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chapter twelve

|cole mackenzie|

┕━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━┙

lancelot, the chief of knights: 'and with what face, after my pretext made, shall i appear, o queen, at camelot, i before a king who honors his word, as if the word..." mister phillips, the teacher in schoolhouse, narrate in such a bored tone.

poor poem, it deserved better. millie thought to herself. she was sitting next to prissy andrews, who is the older sister of billy andrews, the bully and her newfound friend, jane andrews. prissy andrews was about her age, sixteen. and has an intimate relationship with mister phillips, according to anne and diana. she thinks that relationship between prissy and mister phillips was unsettling.

"i think the entire poem is shameful. they should be tarred and feathered," josie pye immediately intterupts.

"josie--" mister phillips began as josie pye interrupted him, again.

"guinevere is married to the king, not lancelot," she said as she rolled her eyes.

"oh, mister phillips, can't you skip to the part where elaine's pure and true love turns most tragical?" anne requested excitedly.

"no. do not interrupt me again," mister phillips sternly said as he walked back towards the school board.

millie rolled her eyes, it wasn't anne the one who interrupts the teacher, it was the mean josie pye. she wants to defend her sister but she knew that it will make things messy, so she keeps her mouth shut.

she saw her friend cole was sketching and billy andrews knocked cole's ink using a piece of branch. and of course, once again, mister phillips' lesson was interrupted.

"cole? what have you got there?" mister phillips questioned the boy, clearly annoyed by interrupting his boring lesson.

the boy didn't answered so he yelled his name, "cole!"

"my apologies, mister phillips. i'll clean it up," cole quietly apologized.

millie stood up to defend her friend, "sir, with all due respect, billy andrews knocked his ink."

billy andrews just smirk smugly at the girl, he knew that the teacher didn't punish him. mister phillips glared at the new girl as he spoke up, "hm. you're shirley's sister. the orphan, right?"

the class bursted into a laughter, except anne, diana, jane, ruby, cole, and prissy. millie just looked down in embarrasment, she didn't expect that a teacher could act like that.

"are you doodling... while i'm tirelessly dedicating my life to your education? blackboard! now!" mister phillips said to cole as the poor boy bent down to pick his stuff.

"now!" mister phillips yelled making cole jump and make his way toward the board, leaving his stuff behind. millie, who was still standing, was the one who picked the things for her friend.

millie sadly sighed as cole's beautiful drawing was spilled by an ink all over the page. after she's done putting cole's stuff in the boy's seat, she sat down on her designated seat. mister phillips commands cole to write something on the board.

"back to your readers!" the teacher yelled as they all focus on their own readers.

"you should've stopped them from getting on that steamship, anne. if gilbert and ben falls overboard and drowns, it'll all be your fault." ruby said to anne as they all sat in the corner of the room eating their lunch.

"they'd come home soon enough if they knew there was gold on his farm," josie piped in.

"are they that very 'full package' to worry about?" millie asked.

"of course, millie! gilbert is my future husband, and ben will be my brother-in-law. i need to make sure that they are in good shape," ruby squeals as millie just laughed at her.

"then, if they come home, you can't talk to either of them. ruby has dibs on gilbert, she likes him for four years," josie nastily said to the girl.

millie raised her both hands to surrender, "alright. alright. i won't."

"better keep your words," josie said.

"anne is writing him a letter, aren't you, anne?" ruby asked at anne, who was looking at cole, who are alone and sitting by himself.

"he looks so awfully lonely," anne commented.

"i think he's more sad and handsome than lonely," josie said.

"josie's dead gone over cole," jane teased josie.

"i am not. i'm simply observant," josie reasoned.

"excuse me," millie said as she stood up and walked towards cole.

"hello cole," millie greeted as she sat next to cole. "i want to eat lunch with you, may i?"

"oh, hi millie, of course." cole said as he give the girl a soft smile.

"your drawing was exquisite. it brought camelot to life. and plus, billy andrews is a barbarian," anne said as she and diana are standing up in front of millie and cole.

"i have strawberry tarts to share. may we join you?" diana asked.

cole and millie nodded, "my, of course!" the girls said as she let out a small chuckle while anne and diana sat down.

"aren't you girls coming over?" diana called to the girls. ruby stood up silently and walked towards anne and diana.

"diana has strawberry tarts, besides, millie is there too," jane said as stood up and walked over millie and sat down next to her.

"sorry, josie, but strawberry's my favorite," tillie said and, all they knew they are having a rather wonderful lunch.