before you left

01. Competition

"Anne Shirley-Cuthbert, you best not be dawdling! I don't need Miss Stacy coming over to alert me of your tardiness again!" Marilla scolded and projected her voice up the stairs. She heard a loud thud. "Anne?!"

"Coming, Marilla!" the girl seemed unfazed from her fall and bounded down the steps in pairs. "I am very much looking forward to school today. It's rather invigorating competing with Gil—my classmates."

Marilla hardly seemed to notice when Anne slipped up. Instead, she ushered her towards the nicely laid out breakfast on the wooden table. It all seemed unappetizing to Anne. She simply wanted to hurry up and get to school. To prevent herself from being further chastised, the redhead took a large bite out of a piece of toast before waving goodbye to her beloved guardian and rushing out the door.

She hurried back inside upon hearing Marilla yell, "Do you wish to catch your death? Come get your coat!" Anne grabbed the coat with a small grin and quickly thanked her before heading for school once more.

Anne nearly sprinted all the way into the forest, only stopping to catch her breath when she was near where she would usually meet Diana. Sure enough, the brunette was coming up on the path, happily skipping along without a care in the world. Anne's bosom friend immediately sped up as she saw her friend waiting for her. Diana enveloped Anne in a hug before the pair made their way to the schoolhouse with their arms linked.

The girls almost successfully made it to school with no interruptions, until a certain boy jogged to catch up with them. Anne rolled her eyes when she saw that it was none other than Gilbert Blythe, but Diana, being the polite one, simply smiled sweetly at him.

"Good morning," Diana greeted him cheerily, earning her a glare from her redhead friend. She shot her a look in return which seemed to beg Anne not to be rude. Anne has no intention of being rude, seeing that she was now on good terms with Gilbert, but she couldn't help but feel some slight animosity. Perhaps it was the friendly competition between the two.

"Morning, Diana," Gilbert paused and looked over at the other girl, who seemed to be focused on arriving at school promptly. "Anne?" He timidly tried to greet her.

"It is a splendid morning, isn't it?" Anne eventually replied a split second before the trio entered the schoolhouse and they were forced to part ways. Gilbert couldn't help but smile foolishly at her remark, no matter how hard he tried to contain it. He was brought out of his thoughts by Miss Stacy's expectant voice as she asked him why he was still standing. He stood there for a moment before hurriedly taking his seat next to Charlie, who was snickering like a child.

Miss Stacy still remained confused. "Would you like to remove your hat and coat, Gilbert?" She watched the boy's face redden as he realized that he had never even hung them up. He did as he was told while the class laughed (except for Ruby, of course, she looked quite distraught). The teacher gave him a brief nod before continuing to begin the class. "Today we will have another spelling bee," Miss Stacy continued. She maintained a broad smile as the entire class audibly groaned, aside from Anne and Gilbert. "Now I don't wish to hear any of your complaining, as this opportunity is particularly special." Miss Stacy knew she had their attention now; the room had become silent and the student hung onto her every word with bated breath. "The winner of today's spelling bee will receive no homework for the rest of the week! In addition, they will choose our topic of discussion for our weekly journal entries on Friday." Suddenly, the class became more enthusiastic. "Well, we must start now if we wish to finish before lunch," Miss Stacy eyed Anne and Gilbert, who in particular had habitually taken longer than average to win when competing against each other. "Everyone, line up at the front of the room, please!"

Billy Andrews shoved his way through the others and towards the front of the room. He grinned upon noticing that he was the first one ready. This seemed ironic to Anne, since he would most definitely be one of the first ones out (along with Moody, but people actually liked him). Fairly shortly, the entire class was lined up at the front, with Billy starting the line and Gilbert finishing it.