Victoria's promise to her mother of staying at the front door to welcome people in was long gone when Anne arrived in the household.

A promise that Victoria did keep, was giving Anne one of Shakespeare's works. Victoria took her red-haired friend up to her room. Anne took one glance at the large interior before her mouth opened wide. "Your room is so beautiful!" Anne started as she turned around a full circle.

Victoria beamed at her friend. "Thank you, but I didn't bring you here just show you my room." Victoria walked towards the cabinet which faced the bed. She opened the doors and motioned for Anne to come next to her.

"You remember the promise that I made about Shakespeare?" Victoria said as she turned around slightly to face Anne. Anne's face instantly lit up brighter than the sun when she caught up on what Victoria was insinuating. "Wait, you were serious about that?" Anne asked with both disbelief and excitement evident in her voice. Victoria nodded her head, not trying to hide the ever-growing smile on her face.

"You are one of the most amazing and sweetest person I have ever met," Anne exclaimed as she hugged Victoria's side softly. Victoria hugged back and motioned towards all the books on the shelves. "Pick any book you want."

To say Anne took a long time to choose a book was an understatement. She took out every book and inspected thoroughly and even skimmed through a few pages of each book. But Victoria didn't seem to mind. She also did the very same, most of the time. Whenever her parents would take her to buy a new book, they would leave her in the store by herself while they ran a few of their errands. Benedict and Caroline knew their daughter very well and were always certain that it would take her half an hour, at least, to make up her mind.

"I think I'll take this one... The Winter's Tale. What is it about?" Anne asked as she clutched the book close to her chest.

"Well, it's a romantic comedy. So there's a king who begs his childhood friend, who's also a king, to extend his visit. He protests that he has been away from his kingdom for some time, but after his pregnant wife pleads with him, he agrees to stay longer. The other king becomes possessed with jealously and is convinced that the two were lovers, he orders his loyal retainer to poison the king. Instead, his retainer warns the one that he was supposed to kill off what is afoot, and the two men flee immediately. That's part of the gist really, I don't want to spoil it for you."

"I'll give it back to you as soon as I'm finished," Anne promised. "Take as long as you need. There's no need to rush. Now should we go down to the party?" Anne nodded her head and Victoria quickly gave out her arm for her to take. Anne linked arms with Victoria and the two made their way downstairs where a bunch of people were chatting lively.

"What are your favourite Shakespearean works?" Anne asked as the two walked in the parlour, that was when the two decided to let go of each other's arm. Victoria hesitated before answering. "I'm not sure, to say the truth. I like Romeo and Juliet quite a lot. A romantic love story with a tragic ending although it does seem a bit surreal. I understand getting a crush at first sight but not fall in love so bad that you would die for someone who you don't even know. Then there's Macbeth, I personally like it because it's a bit of a challenge to understand the entire content of the story but I do love the challenge."

Anne sighed contentedly. "I love how passionate you are. You're like me in that way which is why I think that I like you a lot. You relate to me, you're new here and you're different and we relate especially when it comes to our love of books."

Victoria grinned at her red-haired best friend. "You have such a way with words Anne. I envy that about you." Anne smiled back and the two friends walked to where the food was. "What should I have?" Anne mumbled mostly to herself as she looked at the many dishes.

Victoria pointed to a particular tray. "How about those scones? My mother and I made them this morning. They're delicious, I swear." Anne grabbed one of the scones and looked at the desert curiously before taking a bite.

The first bite was hesitant but Anne then swallowed it almost whole and then went to grab a few more. "These are amazing. Aren't you usually supposed to take them with tea?" Victoria shrugged. "You take them however you want." Anne took a bite out of the second one. "You are a great Baker." Anne complimented. "Well you can't give me all the glory, my mother did the most, I just aided her. To say the truth if I was left alone I would have probably burned the house down."

Anne laughed quietly to herself which made Victoria look at her in confusion. After a few seconds of laughing quietly to herself, she finally stopped. "I almost did that." Victoria looked at Anne with interest. "Really? Do tell." "Well, that's kind of an exaggeration. I didn't almost burn the house down.. but I burned dinner." Victoria laughed slightly at the story.

"You're one of a kind Anne, one of a kind," Victoria stated as she took a bite out of her scone.