𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 . . . 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐬

•one•

the watkins family fled avonlea when marissa was only 9 years young. she was overly upset about leaving the only things she knew. leaving her home, her school, her lake, and her best friends.
living in a new town with nobody around them was hard for marissa, as she was an extroverted girl who wanted to always have someone to talk to. now at age 13, she's back in avonlea patiently awaiting her first day of school since she's returned.
her best friend of 7 years would be at the school building in the morning and she couldn't wait. she missed the familiarity of his face and the way he would always listen when she spoke. he didn't know she was back, nobody did. it was a surprise for her friends and all the people of avonlea.

//

the morning of her first day, marissa arose from bed at an early hour to make sure everything was perfect. she put on the most beautiful dress she had, a dark, royal blue dress with white puffed sleeves. she tied half of her hair up behind her head with a matching ribbon and made sure all the light brown curls on her head were perfectly placed. once finished getting dresssd, she decided to put on the little makeup her mother allowed. a little bit of rosy tint for her cheeks and a black mascara to lengthen and enhance her natural hazel eyes. she finished off her routine with 2 pumps of her favorite scent, roses and honey. once finished getting ready, she headed down the stairs with her books, chalkboard, and chalk in her hands. greeting her mother and father along the way. she sat down and had breakfast with them until it was time for her to leave. she grabbed her basket of lunch and her supplies and headed out the door.
one of her favorite parts of avonlea were the paths in the woods and all the memories made in them. she loved walking to school as it was calming and soothing to her always-running mind. soon she was only a few feet away from the school building. she delicately placed her bottle of milk into the stream and walked up the few steps to the door. she could not deny the feeling of butterflies in her stomach as she had her hand on the doorknob. the doorknob turned with a creak and the door opened letting out a flood of different noises. she walked in and looked around until everyone stopped and stared. she heard whispers all around her saying things like, "i can't believe it, she's finally back!" to things like, "she doesn't belong here anymore." the whispers along with the world seemed to stop when she spotted her best friend that she hadn't laid eyes on since she was 9. there standing in front of her with a shocked look on his face was billy andrews. the one person that made her feel at home more than anyone around her. in a matter of seconds, he was running towards her with his arms wide open scooping marissa up into a tight hug. it felt just as if they were little again, and nothing had changed. placing marissa down, billy commented, "what are you doing here? i haven't seen you in 7 years! did you see all the letters i had written to you?" all marissa could do was smile. smile wide and respond with a simple, "i'm back!"
as she looked around the room all eyes were on her and billy. she saw few faces that she didn't quite seem to recognize as it had been a while. she swiftly made way over to the group of girls standing like statues waiting for her to appear in-front of them. leaning in for a hug, she embraced diana barry with open arms and a squeal. "i've missed you more than you could imagine!" was all that came out of diana's mouth before josie pye cleared her throat waiting for her embrace as well.
"josie! it's nice to see you again! how have you been?" the glare josie was sending her made her back away a step as she was confused with the sudden harshness from her.
"you can come back after all these years and have your fun, but just because you came back, doesn't mean we want you here!" the sudden words shocked marissa. the only thing that snapped her back into reality was the red headed girl introducing herself whilst josie walked away to sit with billy. the red head's name was anne shirley and her hair and freckles were the most beautiful thing she had seen.
"my! you're freckles and hair are just the most beautiful things i've seen!" before she could say anything back, the teacher, mr. phillips, walked in and class began.
during the lesson, she could feel billy's eye staring right into the back of her head. she turned her head slightly to the side to meet eyes with the boy she had known for so long. he mouthed the words "meet me after class" as he pointed to the door.

//

the school day was finally over and it was time to go home. the day had tired marissa out but she still had so much energy as she had been holding in her excitement all day long. when she opened the school house door she was met with billy and the warming smile he always wore on his face when he was around her. before any words were spoken, billy's friends decided to come over and try to win your heart as they had been trying to for the past hour. "well what do we have here? i believe my eyes are deceiving me, as billy has been able to keep a conversation with you and you haven't walked away yet." charlie sloan said sliding a little too close to marissa for her liking.
"we haven't had a proper conversation yet because people like you keep deciding to interrupt!" was all she replied. all the boys standing there were taken aback by this statement except for billy who just stood there snickering to himself. the boys all scurried away leaving the 2 peers just a couple feet away from eachother.
billy was the first one to speak saying a kind hello followed by, " how have you been? you know i've missed you a lot and i'm really glad you're back!" this made marissa smile.
"i've been really good billy, i've missed home a whole lot, but i think leaving for a while was the best thing for me and my family at the time." billy nodded his head showing his understanding.
"can we catch up? i'll walk you home," billy pleased hoping that marissa would say yes.
"only if you want to," was marissa's response. the same response she gave when they were children.

//
word count:1154

yay first chapter!!!!! i've enjoyed writing this part and i hope you guys love this as much as i do
xoxo ~ angela