𝐒𝐔𝐆𝐀𝐑 | gilbert blythe ✓

𝐱𝐯𝐢𝐢.

"MRS. STACY? IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?"

Magnolia lifted her head from the table at the sound of Gilbert's voice. She furrowed her eyebrows when she saw Mrs. Stacy slowly walk into the classroom with an unreadable expression.

"Mhm," She replied and opened the door to the large closet across from where Magnolia and her friends were sitting. Then Mrs. Stacy walked inside and shut the door behind her.

The redhead locked eyes with Gilbert, they both shared a confused look.

Before Magnolia could even blink the school doors opened and Cole came running in.

He went straight for Billy and pushed him to the floor roughly.

"Stop it!" Diana yelled as the boys started to fight.

Cole lifted Billy from the floor and punched him, then he shoved him for the second time and got on top of him.

Magnolia quivered in fear, she had no clue what to do, and she hated that. She tried to step forward and try to stop the fighting when Gilbert grabbed her arm, pulling her back and into his chest. She glared back at him, and he just shook his head.

Suddenly, Anne walked into the school, gasping when she saw the two boys fighting.

Billy tried to get on top of him but Cole just grabbed his shirt and pushed him off. However, when he pushed him away he also pushed Billy toward the heater, then came a painful scream.

Billy had hit the side of his head on the heater, and a sizzling sound followed.

Cole crawled away from Billy, shocked at what he had done.

The redhead's eyes widened at the sight of Billy clutching his ear and screaming. She held her breath as Josie rushed to his side

The screams continued, causing Magnolia to shake even more. Gilbert held her tighter against his chest to calm her down.

Mrs. Stacy came out of the closet quickly after she heard the screams and ran over to Billy. She looked just as confused and traumatized as everyone else did.

Magnolia glanced back at Cole just in time to see him get up and leave. He stumbled out the door, ignoring Anne, who was calling his name, and ran outside, getting as far away from the schoolhouse as he could.

♡

After the incident, everyone was dismissed from school. Magnolia was glad they had been dismissed because she was far too shaken up to continue on with school.

She wondered why Cole was so angry and full of rage when he came into the school, it was so out of character for Cole to act that way. She knew he would never hurt a person on purpose.

"Can I walk you home?" A voice asked.

The redhead head looked up from her shoes and met the eyes of Gilbert Blythe.

She nodded slowly and followed him.

"Are you okay?" He asked when they were almost halfway there.

"I'm fine, just shocked." She replied truthfully, Gilbert nodded.

Magnolia didn't know what to think about the situation just yet, but she knew Cole had hurt someone, and even though Billy was a nuisance, he didn't deserve what happened to him.

"I still can't even process what happened yet." She admitted.

"Me too."

"The Cole I know wouldn't do this, he's sweet and kind, and he wouldn't hurt a fly. Billy must've done something really horrible to him." The redhead said as she turned to Gilbert.

"Yeah, you're right."

♡

Magnolia stared down at the destroyed remains of their writing spot. Ruby, Diana, and Anne were all crying as they picked up anything left of the clutter, the redhead, on the other hand, was standing still with dry eyes. Unlike the other girls, Magnolia felt rage instead of sorrow; this had been Billy's doing and she now understood why Cole had fought Billy.

"If we ever have story club again, I shall write the most tragical tale about all of this," Ruby muttered as she picked up the remains of their things.

"If we ever have story club again, I shall write about how much I hate Billy's guts." The redhead snapped, folding her arms against her chest.

Magnolia helped Diana and Ruby gather up all that was left and put it in a basket, then they started to walk down the trail. "Coming, Anne?" Diana asked.

Anne shook her head. "I'm going to stay here for a while, I'm hoping to see my fox."

♡

"There has to be something we can do to save Mrs. Stacy," Anne said while looking to her friends.

It was the day after the incident and at school, there was a new teacher because apparently the mothers of most students deemed Mrs. Stacy as unfit for her job.

Magnolia was so annoyed by the situation that she was willing to do anything to get Mrs. Stacy back and send the new, boring teacher away for good.

"If this was a story what would the hero do?" Anne questioned the three girls.

"But we're not heroes, Anne, we're just girls." Ruby explained.

"Don't be ridiculous." The redhead piped in.

"I'm not ridiculous—"

Magnolia scoffed. "A hero is a person, and that person can be any person—"

"—All I meant is that there's nothing we can do—"

"—The hero accepts the call to adventure. So we have to find a way to convince the town to accept Mrs. Stacy and let her stay." Anne interrupted.

The sound of the door opening caused the four girls to look up. "Not now, Moody." Diana said and looked back at the girls.

"The town hall meeting is tomorrow night." Ruby told them.

"Next to trying and winning, the best thing is trying and failing. Either way, I say we try."

Magnolia nodded then spoke up. "I agree."

"Whatever you're planning, I want to help," Moody added, the redhead smiled at him gratefully. "Everything went wrong after I dropped the lightbulb." Magnolia recalled the memory of the other day and then an idea suddenly hit her.

"I've got it! I know what we can do!" She exclaimed proudly.

♡

AN. . .

thank you for all the love on this book! you have no clue how much every comment and vote means to me!! I love you all <33