xviii.

"Woah Eleanor, you're really good!" Ruby cheered as Eleanor spun in circles on her ice skates.

The girls were there at the frozen lake on a cold winter evening, watching the boys play hockey and skate around. But Eleanor decided to join them and skate, not just sit and gawk at them as they scored points with a makeshift puck.

"Thank you Ruby, I've had lots of practice." Eleanor grinned as she jumped and landed on a perfect spin.

The girls cheered as Eleanor bowed slightly, she felt two hands on her hips as she came back up.

"Hello beautiful, you showing off what talent my lovely lady has?" Gilbert grinned as Eleanor giggled and gently removed his hands from her waist.

"I was only skating Gilbert, nothing more." Eleanor grinned as she wiped off a bit of snow from his hair.

"Well why don't you come skate with me? I can't let the other boys watch you prancing around without me by your side." Gilbert smirked.

"Oh hush then and come along." Eleanor rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile as she grabbed Gilbert's hand.

The two laughed as they spun and danced on the ice, the girls cheered as the boys grumbled that Gilbert had left the game, making it uneven.

"Oh! I'll be right back Elle, just give me one second." Gilbert beamed as he scurried off the ice and over towards the woods.

Eleanor watched as two people emerged from the snowy trees, both dressed in red and blue gowns with beautiful  long braids in their hair.

"Woah...who are they?" Eleanor asked as she skated over to Anne who was just arriving.

"I don't know, but I want to find out. Wanna come?" Anne asked as she held out her hand.

Eleanor nodded before skating quickly over to the people and Gilbert, he was handing them a few coins as he spoke little words to the little girl. The taller man that Eleanor assumed was the girls father, handed Gilbert a beautiful hockey stick.

"Thank you! It's amazing." Gilbert beamed as he pretended to give it a swing.

Eleanor walked up behind him as she grabbed onto his arm for stability, her skates weren't great for normal snow wear.

"Who's this Gilbert?" Eleanor asked.

"These are the local Native American's from just beyond the woods. They've made me a hockey stick, isn't it great?" Gilbert grinned as he showed off the stick.

"Wow...this wood carving is gorgeous. Did you do this yourself?" Eleanor asked the tall man.

He glanced down confused at his daughter, the girl spoke in a foreign language that Eleanor didn't understand but he did. He turned back towards Eleanor before nodding and speaking in choppy English.

"I made, tribe carvings." the man nodded.

"Well it's lovely, is there any way I could order a bow with these carvings?" Eleanor asked as she dug out a few coins from her pocket.

"Would this be enough?" Eleanor asked.

The little girl nodded before accepting the money and handing it to her father, who nodded and slipped it into his pocket.

"Two days." he stated plainly.

"Great! I'll meet you back here in two days, thank you again." Eleanor smiled before giving the man a nice handshake.

"Hey! You!" Billy Andrews, the local bully, yelled as he came storming up here.

The two Native American's glanced up in his direction, glaring at him as he approached with a hostile look to his face.

"I want one of those, here." Billy tossed a few coins to the large man.

"I won't sell to you. Find another who will." the man boomed before turning and pulling his daughter with him.

"What? Why the hell not?" Billy grumbled.

"Maybe if you tried to be nice and ask nicely he would've made one for you." Eleanor mumbled.

"What was that Parks?" Billy snapped.

"You heard me Andrews, stop being a prick and maybe someone will listen to you." she snapped right back.

"Control your women Blythe." Billy grumbled before turning and stomping away.

"Why would I need to control her? She's perfectly capable of handling herself, as I can see." Gilbert rolled his eyes, which only made Billy more angry.

Eleanor blushed slightly as she squeezed Gilbert's arm, he smiled and gave her a small kiss to the cheek before turning and leading her back to the ice.

"Anne? Are you coming?" Eleanor asked.

"I'll catch up with you two, I want to go speak to them." Anne grinned as she raced after the Native American family.

Eleanor shrugged before turning and running back to the ice, Gilbert helped her on slowly as they spun once more before he went back to his game.

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"I present to you...a printing press!" Miss Stacey beamed as she pulled off a white sheet, revealing an old and beat up looking printing press.

The students stared in awe as they admired the slightly shiny machine infront of them, it was hard for the little town of Avonlea to get a printing press, much less a school in the small town.

"Does it really work?" Moody asked.

"Well of course it does! It just...needs a little help getting started. I'll be fixing this bad boy up in the next few weeks, and the pastor has allowed us to give out our newspaper before Sunday church!" Miss Stacey squealed.

Anne was right there with her, smiling and squealing as she and Diana jumped up and down.

"That's wonderful Miss Stacey, but how are you going to fix this thing? It looks like it's been out of printing for a few years now." Eleanor stated as she gently knocked on the machine, it gave a loud creak before sighing back into the same peaceful position.

"I'm glad you asked Eleanor, Matthew Cutherburt is allowing me to use his barn and tools for repairing this old thing! We'll have it printing in no time."

"Well I'm glad you figured it out, I hope it all goes well." Eleanor smiled, Miss Stacey gave her a bright smile before turning and resuming talking about the press.

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"Hello beautiful, today you get to spend the day with Auntie Marilla!" Eleanor smiled as she wiggled her fingers infront of Delphine, Mary and Bash's baby girl.

The couple had Delphine a little over a month ago and she had grown up so much already, she had short coils for hair that shined brightly with the oil's Mary used.

"Isn't she just the sweetest little girl?" Eleanor asked as she gently handed the baby to Marilla Cuthburt as the woman dried her hands off.

"Oh that she is, a beauty." Marilla nodded as she gently rocked the baby.

"Darling, are you ready for school?" Gilbert asked as he came walking into the foyer.

"I suppose, I truly don't wish to leave Delly though." Eleanor sighed as she placed a kiss to the babies forehead.

"I know Elle, but you must keep up with your studies. I can't have a wife who sits at home while I'm out "doctoring" things up." Gilbert winked as he handed her a satchel of lunch.

Marilla laughed at the two as they joked, she loved seeing two so in love at such a young age.

"Well...we'll be off then! Holler if you need anything Marilla, food's in the pantry." Eleanor waved to the two before turning and walking down the trail.

The two teenagers walked in silence as the snow crunched under their feet, the cold winter air stung their ears and noses as they pulled their jackets closer to their bodies.

"Are you cold?" Gilbert asked as a shiver ran up Eleanor's spine.

"No Gilbert, it's not like it's 30 degree's out here or anything." Eleanor smirked as Gilbert scoffed.

The cold feeling of water running down her back made her gasp, she spun around to see soft white snow dripping off Gilbert's hand as he grinned.

"Well you made it sound like you were quite warm, so I thought I might as well go ahead and warm you up." Gilbert smirked as he grabbed another handful of snow.

"Gilbert Blythe, don't you dare." Eleanor seethed as a smile formed on her lips.

"Whoops!" Gilbert yelled before lobbing the snowball towards her.

She yelped just as it hit her directly in the face, knocking her back and falling to the ground.

Gilbert's laughs echoed in the quiet forest as Eleanor was yelling at him, her face and hair now wet with freezing water as she playfully smacked his chest.

"Gilbert! I'm going to get pneumonia!" Eleanor whined as she wiped her face off on Gilbert's jacket, he laughed and helped her get the remaining snow from her red curls.

"Oh calm down would you? You're not going to get pneumonia from a little snowball fight." Gilbert chuckled as he grabbed Eleanor's hand and shoved it into his pocket, trying to warm it up as best he could.

"You say that now." Eleanor giggled as they turned back and started for the schoolhouse.

Most of the other piers were already there, Anne and Diana were giggling about something as the couple walked in.

"Hello Eleanor!" Anne greeted.

"Hi Anne, are you excited for your birthday tomorrow?" Eleanor asked as she gently slid her jacket off and hung it up neatly to dry.

"Oh yes! I'm so truly excited to be sixteen!" Anne squealed.

"Girls! Come look!" Ruby yelled.

Eleanor, Diana, and Anne all glanced at each other before turning and heading out of the schoolhouse and to the side of the building.

"Someone has revived the take notice board!" Josie smirked as she pointed towards the small wooden board.

Eleanor narrowed her eyes to read the little note, it was about how Billy walked Josie-Pie home yesterday.

"Awe great, the two bullies of the school are getting together. That'll be a happy marriage." Eleanor whispered to Anne, who snickered slightly.

"You're just jealous no one has taken notice of you, Eleanor." Josie scoffed.

"I dunno if you've forgotten or your just that dense, but I live with my boyfriend. In the same house, and the same room, and the same bed." Eleanor smirked as Josie scoffed.

"Well that's completely inappropriate." Josie rolled her eyes.

"Just admit that you're jealous that my boyfriend is better looking than Billy snot Andrews." Eleanor grinned as Josie let out a scream of frustration before turning and strutting back into the schoolhouse.

"You sure showed her!" Diana cheered.

"I hope she got what she was hoping for, attention." Eleanor grumbled as she flipped a curl from her face.

"Oh look! Here comes Gilbert now." Anne smiled as she waved to the boy.

Eleanor flipped around and smiled as Gilbert walked closer to the group, only to be a little surprised when he walked right past her and to the Take-notice board.

He gently pinned up a small piece of paper on the board, the three girls were quick to read the little note.

"Eleanor is the most beautiful girl in the schoolhouse."  Anne read aloud.

"Awe! Gilbert stop it." Eleanor blushed as she playfully shoved his shoulder.

He grinned before grabbing her hand and giving her a quick spin before bringing her down into a soft kiss.

"I love you." he whispered when the two stood back up.

"I love you more." Eleanor giggled as Gilbert grabbed her waist and spun her again.

The school bell rang and all of the children hurried into the building, Miss Stacey was busy at work setting up the groups project of the day.

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"Well done Diana, alright! Now who's next on the "Getting to Know you" list?" Miss Stacey called out as she ran her finger down a list of names.

"Eleanor Parks!" Miss Stacey called out.

Eleanor glanced up and gently cleared her throat before standing and walking to the middle of the classroom floor.

Most of the students were doing work or proof-reading someone else's articles, but some were telling about their families history.

"Well...I went along and researched my families blood line and found out we're some part Scottish. That should've been apparent from my hair...but I wasn't thinking correctly. We're part Scottish and the other part is a mixture of bloods, ranging from well known people to ordinary people like me." Eleanor started, trying to keep her focus on her paper infront of her instead of the stares from her peers.

"Did you find anything about your parents?" Miss Stacey asked as she checked off a few things from a clipboard.

"I uh...I don't associate with my parents anymore. But! I did find out that my great great great GREAT grandparents help in the discovery of New York." Eleanor grinned.

"Oh thats wonderful! And you were able to grow up in such a friendly atmosphere such as New York, that's so riveting!" Miss Stacey cheered.

"That was wonderful Eleanor, your life line sounds like a group of wondrous adventurers!" Anne clapped.

"I agree with Anne, that was amazing Eleanor." Gilbert winked.

Eleanor blushed slightly as she tucked a curl behind her ear, she quickly walked back to her seat beside Diana and sat down.

"You did amazing Elle, I wish my life was as cool as yours." Anne sighed.

"Thank you Anne, but I'm sure your life is just as magical as the rest of ours. I bet your parents were distant cousins of Queen Mary the 1st." Eleanor giggled, making the others laugh as well.

"We could only hope." Anne sighed.

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