AMYBELLA PUT ON HER BEST DRESS.
She parted her hair and decorated it with a bow, leaving a few strands out playfully so it didn't look too severe. Then she sighed and set off.
The bells rang and everyone gathered in the church for Prissy's wedding. Bella sat down next to Anne.

"Anne, you look beautiful!" She smiled. The redhead grinned. Times had passed. Her hair was now to the length of her shoulders and she had a confident grin on her face.

"Not as breathtaking as you Bella. Gilbert's been staring at you the whole time when you came in!" She giggled.
Amybella turned her head to see Gilbert, who was indeed looking at her and then got nudged in the side by Bash.
The people in the room all stood up as the doors opened and Prissy entered with her arm hooked to her father's. She walked elegantly past them, towards the altar, a bridal veil covering her face.
Amybella looked at her before her eyes met his.
Green on brown. Gilbert looked at her and smiled

Bella returned it before she averted her eyes, looking back at Prissy and then at Mr. Phillips, who she looked at in disgust.
Prissy deserved way better than an old and narrow minded teacher.
They arrived at the front and Mr. Phillips threw her veil over her head. Amybella wrinkled her nose in disgust. Prissy smiled happily at her soon to be husband, but Mr. Phillips gaze remained cold. The bride then looked around.

"Prissy." Mr. Phillips called her back. She looked at him, then suddenly dropped her bouquet and ran out.

"Prissy?" Bella heard Anne say. The people in the room jumped to their feet and a murmur went through the crowd.
Bella nodded to Anne and then Diana, before they followed Prissy and ran after her, out of the church.
Out in the snow, they caught up with the blonde. She was kneeling in the snow, breathing heavily, before she suddenly laughed. Prissy stood up and jumped around like a child. But in Bella's perspective, she still was a child. All of them were.

They were all still so incredibly young, while the world was wide. Why worry about a stupid boy?
A wild snowball fight ensued and we enjoyed the moment.

•

"Amy." The girl heard someone call behind her as she arrived at her house. She turned around to see Gilbert.
The boy caught up with her and was now standing before her.
He looked at the girl and had to catch his breath.

"I wanted to apologize." Gilbert said. He shook his head.

"For what?" Bella asked, confused.

"For leaving. I visited your parents grave yesterday a- and I noticed that I never thought about how hard this all must have been for you." Gilbert said and Bella tilted her head. She felt her throat close, as if someone was chocking her. She hated talking about her parents.

"When my father's last words to me were that I should remember, the world is wide. And so when he died, all I wanted to do was to get out of that house and this place." He explained and Bella searched his thoughts in his brown eyes. She didn't quite know what it was that he wanted to tell her.

"I'm not blaming you for leaving Gilbert." She said, defensively and Gilbert's eyes widen.

"No-.." he said but Vella was already talking.

"I just don't think it's okay to not even tell the people around you, where you're going and when you're coming back or if you're even coming back. Especially those who care about yo-.. about such things." She said, her face strict.

"I know I know. That's what I wanted to say." He sighed and then took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry for leaving you here all alone. You couldn't leave like I did, you were trapped in this house and you had to deal with it all alone. I just-.." he broke off and looked at his shoes. Then he looked back up to her.

"I just wished I would have been here. I got home as soon as Anne told me but then these last weeks I got distracted. I was so consumed by the worry of my future that I forgot about you or Bash. I was an idiot!" he explained and then fell into silence.
Amybella let his words sink in and then nodded.

"Yes you were, actually." She said shrugging.

"But it's fine. I'm over it." She said and Gilbert shook his head.

"Amy.." he said and stepped closer.

"I'm fine. I have Rachel and Anne and the other girl from school. And I have you and Bash right? I'm gonna be alright." She nodded.

"So we're still friends?" Gilbert asked and  Amybella let out a quiet laugh under her breath.

"Yes, we are." She said, with a feeling of dissatisfaction. Although she couldn't quite describe why she felt it.

"I mean in case you're not already tired of me." Gilbert shrugged his shoulders.

"We'll see about that! Have a good day Blythe." She smiled, before she went into the house and closed the door.

•

"And Mother was talking to Mrs. Pye! And she said the PMSC felt that Mrs. Stacy is probably unsuitable." Josie Pye said about the new teacher which they would meet today.
After Mr. Phillips was being left standing on the altar, he went away and a new teacher had to educate Amybella and her classmates.

"But she rides a motorbike!" Anne almost shouted with excitement for their new teacher.

"And she wears pants, we should try that too." Amybella said,shrugging her shoulders.
As a reaction she caught the concerned looks, the bother girls where giving her.

"Bella!" Diana hissed.

"It was a joke!" Amybella said smiling and rolling her eyes. Though the really thought those pants suited the woman perfectly.

"Mrs. Stacy seems modern and thrilling." Anne smiled. Her excitement was almost palpable. We walked in the door and hung up our coats.

"I heard she's a spinster!" Tillie commented.

"I heard she's from the mainland," Ruby told them.

"Why would an unmarried woman from the big city come here?" Josie asked suspiciously and the other girls shrugged.

"Don't talk so disparagingly about her!" Bella told the girl and Josie rolling her eyes.

"There's a scandal somewhere you'll see." She said in response, walking past them into the classroom and they followed her.

"Mother hated Mrs. Stacy on sight." the blonde girl said.

"I think your mother hates everyone who isn't like her." Bella poked a little and caught a nasty look from Josie.

"So did mine. Here's a recipe for disaster. Show up an hour late.." said Prissy.

"Dressed like a man." Jane added and laughed.

"...To tea with the Progressive Mothers. She may as well have hung a noose around her neck."

"Don't disparage her, when you don't even know her. I think she sounds spectacular." Anne intervened.

"I'm going to help pave the way for Miss Stacy. I know just how it is to be new and judged harshly." she said to Diana and Bella.
Bella put a hand on her shoulder and nodded in approval before she looked at Gilbert, who was staring at his books as usual. She thought about his words, a few days ago. They had struck something in her, something vulnerable and she didn't like the feeling of that.

Billy Andrew's then entered the classroom, with a rifle and everyone turned to him.

"Put the gun down, are you mad?!" Bella said in horror.

"The fox is gonna be dead meat. I think I'll make it into a hat!" Billy said with a proud grin.

"Fox? What fox?!" Anne asked concerned.

"The one with the dark tail that's been stealing chickens." Moody explained and Bella remembered, Anne telling her about a beautiful fox she met in the forest, when she sat in the hut of their story telling club.

"Well there's no fox here, so how about you put the gun away. I'd like to live to meet the new teacher." Gilbert finally gave them his attention.
Then the door opened.

A woman with a lot of luggage came stumbling in and a globe fell out of her bag. It rolled across the floor, right in front of Billy's boots.

"I just laid the world at your feet, didn't I?" The woman said with a big smile and Bella heard Anne gasp next to her.

"Good morning everyone!" She then called out and came in. Billy handed the globe back to her.

"Here you go little lady." he said.

He was ridiculous. Bella thought.

"My name is Mrs. Stacy. Please take the gun outside. Guns don't belong in the classroom." She said strictly and Billy did as she told. She then walked to the front desk, while she commented on the classroom.

"Well, let's get to know each other. Please stand up." The students stood up as Mrs. Stacy took off her jacket.

"She's not wearing a corset." Josie whispered behind Bella.

"Oh my goodness," Tillie expressed, seriously concerned.

"Move the tables aside and sit on the floor." the blonde woman said and the students did as she said, moving the tables aside.

"On the floor?!" Josie asked in horror.

"Afraid to ruin your pretty dress Josie?" Bella pursed her lips to provoke her. Josie scoffed.
They all sat down in a circle.

"You say your name and two words that represent you, using the first letters of your given name and surname. I begin. Muriel Stacy.
Mischievous. Scholastic." The woman explained and Bella felt herself getting nervous.
She didn't know what to say about herself and even if she did, she didn't have enough vocabulary to find a word with an 'A' and 'M' to describe her.
She hated talking in front of people.

"Okay, we'll start with Ruby Gillis." Mrs Stacy read from a list, which killed Amybella's hopes of maybe being left out.
Ruby stood up.

"Romantic.. Girl?" she looked at Gilbert and smiled.

"Well done." Mrs. Stacy said, looking at her list again.

"Ruby has a crush on-.." Anne wanted to say to the teacher.

"Gilbert Blythe." Mrs Stacy called and Amybella looked at Anne in confusion.
Gilbert stood up.

"Uhm.. Global..." He said, staring into the air.

"He's traveled the world for a year." Anne whispered towards Mrs, Stacy again.

"..and bookish." Gilbert sat down again.

"Everyone thinks he's the smartest student."
Mrs. Stacy skillfully ignored Anne.

"Priscilla Andrews." She called

"But I won the spelling bee." Bella rolled her eyes at Anne's behavior and tried to meet her eyes to tell her to stop.
When Anne said, she wanted to help Miss Stacy, Bella didn't think she would load the woman with Gossip and stories about others.

"Pragmatic. Actualized." Prissy said and sat down again.

"She left our former teacher at the altar."

"Anne!" Amybella hissed out warningly but Anne seemed not to hear her.

"Amybella McCurthy." Miss Stacy called Bella up and the girl felt her heart begin to race.
She slowly stood up.

"Uhm.. a-actualized-.." she simply used Prissy's word because she couldn't think of anything better.

"We already had that word, would you mind taking another?" Miss Stacy asked and Bella felt ashamed. She felt all the looks of the other students.

"Alone.." she said, thinking it was the worst word she could have ever chosen.

"And mindful." She said and sat back down, shaking her head.

"Her parents sadly passed away." Amybella looked at Anne in shock.
Of course Anne wanted to update Mrs Stacy about the students and the death of Bella's parents was a thing everyone knew.
Even though the woman would have found out sooner or later, why did Anne have to tell her this sensitive information in this exact moment?

"Perhaps you'd like to share your comment with the class?" Mrs. Stacy said sternly, now giving Anne her attention.

"Oh, well, it's no secret that Bella is an orphan just like me." Anne said and smiled at the blonde girl. However, her grin disappeared when she saw Bella's face.
The girls eyes filled with tears as she looked at Gilbert, who was equally shocked by the situation.
The girl felt something stinging in her chest, her stomach tightening and her knees getting weak.
A strange sound rang out in her ears and her surroundings started spinning.

She stood up, ran out of the room, grabbed her coat and was out the door.
She kept running, ignoring the shouts behind her as she ran into the fields, lost her bearings and after what felt like miles, finally stopped. The wind ruffled her hair and she sank to her knees.

She felt tears run down her cheeks and started sobbing.
It was strange to Bella to hear Anne say
'orphan'.
It was a word that was rather deterrent for her.
She had never realized, that she was just like Anne now.
She hadn't realized that she had no family left.
That she was all alone.
Amybella found her head on the floor.
Eventually the tears stopped.

"You know, sometimes feelings are like a landslide. All of a sudden it comes crashing down on you and you can't stop it."

That's what her father had said to her when her aunt died and her mother had cried out of nowhere a few months later, even though she was fine before.

One didn't have to grieve immediately after they lost a beloved. Sometimes it takes a while to realize it. And then it comes out of nowhere.
Like a landslide.

Author's note:
I was kinda sad when I saw how people were hating on Anne in this scene. I think after all Anne has a hard time to socially connect with people, because no one ever taught her how to do it. She never had friends before, it's a thing people often forget.
Of course it is really uncomfortable to watch this scene but after all, Anne is still a really broken girl and she makes mistakes.
Never forget compassion guys!

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