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impatiently sat at the desk, her chin resting on her palm, and her foot tapping the ground. Her mother hand held her piece of chalk, which was hovering ever so slightly over her slate. Many thoughts passed through her mind as she tried to spell the word ravishing, while a student stood in the front of the room spelling the word is not very neat cursive.

"Spell "Dreadful"

This snapped Anastasia out of her dreamy state, as her eye snapped up to the board, a new body residing it. She quickly noticed that the figure was Moody. She hadn't noticed him at all today, and she tilted her head and his fingers twisted over the board.

"Like your handwriting." The entire class chuckled at his statement, but Anastasia just smiled. She found laughing at little thing like that quite rude, even though it was also rude to smile. She just felt out of place not acknowledging Mr.Phillips comment. She was now busy staring at the word forming on the board, and letting out a quiet gasp as he forgot the letter "A".

"Moody, it has an "A" in it, right after the "E", but the "A" is silent," Anne said, her body towering over Anastasia's sitting form. She tried to get Anne's attention, to get her to sit down. But she wouldn't notice her.

"Yes, the "A" is silent, just as you should be," Anastasia shook her head, "You're the, um, orphan, yes?"

"My name is Anne Shirley Cuthbert and please be sure to spell Anne with and," Anne responded to Mr.Phillips rather rude comment. It's not really rude, Anastasia, you just took it differently then someone else would, Anastasia scolded herself in her mind.

"Did I call on you?"

"You-you just asked me a question." Anne stuttered, and Anastasia tried to process the moment in her head, her eyelids blinking rather quickly.

"Did I call on you?" he repeated, looking her straight in the eyes.

"No." Anne croaked out.

"Then sit down." Everyone in the room chuckled as Anne's body fell down into her chair.

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had finally arrived, and Anastasia sat at her spot in the circle of her friends. She was lost in her own thoughts, not hearing half of the conversation the others were having. All she heard was the occasional giggle and a response from one of the other girls. After a while, Anastasia got a bit bored being lost in her own thoughts, so she decided to listen in on the conversation.

"To this day, I don't know what to make of it. There were times I heard laughing, and it sounded like fun, but, there were times I was sure he was murdering her!" At Anne's part of the story, Anastasia heard, her face drained of color, only a tinge of red left on her cheeks.

"Either way, it sure mad Mrs. Hammod mad. And the next morning, more often then not, she would take after me with a wooden spoon." Anastasia breathing hitched, and her piece of bread hit the floor. She stared at Anne in horror, and Ruby noticed, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. Ruby was the only one she told about what she had gone through.

He was a mess of a man, he never showed up for work, and Anastasia's family never had enough money to buy the delicacies they used to be able to buy. He was a horrid man, from what her mother had told her. he had left when the girl was very young, her memories of him all gone. She hadn't known why Anne's story triggered the strange feeling inside of her, it just did.

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next day had finally arrived, and Anastasia had found herself sitting her table, her bread sitting on her plate uselessly. She decided to pick it up, noting her mother was absent from the table. She was probably at her work already, as she had told her, I need to keep this family stable, so get used to me not being here.

A knock on the door sent her body to flinch slightly, the loud noise echoed through the kitchen. She groaned, rubbing her eyes ever so slightly. She had already gotten herself ready, yet a tiredness hung over her head like a dark, ominous cloud.

She reached to open the door, smiling as she noticed the figure standing before her. She swung the door opening, revealing her best friend. She giggled, wrapping her arms around Gilbert's body. He smiled into her hair, and Anastasia pulled away.

"Oh my goodness-I'm so glad you're back!" she exclaimed, grabbing her books from of the porch and walking down the creaky steps, the dusty dirt billowing up a bit as her feet reached the ground.

"It's very lovely to be back." He replied, glancing down at his rather short friend. They continued their walk, exchanging things they did over their break. Until they reached a certain point. A taller figure seemed to be towering over a smaller one. Anne. Anastasia's brows furrowed slightly, her pace quickening to match Gilbert's.

"Hey, Billy!" Gilbert exclaimed, approaching the two. Anastasia stood beside him, smiling at the girl that stood across from her, "How's it going?"

"Hey, Gilbert," Billy responded, worry in his voice.

"Man, it's-it's, um, it's good to be back," Gilbert commented, earning a snort from Anastasia, and a short glare from Billy, causing her to roll her eyes at him.

"Uh- Yeah, Yeah welcome back."

"Yeah, it's good to see you, buddy. So, you guys, uh, playing a game or something, right?" Gilbert responded, earning a big smile from Anastasia as Gilbert looked at her, "Looks fun, but we should probably get to school, eh?"

"Hate to be tardy, Mr.Phillips sure gets his dander up about that."

"Yeah, I was just about to get going." Billy said, "See you there."

Billy walked away, and Gilbert turned to look at Anne.

"You all right there, Miss?" Gilbert asked her, and Anne bent down to grab her books from the ground.

"School-" She started, Gilbert uttered your welcome, as she scurried away from the two friends. Gilbert looked down at his friend who was staring the ginger in despair,

"Need anything else? Any dragons around here need slaying?" Anastasia rolled her eyes, and hurried past him, attempting to catch up to Anne.

"No! Thank you!" Anne yelled, and Anastasia sighed, realizing she was not going to be able to catch up with her friend.

"Who are you?" Gilbert yelled back.

"Hey who are y-" Gilbert was cut off by a sharp pain in his left arm, where Anastasia had punched him slightly. She shook her head, glaring at him lightly.

"If she doesn't want to tell you who she is, she doesn't have to. Don't go chasing after her about it." Anastasia sighed through gritted teeth.

But much to Anastasia dismay, he kept asking her, all the way to the schoolhouse. She begrudgingly followed after them, her glares loosening up. Today would be quite a long day.

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