"Do you know the first time I recognised I had fallen in love with you? It was only a few months after the slate I was walking by "The lake of shining water" and you were sitting on the shore. You had let your hair down so it was completely loose and you were sitting under a tree, well you thought you were alone you had a book in your hand but you were imaging something you had your eyes closed, I came across you quite by accident but you looked so beautiful and peaceful it was then I had my first urge to kiss you. I imagined my fingers through your hair pulling it away from your face instead of the wind." Taken from my story Gilbert of Redmond. Well what if he had acted a little rather than just watch. Please note in Gilbert of Richmond I said a few months, the memory was some time after the event and I'm writing this as if it was only one month or so after the event, it was so Gilbert could be her friend as long as possible.

It was a pleasant Octobers day quire warm out Gilbert decided to take a walk down by Barry ' s pond. Fresh air might do have m some good. He hadn't felt like quite like himself since Anne had brought that slate down on his head. Well she definitely had an impact on people! He had tried to say sorry but she hadn't listened. He had felt bad about it all this time... He didn't know why but..

His thoughts were interrupted by the vision of said girl sitting under a nearby tree looking towards the pond. Her hair was loose down her back her wide eyes shut. Only it wasn't a vision she was actually there and he was watching her! Something inside of him wanted to... kiss her? That couldn't be right... no girl has made me feel like THAT before... Maybe if he got close enough he could run his fingers through that beautiful red hair...Gilbert's weight shifted a little under his feet and snap a twig snapped under his foot, Anne's eyes opened and saw him standing there.

"Are you here to make further fun of my hair Mr Blythe?" Anne said haughtily. "Go ahead, I know what to expect."

Gilbert all of a sudden felt braver then he maybe should of. "actually I was thinking how beautiful you looked with your hair down like that."

She paused and was in shock for a moment. "what?" she asked.

He grinned and sat down next to her. "I told you your hair.. well not just your hair… I think you are beautiful." She seemed to have frozen. "Anne are you okay?" he asked.

"You think my hair is beautiful?" she asked.

"I wouldn't of said it if I didn't think it."

"Well by that logic you also think its like carrots."

"Fair enough, I deserved that. It doesn't mean I don't think you beautiful " He paused long enough for her to say

"No one has ever said my hair is beautiful." She snapped out her daydream "Oh why did it have to be you?!" she said annoyed with herself for liking it.

"Look Anne, I'm really sorry, I never meant to make fun of your hair, honest. Its been a month now, won't you ever forgive me? I just wanted to meet you. I wanted to tell you I am an only child and everyone else seemed to have brothers and sisters and although I know I have my parents so I can't imagine that pain… well maybe we could be friends and we could keep each other company."

She said nothing but stayed quiet.

He thought he had read her right, he stood up "okay, well if you don't want to be friends then I'm sorry because I think we would make swell friends and I don't know about you but I would love to have company and have someone to study with that understood…" he trailed off. He started to move away

"Gilbert." He heard from behind him. He turned and looked. "Do you mean it?"

"of course I do." He said quietly. She stood up and stood in front of him and offered her hand

"I'm willing to forgive if you mean it."

His mouth dropped as he gasped in delight "Oh Anne!" he said ignoring the hand and hugging straight on, his hand brushing the admired red hair, "we shall be the best of friends and I know it!" He let go realizing what he had just done. "Oh ermm I mean…" he stuttered

Anne coughed back a laugh "I'm going to have to keep an eye on you aren't I? You're awfully bold Mr Blythe and I don't mind telling you, winking at a strange girl then hugging a barely made friend."

"Well…" he started

But she cut in "I think we shall get along just fine." She quickly sat back down and started to braid her hair back, he stood and watched her do it. "What are you looking at now?" She asked.

"how do you know how to do it? I mean with your hair?"

"they did it at the orphanage and showed me. Except they yanked it back it hurt when they did it , at least when I learnt I could do it as gently as I liked." She said putting in a bow.

He thought it was unwise to press any further on the orphanage issue so changed the subject "What are you reading?" he asked sitting down.

"Oh you wouldn't like it, its called 'Lorna Doone' but I was imagining I was her, she has long dark hair and big dark eyes." She paused "wouldn't it be lovely to look like that?"

"Yes." He agreed "But no."

"They are two contradictory statements Mr Blythe, which one is it? it." She asked.

"What I mean is, while I'm sure Lorna Doone suits it perfectly I'd much rather be sitting next to Anne Shirley with re… I mean there's nothing wrong with the way you look."

"Others beg to differ." She said plainly. "Everyone who meets me first says something about my red hair, it would be nice just to blend in for once."

"Well that wouldn't do at all Anne! I may have said something about your hair first but the first thing I noticed about you were your eyes. I just wanted them to look at me." He said definitely. "Look I'm sorry, won't you come back to school now? I'm good company once you get to know me, Mr Phillips couldn't stop us from being top of the class that way, you and I could beat the rest of them I'm sure."

She fell silent on the subject unsure of what to say. He looked and saw her finger was marking a page near the end of the book. "Its one book I don't have though," he said changing the subject back to the book "may I borrow it after you? I can borrow you one of my books if you like then we can compare notes."

She smiled. "Oh I think I would like that, I've been trying to get Diana to compare but although I think she likes the stories she doesn't read the meaning. What book would you like me to read next?"

He smiled. 'oh this is going to be fun' "My Dad got me this book for my birthday The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by…"

"Mark Twain oh I've heard of it! Its brand new!" she finished. "You have it?"

"yes, it's a rather boysish kind of novel…"

"Lorna Doone is kind of girlish." She told him "If you don't mind reading mine I won't mind reading yours."

He smiled. "I think we have a deal Miss Shirley!" He exclaimed.

Diana came up behind them. "Gilbert!" She exclaimed looking on the scene Anne and Gilbert sitting under a tree together, were they friends?

"Oh erm,…" he quickly stood up "Hello Diana." He said all of a sudden very shy of the scene he'd been caught in.

"I…ermm." Diana started but looked to Anne.

"Its okay Diana, we've made friends. I think… maybe… we might like each other." She said hesitantly.

Gilbert smiled as he looked at Anne again. "Tell me when you are nearly finished your book Anne, we can swap when you are done." He smiled at Diana, "I'll be off then, Diana, Anne." He said walking away.

That was unexpected. Well his normal charm had certainly worked on Diana she was rendered completely speechless. But there was something more exciting about Anne, she wasn't afraid of his forwardness, or his charm (of which she seemed so completely unaware of) and something they definitely had in common was their love of books and learning. He had a feeling this was going to be the start of something wonderful.