𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 ᵍⁱˡᵇᵉʳᵗ ᵇˡʸᵗʰᵉ

21

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

"Gilbert!"

- Rachel Lynde

---

"YOU SAID MY COSTUME WOULDN'T BE STUPID."

Rachel spun around, looking at Charlotte, a grin rising to her face before she quickly dropped it. "It's not."

"It's not? Really?" Charlotte raised an eyebrow, gesturing to the fake wooden horse she would have to pretend to ride, then to her pants that were twice the size of her legs. And then to the large crown taped to her head. "I look like a fool."

"You look perfect, do you know your lines?" Rachel breathed out quickly.

"Yes, Gilbert and I ran over them, remember?"

"Go over them again," Rachel yelled out stressfully. "Gilbert!"

"No, no," Charlotte hissed, widening her eyes in protest. She refused to let anyone, especially Gilbert, see her in such a ridiculous costume.

Rachel turned around, seeing Gilbert and Bash were already behind her. "Oh, there you are, I see you've hired someone to help."

"No, this is my friend Sebastian he offered to help," Gilbert replied.

"Well," she frowned, before turning to Charlotte and shoving her forward into Gilbert, not even caring as she rammed into him. "Help her go through her lines because she is terrible at them."

Gilbert grabbed her forearms as she was thrusted into him, preventing the two of them toppling over while Rachel ran around away from the two. "Don't you look... nice."

"Shut up." Charlotte stepped out of his grip. "I'm not going out there I look like an idiot."

"Do you remember the lines?"

"Yes," she replied, before sighing. "Most of them."

Gilbert stepped with her to the side, making way the first act to begin. "Recite them while I do the rigging."

As several of the scenes took place, Charlotte stood behind Gilbert and Rachel, whispering her lines under her breath while watching the play.

"Dear God, I'm next," Charlotte breathed out, the feeling of being sick evident. She had spoken in front of people before, but not like this. Not is a stupid knight costume.

"You'll be great," Gilbert looked down at her, nodding at her que to go on.

He shook his head, holding in his laugh as she pulled up the fake horse to her hips, pretending to gallop onto the stage. Once she was out of earshot, the laugh left his throat, watching her prance around the stage before stopping.

She stepped out of her horse, pulling out the wooden sword at her belt, pointing to the Devil Lobster.

"Get back to the waters from whence thy came, I shall banish three from darkness in thy fairy queens name," she said, unaware to the fact Gilbert was mouthing her lines alongside her in the wings.

"You think you can turn our land into rot?" she rhetorically yelled out. "I'm the valiant prince, lest you forgot."

She directed her fake sword towards the lobster, purposefully snapping the wooden blade in his claws.

Gilbert, alongside the audience, burst into laughter as she pretended to run away from the lobster, skipping around the stage until she got to the fake horse, running off the stage and towards Rachel and Gilbert.

"That was incredible," Rachel beamed as Charlotte yanked off her crown and costume, revealing her regular clothes. As soon as she stepped off stage, the fake smile she plastered on dropped.

"I'm never doing another one of these again," Charlotte groaned, pulling off the clown shoes she had on.

"Of course you are," Gilbert said beside her. "Next year you'll definitely get the lead."

Charlotte rolled her eyes, watching Billy step onto the stage, whistling to attempt to quiet the crowd down.

Gilbert pulled one of the robes, the cardboard lightning falling directly onto Billy. Once the owl had collapsed, he looked towards Bash, then Charlotte. "Did Billy whistle or Bash?"

"Billy, but he did deserve a whack larger than that," Charlotte replied as all the kids rushed to the stage, checking if he was alright.

"I thought that was you," Gilbert said as Bash ran towards him.

Charlotte watched as Billy's mother rushed onto the stage, turning directly towards Charlotte and Bash as she picked up her son. "Was this one of you two? You savage brutes, shame on both of you!"

"Excuse me?" Charlotte snapped. "You're precious boy deserved that to knock some sense into his oversized head."

Mrs. Andrews looked back at her appalled before rushing her child off the stage. Charlotte turned to Bash.

"She says things like that to me all the time, so does her son and all of their friends. Welcome to Avonlea." Charlotte shrugged sadly.

"How do you deal with it?" Bash asked her.

"I yell at them louder." Charlotte looked down. "It's the only way any of them will listen."

-

"And when the prince and the Devil Lobster waged their battle it took everything in me not to laugh out loud," Anne smiled towards Charlotte. "You were marvelous on the stage Charlotte. And didn't the minister make such a great Dame?"

"I don't think I'll ever feel quite the same about his sermons," Marilla admitted.

"It was thrilling, I doubt I'll ever sleep a wink tonight or ever again," Anne smiled.

"I was very proud of both of you," Marilla smiled. "Stepping into the roles the way you both did."

Anne turned to Matthew. "Matthew, you were a magnificent snowy owl."

"These were mine, when I was a boy," Matthew handed Anne a small sack full of marbles. "I thought you and Charlotte might like them."

Anne stood up from the couch. "I challenge thee to a dule. Shall they accept?"

"They do," Matthew nodded, Charlotte sliding off the couch to sit on the ground.

Charlotte glanced over at the Christmas tree, despite the Christmas Panto, it had always been her favorite season, now more than ever.

Maybe it was because of the snow, and the food, or maybe it was a boy with brown eyes writing a letter just for her.

---

7/02/2024

This whole chapter I was laughing writing.

But that last line... shbdshbfdbktr.kbhu