This was a day of competition for sure. First in class came the classic spelling bee, which Anne happened to win. After her cold catching up had been her main focus throughout the days and now she when she was completely recovered and back she had reached her goals by eliminating the other competitors, including the one and only Gilbert Blythe.
After school, it was spoken about a snowball fight. Anne found the concept of it quite cruel but decided to give it a try. It may sound cruel but it sure sounded fun. This year it was decided that girls and boys were to be against each other. Normally they would mix the teams to make it more even but Anne had nagging how that was to have preconceived sentences and that girls were at least as good. She practically challenged the boys into a duel and they all confidently engaged.
It was arranged that after school they would all meet up and go through the rules before actually starting the so as called war. Luckily Anne had managed to gather a squad of almost every girl in their class, all except Josie Pye.
"Never would I ever play such childish games! I will entertain myself at home were more matureness is to be found"
Josie Pye muttered as she walked home alone after school. The other girls however thought of it as fun after Anne had convinced them but it took a lot of convincing. Before they could clarify the war officially started the girls had to discuss their tactics. This was not a playfully game they were about to play. They played to win. To concur. To destroy. To do everything but lose. It was decided that the girls were first to hide the flag.
"Are we really doing this? I mean the boys are so much stronger and smarter!"
Tillie said worried as always. Anne shook her head.
"That is nonsense, Tillie! We are just as good if not better and brighter. By the way, we are about to use their weaknesses"
Anne said and caught everybody's attention as the girls gathered in a circle.
"Which is?"
Asked Ruby curiously and looked up to Anne who stood in the middle confidently.
"Them being boys versus us being girls"
Anne declared with a prideful smile.
"I do not think I quite understand?"
Said Diana in confusion and fuzzed her eyebrows. Anne smiled before explaining and after that, they made up a plan to beat the boys.
Meanwhile, the group of boys was discussing their own tactics. Which proved to be simpler.
"We attack them with full forces. Two men build a wall of snow to hide behind. We are stronger and will outnumber them eventually. The rules are that if you get hit you are out"
Planned Billy loudly and he got the girls eyes on him too. Anne rolled hers and started whispering to the girls again.
"I would not be so foolhardy. They might look small but they could easily trick us"
Said Gilbert in defense of the girls. He hated when Billy talked about them like they were nothing but the ones that brought babies to the world and cooked dinner. Women's were also humans having the same importance as men. What couldn't Billy understand about that?
"Yeah right, like that's going to happen"
He answered sarcastically and Gilbert looked at him in disbelief.
"Fine"
Gilbert said harshly and let Billy continue to speak. He would not be so sure of himself once the girls proved to be smarter and stronger than he had expected.
After a while of discussing, both teams found it proper to declare the war.
The girls ran into the woods splitting up. They never used to play this in the woods, but they never said anything about not walking into the woods so no rules were broken. Usually, they only played this on the schoolyard making it quite easy Never have they ever played in such large areas. This caused the boys to confusion. Even Gilbert didn't at all see this coming.
"What do we do now?"
Asked an as confused Moody who stood with a perfectly made snowball in his left hand. Shocking that he actually thought of throwing it with his left arm since he was right-handed. He was surely the weakest in their team considering his usefulness.
"We take them down man to man. One snowball and they are out"
Billy said.
"Or man to woman or whatever"
He babbled also confused by his own words.
"I'll take Diana!"
Said Fred and hurried into the woods from were he had last seen her.
"I guess I take Jane"
Blurted Charlie out and also he hurried out to the woods.
"I follow Anne"
Gilbert said and took off he as well. She would last the longest Gilbert thought to himself. She was practically the leader. He enjoyed watching those qualities in her. She was so strong and independent. She needed no man to provide for her and he knew that perfectly well.
Anne, however, ran as fast as she could. Some of the snow had melted away after the big snowstorm but much was still left. Only the mentioning of the snowstorm made her blush.
She had let Gilbert sleep in her bed when she had nightmares and she woke up on his chest. Strangely all she could feel that night was how incredibly caring Gilbert truly was. He was always there. No matter situation and no matter the situation he himself was in, he was always there for her and it was an underestimation to say that she loved that about him so much. She fancied she envied, she adored, she admired him. But that was simply because she was dizzy from being so sick. The flu mixed with her head for sure. It almost sounded like she was in love with him and that must be a mistake! It was a mistake. But the only one she was trying to convince was herself.
Anne prepared a snowball in her hand to be sure if someone sneaked up on her. She knew Gilbert would come after her and that was the whole plan.
Gilbert was for sure the strongest athletes of all the boys and that was why they had to separate him from the others. Gilbert was also a bit to smarter than the other boys. Their plan was after all to use their weakness and for Gilbert, it was clear: Anne.
Even if she hated to admit it she knew it was true. Anne looked over her shoulder to find Gilbert only a few yards behind her. Jackpot!
But as the stubbornness Anne was born with she was not the one to give up easily and therefore raised her pace to make it harder for Gilbert to catch up. No matter how fast Anne ran, however, it was unavoidable that the much stronger and faster Mr. Blythe would catch up in due course. Anne looked back at the exact moment Gilbert was about to catch her and it causes her to stumble over a large stone half hidden in the snow. Together they both landed on the ground, Gilbert on top of Anne as she had turned around in the air unaware to grab him with her down the fall. She breathed heavily from the long and very exhausting run.
Gilbert's face was only centimeters from hers and he looked her straight in the eyes, almost paralyzed. His gaze switched constantly from her eyes to her lips and an expected blush entered her face. Gilbert before playful grin was no were to be seen. All she could see in his whole face was...Passion...Adoration. Saying that it warmed her heart was an understatement.
"Got you"
Gilbert whispered softly still being so close to her, not moving a single muscle to try to remove himself from his place on top of her. But finally, as his gentleman nature took over he stood up and gave her his hand to help her stand up. Anne quickly rejected it and got up herself.
"Are we being stubborn today?"
Gilbert asked playfully and Anne couldn't other than smile playfully back. It was not what he said it was at what probably happened right now at this moment with the other boys and girls. Their plan was perfect!
"I believe I win"
He said again once Anne didn't reply him. She smiled wider at that.
"Technically all you have achieved this fine afternoon is to chase me down, the purpose was that throw a snowball, which I can't see you have?"
Anne looked down at her coat seeing how free from snow it was. Well almost at least, some snow had, of course, touched the back of it as they fell down.
Anne grabbed the snowball she had hidden behind her back and threw it at Gilbert when he was not keeping his guard up. It hit him right on his arm.
"But I believe I have and therefore I am the winner"
She said in triumph and not played happiness. Oh, it was the sweetest feeling in the world to finally beat Gilbert. His lose was her victory at any time.
To her surprise, he smiled as widely back as if this was something he expected. Her happiness would be even greater if he would have been upset but he seemed rather happy for her. Anne began walking to the schoolhouse again and Gilbert followed with a grin.
"You got me but how about the other boys?"
Wondered Gilbert still unsure of what the girls plan was to win.
"Do you think I will slip some secrets about tactics?"
Gilbert shrugged his shoulder and Anne snorted at him.
"By now we shall already have defeated you so why not explain how?"
Anne muttered to herself.
"The plan was to lure you to follow me and the other girls would reunite hide behind a tree until the other boy catch up. Then we have prepared a good couple of snowballs to take you all down in once. A sneak attack basically"
Said Anne nonchalant. Gilbert smiled at her.
"That shall work...I guess I got into your trap. But are you really sure the other girls could have the patience and silence of a sneak attack. I believe we boys will take you down before you get the change"
He smiled wider and looked to an unconvinced Anne.
"It's an advantage to be underestimated"
She shrugged back to him clearly making some stubborn statements.
"I guess so"
He answered and looked as if he thought through their plan again. It was brilliant! How could he not see the advantage they had from the beginning?
"When the going gets tough, the tough get going"
She said severely and didn't throw him a look as they walked back to were they came from. Gilbert chuckled at that, not because he found it funny but because of how true it was to say something like that for Anne.
"You seem awfully stubborn this day"
Gilbert commented and Anne twisted her eyebrows in disbelief.
"That's bunk. I've always been stubborn"
Anne replied cocky and now with her arms crossed while walking. Gilbert smiled to himself continuing tailing her.
"Of course I know that. I was wondering why you were so particularly this afternoon?"
He said. Anne stopped and turned around to face him. Gilbert Blythe always managed to get on her nerves. Whether she wanted him to or not.
"Why is that any of your concern? If I were you I should focus more on how your team of boys is doing. We should have taken all of you down by now"
Anne muttered and then continued walking fast. Gilbert closely behind.
"Are you always this dramatic? Please calm down and we can have a normal conversation"
Gilbert suggested and sounded a little annoyed by Anne's constant hostility.
"To quote Hamlet, Act III, scene III, line 92, 'no'"
Anne even more stubbornly said. She was herself not even sure if that was correct but felt like she needed it there to be extra annoying. Why she was trying to be annoying she had no answer for. Gilbert laughed at her comeback and that made something in her softer, but only for a few seconds. Well, a bit longer.
"What are you doing after school?"
Gilbert wondered with a smile fidgeting on his lips. Anne turned around and walked backward to be able to look him in the eyes while walking at the same time.
"You know what-"
Anne was just about to be disrespectful once again but didn't get the chance since walking backward was not one of her greatest ideas and she stumbled over a small stone. Luckily Gilbert saw this and hurried to her rescue. Unfortunately, he was too late and she was on her way down once he got a grip on her, causing him to go down with her.
Once again they were in this position for less than a minutes. Gilbert on top of Anne, a breath away from her face, her lips. He luckily didn't crush her with his weight and held himself up a bit. Only inches apart from Anne's face. Her heart pounded like crazy and it seemed like she exploded inside.
"We got to stop meeting like this"
Gilbert very softly pointed out. His words were playful but his face was all kinds of serious. His beautiful hazel eyes staring to intensely into Anne's filled with so many emotions that it was too much for little Anne to read at once. His lips were not twisted into the smile he usually wore but instead looking ever so serious. Ever so sweet.
Gilbert's gaze flinched at Anne's lips and her cheeks that were already so red turned even brighter. Her whole face seemed to warm up. Even her ears were on fire and she was by now sure she could melt snow with them. The sudden desire to lean in and kiss him appeared. This feeling was something digging in her chest that never had been there before. All of a sudden she stopped caring about what other people thought, all she cared about was this moment.
Gilbert's eyes stopped flinching and now landed in her eyes. Very carefully he leaned down, closed his eyes and pressed his soft lips against Anne's.
Fireworks appeared. The world brightened. The birds sang ever so beautifully. The sky shined. But Anne couldn't care less. All she was focused on was Gilbert. How incredibly delicate and strawberry tasting his lips were. How much she enjoyed them on her ones. They were like a puzzle, they fit perfectly together. It was like everything came to place. The events of this year had been really confusing and misleading but now it was all fixed. It seemed like the whole world's problems suddenly were fixed. Everything was fixed.
Anne kissed him back as innocently but she made sure that he would feel everything she did. After that kiss, it would be no doubt to Gilbert about how Anne felt about him. All she could care about was her own happiness and satisfaction. Ruby was nowhere in her mind to be found. It was only Gilbert in there.
Gilbert backed down from her lips and checked her eyes for acceptance. Stupid boy thought she didn't want him to kiss her.
Not so careful this time, Anne leaned in an kissed him once again but this time for passionately.
This was the best day of her life.
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season 3!!!!
Everybody expects this historical kiss between Anne and Gilbert when they are surrounded by this beautiful environment and everything is perfect. I don't do perfect, I do what I think is the most realistic:) This chapter was a little shorter but all of my chapters are just too long so I'll try to make them a bit shorter.
That Hamlet scene is taken from something I saw on Instagram! All credit to incorrectawae<3
-theeereeesaaa
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Word count: 2686