"Well, Gilbert, Katherine Brooke, the headmistress at KLC, wanted me to tell you about all the policies and details of the institute," Ms. Stacey began. "I guess that now would be as good of a time as ever. And I am sure that Anne would like to add in her two cents as well."
Anne flashed a smile and nodded her head at Ms. Stacey's suggestion.
"You will find that most of the girls at Kingsport Ladies College are capable of a high level of achievement," Anne began, "but a lot of them will take advantage of you at first, considering you are new and relatively inexperienced compared to most of their teachers. The best thing to do is simply to persevere and not let the girls get in the way of your instruction."
"That is a very efficient strategy," Ms. Stacey agreed. "And don't hesitate to be strict with the students when they get out of hand."
"You may need to work on that, Gilbert. You do have a tendency to be nice to everybody," Anne pointed out.
"Fine. I'll work on my meanness, if it's that much of a problem!" Gilbert replied.
"Just don't work on it with me!" Anne laughed.
"Of course not. It's too hard to be mean to someone like you, Anne," Gilbert said as he gazed at Anne thoughtfully.
"Also, Gil, I have some more extremely valuable advice for you," Anne said, her eyes twinkling.
"And what would that be, Anne?" Gilbert asked, grinning.
"Well, never throw a box with unknown contents into the stove, be prepared to find reptiles in your desk, and do not believe the names that the girls use to introduce themselves." Anne chuckled at all of the memories of her first days at Kingsport. Though they were extremely depressing at the time, now that she looked back on it, Anne had a different perspective on all of the tricks and pranks that the students played on her during the beginning of the school year.
"You went through all that, Anne? I'm so sorry," Gilbert said sincerely. "But I'm sure that the students are fond of you now, aren't they?"
"Well, I can't deny that their opinion of me has...improved," Anne said.
"I can only hope that I will have decent luck. What exactly happened with the box and the stove, anyway? And the reptile? And what names did the girls use? I'm curious to know all of these stories now that you've peaked my interest," Gilbert said.
"Well, I guess I could tell you, although it is somewhat embarrassing," Anne said. "The stove incident occurred when Myra and Jen Pringle- two of my students- brought in a box to class. Now, I assumed that the parcel contained food, as they had been smuggling food into class nearly everyday. So, without first verifying the contents of the box, I demanded that they put it in the stove. Little did I know that the box contained firecrackers, and needless to say, the stove caught on fire just moments later. Another student named Essie fainted as the smoke filled the air, and I had to lift her up and out of danger, as well as safely help all of the other girls out of the classroom. Thankfully, little damage was done, and everyone was safe."
"I didn't know that your accomplishments including saving your students lives from a fire, Anne. That's a pretty impressive achievement," Gilbert complemented.
Ms. Stacey picked up on Gilbert's flirtatious actions and decided not to interrupt the discourse between the two. Though Anne and Gilbert had excluded her form the conversation, Ms. Stacey didn't mind in the least. In fact, she took pleasure in watching the pair talk back and forth. It wasn't just Gilbert mooning over Anne now, she noted.
"It's far from that, truthfully. If I had not told the girls in the first place to put the box in the stove, the ordeal would never have happened!" Anne said regretfully.
"It is mighty heroic of you to put other's lives before yours during a crisis. I don't know if I would have been able to do the same thing in such a circumstance," Gilbert praised again.
Anne blushed as she realized the point Gilbert was trying to make. She did not know what to say in response to Gilbert's flirting. Anne looked at Ms. Stacey to see how she was responding to Gilbert's actions. She was surprised to see Ms. Stacey trying to hold back a laugh.
Ms. Stacey is picking up on everything! Anne thought, panicking at the realization. She immediately glared at Gilbert and decided to try to seem impartial to him for the rest of the evening. The last thing that Anne wanted to do was to lead Ms. Stacey to believe that she had feelings for Gilbert! Which, she tried to convince herself, she didn't, anyway.
Then, Clara stormed up to the table, preventing Anne from having to respond to Gilbert's flirting. "I'm sorry to inform you that we only had enough ingredients to make one pot pie," Clara said smugly. "First priority always goes to the gentleman. I'm afraid you are out of luck, miss," Clara informed Anne with a smirk as she handed the pot pie to Gilbert. "The chef has prepared you some cranberries as a substitute."
"This is simply outrageous, Clara. If the manager of the Pringle Hotel heard about this nuisance, I'm sure he wouldn't be pleased," Anne proclaimed, scrunching her nose. "It is quite unprofessional to serve someone a dish that they did not order."
"He would not. And my father just so happens to be the manager," Clara replied superiorly.
"Well, Clara, I..."
Gilbert interrupted Anne mid-sentence as he placed his hand on top of hers. The last thing Gilbert wanted was for his lovely evening with Anne to be ruined by her temper and stubbornness. Anne shuttered at the unexpected feeling and looked at Gilbert. He looked very compassionate and sweet at the moment, his face serious and concerned. Anne looked at him with an expression of shock as a result of his gesture. She tried to emphasize her disgust because, she reminded herself, she did not like Gilbert in that way.
"Anne, please take my pot pie. I'd be happy to simply not eat anything. Besides, I'm really not that hungry this evening," Gilbert stated. Though Gilbert was extremely hungry, he couldn't let himself eat a nice meal when Anne only had plain cranberries on her plate.
"Gilbert, you are the most generous person in the universe," Anne said, looking at him thoughtfully. "But I can't accept. You deserve it more than anyone."
"Will you at least split it with me, Anne?" Gilbert exclaimed hopefully.
"Only if you're willing."
Gilbert took the reply as a 'yes' and began to cut his pot pie in half. "Here is half of the pot pie, Anne." He placed it on Anne's plate.
"I know for a fact that you like cranberries, Gilbert. Here. Take some so you won't be hungry." Anne place half of her serving of cranberries on Gilbert's plate.
"Thank you, Anne. Now, Clara, your food shortage problem is resolved," Gilbert proclaimed teasingly.
Clara plunked Ms. Stacey's plate of potato salad down onto the table with a thud. "I sincerely hope that you enjoy your food," Clara snickered as she strutted away.
"I'm sure we will, thank you," Anne stated loudly, pointing her chin. How tired Anne was growing of the Pringles! And there was still a month of school left! It wasn't until staying in Kingsport that Anne realized how kind and hospitable the people of Avonlea really were. "Gilbert," she continued, "why on Earth did you insist on taking this position? It must be the worst decision you have ever made in your life!"
"Don't worry, Anne. I have my reasons," Gilbert chuckled.
"Well, they better be very good reasons for the price you have to pay."
"They are very good reasons, Anne. Very good reasons indeed. Now I'm going to try this pot pie and see if it is as good as Clara claims it to be." Gilbert said, changing the subject, as he didn't want Anne to know his exact reasons yet.
"I highly doubt it. The food that I have tasted throughout my time in Kingsport leaves little to be desired," Anne said.
"It's decent, I guess," Gilbert decided after eating a bite. "But it's nothing noteworthy. What do you think, Anne?"
"It's alright. But I guess I've gotten used to eating mediocre meals by now. Oh, how I long for some of Marilla's good food. I haven't had a good, home-cooked meal since the last time I was at Green Gables."
"Don't worry, Anne. There is only a month until we return to Avonlea, and then, you will have home-cooked meals galore."
"Ms. Stacey, how is your potato salad?" Anne inquired upon realizing that she and Gilbert had totally excluded Ms. Stacey from their conversation.
"It is pretty good, though I must say that the best cooking I have ever tasted must have been Marilla's, Anne. Do you remember that time when I came to your house to tell you about Queens, and Marilla invited me to stay for dinner? And you forgot to put the cover over the pudding, and..."
"Oh, Ms. Stacey, do you have to bring this up now?" Anne said. "How embarrassed I was at that very moment!"
"You forgot to put the cover over the pudding, and then what happened?" Gilbert asked, wanting to know the rest of the story.
"And I found a mouse in it! I had meant to tell Marilla, but then Ms. Stacey knocked on the door and there was no opportunity to. And as Marilla served dessert, I decided that I had to tell her about the mouse. I would never have been able to live with myself if I allowed Ms. Stacey, Marilla, and Matthew to eat something with dead mouse in it!"
"So then," Ms. Stacey began, "as I put the fork up to my mouth, Anne yelled to me, 'don't eat it, Ms Stacey!'. Marilla looked vexed until Anne explained why exactly she didn't want me to eat the dessert in the first place. At that point, I couldn't help myself from laughing. Soon enough, everyone else started laughing as well. Anne, do you remember what you said after that?"
"I am fairly certain that I said, 'well, I suppose in the end it was a romantic way to perish, for a mouse'." Anne laughed wholeheartedly at the memory of her ever-so-frequent mistakes.
Gilbert grinned at the story. He had always gotten a kick out of Anne and her mistakes- ever since he had first heard the gossip that she had called Mrs. Lynde 'fat' and 'ugly'. It was from that moment on that he became quite interested in Anne.
"Are there any more of these funny moments that I never heard about?" Gilbert asked.
"There are plenty- way too many to count!" Anne concluded. "Did I ever tell you about the time that I dyed my hair green? I think that that was before you arrived in Avonlea, Ms. Stacey."
"I never heard that story," Gilbert said.
"Neither did I." Ms. Stacey chimed in.
"Why in heaven's name would you dye your hair...green?" Gilbert asked. He was already found the story quite amusing.
"Well, I didn't mean to dye it green, of course. I was intending to dye it a raven black color, just like Diana's."
"What would make you do such a thing? Your hair is a beautiful shade of red!" Ms. Stacey commented.
"I absolutely despised my hair when I was younger. Well, I still despise my hair, though I try not to think of its color as much as I used to. But do you want to know what the last straw was that caused me to dye my hair?" Anne said.
"What?" Gilbert and Ms. Stacey said simultaneously.
"It was my first day of school, and Gilbert was sitting across the aisle from me. He reached over and whispered, "hey, Carrots! Carrots!" He then reached his hand over and yanked my braid because I didn't respond at first. That infuriated me excruciatingly, and I let my temper get the better of me...again. So...I took my slate and cracked it over his head in my anger."
"Oh, Anne! Is that why you held a grudge against Gilbert for all that time? Because he called you Carrots?" Ms. Stacey burst out laughing.
"I'm afraid so. Though I don't quite know why he didn't hold a grudge against me!" Anne said. "And Gilbert, your comment made me officially decide that my hair was a curse. So, I decided to dye it so that no one would tease me over it ever again. I purchased hair dye from a peddler that Marilla and I met on the road just a few days after the incident and dyed my hair. Oh, how excited I was about having black hair! That is, until I looked in the mirror and it was green."
"Anne Shirley, you are one for trouble!" Ms. Stacey couldn't stop laughing.
"I'm afraid so. But such incidents are fun to recall several years later!" Anne said.
"I'm sorry that I caused you all that trouble, Anne. If only I knew that just one simple word- carrots- would cause you to go and dye your hair..." Gilbert looked ashamed at what he had done.
"Please don't worry about it now, Gil! It was so long ago. At the time, I despised you for teasing me, but it was my temper that really caused me to dye my hair."
"Is that why you were absent from school for a few days? And you came back with very short hair?" Gilbert concluded, piecing the facts together.
"Yes, it was. Marilla cut my hair so it was shoulder-length. We washed it several times to get as much of the green color out as possible. What a horrible situation that was. Though I hated red hair, green was even worse! But there was one good thing about that day. It was the day when Marilla told me that I would stay at Green Gables."
"Well, I guess that made up for the green hair, then!" Ms. Stacey exclaimed.
Your hair was very beautiful when it was short, Anne. But thank goodness I didn't risk telling you that. You probably would have gone and purchased a wig from another peddler to make it longer!" Gilbert joked. He gazed at Anne warmly, his eyes on her stunning auburn hair.
Anne blushed at Gilbert's complemented. Though she tried very hard not to, Anne couldn't help but smile slightly at the notion that Gilbert liked her hair. Anne flushed even more when she noticed that Gilbert was staring at her with a dreamy look in his eyes. Anne began to feel consumed by the intimacy of the moment but forced herself to snap out of it before Ms. Stacey could notice. She quickly tried to think of a topic to change the conversation. Upon noticing that everyone had finished their dinner, Anne asked, "Ms. Stacey, are you going to order any dessert?"
Ms. Stacey quickly glanced at her watch and then said, "I would ordinarily love to, but I'm afraid that I must be going. It is already nearly eight o'clock, and I have other business to attend to." Ms. Stacey desperately tried to hold back a smile. She didn't really have other business to attend to; she simply wanted to leave Anne and Gilbert alone. Ms. Stacey could tell by the way the pair had exchanged glances throughout dinner that they wanted some time to share with each other.
"But Ms. Stacey, I can't be left here alone with..." Anne raised her eyebrows. Gilbert smiled extensively at the knowledge that he and Anne would be alone and could enjoy the rest of the evening together.
Ms. Stacey was no fool. She knew that Anne was only trying to hide her feelings. She had been staring at Gilbert awfully frequently, Ms. Stacey observed.
"I know that you two will enjoy yourselves. I'm sorry to leave so suddenly," Ms. Stacey said, standing up from her chair. "But I urge you to order dessert anyway. I heard that they have very good plum pudding!"
"Well, alright then," Anne sighed, pretending to give in, though she was fairly happy at her former teacher's decision to leave early so that she could spend some alone time with Gilbert. Anne blushed at the thought that Ms. Stacey was setting her up to be alone with Gilbert. She must still think that I like him in a romantic way, Anne thought. But she did not like Gilbert! Gilbert was only a chum. Gilbert had always been just a chum. It was the truth, wasn't it? It had to be the truth. This was Gilbert she was talking about, not some tall, handsome, romantic man from Halifax whom she had always dreamed of marrying. But Anne's thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice in her head- one that did not belong to herself. But people's ideals change sometimes, the voice reminded Anne. Diana had said those words to Anne once, right before she left to go to Kingsport. At the time, Diana's advice had hardly seemed possible. But now, it seemed to describe Anne's situation entirely. Had all of her time away from Gilbert made her realize how much she truly liked him in a romantic way? Or maybe her feelings were untrue simply because it had been so long since she had last seen Gilbert. How Anne wished Diana were here to help her sort her feelings out.
"..have a good rest of the evening!" Ms. Stacey continued. Anne suddenly realized that she had zoned out of the entire conversation. "Oh, and Ms. Pringle, here is the money for the bill. It is enough to cover the meal, the desserts, and a tip," Ms. Stacey said, handing some money to Clara.
As Anne looked at Ms. Stacey to bid her goodbye, Ms. Stacey winked at her, which was followed by a quick glance at Gilbert, as if she trying to imply something. Anne felt her cheeks flush yet another time.
Ms. Stacey chuckled to herself as she walked out of the door to the Pringle Hotel. Her plan had worked just as she had suspected: Anne and Gilbert were taking the steps to be back together. As she walked down the brick pathway, she could see inside of the dining room where Anne and Gilbert sat across from one another. Ms. Stacey's curiosity overruled her curtesy at that moment as she glanced into the window to see what was happening. She was rewarded with the sight of Anne and Gilbert holding each other's hand and looking at each other intently, just like two love birds. Ms. Stacey burst out laughing at the sight and couldn't wait to see what the rest of the month had in store for the blossoming sweethearts.
A/N: Sorry it took so long to finish this chapter! It took me a while to come up with an idea and put it into the right words. Hopefully the length of it will make up for the time it took for me to write it. Another chapter will go up as soon as possible (I already have most of it written!).