written by: @danhearteyeshowell
headcanon: anne finally realizes she has a crush on gilbert
warnings: probably very stupid but who cares
word count: 3k (that’s literally so insane)
listen to: open season by high highs
A/N: my last fic was so fun to write so I’m doing another:) let’s see if this one can do better than my first one?
He’s not that attractive, I have no idea what Ruby or any of the other girls see, Anne thinks to herself while she unconsciously stares at Gilbert Blythe from across the room. She watches as he laughs at something someone had said, then glancing over at Anne. She quickly averts her eyes to Ruby who was whining about how Gilbert looked too perfect.
“I just don’t get how he can look so magnificent,” Ruby says, sighing deeply as she took a bite out of a blueberry tart. Diana shrugs her shoulders and looks over at Anne, who had started staring at Gilbert again.
“Anne!” Diana says, making Anne jump a little in her seat. “Sorry, did someone ask me a question?” She says, her cheeks turning pink. Josie Pye, who had been eavesdropping on the group of girls, smiles deviously and takes a seat next to Diana. “Is there something captivating across the room, Anne? Something, or should I say, someone, stealing your attention?” She says crossing her legs. “Make your assumptions, Josie, but I was just lost in my own thoughts,” Anne says. Josie chuckles. “Well, what were you thinking so intensely about? It seemed very interesting, as you looked very focused on-“ Josie starts, but Anne cuts her off before she could finish. “I was thinking about my future, something you don’t seem to have,” Anne says, the last part quieter than the rest.
Josie scoffs and crosses her arms across her chest. “For your information Anne Shirley, my future is quite intact. My beauty will land me a perfect husband, and I will have three children, two of which will be boys and the other a girl.” Anne rolls her eyes. “You’ll just be selling yourself to be a housewife forever, something I will never do. I’m going to be a teacher, just like Miss Stacy. I will also get married, but only because my husband is attracted to my brain as much as my appearance.” The rest of the girls nod their heads. “That’s a splendid plan! I wish I had my future planned out as much as you,” Diana says, sinking into her chair. “You’ll be lucky if any man is attracted to your brain, Anne, none the less your appearance,” Josie says, making a few onlookers giggle. Anne’s ears get warm and she looks away.
“Alright students, please take your seats, class will begin again in a few minutes,” Miss Stacy says, causing Anne to stand up quietly and take her seat. Everyone else follows, and Diana gives Anne a sympathetic smile. Soon, everyone was in their seats and ready for the lesson. “Okay, we're going to do an independent study for the rest of the day. You can read pages 54-95 in your novels, finding important details that can help write your essays. No talking!” Miss Stacy says with a smile, then starts to grade yesterdays pop quiz, which Anne new she did well on. As Anne began to read, she felt a pair of eyes on her. She tried to ignore it, but she felt uncomfortable to move. She looked to her right to see Gilbert Blythe staring at her. He looked away quickly, his cheeks turning crimson. Anne watched him for a bit before going back to her book as well, not being able to focus.
An hour passes, and Anne had finished her book. She looked around to see everyone still reading. She had no idea what to do next, so she walks up to Miss Stacy’s desk to ask her. “Miss Stacy?” Anne whispers. She looks up from a quiz she was grading and gives Anne a warm smile. “Yes, Anne? What can I do for you?”
“Well, I just finished my book, and I would much rather finish my essay at home. Do you have anything I can do to busy myself?” Anne whispers. “I would much rather you do the essay at home, as well,” Miss Stacy says. “I’m sure I’m not exactly allowed to do this, but since you did perfect on our quiz the other day, would you like to help me grade the rest? It would be great practice seeing as though you would like to follow my profession,” Miss Stacy says quietly, pulling up a chair next to her. Anne’s eyes widen and she smiles. “Oh, what a dream come true. Nothing could fill my heart with more joy than to-“ Anne starts, but stops herself with a giggle. “Sorry,” She says and sits down next to her superior. Miss Stacy smiles and hands her a stack of paper. “No need to apologize, Anne. Just don’t tell anyone you knew how they did,” Miss Stacy says with a wink. Anne nods her head aggressively and grabs a pen, ready to start grading.
She looks down at the first name her stomach twists. Gilbert's quiz, eh? Anne glances up at Gilbert, who was writing something down rapidly. He took a quick break, accumulated his thoughts, then wrote some more. Anne looked back at his quiz and secretly prayed he would do perfectly. She began to grade, and when she got to the last page, she still hadn’t marked anything wrong. It was the last question, and she was ready to move on when she noticed the answer was wrong.
Anne looked up at Gilbert once more, then back at the paper. I’m sure it won’t matter if I don’t mark this wrong, right? It’s only one question, Anne thought to herself. She hesitantly placed his paper to the side, then began to grade the next one. It’s not like he’ll find out. She looked at the next name and frowned. Billy Andrews paper. As she graded, she marked almost every question wrong. Maybe they were wrong, maybe they were right; did it really matter? After she finished his paper, she smiled. What a great afternoon, she thought to herself.
The next day before class had begun, Anne overheard the boys’ conversation. “I can’t wait to get our quizzes back, I know I did great,” She hears Billy say. Anne smirks; that’s what you think. “Settle down, settle down. Before our morning lesson, I will pass out the pop quizzes. Some of you did phenomenally, some I am quite shocked with,” Miss Stacy says, holding up a stack of paper. Anne squirmed in her seat. As Miss Stacy passed Anne her paper, she winked at her, and Anne winked back. Anne looked at her paper and smiled when she saw the 50/50. Diana got a 46, Anne only knew because she graded hers. Anne looked watched Gilbert from the corner of her eyes and saw his eyes light up when he saw the 50. He flipped the page and looked through all the questions. On the last one, he frowned.
“Um, Miss Stacy, can I speak to you about my grade?” Gilbert says. Anne stiffens; how could he have noticed? Billy didn’t! “Yes, Mr. Blythe, but I don’t see why, you did perfect,” Miss Stacy says. She looks over Gilbert’s shoulder and glances at his page, listening to what was wrong. “Well, I guess it’s just your lucky day. I’ll be more careful next time,” Miss Stacy says and looks over at Anne slightly, who was staring straight ahead at the blackboard.
During the day, the guilt weighed down on Anne and she had to tell someone. So, during lunch, she decided to talk to Diana privately.
“What was so urgent that you needed to talk here?” Diana says, motioning towards the small room where the spare supplies were kept. “I think I did something terrible, but I promise I had no bad intentions,” Anne says. Diana grabs her hand and squeezes it reassuringly. “I’m sure whatever happened is going to end up okay,” she says. Anne takes a deep breath. “Miss Stacy said I could help her grade our pop quizzes, and I got Gilbert’s...” Anne trails off. Diana looks at her with wide eyes. “Did you give Gilbert an extra point so he could get a perfect?” She starts to smile widely and Anne looks at her confused.
“What? Why are you smiling?” Anne asks her. Diana shakes her head. “You do know that you have a crush on Gilbert, right?” Anne raises her eyebrows and scoffs. “You are positivity insane, Diana Barry. I do not have a crush on anyone, especially Gilbert Blythe! I mean, if you really look at him, he’s...” Anne says, stopping when she sees Diana’s stop-lying-to-yourself face. Anne breathed in and out deeply, letting her mind wander. “I don’t have a crush, Diana,” Anne finally says after a while.
“Okay, fine. But, let’s pretend you do for a second. Why else would you give Gilbert that point? You do want to beat him, don’t you?” Diana says, trying to regain Anne’s attention. Anne was too busy telling herself that she didn’t have a crush on him to listen intensively. “I... I mean, yes. Yes, I do. But he has just been falling behind lately and I would much rather have a competition than win at the beginning of the year...” Anne says. Diana breathes out and starts to stand up. “I can’t tell you what to do, but I think you already know,” She says and walks out, leaving Anne alone in the supply closet.
Before long, someone tries to open the door. “Go away,” Anne says monotonously. Instead of listening to her, the person opens the door, revealing Gilbert standing in the doorway. “Can we speak?” He asks. Anne shrugs her shoulders. Gilbert walks inside and closes the door behind him, taking a seat next to Anne. “I couldn’t help but overhear... well, actually, Diana couldn’t help but tell me...” Gilbert starts, making Anne whip her head up. “What did she tell you?” Anne asks. “She said that you gave me that point,” Gilbert says. Anne turns a dark crimson and she looks away. “It-it was just an easy question, I knew you weren’t stupid enough to miss-“
“I purposely missed it, Anne,” Gilbert interrupts. Anne slowly looks at him again. “I don’t understand...” Gilbert slides closer to Anne. “I knew you were going to ace that pop quiz, all you do is pay attention to Miss Stacy. I wanted to give the leg up in class, so I missed the question so you would, you know, be ahead...” Gilbert says, looking down at his knees pressed against his chest. Anne stares at him, starstruck. He gave up being first in class for me? Anne thought to herself as she watched Gilbert fiddle with his vest buttons.
“Well that was very kind of you, but you already know I don’t want to win that way, I want to win fair and square,” Anne says finally. Gilbert chuckles and looks up at Anne. “Yeah... Fair and square...” He says. Anne suddenly noticed how close the two were, how she could feel his breath on her nose. She stood up and brushed the dirt off her dress. Gilbert stared up at her with confused eyes as she started to walk out of the closet.
“I hoped you learned not to dumb yourself down for me, we don’t need you competing with people like Billy,” Anne says. Gilbert smiles. “I’ll be head to head with you from now on, I promise,” He says. Anne nods, shivers running down her spine from that silly promise. She closes the door before she said anything else, and turned around to see Diana watching her with a smirk on her face. Anne rolls her eyes and walks over to her bosom friend.
“Nothing happened, and I do not have a crush on him,” Anne says directly. Diana giggles. “Yeah, if anything, Gilbert has a crush on you,” she says. Anne shakes her head. “First Cole, now you, I don’t understand it,” Anne says with another eye roll. “What I don’t understand is how you can’t see him looking at you all the time,” Diana says, causing Anne to stiffen. She did catch him watching her before. It was probably just a one-time thing anyway, what’s there to even look at?
As Anne walked home from school, a certain boy would not leave her mind. “You do not have a crush on Gilbert, you do not have a crush on Gilbert!” Anne says to herself quietly. Although her mouth said one thing, her brain started to say another. It began to show Anne how Gilbert was actually crush-worthy, how his smile was actually not repulsive and more kind, how his eyes were not dark but warm. “Stop it brain, you’re supposed to be smart,” Anne says and slaps herself on the side of her head. But, no matter how hard she tried, Gilbert Blythe would not get out of her head. She stopped dead in her tracks and grunts loudly.
“Okay, fine. You know what? I do have a crush on Gilbert, I have a crush on Gilbert... I have a crush on Gilbert...” Anne says aloud. “I... have a crush on Gilbert...” Anne says again. She begins to walk home, welcoming the now wonderful thoughts her brain had to offer about Gilbert Blythe.
The next day, a Friday, Anne felt on edge. Every time she saw Gilbert, she felt as though she was sweating profusely and her hands were clammy and sticky. Lunch couldn’t come any sooner, and Anne pulled Diana into the same closet as yesterday to spill her news. “I have even more terrible news than yesterday,” Anne says soulful. Diana frowns and sits down with her. “I’m so very sorry Anne, not just for your horrible new but for telling Gilbert what you told me yesterday,” Diana says. Anne smiles kindly. “It’s alright, it actually helped me realize something... Here comes my petrifying news,” Anne says and squeezes Diana's fingers. “I... have a crush...on Gilbert...” Anne says slowly. Diana smiles widely and hugs Anne. “This is fantastic news,” She says and pulls away. “What? No, it’s not,” Anne says, her brows furrowed.“Don’t you see? Now you can tell Gilbert and he can finally tell you that he has a crush on you too!” Diana says. Anne shakes her head. “He won’t tell me that, because he doesn’t.”
“And he definitely won’t when I tell him this,” Someone says in the doorway. Both girls whip the heads to the person responsible, seeing a vengeful Josie Pye standing before them. Anne’s eyes grow wide, along with Diana’s. Without another word, Josie walks away, beginning to approach Gilbert. Diana and Anne rush out of the room and watch as Josie whispers in Gilbert’s ear. He turns to look at Anne, and her whole world falls apart. She turns away and runs back into the closet, locking it. “Anne! Oh, Anne, please come out!” Diana pleads, knocking on the door. “How can I when that wretched Josie Pye has just humiliated me in the absolute worst way possible,” Anne cries into her knees. The outside world fell quiet and Anne was alone with her sobs.
Suddenly, a quiet knock breaks the silence and Anne looks up from her knees. “Go away Diana, I don’t want to speak,” she says. “It’s Gilbert... can you please open the door for me?” Gilbert says softly. “You are the last person I would open that door for... before Josie Pye, of course,” Anne says. She could hear Gilbert’s laugh from outside the room. “Please Anne, I have something to tell you,” Gilbert says. After contemplating what she should do, Anne crawls across the floor and reaches up to unlock the door. She crawls back to the corner and watches Gilbert walk inside, closing the door behind him. He sits down close to Anne and watches her for a while.
“I’m sure you saw Josie tell me...” Gilbert says. “Oh, could you please not re-enact the worst moment of my life?” Anne says into her knees. “How could that be the worst moment in your life when you don’t even know the ending?” Gilbert says with a slight smile. Anne looks up at him. “You’re making less sense than ever,” She says. “Well, all you know is that Josie told me something about you that you didn’t want me to know, and now you’re here sitting with me on the floor of a supply closet,” Gilbert says, making Anne chuckle. “Yeah? And what happens next, all-knowing narrator?” Anne smiles.
“I think I’m first going to tell you that you’re wrong,” Gilbert says, his face growing more serious. “I know it’s never occurred to you, but I may also have... a crush on you too... and maybe I’ve been too afraid to tell you because just like you, I tried to deny it...” Gilbert says, staring into Anne’s eyes. Anne stared back, consuming each word he said. “But... what about Ruby?” Anne says. Gilbert smiles. “Ruby isn’t you, and you aren’t Ruby, that’s why,” he says. Anne smiles, and the two sit together smiling. Gilbert starts to inch closer, and the idea of it somehow does not repulse Anne. “I hope this doesn’t affect our competition in school,” Anne says. Gilbert laughs and shakes his head. “If I didn’t have a crush on you, I would have beaten you a long time ago,” he says. Anne laughs and smiles. “Me too...”
so here we are, Anne finally accepts her fate and tells herself she has a crush on the one and only Gilbert Blythe :) I hope you guys like this on just as much as my first one, which can be found by looking up sent via love with @danhearteyeshowell as the author!
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