Hope [anne with an e]

| KISS AND TELL

chapter five: kiss and tell

"when you have your first kiss doesn't matter,
it's you have it with that does."

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CAROLINE WASN'T INTERESTED in anything that the older girls were talking about. All they seemed to be hung up on was the idea of being with a boy, specifically, an more experienced boy. After only a few minutes, Caroline had grown tired of listening to them exaggerate every interaction they'd had with a male over the past week. She wasn't one to judge a girl on what she was interested in but something about her just wasn't into that topic today. So, with a whispered 'excuse me', she cut across the classroom, turning a chair around and taking a seat in front of Cole. He was tapping his pencil against his sketchbook.

Reaching forward, Caroline grabbed the pencil and stuck it behind it her ear. Cole looked up in surprise and slight panic but relaxed when he saw her. They hadn't hung out with one another in a long while given that Cole was always working at his house and Caroline was typically found with Ruby, doing who-knows-what. She leaned back in her seat, eyes flickering to Cole's sketchbook then back up to his face. Something about him seemed tense and she couldn't tell what it was until the schoolhouse door opened. A crowd of boisterous boys raced through the front room, clapping one another on the back in laughter.

With a scoff, Caroline raised her eyebrow at Cole, "He still hasn't let up, has he?"

He hesitated then shook his head, "No, he has not, but, I guess we're in the same boat there."

This time it was her turn to falter, "He's always been like that with me, I thought he would stop eventually but, he keeps trying. If he wasn't so terrible, maybe I'd find it endearing."

Charlie Sloane took his spot next to Cole, who suddenly looked much more uncomfortable. When Mr.Phillips finally told the class to take their assigned seats, she quickly handed the pencil back to Cole before making her way beside Ruby. They sat beside one another, watching as their teacher seemingly droned one and one about the perimeter of a triangle. Caroline was lost but there was no way she would ask that man for help.

As soon as the class began to speak again, Anne turned around to face her older friend with a wide grin on her face. The sight of it made Caroline crack a smile too. She hadn't talked to Anne in a while and hoped that she was doing alright but from the look in her eyes, she was doing just fine. Anne was nearly shaking in excitement which made Caroline's eyebrows furrow. What do I have to do now, she wondered.

"Caroline, have you received any letters from Gilbert?", her voice was filled with enthusiasm.

Caroline's face fell quickly, moving her gaze to her lap. This seemed to be the only answer that Anne needed because she closed her mouth quickly. There had been no other letters, only one and it made Caroline wonder if Gilbert was sending ones to Green Gables but Anne would have told her if he was. What was going on? Why wasn't her brother trying to communicate with her anymore? She had returned his first letter and even wrote in a few questions, hoping to get a reply from him but nothing ever came.