CORTARO | Shirbert

Ten ~ Avery

(Rewritten)

Their first year at college was coming to an end, and what a difficult year it has been. Both Anne and Gilbert decided to cut their courses in half, they were doing the work supposed for two years in just one. They barely had time to see each other, but no matter how much work they had they always spent Saturday afternoons at the parlor in Anne’s boarding house, waiting the entire week until they could finally see each other every single Saturday.

Anne and Gilbert were now standing arm-in-arm outside the administration building of Queens College, waiting for the winner of the Avery Scholarship to be announced. The winner of the Avery would be awarded two hundred and fifty dollars a year for four years for any  College in Canada.

“Before we announce the winner of the Avery Scholarship, we would like to announce the winner of the Gold Medal” The principal announced. The Gold Medal was the second most important scholarship The Avery Foundation was offering, the winner of this scholarship is awarded a hundred and fifty dollars a year for four years for any College in Canada. “We would like to say that this year we’ve got so many spectacular submissions it has been very difficult for the board to select the winner, congratulations to all, and now, the winner of the Golden Metal is… Miss Anne Shirley-Cuthbert! Congratulations!”

Anne laughed, excited. “Congratulations, daisy!” Gilbert grabbed her by the waist and spun her, “I’m so proud of you” He said after putting her down, “Now go get your award!” She went up to where the principal was standing, she shook his hand as he handed her the diploma.

“Congratulations, Miss Shirley” The principal said.

“Thank you very much, sir” she smiled.

Anne wanted to win the Avery but the Gold Medal was not horrible. She knew Gilbert would win the Scholarship, he was the smartest boy in Queens College -which was not a surprise-, Anne was too the smartest girl there; neither of them would say that, both too modest to admit it.

“Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the winner of the Avery Scholarship is… Mr. Gilbert Blythe! Congratulations!” The principal announced, “Thank you so much to all of those who participated, myself and the board are very proud of every submission that was made this year. For those who didn’t win, don’t be disappointed, I’m sure you’ll have many opportunities like this in the future. Congratulations to the winners!”

“Gil you won!” Anne shrieked, launching herself into his arms, trying very hard to keep herself from kissing him right there in front of everyone, “Congratulations, my love”

“Thank you” Gilbert squeezed her in his arms, “I love you”

“I love you” Anne whispered to him.

Bash’s mom, Hazel, had come to Avonlea to help with the house. They had been struggling with taking care of Delphine and the farm at the same time, it seemed like a good idea at the time, but now, Anne had no excuse to spend half of her day at the Blythe-Lacroix household “babysitting” Delly. Nevertheless, the couple always came up with different ideas of how they could spend some time together without chaperones.

Today’s activity was at the beach. Anne had been wanting to go to the beach with Gilbert –and only him- for a long time, but neither could come up with a way to go there alone without anyone thinking they were being improper. After giving in a lot of thought, they decided it was better to take Delphine with them. Delphine was a toddler, after playing for a while in the water she would most likely fall asleep and they would have their –much-wanted- alone time.

Gilbert went early in the morning with his little niece to Green Gables; Anne was preparing a picnic basket for their day at the beach. He had brought the buggy with him, as well as some blankets to sit and a basket of apples for Marilla.