broken hearts club | C. MACKENZIE

five

anne shirley-cuthbert, diana barry, ruby gillis, and cole mackenzie are all walking to school together and the conversation is about gilbert blythe.

"oh i just absolutely adore gilbert! he is so handsome and dreamy. didn't he look so heroic taking care of cole yesterday?" ruby gushes, her tiny cheeks turning a bright pink.

cole has to keep his head down to not show the girls how wide he is smiling. yesterday with gilbert yesterday still felt like a dream and he didn't want to wake up.

"it was very kind of him to help cole," diana agrees, nudging cole. cole wipes the smile off his face and turns to look at her. "very kind of him indeed."

"diana, i don't feel that way," cole whispers, rolling his eyes. no one was to know about what happened yesterday.

"sure, i saw how close you two were sitting yesterday morning," diana smiles brightly, adjusting her cap. "he looks at you the same way you look at him, cole."

that makes cole's heart so happy. for diana's sake, he pretends to not understand what is going on. "what do you mean? and how do you know?" he asks, tilting his head.

"when you were looking at me, he was looking at you and he has the most longing gaze on his face. cole, it was so romantic," diana giggles, his cheeks turning pink.

"gilbert blythe is nothing," anne groans, throwing her hands in the air. "i beat him in the history lesson though yesterday and i never beat him. his mind must've been somewhere else."

cole is holding back a chuckle, his mind imagining gilbert blythe completely lost in a lesson because of him.

"cole, are you alright?" ruby asks, her voice snapping him out of his daydream.

"of course," cole responds, and for the first time, he means it.

~

diana opens the door to the schoolhouse for her friends and they all file in, cole being the last one. anne, ruby, and diana go to their side of the coat room to put their things away and cole goes to his. he unbuttons his coat, hanging it up.

"let me help you," gilbert says from behind cole as he takes off the boy's cap. cole turns around to face him, a grin on his face.

"hey space cadet," cole says quietly, his eyes scanning the room to see if the girls were still there. they were not, they had left.

"hey artist," gilbert chuckles, enveloping the strawberry blond in a tight hug. "same spot after school?"

cole nods, his cheeks turning not red, but pink.

~

"gilbert, can you help me with history after school?" ruby gillis asks, her chin resting on his hand. cole has to retain himself from glaring at her.

"ruby, i wish i could, but i have to help bash and mary around the house," gilbert says, throwing ruby a charming smile that makes even cole feel all warm.

"oh, of course! maybe next week?" ruby asks, starting to stand up.

"we'll definitely see," gilbert nods his head, turning around to face cole. "hi."

"hi," cole mimics, squeezing his clay in his injured hand.

"well, it seems we'll have to be more sneaky today, we have a ruby gillis on my case," gilbert smirks, his eyes playful.

"well i'm pretty good at sneaking," cole grins, meeting gilbert's eyes. gilbert smiles at the boy, his heart insanely full.