afternoon, but I don't think there is much more to do. If you want to meet with Diana or Ruby, you are free to go."

"Thank you, Marilla -" Anne responded politely, "but I don't think I'll be meeting them. I'd like to devote myself to studying today, and I'm afraid I won't do much of that if I leave the house – leave the farm, anyway – and I don't want to risk getting distracted too early. It's a great deal easier to fulfil one's plans if one starts immediately and make no breaks; otherwise, it takes a lot of will to end the fun and go back to responsibilities. And we all know that strong will isn't my most obvious asset."

"You can be stubborn, that's one thing for sure," Marilla opposed. "If only you could apply it into something more practical than say, hating your hair, we could all benefit from it."

"I will be stubborn about making my grades rise, then," Anne answered with a confident smile, choosing to ignore the bit concerning her looks. "I spent last evening practising geometry, but I'm afraid all I learned is how much I didn't know. However, Miss Stacy always says that's the first step on our path to learning, so I am not going to let it dishearten me but I'll work even harder on it instead. Geometry will be my weak spot no more."

"Now Anne, don't you think you could let Gilbert top you in one subject at least?" Matthew threw in with a smile.

Anne shook her head.

"I do not," was her suddenly cool, dignified answer. "It's not really a competition if you don't do your best in every way. It is very possible that I will not manage to equal Gilbert in this particular field, but that can't stop me from trying."

"Not everything in life is a competition, Anne," came Marilla's calm suggestion.

"Of course not," Anne answered her with confidence. "I would never dream of competing with Diana, or Ruby, or Cole. I don't think I am that competitive in general – but it is useful at school to have someone you can compare your scores with. It's motivating, that's all."

Marilla nodded and stood up, her eyes never leaving Anne's face. "I suppose you are right, as long as you keep the rivalry a friendly one. I don't want to hear about any animosity between you and Gilbert on that background, do you understand?"

"Of course, Marilla." Anne followed her Guardian's example and stood up too, readying herself to collect the dishes. Her sight was fixed on the table, however, and she did not feel like raising it any time soon – nor like adding anything more to their brief, unexpected conversation.

What could she say? That there was no fear of holding grudge against Gilbert because of his academic records, simply because she had already decided to hold it for different reasons entirely? That he didn't need to top her in any of their shared subject to hurt her, for his silly words could do it with so much more ease?

Or maybe she should tell them how vulnerable she felt at the very thought of Gilbert having a good reason to insult her consciously, because no one could do it as precisely as he, if only he so wished?

Anne shook her head again, reminding herself of the resolutions she had made. Friends or not, academic rivals or not, she would not let the thoughts of Gilbert Blythe stir her up. She was still angry at him for his untimely comment and she could still feel the sting the memory gave her every time she recalled it; but she also knew that she had already spent more time pondering about it than she ever should have. She was not going to mention it to him for sure, and she doubted she should mention it to anyone else.

Gilbert Blythe was there and there was nothing she could do about it – except deciding she would not give him any more of her time, neither in mind or body. She would not be rude to him, no; she would simply ignore the fact he was there at all.

She had done it before, she could easily do it again.

As announced earlier, Marilla had left Green Gables before Anne managed to bring the kitchen back to its usual clean and empty state. Matthew left shortly after, bidding his adieu with the warmest of smiles – and when he did, there was nothing left for her to do but go to the white room in the east gable and put her ambitious academic plan into action.

"Maybe I really should go out and study in the fields," she mused to herself as she jogged upstairs, stepping lightly yet surely towards her destination. "The day is so bright and warm, and I could see dear old wind playing gently with Snow Queen's branches – oh, but what am I saying? Wind can't be old, and even if some winds are, I am certain the May wind is not."

Her mind was made up by the time she reached her door. She walked into the room and up to her books, piled neatly on one side of her desk. She reached for her slate together with the geometry textbook, and hesitated when she saw the one on English literature peek from underneath it.

"In case geometry turns out to be too much for the outside reading," she told herself sternly as she took it in her hands. "If it does, and I have nothing else with me, I may end up daydreaming yet another story – It will be of more use to prepare for my next English class, even if I don't need to work much on that. And I am determined to focus on that wretched geometry course first."

Not much later Anne was settled comfortably under the old cherry tree, drawing figures and scribbling equations, consulting the theory every so often, checking each and every of her results three times at least. It was not easy and would probably frustrate her eventually, hadn't it been for the lovely aura surrounding her. With the few clouds drifting across the sky and the soft breeze ruffling her braids, even geometry could not make her lose her spirits, and as it usually occurs in such cases, Anne soon felt a wave of satisfaction at the realisation of how much easier the task became with time. She was far from mastering it, and she was well aware of that; but for the first time in forever she allowed herself to believe that one day, she would harness it as well.

The feeling was emphasised by the little bit of pride she took in the fact that she had not given up still, despite the dream-provoking atmosphere and her initial reluctance. Whether it was her will getting stronger or her stubbornness turning towards the right thing, she didn't know. It had worked, however, and Anne could only feel grateful that it had.

A thought of Gilbert didn't cross her mind once.

Still, even her successes could not make her enjoy this particular subject of her studies any more than was necessary to push her through it. She was glad, that was true; she was satisfied and that was true as well. And yet, she was perfectly ready to finish her work on it as soon as her judgement allowed her.

"A quarter more spent on this and I can move on to English with my conscious clear," she hummed softly, looking up at her tree friend and smiling at her with affection. "Algebra and Latin are still waiting for me in my room, but I will leave those for later, when the Sun sinks low and the air gets cold. I could not bring myself to work on those now; I've done enough of geometry to last me for a week, and the only way I regain my enthusiasm for studying is to focus on something I can enjoy thoroughly, with no doubts about it. Poetry, here I -"

"Anne!" she was interrupted by a sudden, joyful call coming from the gate. She turned around and peeked out from behind the thick trunk, only to see three girls trotting happily towards the house and looking around, clearly in search of her. Anne grinned even more widely and waved at them from her spot. The girls noticed her then and broke into a run immediately.

Anne laughed shortly and closed her book at once.

"Here you are!" Diana exclaimed excitedly as she fell on her knees right beside her, Ruby and Jane following close behind. "I shouldn't be surprised to find you here on a day like this, even though Marilla told Jane you'd said you wanted to study today."

"I am studying, Diana," Anne answered with a teasing smile. "At least I had been until you three showed up."

"Oh, you make it sound as if you didn't want to see us. And even if you don't, I promise you will be more than happy about it soon, when we tell you everything."

Anne raised her eyebrows at her bosom friend before shifting her gaze on two others. "And what is everything, exactly?"

"Something that will improve your spirits for sure, as it is both adventurous and romantic – and Lord Tennyson is involved in it."

Anne felt her stomach tighten at Diana's last words. It was silly, and she knew it; she loved Lord Tennyson's poetry like no other and it felt wrong to taint this love with the petty thoughts of yesterday, especially when she had seemingly come in control of those thoughts. Still, that was not what she had planned for today.

"I would love to go with you, but I need to stay home and study," she said hesitantly, glancing at the book on her lap and the other one on the grass beside her. "I've only touched upon geometry and you know how much of a struggle it is for me – and there is still more work for me to do."

"But you study so much already!" Ruby gasped with astonishment. "You are already the smartest girl in our class, what else do you want?"

"Ruby's right," Jane concurred with her companion. "You've left us all behind long ago, the only person that has any chance with you is Gilbert, but even he needs to work hard to keep up with you – I heard him say that to Billy last week."

"Gilbert is awful smart though, isn't he?" Ruby sighed dreamily.

Anne clenched her jaw but forced a smile nevertheless. "Gilbert or no Gilbert, there is always room for improvement. But you are right, I suppose – it is Saturday after all and I should still have enough time for my studies in the evening. And Miss Stacy always says that knowing when to take a break is as important as learning itself."

Diana was beaming.

"I am so glad you think so," she said. "And it is such a great coincidence you're wearing your white dress today!"

"Wait, what?" Anne laughed again, taken aback by her friend's sudden comment. She gathered her books and rose, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. "What does my dress have to do with it?"

"Oh, well," it was Diana's turn to grin with satisfaction. "One could hardly imagine Elaine wearing anything else, don't you think?"