xxi.

"Eleanor? Are you almost ready to go?" Alvin asked as he grabbed a slice of bacon from her plate.

She nodded slowly before placing her fork down from pushing her breakfast potatoes around on her plate. Her brother stared at her with worry as she scraped her food off into the compost pile and sat her plate in the sink.

"You can do those dishes when you arrive back home." Laura stated as she gently wiped Harvey's mouth, Eleanor simple nodded.

Laura sighed before standing up and bringing her daughter in for a hug, Eleanor closed her eyes and tried to blink away the tears that were brimming her eyes.

"I know it's hard without him Eleanor but you have to move on, he hurt you didn't he?" Laura asked as she gently smoothed down her daughters hair.

"Yes...he really hurt me. But maybe I should of let him explain-"

"No! He went out to tea with that girl without asking if it was okay with you, he knew you wouldn't have approved so he hid it from you. Anything you have to hide from your partner is considered cheating." Laura stated as she pulled away from the hug.

"She's right you know." Alvin sighed from the doorway he was leaning on.

"He went to tea with another girl, I don't know the whole story and nor do I care...but even I know that's a bad idea." Alvin shrugged.

"I suppose your both right...I'll try to move on." Eleanor sighed and grabbed her books from the table.

"Good girl, now off you go!" Laura smiled and sent both of her children off with a smile.

Alvin smiled before grabbing Eleanor's jacket and tossing it towards her, she caught it with a grumble before slipping it on.

The two headed towards the school house in silence before Eleanor spoke up.

"I still can't believe you haven't left for college yet." the corner of her lips upturned slightly.

"Yeah well...I wanted to take a year off to just relax while I'm still young." Alvin shrugged.

"Yeah I understand...schools kind of boring. But have you already decided what colleges your going to be looking for? I'll be leaving for college this year as well." Eleanor grinned as Alvin rolled his eyes.

"I haven't yet no...I'm pretty happy just being Miss Stacey's partner." Alvin smirked.

"Ew! When you say it like that...it makes it sound like you two are dating." Eleanor giggled.

"Gross Elle! She's like 40!" Alving gagged, making Eleanor burst into a fit of laughter.

(Time skip:20 minutes)

"Eleanor! Over here!" Anne waved the girl over.

Eleanor turned and handed her brother her jar of juice to put in the river before running over to her friends.

"Hello." she greeted her friends as they all said hi back.

The group walked into the school house together and got ready for a fresh day of learning.

As much as Eleanor hated to admit it, she glanced around the room and was surprised to see Gilbert no where in sight.

"If your looking for Gilbert, he won't be here today." Anne sighed.

"Why not? Not that I care or anything..." Eleanor pouted.

"Haven't you heard? Mary came down with an awful case of Sepsis." Anne sniffled slightly.

"Is it curable?" Eleanor asked as she had already jumped up from her seat.

"I'm afraid not, sepsis is an awful disease that comes from open wounds that get infected." Diana sighed.

"I-I have to go...I'll be back before lunch." Eleanor stated as she left the school room and grabbed her coat.

"Wait! Where are you going? Class is about to start!" Anne called out.

But Eleanor had already started a sprint towards Gilbert's house.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Gilbert! Bash! Mary! Open up!" Eleanor yelled as she banged on the door.

A very tired looking Bash opened the door, he rubbed his eyes before almost collapsing in Eleanor's arms.

"Woah! Bash, what's wrong with you?" Eleanor asked as she helped him over to the kitchen table to sit down.

"W-What am I going to do without her Eleanor? I can't do this alone." his voice was muffled as he rested his head in his hands.

"Bash I-"

"Eleanor?"

The girl looked up from where she was standing infront of Bash, she locked eyes with Gilberts sad and sunken in ones. She felt her teeth bite onto her lip as she tried to hold back all of the things she felt like saying to him. But she simply shook her head and continued rubbing Bash's back as he took a few deep breaths.

"I'm not here to see you Gilbert, I'm here to see Mary." Eleanor sighed before trudging past him towards Mary's room.

"She's asleep." Gilbert stated as he grabbed her wrist.

She spun around and stared at him as his hand slowly slid from her wrist to her palm, she watched his every move before he finally let go.

"No...I'm awake Gilbert. Who is it?" Mary's tired voice asked.

Eleanor rushed down the hall and almost let out a sob as her eyes fell upon a very sick and tired Mary. The woman perked up slightly as she waved Eleanor over, the girl instantly walked over and pulled her in for a very gentle hug before laying her back down.

"Oh Mary...this is all my fault." Eleanor bit her finger as she tried not to cry.

"How on Earth would this be your fault?" Mary chuckled before coughing a few times.

"B-Because I made Elijah get all angry...he hit the can and it fell...a-and you cut yourself-" Eleanor was now biting her finger so hard to stop from crying that she was drawing blood.

"Calm down my child I'm alright...I already feel slightly better than yesterday." Mary smiled.

Mary waved Eleanor over, the girl instantly came over and sat on the edge of the bed as Mary rubbed her hand and hummed.

"I'm happy you're here now though...we've all missed you so much. Especially since these two cannot cook for the life of them." Mary nudged her head towards the door where Gilbert and Bash were standing.

"I can only guess." Eleanor giggled slightly as the two boys chuckled a sad chuckle.

"I've ate nothing but bland soup and oatmeal for the past three days." Mary laughed.

Eleanor smiled as she glanced towards the two boys who were blushing a bright red, they both looked embarrassed as Mary went on and on about how bad their food is.

"How about I make you something for breakfast, it's still early." Eleanor asked as she grabbed Mary's hand.

"That would be very kind of you, I'm not sure how much I can eat but anything would be appreciated." Mary smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind Eleanor's ear.

"I'll get right on it." Eleanor smiled before getting up to go to the kitchen, but not before playing with Delphine for a moment.

"Excuse me." she muttered to Gilbert as she slipped past him.

She could feel his presence behind her all the way to the kitchen and while she was grabbing ingredients to make pancakes.

"Can I help you with something?" she growled as she cracked some eggs into a bowl.

"Can we talk? Please?" Gilbert asked as he sat down against the table.

"What's there to talk about?"

The sizzling of the butter in the pan was all one could hear as Gilbert let out a deep sigh.

"You know what I'm talking about Eleanor, don't play coy with me." he grumbled.

"Then talk." she snapped.

"Fine! Why won't you just listen to me! I went to tea with her because she asked, nothing happened and it was between two friends! Nothing is happening between me and Winifred!" Gilbert yelled as he slammed his hand on the table.

"Don't you remember that day? That dreadful day when you told Moody "Winifred has the best shape of any woman in Charlottetown?" Eleanor yelled back.

Gilbert's face grew red as he rolled his eyes, that only made Eleanor more mad as she turned back around and tried to focus on cooking.

"So what if I said she had a good shape, most women have good shapes! But I never said I liked hers more than yours! You're over reacting!"

"I'm the one over reacting? Really Gilbert? Do you not hear how idiotic and stupid you sound right now?" she yelled as she flopped a few pancakes onto a plate before throwing blueberries and syrup on top.

"I'm the one who sounds idiotic? You can't even get over your own self to know what I'm talking about!"

"I know you're talking about a girl other than me, a girl you went to tea with, a girl you complimented on her figure, and a girl you decided to keep from me. You couldn't even man up and tell me you went out to tea with another girl, what would've happened if I hadn't have found that flower hm? You would've never told me right?"

Gilbert grew silent as he glanced towards the floor, his fist balling slightly as he grew more and more agitated.

"I still can't believe that you don't understand where I'm coming from, this only proves you never understood me."

"I can't understand you! You never tell me anything! You try to be so mysterious when really you're just acting like a spoiled rich bitch! You're just like your father! Heartless!"

The clinking sound of a fork hitting the ground rang through the house.

Eleanor's eyes had grown wide and angry as she stared at the shocked look on Gilbert's face.

"E-Eleanor I didn't mean it-"

She raised her hand as he instantly clamped his mouth shut, a laugh bubbled up from her chest as Gilbert watched with confusion.

SLAP.

Gilbert held his face as a stinging sensation grew onto his cheek, he watched as Eleanor lowered her hand back down. Her face set in stone with a furious expression.

"You don't have the right to compare me to that man." she hissed before grabbing her jacket and walking towards the door.

"Eleanor wait-"

"Save it. This is over." she spat without looking back.

Bash and Mary sat in silence as they had just heard everything that happened, then came the slam of the front door.

"I really screwed up this time." Gilbert sighed as he sat down onto the bench.

"Oh yes you have." Bash grumbled before grabbing the plate of pancakes and bringing them to Mary.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------