Kindred Spirits

Chapter Two. Deceit and Deception.

Gilbert wandered his typical way to school, dawdling slightly where his path crosses the red headed girl's. He was interested in discovering whether or not she had decided to fulfill her promise of never returning to school.

It would be a shame, for Gilbert had barely gotten to know her as of yet. When he got to school yesterday, his friends Moody Sturgeon and Charlie Sloane immediately dismissed the idea of the girl, calling her a filthy orphan. Gilbert had thought this quite presumptuous and uncalled for, after all, a cute girl is a cute girl. There was something about her fiery temper that drew him to Anne, especially when she let herself get so heated as to whack him in the face with her slate. It hadn't hurt much, and only attracted his attention further.

He wasn't sure what he did to encourage her to avoid him so much. It was quite odd that she insisted she wouldn't talk to him, hopefully the other students hadn't spoken of him too poorly in his absence. Either way, Anne was quite intriguing to him and he wished to know her better. However, he acknowledged that there were possibly better methods than antagonizing her so.

"Good morning, Diana," Gilbert greeted Anne's friend as they both crouched to set their milk in the cool stream.

"Gilbert," she replied shortly, standing quickly to leave. The boy wondered what he had done to earn the lack of good favor among the girls since they so clearly wanted nothing to do with him.

"Diana, have I done something?" he stood and asked. She stopped in her tracks and sighed, trying to conjure the most concise statement to deter his attention without giving anything away. Diana always prided herself in her quick management of situations, but was currently coming up with nothing. It wasn't important to bring up Anne, much less Ruby, so she decided to answer his question, but with a very simple answer and no detail whatsoever. Mustering her courage, she turned over her shoulder to respond to the tall boy.

"No, Gilbert, you haven't. Welcome back," she replied vaguely, then turned back and entered the schoolhouse where her friends were eagerly entranced in conversation.

Gilbert wanted to ask Diana if Anne was alright. She had run off so quickly the other afternoon, he barely had the chance to gauge her feelings. Although, Anne seemed quite deadset on avoiding all humiliation if possible. Gilbert cursed himself for not calming her embarrassment as the two didn't even acknowledge the slate incident in their conversation. He had expected her to apologize, but again, she was headstrong and temperamental, something Gilbert wouldn't hold a grudge against her for.

The school bell rang and Gilbert abandoned his contemplation outside the door. The one room school was bustling with students as they rushed to their desks, still living off the high notes of their previous conversations. Moody came up and patted Gilbert on the back as he hung his hat and coat, to which he responded with a sincere smile.

Charlie Sloane gestured for Gilbert to take his seat beside him and he obliged as Mr. Philips began his lecture on the American Revolution. Why Canadian students were learning about an American war, Gilbert would never know, but he was tired of Philips's shrill voice lecturing on the most monotonous of subjects, even if he had only been back for a day.

"What happened with the orphan yesterday?" Charlie whispered to his friend.

"Would you stop calling her that? Her name's Anne," Gilbert scolded his friend, coming off a bit more abrasive than intended, but getting his point across all the same.

"Alright," his friend surrendered. "What happened with Anne?"

"I was just trying to get her attention," Gilbert shrugged, tired of having to justify his actions. She was new, and there was rarely ever anything new in Avonlea. It was intriguing for Gilbert, and her avoidance of his attention only piqued his interest.