Look, my eyes are
just holograms.
Look, your love has drawn
red from my hands.
From my hands you know
you'll never be,
More than twist
in my sobriety.

TWIST IN MY SOBRIETY / TANITA TIKARAM

"It's not what it looks like." Margaret said, turning around to face the brunette that stood behind her. Placing her hands in the pockets of her coat, Lily swayed on her heels. "Well, now you've got me confused." she clicked her tongue, pointing a finger between the two teens. "You say it's not what it looks like..." she started, slowly taking a step forwards as her amused face suddenly formed into a serious one. "But it seems pretty clear to me."

"Look, it's my fault." Oliver spoke before Margaret could, causing her to give him a side glance as he took a step away from her, "I leaned in, and I made a mistake. I shouldn't have done that." he sighed. Turning her gaze away from him slowly, Margaret averted it towards Lily, who had a smug look on her face.

"Stating the obvious, just like you usually do, rich boy." Lily replied, before shrugging. "Oh, well... Since you've already moved on, as it seems..." she started, her hand rummaging around her coat pocket as if she were looking for something.

"What do you mean by that?" Margaret asked, suddenly becoming angry, "Let's just talk." she suggested, tone softer as Lily let out a scoff.

"I think it's a bit late for that, Margaret Brown." the brunette replied, taking an envelope from her pocket and handing it to the blonde. Margaret squinted, eyebrows furrowing as she took the piece of paper from Lily's hand.

"What's this?" she asked, turning the envelope around. Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Lily spoke calmly; "I went to the post office today because I was expecting a letter from Gilbert. Turns out he finally remembered to send one to you." she explained, spitting out the last part angrily as Margaret's shaky hands gripped the envelope, her eyes running over the back of it. It was Gilbert's handwriting, that's for sure. The post mark was from London and the letter was addressed to her. Furrowing his eyebrows, Oliver only watched the girl with his jaw clenched.

"I took the liberty of opening it for you," Lily added as Margaret opened the envelope, throwing it to the ground as she pulled the letter out, her cold fingers working to unwrap the folded piece of paper. "Though, I couldn't bring myself to read all of it. It's kind of depressing." she mocked as Margaret's eyes scanned the all familiar handwriting.

Dear Margaret,

Seeing that this situation has affected the both of us, I had come to a decision. Trust me, this is as hard for me as it is for you, and I never thought I'd be right here, writing this, with our destiny in my hands. Firstly, I would like to ask you to stop sending me letters. Secondly, I'm informing you that you shouldn't expect any further letters from me, either. You have a life in Avonlea, and I have the world of possibilities here. I hope you understand.

I'm not asking you to wait for me or to continue loving me. All I'm asking for is for you to keep the good memories that we had and accept that this is for the best. In the end, we were just kids when we fell in love. Now let's focus on ourselves and stop putting each other down.

Sincerely,

Gilbert Blythe.

"Wha... No." Margaret shook her head, hands shaky as she felt her eyes prick with tears, "No, this can't be real." she raised her voice, the letter crinkling as she took a step back. With a worried glance her way, Oliver placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to steady the shaking girl. "This isn't real. It can't be."

"You better believe it." Lily spoke back, "Well, I just wanted to give that to you. I better be on my way." with a final glare at the blonde, the brunette turned around, ignoring Margaret's agonizing cries.

"No, please!" Margaret croaked, the pain in her chest almost engulfing her lungs as she collapsed to her knees. "Lily, please, this can't be real!" she cried, hands digging in the dirt on the ground as Oliver crouched beside her, shooting daggers at the back of Lily's head.

"Don't say I didn't warn you, Margaret." the brunette replied, loudly enough for the two to hear as she walked away from them with her hands in her pockets.

"Fucking bitch." Oliver grunted, wrapping his arms around Margaret's shoulders as she cried, every weep digging at his heart as it clenched in pain for her. "Margaret. Come on, get up." he tried, but to no avail. The girl wouldn't budge, her body shaking as tears streamed down her face.

"Why?" she whispered, voice cracking as Oliver scrunched his nose, turning away from her to wipe furiously at his face. In a second, he turned back around, placing his head on top of Margaret's, bringing her closer to his chest. "Why?" she repeated once more, voice dying down as she gripped at the boy's sweater, staying still as he wrapped his hands around her and hugged her tight.

"We'll figure it out, I promise. We'll fix this." he assured her, running his hand along her back comfortingly. "It will all be okay, I'll make sure of that. I'll do whatever it takes, Margaret." he spoke calmly, sadness evident in his voice as he brought a hand up to her cheek, wiping her tears away with his cold fingers. "Even if I have to go and talk to Blythe myself, I will. Even if I have to burn the whole world to find him, I will. If that's what makes you happy, then just be sure that I'd do it for you."

"It's no use." Margaret spoke, voice barely over a whisper as she leaned her cheek on the boy's chest. Then, she remembered her dream. The strange dream that started all of this.

"I'm sorry for being blunt, but, I don't want the same thing that happened with you and Gilbert to happen to us." she continued, making Margaret's heart stop.

"Wha-" she wanted to ask, but quickly stopped, it would be weird to do so. She bit her tongue, but was certainly very interested in what exactly happened that could lead Margaret to this life. Anne lowered her voice as she leaned towards Margaret.

"You know how Gilbert left, Margaret. You know how he left you behind to become a doctor. And now Lily is going to do the same thing, and I'm scared." Anne whispered, and Margaret felt her heart stop. "I know you don't want to talk about it, but-" Anne started, but Margaret failed to hear the rest of her sentence.

"It was unevitable." she whispered again, failing to notice Oliver shaking his head in denial. "It's going to be alright." he assured. "It's not." Margaret sighed defeatedly.

"It is." he repeated.

"It's not." she replied sadly, making the boy's heart break.

"Don't be stubborn for once and just listen to me." he said sternly, getting up to his feet as he hooked his hands around the girl's arms. "Come on, now. Get up, or else you'll freeze." he warned, carefully bringing the girl up to her feet. Just in the moment, the back door of the bakery opened as George peeked his head out, a smile on his face.

"Hey, lovebirds - " he started cheerfuly, but upon noticing the two, his smile dropped. "What the hell happened?" he asked worriedly, skipping over towards the two quickly as he helped Oliver hold Margaret up, his eyes running over her dazed face. "Ollie, what the hell happened?" he asked again when he didn't get a response.

"Just get her some water." Oliver replied, nudging his head towards the boxes as he led the girl inside, holding her tightly by his side as she barely walked by herself, almost as if she were dead weight. "It's going to be okay." Oliver repeated as he glanced at her occassionaly, leading her out of the back room and into the main room. As he opened the door, he was met with Todd's soft voice.

"What took you so long?" he asked, back turned towards the two, but upon receiving no answer he turned around, face turning pale as he caught sight of his friend.

"What happened? Margaret." he walked up towards the two, "She needs to sit down," Oliver sighed, "Can you bring her a chair, please?" he asked, holding the girl up as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"It's no use..." she whispered lowly as Todd quickly brought a chair. "My God." Todd said in disbelief, when his eyes fell on the piece of paper that the blonde was holding. Oliver sat the girl down, moving her hair out of her face, "My coat." he turned to Todd, "Can you bring me my coat, please?" he asked again.

"Of course." Todd hurriedly said, taking the Williams' boy's long, warm coat and allowing himself to drape it around his friend's shoulders.

"Here's the water." George came in, opening the glass water bottle before handing it to Oliver. "Thank you." the latter said, before spilling some water into his palm and running his hand over Margaret's face. "Hey, come back to me," he snapped his fingers in front of her face, frowning when she finally looked directly at him, her empty eyes staring down at him as she straightened in the chair, clearing her throat.

"Here, take a sip." Oliver sighed, giving the bottle to her as her hands brought it to her lips, taking a long gulp.

"Are you alright, darling?" George asked her as she managed to nod.

Todd sighed sadly, running a hand through her hair comfortingly. "What happened?" he asked. Instead of an answer, Margaret simply gave Todd the crunched up letter. He examined it for a second before taking it, straightening it out with the palm of his hand as he stood up to read it. George leaned over his shoulder to take a look, their faces concentrated as they went over the words. Todd furrowed his eyebrows, refusing to believe that his friend could write such a thing.

"Gilbert..." he sighed, dissappointed as George scoffed. "Got quite the guts, the dickhead." the latter commented, earning a glare from Oliver.

"George." he warned, already exhausted.

"Oh, don't George me." George replied, "I've only seen this girl cry twice, and both times it was because of this bloke." he stated, pointing at Margaret, who simply shook her head. "Margaret, love. He doesn't deserve you." George crouched next to her, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Oliver sighed once more, getting up to his feet as he dusted the dirt off of his pants.

"We should take her home." he suggested. Margaret shook her head. "I can't. I don't want to go home." she simply said, wiping her face as she sniffled. "I'll just go stay at Diana's..." she said, but Todd was quick to interrupt.

"No chance, you know how her parents are." he defended, "You can stay with me." he added. "Don't worry. We'll work this out." he assured her as she managed a weak nod.

"Where did you get this, anyways?" Todd whispered to Oliver as he took him to the side, away from Margaret and George who was trying to comfort her. "The poor girl had been expecting a letter for weeks, and this is what she gets?"

"That Lily girl brought it here." Oliver answered, letting out a breath of air as he looked at Todd"s puzzled face. "She saw the two of us... kissing." he whispered the last part, turning his head away to avoid Todd's shocked face.

"She what?" he asked, "Wait, you what?"

"Just don't tell anyone, please." Oliver pleaded as Todd brought a hand up to his lips, "But Lily is - " the dark - haired boy started before the blonde interrupted him.

"I'll take care of Lily." he assured, the two of them both turning towards the two, Oliver's face softening at Margaret's slight, sad smile while George rambled on as he does.

"Poor little thing. She really loves him." Todd absent - mindedly said, before realization hit him and he slapped a hand over his mouth. "Sorry." he said, noise muffled by his palm as Oliver offered him a forced smile.

"It's alright, Todd. I know." he replied, "I'll try and fix this whole mess." he added, wrapping his arms around himself as he allowed himself to glance at the girl one more time.

"I'll do it for her." he said, failing to notice how Todd looked at him sadly. "

I'll do anything for her."