before you left

05. On the Subject of Friendship

Friendship was a particularly touchy subject for Anne. Truthfully, it was all she had ever wanted; it had always seemed just out of reach. She never liked to relive her past, which was void of all things which she cherished the most now. Her family, her friends, her happiness. This was all more than enough to keep her perfectly satisfied. That was why it was becoming increasingly difficult for Anne to understand why her friends were infatuated with boys.

It had been one week since Anne's dinner with the Blythe's, and so far nothing earth-shattering had occurred. Gilbert and Anne remained cordial with one another, which obviously led to several questions and more than a few teasing remarks from Diana. Upon learning the newest details, Diana began to nudge Anne and grin wildly whenever Gilbert looked in their general direction. What was even more concerning for Anne was that she honestly didn't mind being polite with him. He genuinely seemed to be invested in being her friend. Anne, however, still held fast with her idea of their friendship being more of a label. Minor differences.

She was drawn from her thoughts by a loud thud beside her as Diana slammed her books on the table rather boisterously. Anne flinched slightly at the sound, relaxing when she saw that it was only her best friend who caused the disturbance. She leaned over and held Diana's hand, conveying her sympathy and condolences silently.

"Sorry," Diana apologized with a soft smile as she gently removed Anne's hand from her own. "Mother and father have just been doing a lot of yelling recently and school seems to be the only place I can escape it. They're upset with me too...I wrote to Aunt Josephine and begged her to force them to let me stay here so I can attend Queens. I didn't think that Aunt Josephine would actually come all the way down from Charlottetown-"

Diana murmured the last part mostly to herself, but Anne was close enough to hear it.

"Aunt Jo is here?!" she exclaimed, but a moment later she wished to retract her outburst as she realized how selfish she sounded. "I'm sorry Diana, I didn't mean it like that. I'm truly sorry you are having trouble at home...is there anything I can do to help?"

"Um...we can talk later," Diana replied, her gaze flickering to their friend Cole on the other side of the room. Anne took this as a sign that her best friend no longer wanted to discuss the matter, so she focused her attention on Cole and his latest drawing as well.

"Cole, that drawing is simply exquisite!" Anne exclaimed as she noticed her friend's work. She nudged Diana gingerly, silently begging her to take her mind off of her troubles for even a few moments. He'd clearly been working on it for a long time; it featured her, Diana, Ruby and himself. Josie Pye was complaining about how she wasn't in it, but after Josie's pining and her calling him a freak, there was no sort of substantial friendship between them. Cole ignored her and reassured Tillie and Jane that he was working on adding them to the portrait as well.

"Anne," Diana hissed and made a small motion to where Gilbert was walking towards them. Anne's hands immediately flew to the braids on either side of her head to ensure that they weren't unruly, and after a few moments of mindlessly taming her hair she smoothed down the front of her dress and placed her hands neatly in her lap. She had no time to register the fact that she had just made an attempt to tidy her appearance at the mere acknowledgment of Gilbert Blythe's presence.

Gilbert greeted the group, "Good morning, everyone," He was always the only boy besides Cole who willingly or at least confidently interacted with the girls. Ruby began to giggle nervously; Anne wanted to roll her eyes knowing that this brief exchange would be subject to Ruby's fixation for weeks to come. He examined their individual expressions, stopping especially long on Anne and Diana. Anne's best friend was often the key to her own emotions; she did tell Diana everything, after all. Right now, Diana seemed quite smug, as though she were waiting for something to happen. Anne, on the other hand, looked like she was about to put another slate through his head. With another quick nudge from Diana, she joined the group in giving him a brief welcome.