𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 ᵍⁱˡᵇᵉʳᵗ ᵇˡʸᵗʰᵉ

39

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

"I heard about your engagement."

- Diana Barry

---

"If I fail start planning my funeral."

Anne sighed at her sister. "You won't fail."

Anxiety filled Charlotte as Miss Stacy stepped forward with the exam scores. "I hold in my hand your entrance exam test scores. I'm proud of how hard everyone has worked. You've made a great show of Avonlea."

The group of students rushed forward as the results were placed on the table.

"Diana got in," Jane called out.

Diana turned to Charlotte, the two girls grinning at each other.

"Charlotte got first!" Tillie yelled.

The brunette snapped her head towards Tillie. "What?" Charlotte rushed forward to the test results. Her name was at the top in bright writing. Gilbert's was underneath, one point down. After four years she had done it. She was top of the class.

"Nice work." Gilbert stepped towards her.

"You too." Charlotte nodded, scanning him up and down. "Also congratulations on your engagement."

Gilbert's eyebrows lowered as he nodded towards her before walking out Miss Stacy's house with the rest of the students.

"Miss Stacy. Can I talk to you?" Charlotte asked, taking a breath in as the teacher looked at her intrigued. "I don't want to go to Queens. I want to go farther. With these marks I could make it to the University of Toronto right?"

"You'd be very late admissions but I could write to my doctor friend." Miss Stacy replied. "By the way, G—"

"Great job on my test?" charlotte interrupted. "Thank you. You're a better teacher than anyone."

Charlotte bounded out of the room, running to catch up with her friends.

"I told you you'd get first," Anne smiled.

—

With her U of T acceptance letter clutched in her fist, Charlotte headed to the train station two hours early.

She had wished Anne and all her friends goodbye as they left for Queens, not before they each gave her the address of their boarding house and made her promise she would write every day.

Marilla gave Charlotte suitcases full of clothes, hugging her before she walked out the door and the Cuthbert's drove to Queens to be with Anne. 

Charlotte said good bye to Diana, telling her she wasn't going to Queens, instead University of Toronto. After giving Diana the address to her dorm room and letting her know there were biscuits in the oven for her family, Charlotte walked to the train station and sat in the platform waiting for her train that was supposed to be arriving in three hours.

Diana on the other hand, marched towards the Cuthbert's to collect the biscuits Charlotte was talking about.

As she made it into the house the door was barreled open a second later, Gilbert rushing into the house, surprise on his face at seeing Diana in the kitchen with a tray of cream puffs. "Afternoon Diana."

"I heard about your engagement." Diana pursed her lips into a thin line, attempting not to make it clear how mad she was at the boy.

"Actually, we've decided not to wed—"

The tray of food hit the ground with a clatter, Diana fuming at the words she had just heard. "So you simply never bothered to speak to Charlotte or any of us about this?"

"Had I the opportunity to I would have," Gilbert insisted. "I told her that—"

Diana Barry was someone who was loyal to her best friends, regardless if Charlotte wanted her to be or not. 

"You have every opportunity to, for years!" Diana snapped. "Admit it. You've been smitten with Charlotte since school first started, seven years ago! There have been countless clues. And you certainly can't deny you weren't beguiled by her at dance practice, even though it turns out you were secretly courting a mysterious debutante who you had the temerity to step out with at the fair with no word of warning."

Gilbert opened his mouth to speak, before Diana butted it. "Then you show up at the ruins after exams and demand to know how Charlotte feels about you and give her all of thirty seconds to decide who you will marry! And worst of all, you ignore all the notes and clues from Charlotte. The letter you wouldn't even accept, yeah, that was a letter telling you she loved you!"

Gilbert's face was knotted in confusion. "What letter?"

Then his eyebrows raised in realization. "Where is she?"

Diana scowled back before he stepped forward.

"Diana, where is Charlotte?"

---

24/03/2024

'Diana, what letter,'  or 'Diana, where is Charlotte?'

Short chapter for today, but effective. HAHAHAAH

AAH THREE MORE CHAPTERS IM GOING TO CRY. Thank you everyone for all the love on this book, I couldn't ask for anything more. 

And seeing some of you commenting and voting on my new book FOOLS GOLD really makes my day. You guys are honestly the best people ever and I mean that with my whole heart.