{ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ }
| Lily |
This morning is different.
This morning I lay in bed, staring up at my ceiling. Nerves bursting through my chest, overwhelming my usual urge to begin the day, especially today. I thought I would be most excited, I think I am. But this is a new type of excitement, one that slightly frightens me.
ꕥ
I enjoy the satisfying crunch of the leaves under my boots as I make the long tread to school. I can't stop my mind from racing, going out of control. I honestly don't know what to expect. I hardly remember my last day of school, I just remember that it was awful.
"Lily are you okay?"
"What's wrong with her?"
"Get the teacher!"
I stop in my tracks, letting the breeze pass by me. I can't do this. Something bad will happen. I'll embarrass myself and they'll laugh. Or I'll get worse. I should just go home. Mother will be happy. Things can go back. Nothing has to—
"Hello?" a soft voice speaks out from behind me. I turn abruptly, startled. And meet the eyes of Anne Shirley.
"Anne!" I exclaim, her eyes widen in surprise, "um, sorry you startled me. I'm Lily, a friend of Diana's, she uh told me about you."
"Oh no worries at all I should've known it was you," she speaks with excitement, "I mean, I knew of you, but I never imagined the pleasure of meeting your audacious self. Of course, you know that Diana told me of you as well. How you were friends before—and here you are. She speaks rather highly of you." I'm immediately taken aback by her energy, but it's comforting in a way.
"I didn't know Diana still talked about me, um thanks," I sputter unsure of how to respond, "shall we." We continue walking through the trees, and Anne continues talking.
"Of course, she still talks about you, her best friend. It's ever so tragical what happened to you, it would make for the saddest of stories," she goes on.
"Try living it," I sigh lightheartedly, "enough about me Anne, Diana tells me you were adopted by the Cuthberts."
"Oh yes, I—"
"Anne of Green Gables." The voice startles me as my eyes meet the source. A tall boy, one I hardly remember, steps out in front of us, he stares menacingly. A lump starts to grow in my stomach, weighing me down.
"Oh! Who's your new little friend," he continues eying me, "my great God it's Lily Grant! Back from the dead, I suppose, I can't believe my eyes." He takes a few steps closer and my body immediately tenses up. I thought I'd be free of the ridicule until I got to the schoolhouse. Looks like I was wrong. I should've stayed home.
"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