⇎CHAPTER EIGHT

||cool girl||

" ice cold, i roll my eyes at you boy "

***

IT WAS FOUR days after Olivia went off on Gilbert and the teacher and she refused to go back to school after the incident. Anne and Jerry had tried to persuade her but they had no luck.

They had only been in Avonlea for a little over a week and she had already broken her promise to not cause trouble for her family. It's not like she meant to get into all of this trouble, no kid ever does but it was like she was a beacon for it. Even at her old schools, she would never pick the fight. 

Her father used to tell her, "Be smart and choose your battles. You don't have to get into a fight when it's not needed," and Olivia really took that to heart. Sure, Charles and she never got to spend much time together and bond because he was always working, but she still respected and loved him. 

In the other towns her family lived in, Olivia never had trouble with teachers. On the contrary in fact. They absolutely loved her. She was always energetic and brought life and color to their lives. That's why it confused her, what was so different this year that made her teacher hate her? She never did anything to Mr. Phillips, at least nothing that she could think of. To be fair, she never had time to properly introduce herself to him. But that surely couldn't be the reason why he disliked her so much.

Heck, she didn't even truly understand why Josie hated her either. Sure Ruby had a reason to be threatened. I mean, what girl isn't jealous when the guy you like is talking to someone else? But Josie doesn't even like Gilbert and she also doesn't seem like the type of friend to be loyal so what was she really playing at?

Currently, the girl was sitting in the barn that is in her backyard, picking at a piece of straw while she sits on a bale of hay. Letting out a sigh, she flops onto her back and doesn't even acknowledge the sharp jabbing in her back and itchy skin.

Olivia's horse neighs from the stall he's in and her eyes briefly flicker to him. Furrowing her eyebrows, she stares intently at the yellow fodder in her hands. The barn door opens and she looks, meeting her mother's gaze.

"How much longer are you going to stay home from school only to sit in this smelly barn and make yourself feel down?" Her melodious voice echoes from the empty building and Ollie shrugs.

"You're going to have to put on your big girl pants and face it sooner or later." She takes a step forward. "You know that right?"

"Yeah," Olivia says quietly, throwing the straw on the ground and sitting up. Her head spins and she places her hand on her forehead. Grace sits down next to her daughter and stares intently on the freckles that dot her nose.

"I could also just be homeschooled for the rest of my life." Ollie offers, throwing her mother an innocent smile.

"No," Grace states blandly, rolling her eyes. "It's good for you to go out and meet kids your own age."

"Teenagers." Olivia corrects and Grace chuckles.

"Yes, teenagers." She nods, tucking a strand of hair behind Ollie's ear. She smiles up at her mother.

"Now, could you go back to school tomorrow and show everyone that this small outburst isn't who you are and you can come back from anything?" Grace asks and the girl who looks like the doppelganger of her younger self, nods. "Now go get 'em."

And that's exactly what Olivia did. The next morning she put on her best dress and walked to school with a sort of swagger in her step. People were surprised to see her there, she could tell because as she swung open the front door, all eyes were on her. 

She liked it, though. She liked how Josie's jaw fell open as she brushed passed her desk and she liked how Charlie and his friends stared at her with wide eyes. One thing she didn't like was how Gilbert Blythe had a sickening sweet smirk on his lips and how it made her insides get all knotted and twisted up. 

Olivia wasn't sure why it was happening, either. She barely even knew the boy (but she did know him well enough to tell that he can't take a hint). She had never felt so nervous about a silly sixteen-year-old boy. That's what threw her off. But, alas, she narrowed it down to her hating him with a burning passion and brushed it under the carpet.

_

welp super short but i might do a double update so don't worry