Baker - G. BLYTHE

|05|

-ˋˏ *.·:·. [ ONE AND A HALF WEEKS LATER] .·:·.* ˎˊ-

CHARLOTTE RETURNED TO SCHOOL HOPING TO FINALLY MEET ANNE, ONLY TO BE DISAPPOINTED. Gilbert had, through no fault of his own, failed to mention the fact that the red-headed girl had run out of the school house in the middle of lesson and had failed to return (even to collect her basket and books.) Charlotte had no idea why she was so curious about Anne, maybe it was because she felt the need to prove all of the rumours incorrect. She couldn't imagine a person being the way that everyone had made her out to be just because she was an orphan, after all she was close to becoming an orphan herself at one point. She certainly couldn't imagine anyone worse than Josie Pye, who gave Charlotte a foul look when she was polite to her in the bakery one morning. Charlotte still remained polite in the bakery no matter what was going on, the same happened with her mother who knew all about Josie Pye from her daughter's anecdotes. They discussed many things whilst baking bread or tarts for the bakery every afternoon after school including the health of John Blythe.

Charlotte spent more time together underneath the Blythe's roof than her own most days. She would bring baked goods for the pair of Blythe men, help Miss Kincannon clean some things around the house and, of course, spend time with Gilbert and John. The cleaning was very much unliked by Gilbert but after the two got into a disagreement and she made the point of him helping her through school, he had no choice but to let her get on with it. Charlotte would have helped around the house whether Gilbert liked it or not, she knew that small tasks such as dusting the old frames that hung on the walls wouldn't be high on the importance list with John's illness. She remembered how one of her brother's friends, a really nice young girl who went on to marry a vicar, helped around their house when her father was sick. It was very much appreciated though the Rayhill's never admitted that they needed the help. Charlotte wasn't looking for a thank you or any sort of recognition, she just liked to help and this was one of the situations where she could. Seeing the smile on John's face when she arrived or the conversations with either of the Blythes were just a bonus.

Before school one morning, a day when Gilbert wasn't going to join Charlotte for the walk to school as he had something to do that morning, she rose early and decided to help downstairs until she needed to leave for school. Normally early mornings weren't the busiest, there would be a few early morning visitors but compared to normally it was very quiet. She sat on her tall wooden stool and talked to her mother through the kitchen door whilst making her way through an apple when Miss Marilla Cuthbert walked into the bakery, followed by a young girl dragging her heels in boredom. Charlotte quickly put two and two together and jumped off her seat in excitement, she was finally to meet Anne Shirley.

"Morning Miss Cuthbert, what can I do for you?" she asked smoothing down the creases in her dress and trying not to look at the girl standing behind Miss Cuthbert who was staring out of the window, chewing her lip in deep thought. Miss Cuthbert ordered what she wanted and Charlotte quickly moved to wrap it all up, as she was working Marilla made the realisation that Anne and the baker's daughter were the same age and urged Anne to make conversation before stepping outside to talk to Mrs Lynde.

"Charlotte Rayhill, Gilbert's friend?" she asked in a dazed voice, clearly the girl had a lot on her mind so Charlotte chose not to get vexed that she was only known as Gilbert's friend. "Anne, Anne Shirley," she introduced extending a hand for her to shake, she quickly did feeling it was rude to leave someone like that for too long.

"Nice to meet you," Charlotte replied with a smile, Anne quickly snapped out of her daze as soon as the first syllables hit her ears.

"Your accent is splendid! It must be a wonder to hear every day!" she exclaimed causing Charlotte to let out a nervous giggle, this was the Anne that she had heard all about. "Oh! And that brown in your eye is gorgeous! Normally I find brown to be a plain colour, like this dress but that brown is gorgeous!"