𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐋𝐒 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃 ᵍⁱˡᵇᵉʳᵗ ᵇˡʸᵗʰᵉ

09

-🌸-

CHAPTER NINE

Penny didn't know what it was, but there always seemed to be a knot in her throat and tears in her eyes.

Even as she was baking in the kitchen alone, doing the thing she most loved, she couldn't help but hunch her shoulders. The house was empty except for her brother. Margot was in Charlottetown spending money. Since the Swansons were one of the very few families that didn't donate money to the boarders the Cuthbert's let stay, they didn't lose anything. Vance was at work.

He was always at work. He was always gone, and Margot was always around.

Christian pranced into the kitchen, his head in a book. He glanced up to look over at his sister. He hadn't seen her smile as often since Gilbert had left. Even he couldn't deny it, he was worried about her.

She looked towards him, pointing to a word on the page. "Does that say degrees?"

Christian frowned at her, leaning over her shoulder to look at the word she was pointing to. "It says degrease."

He watched as his sister's face subtly dropped as well as the rest of her body. "Penny, seriously what's going on?"

"Nothing." Penny took a breath in. "I'm just baking."

"Is this because Mr. Phillips is giving you a hard time?" Christian asked.

It was known to every single student in the school building that Penny was falling lower and lower in class rankings. It didn't help that the teacher of that class continued to call her out every single time.

"I'm sad because I'm stupid?" Penny questioned. "No. It doesn't matter that I'm the dumbest girl in Avonlea because at least I'm pretty right? You don't need to be able to read Shakespeare as long as my skirt never even touches below my knees because that way people will see anything else apart from the fact I'm stupid."

"Hey." Christian placed his book down as she spun to face him, her eyes red from holding back tears. "You're not stupid—"

"I'm not?" Penny snapped. Anger she had never felt before flooded through her. She knew she was stupid so why did everyone lie to her face? "I tried revising the other day and I couldn't even figure out the first maths problem."

"If you just ask me I'll help you," Christian told her. "Just because you need help with certain things doesn't make you stupid."

"I need help with everything." Penny ran her hands over her face, grabbing the recipe book and throwing it towards her brother. "I can't even read half the things listed on the page. It all fuzzes together and the letters don't make sense. How can I make it anywhere in life if I can't even read!"

Christian watched as she once again ran her hands over the bridge of her nose and let out a sigh. "Sorry. I'm sorry I'm just stressed. Sorry for yelling."

Penny stepped forward, grabbing her baking book from the floor and placing it beside the bowl full of batter. "I'm going upstairs. I'll finish this later."

As soon as Christian heard the door to her bedroom close, he grabbed his coat, boots and hat. The door swung off its hinges to make way for the boy while he ran through, directly into the snow.

Christian wasn't stupid, he could see it. He could see that over the eight months, gravity continued to pull Penny's smile down with it. And he knew that it started the day Gilbert Blythe left Canada.