Part 2 of "In The Woods When First We Met"

199. As Things Begin to Settle

But Billy was nowhere to be seen, and Jane and Prissy were talking by themselves at Prissy's desk. That's good, Anne thought, feeling better about the day. No Billy, and no baby. Just as it should be. Things are going to turn out all right, after all.

Anne breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Gilbert wasn't there yet. She sat down with Diana and talked as fast as she possibly could, to get all her thoughts in before the bell rang.

Gilbert slipped in only seconds later, but Anne tried not to notice him. When he finally managed to catch her eye, Anne gave him only a polite nod.

Gilbert's heart sank. What could he do? The only thing to do, he thought sadly, was to give her space. He opened his notebook and reviewed his notes from the previous day, feeling very lonely.

As Mr. Phillips called the class to attention, Anne reluctantly stopped talking to Diana and got out her work.

She was dying to tell Diana that she no longer had to worry about having a baby, but she didn't want to tell her where anyone else would hear.

...Of course her baby problems were no secret, but Anne would rather any further news on the subject be handled at her discretion, rather than being spread around through rumors.

But she listened to the morning's lesson on grammar with her hands on her stomach, feeling very happy to know that a bowl of oatmeal was all that was in it.

At lunch time, she was about to tell the girls her non-baby news , when suddenly she thought of Ruby. Oh, no, she thought- what if Ruby wants Gilbert back now? The only reason she stopped being angry at me for 'stealing' him was because she thought he was doing such a noble thing, saving me from becoming an unwed mother! If there's no need for him to be with me, she'll want him back! ...And I don't care if she wants him romantically, because I certainly won't be with him romantically...but he likes me. She's going to be angry with me if she realizes Gilbert really loves me!

She stuffed her sandwich in her mouth to keep herself from telling her non-baby news.

Wait- Diana said Ruby might like Moody, now. That's it- I'll wait until I know for sure that she's dead gone on Moody, and then I'll break the news. She won't care about Gilbert one way or another if she's decided she wants Moody to swoon over.

The girls noticed Anne seemed to be in a much lighter mood than she had been yesterday, and they had a good lunch together. Anne looked around for Josie and found she was eating with an older girl. She felt strange, knowing that the other girls in Diana's clique were rallying around her, and moving away from Josie.

When school was over, Matthew and Marilla were already there waiting. Anne hugged Diana goodbye, and Ruby and Tillie, too- but Jane hung back and acted shy.

Gilbert started to walk with Anne to the Cuthbert's buggy, but then hesitated. "Anne...if you want me to come over, still..."

Anne shook her head. "I'll be busy with my schoolwork," she told him.

Gilbert just nodded, but all he could think of was, can't we work on it together?

He sadly watched the Cuthbert's buggy drive away.

The girls came up behind him.

"It's almost going to be too bad if there's no baby," Diana said slyly, "Because then you won't have any excuse to marry her."

Gilbert turned around in surprise. "Diana!"

"Well, Gilbert, you..." she broke off laughing, with Ruby laughing too.