My Fairy Queen Anne

sweet like justice (karma is a queen)

Anne roamed around the Barrys' party boredly, sipping raspberry cordial every so often and taking a bite of an apple tart. Like a gracious host, Diana had greeted her at the door but was stolen away by her parents to meet a 'prospective suitor'. Diana had rolled her eyes and bade Anne farewell until she could return from the torturous greeting.

 The gathering was much larger than she had expected, so she was yet to encounter another one of her friends. She walked around the room, trying to spot something of interest. Jane was struck up in a conversation with a girl she didn't know, and she didn't care to interrupt their talk. Ruby and Moody were in a corner chatting, and from the way Ruby was eyeing him, she did not want to be the third wheel in that situation unless she wanted to be sick to her stomach.

Sighing dismally, she exited the stuffy room to go into the Barrys' enchanting rose garden, imagining herself floating out the building mysteriously like an apparition of a lost princess.

Outside, she froze as she saw who was already there. Luckily, they didn't notice her, so she scampered behind a large bush, listening to their obscene gossip until they hopefully left so she could exit the premises safely. 

"I can't believe that he chose her," the brutish blonde boy said, his companions laughing raucously. "It's hard to believe we were ever friends!"

"Yeah, bud," Paul A. agreed, nodding his head mindlessly to whatever Billy wanted his lackeys to agree with. "Ugly orphan." And in that moment, she didn't have a doubt in her mind about who they were talking about.

"Who the hell would choose Fido over Winifred? She was a proper bombshell! He could've gone to the Sorbonne!"

"And she was a Charlottetown girl!" Paul S. cackled unbecomingly.

"I got a couple of those myself," Billy bragged, as if leading girls on was a great feat. One boy clapped him on the back while the others made their approval clear with hollers and whistles. Billy looked quite pleased with himself, a twisted smile on her face as he boasted, "They love me, and they're all loaded. I'll probably drop Nettie next week; she's a bit of a pug-face. They're all after me. That's why I'm surprised out of everyone in the world Mr. Perfect can have, he chooses the speckled orphan!" 

"I thought you didn't like Gilbert?" One boy, Sam, said. 

"I don't! Everyone just thinks he's so charming and perfect! It's always 'Oh, look at Gilbert! Billy, why can't you be more like Gilbert?' Why does everyone love him so much anyways?"

Anne started to step away but winced as her boot came down sharply on a branch. Billy heard this and grinned evilly, walking slowly away from his friends.

"Looks like we have a visitor, boys!" Billy sang sickly, running to the spot where Anne was hiding. He discovered her as white as a ghost, standing behind a rose bush.

"Fido! What a pleasant surprise!" he sneered, mouth curling into a sick snarling scowl.

Anne tried to escape back into the building. "If you'll excuse me, I'm-" The boy pushed her back in front of him.

"No, why don't you stay? You know, I never got to pay you back for how you slandered Prissy's reputation in your very first days in my town."

"But it was true! It's not slander if it's true! Plus, she's far from bitter about it now."

"That doesn't matter. The point is, I want my revenge and this time, lover boy isn't here to save you."

"You stay away from me, William Andrews!" Anne threatened, her voice quavering as she raised her arm in defense as he edged closer to her, backing her into a corner.