𝐷𝐸𝐿𝐼𝐶𝐴𝑇𝐸 | 𝙜𝙞𝙡𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙩 𝙗𝙡𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙚

| ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴏ

"Come on Anne," I whisper and begin to walk past the boy, linking Anne's arm with my own, "let's—" The boy blocks my path with his body. Bumping into him I huff and look up at him, our eyes only inches apart. I'm frozen, he wouldn't beat me up, would he? He wouldn't do anything else, right? A smirk places itself across his face. My mind goes into a flurry of ideas for how to get out of this mess. I look to Anne, just as terrified as me. I have to do something.

"Excuse me," I speak up, trying to ignore him "we're just trying to go to—"

"I don't think you'll be going anywhere today," he grabs my arms tight and shakes me, my eyes closed as he yells in my face, "you think you can ignore me! I'll—"

"Hey, Billy!"

The grip on my arms loosens. I looked to Anne, who had nothing, but pure terror written on her face. I turn to the voice.

"How's it going," he spoke nonchalantly.

"Hey Gilbert," Billy shakily responded.

"So, you guys playing a game or something, right?" I meet his gaze, thanking him a million times over in my head, "Looks fun but we should probably get to school eh? Hate to be tardy." I couldn't help myself from smirking, this boy was clever.

"Mr. Philips sure gets his dander up about that." He finished along with a slight chort from me when he said "dander". I let myself breath while watching Billy silently walk to school in defeat. I turn my attention to Gilbert, who's attention is already on me.

"You ladies alright," he averts his gaze to Anne who is collecting her things.

"School." She speaks and then rushes off in the direction of the schoolhouse. Confused I call after her.

"Anne!" I yell but to no avail, I focus on Gilbert, "I um... I'm fine, thank you. I don't know what's wrong with Anne." He smiles.

"No bother, that was pretty intense," he says while picking up my books, which I didn't realize I dropped, "if you don't mind my asking, what was Billy's problem, you didn't seem to be doing anything wrong? No reason to harm a pretty girl like yourself."

"Your name's Gilbert right," I blush, eluding the question and continue to walk to school.

"Um yes, Gilbert Blythe," he runs to catch up, "just returned from Alberta with my father, which is why you haven't seen me around."

"I don't think that's why,"

"What?"

"Why were you in Alberta? What's it like?" I ask with intrigue.

"Oh, it's beautiful, the mountains are huge, there's snow all around and—wait," he stops walking, "you've neglected to tell me your name, you look familiar."

"I suppose I have," I say and turn back to look at him, teasing, "dander?"

"Excuse me," we continue walking.

"You said, and I'll repeat "Mr. Philips sure gets his dander up about that"," I mock laughing, "that's such a strange word."

"That's why you were laughing. I thought—hold on," we're approaching the schoolhouse now, climbing up the steps he stands in front of the door, blocking me, "are you ever going to answer my question? What's your name?" He moves aside, opening the door for me. We walk in.

"Well I also neglected to tell you that it's my first day back as well," my tone flattens now as I hang up my coat and scarf, ignoring glares from the other classmates. I reach my hand out, "I'm Lily Grant." He shakes my hand and I watch as he slowly recognizes the familiarity.

"And didn't you hear Billy," I begin to walk to my seat, still I turn to face him, "I'm back from the dead."

ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ's ɴᴏᴛᴇ

and lily and gilbert finally meet! i promise it'll get better as their relationship develops. shit will go down in chapter eleven.

whoop, did i make Billy too mean to her? i don't know. hope you enjoyed reading, vote and comment!

-ʟɪᴢ