It was the day Anne and Charlie were set to present their project on the Odyssey and Anne's mind was in a frenzy, even more so than usual.
Charlie was unaffected.
With every hour that passed, Anne edited the presentation in her head, rearranging sentences and points so that it was most convincing.
Charlie was perfectly satisfied with whatever Anne cooked up; he knew she had the highest grade in the class.
An added stressor for Anne was trying to do better than Gilbert. This presentation was a large portion of their grade and she desperately wanted to stay comfortably ahead of him in English; especially considering he was (just barely!) edging her out in Advanced Geometry.
Of course, she would never tell him she paid such attention to their rivalry.
In all honesty, she didn't want him knowing that she paid attention to him at all. Especially considering how much of her brain had been clouded by thoughts of him recently.
He was like an electric current running through her mind. She shocked herself again and again with the memory of hugging him after the volley ball game, falling asleep with him on Charlie's couch, all the smirks and smiles and giggles they had exchanged.
She could be in the middle of a class, and one look at him was enough to make her lose focus. She was hyper aware of the way he bit his lip in confusion, the way his head tilted when he laughed, how he leaned back in his seat, hands grasping the legs of the chair.
She was cataloging little details about Gilbert Blythe; for what purpose, she could not imagine.
For the umpteenth time that day, Anne pushed Gilbert out of her mind. She had a project to focus on.
Anne's class was going after lunch.
Anne couldn't bring herself to eat anything; the noisy cafeteria was grating at her nerves. She needed to be alone with her thoughts.
This is how Anne found herself, as she had many times prior, wandering through the library.
She sat down in her favorite row, and pulled out a battered copy of Pride and Prejudice. Anne felt herself relax just by running her fingers over the cover.
She flipped around, rereading passages she thought were funny or poignant. After a couple of minutes, she heard a commotion behind her, on the other side of the large bookshelf.
Anne whipped her head around to peek at whatever was making the odd noises she was hearing.
Her jaw dropped nearly to the floor when she discovered that the commotion was caused by her cousin Jerry sloppily making out with Jane.
Jane, one of her best friends.
Jane who was currently running her fingers up and down Jerry's back and chest.
Jane, who was well aware of Ruby's crush on Jerry.
Anne was in a daze. She quickly evacuated the library, but was sadly unable to wipe the image from her brain.
Anne's mind was harried with questions, none of which she had the answer to.
Why would Jane do this? Was it the first time? Had she seen Anne? Was she obligated to tell Ruby?
She was in such a state of shock that she forgot she was presenting until her feet carried her into Miss Stacey's classroom.
She picked a desk at random and sat, tuning out the chatter of her classmates.
She didn't notice when Gilbert sat down next to her, or when he spoke, his face quirked into a smile.
"What's wrong Anne? You're not nervous about presenting, are you?"
When Anne said nothing in response, Gilbert faltered, but tried again.
"Anne?"
Shocked to discover Gilbert next to her, Anne cried out.
"Gilbert!"
Gilbert winced at how loud she had said his name.
"Anne, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Anne merely scowled at him. He would never understand the conundrum she was in, and she didn't appreciate the comment on her (admittedly disheveled) appearance.
Gilbert tried once more, learning slightly towards her and nudging her elbow with his.
"Come on Anne. What's up with you? Did I do something? Did someone pull your hair?"
"Nothing is wrong!" She said sharply, "I have a lot on my mind right now that I don't care to talk about! And not that it's any of your business, but it isn't about you or my hair!"
"Then what is it?"
Anne turned to face him, glowering.
"It's none of your business! Shockingly enough, not everything concerns you, Gilbert!"
And with that, Anne slumped back into her desk, crossing her arms and leaning away from Gilbert.
Gilbert opened his mouth to speak, but found no appropriate words. Why was Anne mad at him all of a sudden?
A horrible thought occurred to him: did Anne somehow know about his desire to kiss her? It wasn't possible! He hadn't vocalized it to anyone other than his pillow.
It was at that moment that Miss Stacey walked in, a twinkle in her eye, and announced that Gilbert and Diana would be presenting first.
With a gulp, Gilbert stood up and walked to the front of the class. He turned over his shoulder to look at Anne, but she wouldn't meet his eyes.
Bright as ever, Diana began.
"The Odyssey spans over many years, and features many villains that the titular character, Odysseus, must battle."
The rest, to Gilbert at least, was a blur. He said his piece, gestured appropriately, and received a smattering of applause.
Anne congratulated Diana passionately as she sat down, but continued to ignore Gilbert, even as he sent pleading looks her way.
Gilbert tried to push Anne out of his mind to no avail. He could not pay attention to any of the presentations that followed, as he was too busy playing out theoretical conversations in his head.
He imagined apologizing, yelling at her, kissing her senseless. Of course, no amount of imagining did anything for the fact that she was still pissed at him in real life.
She was standing up now, Charlie as well.
Diana looked from Anne to Gilbert, noticing that he was staring intensely at her.
"Gilbert!" Diana said in a whisper, "I think we did a good job, don't you? Miss Stacey seemed pleased."
Gilbert responded with a low murmur of agreement, but never tore his eyes from Anne, a fact which Diana plugged into her memory.
Anne's presentation, at least according to her, was going terribly. She had stuttered multiple times, and was having trouble conjuring up the emotions which Penelope's journey generally aroused in her.
She was simply too frazzled over what she had seen in the library, not to mention that Gilbert refused to stop staring at her! It was truly irritating, like an itch she couldn't scratch.
Charlie was doing his best, but he wasn't a great public speaker.
When Anne finished and sat back down, she was even more miserable that when she had stood up. It was awful! Even kind Miss Stacey looked a little disappointed. She was sure to get a poor grade.
What a waste of a good project.
Gilbert. Gilbert had gotten in her head and gotten her annoyed. How dare he ruin her project!
Welp. Anne was thoroughly resolved. She was furious with Gilbert.
She was so caught up in her anger, she almost forgot about the horrific image seared in her brain of Jane and Jerry sucking face.
Right. Another thing to deal with.
As class went on, Anne formulated a plan. An Anne Plan. One which, she thought, was sure to succeed.
The plan started with sending Jane a text, which she did as soon as class was dismissed.
"Hey, wanna get coffee after school? I have a gift card lol".
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A:N
- yes im fanfic writer
-yes I never write
-we exist
-In all seriousness im so incredibly sorry fo the long ass hiatus, I have a trillion excuses but y'all don't wanna hear em lol they're kinda shit
-THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT IT MEANS A LOT TO ME AND I WILL TRY TO EARN IT BETTER IN THE FUTURE
-what did you think of this chapter? Comment pls! Also vote lol
-what shld happen next BC idk