fine line.//shirbert au

02

(First day of senior year)

Anne awoke in a somewhat pleasant mood after the events of last night. She had thought about the boy a lot but decided that Gilbert would forever remain a mystery to her and she was fine with never seeing him again. Really. She was. She hadn't even realised the time as she slowly rose from her pink, fluffy duvet and began to waltz over to her dresser and pull out her usual baggy jeans and some band t-shirt that she never even bothered to check who was on it as she looked at her pale reflection in the mirror, examining her freckled face and now more auburn coloured hair. "I'm not an ideal beauty" she thought out loud and began to move her hands around to grab a brush and tried to tame her messy curls.
"Shit! I am going to be late" exclaimed Anne as she laced up he converse and ran down the stairs to be greeted by a stern looking Marilla "Heavens Anne! I thought you had left already, you're going to be late!" "Don't you think I know that by now?!" exclaimed Anne a little loudly . She jumped up and grab an apple and plastered on an apologetic smile as Marilla had a cross look on her brow. "Sorry!" was all the old women heard as she watched her adoptive daughter run towards her old car and drive swiftly away in hopes of making it before the bell.

Spoiler alert, she didn't. She jogged through the halls of the school building in hopes of making it before ms. Stacey had begun the lesson but when she arrived, panting, she opened the door to find a pair of several eyes staring at her knowingly. She was late. "How nice of you to join us, miss cuthbert, "Ms. Stacy rarely ever used that tone with Anne, she was her brightest student and allowed a lot of things that anne did to pass by her as if she had not seen it happen but tardiness was not one of them. "I'm sorry I overslept" apologised Anne sincerely. "Well there is only one seat left and it's by the new boy. Please take your place and don't disrupt me again". Anne jerked her head around to find the same boy she met that night before smiling at her with the same teasing smile. Their eyes met and it felt like everyone in the room had disappeared and it was just them. Staring. Anne slowly managed to put one foot in front of the other and move towards him. It was as if something, or someone was pushing her towards him and she was trying her hardest to restrain.
Soon enough she was right in front of him and felt paralysed. She didn't know why either. She met this boy what, 12 hours ago? And he already had this hold on her. He broke their trance by gesturing his hand for her to sit and his once goofy smile became innocent and shy. Anne slid into the space and forced herself to focus on the lesson, not even sparing him a glance.
As the lesson progressed Gilbert felt the sudden urge to talk to her, to get her attention. He tried whispering her name but all he received was a huff. Anne didn't know why she was suddenly ignoring him after thinking about him all night, all she knew was she didn't like the way he made her feel and that forced her to try her absolute hardest to pretend he didn't exist. "Hey Anne!" Gilbert whispered. Tapping her on the shoulder until she shrugged him off and she glared at him sharply. This did not faze Gilbert, in fact, it made him want to speak to her even more. He looked at her marvellous red hair and an idea popped into his head. "Hey carrots" laughed Gilbert.
carrots.
That one singular word was all it took for Anne Shirley Cuthbert to stand up abruptly and turn to him with rage. "How dare you!" Screamed Anne. This took Gilbert by surprise but what surprised him most was the feeling of a English textbook hitting the side of his face and caused him to reach up to his cheek and rub the sore spot. "ANNE!" Ms Stacy yelled in shock as Anne froze in place listening to the snickering of Billy Andrews and a few other students she didn't know she name of. She heard Gilbert's sister Autumn yell something along the lines of "what is wrong with you?!" as she jolted up to see if her brother was okay. Autumn had been attending Avonlea high long before Gilbert joined as his dad had sent him to boarding school to 'straighten him out' whatever that meant. It was her idea that Gilbert came home and attended Avonlea high with her since she was there and would be able to make sure he 'stayed out of trouble'. She didn't want to tell her father that Gilbert had been hit in the face on his first day as she knew he would make some snarky comment about how he 'told you so' and how he 'wasn't mature enough to come home yet'. She had been so lost in making sure her brother was fine she didn't even realise that
Anne had slowly walked backwards out of the classroom and broke into a run.
As soon as Anne was out of the hallway and out  in the courtyard she could faintly hear Gilbert tell his sister he was fine and then everything became a blur. All she knew was that the boy she met the night before would never, ever cross her mind again. She hated him.

Author's note: omg I know I'm writing this too fast but damn I wanted to get this chapter over with so I can start writing Shirberts development arc. Thank you to the people who had already read this story already <3 what do you think of me adding Gilbert's sister into the story? I wanted her to be imagined as iris apatow but you can imagine her as anyone you would like. I just wanted to give someone Gilbert could confide in when he doesn't have anne <3 also I'm sorry if there are any grammar mistakes.