A/N: Hello everyone! It's been a while since I wrote one of these. I've jumped through birthdays, fandoms and other things in between but I recently reread the Anne series and got back into my hyperfixation. Also burst into tears in Rilla of Ingleside once again, no one's surprised. Anyway, this is a rewrite of one of my earlier stories, War of Hearts. I pride myself on being a better writer comparatively than I was then, but who knows. Anyway so I have no idea about time at all. This is chaotic af, I'll make a birthday chart thing later but for now, this is my final draft. The usual disclaimer is, no one is straight until directly stated and nothing is directly stated so no one is straight eh. Also canon is my bitch and that means I get to direct it. Feel free to give me commentary and suggestions. I'll try to post every three days but sticking to a schedule is not really my thing so we'll se how this goes. Also I posess no opinions about Tennyson whatsover I just couldn't be bothered to search for more debate topics so I'm sticking with what my thirteen year old self came up with. Here's to completing stories.
to live for the hope of it all
cancel plans just in case you'd call
and say 'meet me behind the mall'
so much for summer love
saying us
cause you weren't mine to lose
–august by taylor swift
"Nan," shouted Di from the stairs, taking two steps at once.
"Guess what Mum just told me,"
The aforementioned Nan remained stubbornly stuck at her seat by the window, glaring at a figure outside with admirable anger.
"Nan?" Di jumped over the last step and made her way over to her sister of whose person, only her dark hair was visible, sticking out from the curtain. Di, much annoyed with her peevishness, roughly pulled the curtain away.
"Really?" said Di, blowing out a breath when she saw the figure Nan was glaring daggers at.
Nan, not fully awakened from her reverie, made a shooing motion with her hands.
"This has gone on long enough," Di announced, and with her free hand, proceeded to drag Nan away from the window.
"I hate you," Nan said flatly, and dramatically fell on her bed.
"Not as much as you hate him, I wager," said Di smugly, and then adopted an expression of dubious concern.
"Are you going to tell me what you fought about this time?"
"We don't fight," Nan bristled.
"Yes, yes, you 'debate'," Di raised her hand to make air quotes.
"So what debate, pray tell has you in this state?"
"What state?" Nan demanded instead.
"Moping,"
'I'm not moping,"
"Sure you aren't. Now stop changing the subject and tell me the root of your current ahem heated obsession with Jerry Mered-" The remaining half of Di's sentence was swallowed by a mouthful of pillow. She staggered up, sputtering and threw the pillow towards her sister's face. Nan had only a moment to dodge and then she came up on the other side, smug and pleased.
"You deserved that," She said. Di did not argue. There were places and times to employ stubbornness and sometimes dignity and right of sweet revenge must be abandoned to squeeze information from squirrely sisters.
Nan sighed again. Di made a gesture that said hurry up or maybe please tell me before I go insane from thus suspence.
"We had a debate over Tennyson's portrayal," Nan said finally, after a heavy silence.
Di raised an eyebrow.
"Jerry maintained that Tennyson's poems include women as to convey sympathy and deride hope. But the women don't have any voices. They have no personality or character without their connection to a male character. It is so-"
"That's it?" blurted Di who had no interest in listening to Nan's hour long rants. "The way you were going on, it seemed like he'd committed treachery against the nation,"
"Tennyson," emphasised Nan, like that would clear up anything. Di shook her head.
"So why are you sitting here moping instead of enlisting in your usual war of words?"
"I'm all out,"
"That's not possible," said Di, who had been witness to several hour long quarrels between Nan and Jerry and knew exactly how well Nan's sharp tongue and wit did their job.
"That was different." Nan sighed. "I can't- I don't have anything to say,"
"That's not it,"
"It is,"
"It is not," said Di smugly. "Because Faith told me Jerry got an acceptance letter from Redmond."
There was a moment of silence. Even the trees stopped rustling for a moment. When Di looked at her, Nan flushed a deep crimson down to her ears. She looked even more miserable then before.
"I just-" she murmured, twisting her hands.
"I don't want him to go,"
"Oh," said Di, voice tinged with expasperation. She pressed a hand to her eyes in a gesture achingly similar to Miss Cornelia.
"Why don't you tell him?"
"I don't want him to abandon his future because of me," Nan burst out.
"I want to stay here and teach for at least an year but I can't keep up with my studies if he won't be here to compete with."
"And that's all you want from him," teased Di, grinning wildly to show the dimples in her cheeks.
"Competition,"
"It's the only way I can ensure I'll be on top of my studies this year," said Nan, ignoring Di with years of experience.
"But I can't expect him to abandon his three year plan to get a law degree,"
"Three year plan," mouthed Di.
"And even if he did, there is only one school left in the glen. I refuse to give my rightful spot to him," She shook her wild mane. For someone who had been moping around all day about Jerry going to Redmond, she sounded downright enraged at the thought of him being the teacher at the upper glen school.
Di put her sister's weird emotions aside for a moment.
"There's still the Redcliffe school left yet,"
"And if not," she said micheviously, speaking over Nan's horrified, 'that's two hours from here,'. "You two can always share the school,"
"What a horrifying thought," exclaimed Nan.
"Don't tell me you wouldn't have any fun competing with each other and having your debates all day long in front of the children,"
Nan furrowed her brows, blowing out a long breath, which meant that she was tempted. "That would never happen."
"For once, the board wouldn't allow it and I would not like him getting in my way and misguiding the children. Can you imagine that?" She shuddered.
"I can imagine the children not being taught at all because of you always debating,"
Nan grimaced but did not disagree.
"Anyhow, Jerry is going to Redmond so it's not use to think about prevented disasters. Let's talk about something else. What news of mother were you going to bring me?"
Di brightened. "Oh, you won't believe this. Some old friends of Mum's, The Sloones? Slanes? It was something like that anyway, are relocating here,"
"The Sloanes?" Gasped Nan, "From Avonlea?"
"Oh wasn't it someone by that name who insulted mother to her face at Aunt Marilla's funeral?,"
"The inconsishin lady, you mean?" Said Di, letting out a loud laugh. "Now that was something, alright. Guess what they're going to bring to Four Winds,"
"A bad mood and an inability to have fun, probably," said Nan standing up to peer out of the window yet again. The wind blew her curly russet hair into disarray, blowing the scent of lilies into the room.
"Guess one thing's certain," Di said, laughing. "We'll have an eventful summer,"
"I suppose," murmured Nan, gazing out of the window at Jerry's barely visible retreating back
Di was at once caught up by an idea. She leapt off Nan's bed, balancing against her closet and then stuck her head out of the window.
"What are you doing?" hissed Nan. "Get down,"
"Jerry," shouted Di over the wind. The tiny figure visible standing at the gate hesitated and then turned entirely.
Seeing Di, he waved politely at her.
Di waved wildly back at him, and then shouting at the top of her lungs asked him if he was coming to book club tomorrow.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Jerry shouted back. His eyes flickered rapidly to the left where Nan was bent wheezing at the corner of the windowpane. He waved politely to her too, and then half turned back.
Di extricated herself from the windowpane and started laughing until she was bent over double, giggling to herself.
"SHUT UP," shouted Jem from downstaies.
"You are incorrigible," said Nan but she was smiling.