In September, when Anne started school, Marilla was worried.
Anne was a strange girl. How would she make friends?
How would she stay quiet in the classroom?
But after her first day, Anne came home excited and happy.
"I like school!" Anne declared. "I don't like the teacher, Mr. Phillips, though.
He said my spelling was terrible and held it up for everybody to see!"
"Anne, don't say that about your teacher.
I hope you were a good girl," said Marilla.
"I was," answered Anne. "I sit with Diana near the window, and we can see the Lake of Shining Waters.
I am in a lower class than Diana though.
She is on the fifth book, and I am on the fourth book.
There are many nice girls in school, and we had fun playing at lunchtime.
And Jane Andrews told Ruby Gillis she heard Minnie McPherson say that I had a pretty nose.
That is the first compliment I have ever had in my life, Marilla!
Do I have a pretty nose? I know you'll tell me the truth."
"Your nose is all right," Marilla said.
Secretly she thought that Anne's nose was remarkably pretty, but Marilla had no intention of telling her so.
Three weeks passed, and Anne and Diana were walking to school one morning.
"Gilbert Blythe will be in school today," said Diana. "He's been away at his cousins'.
He's so handsome, Anne, and he teases the girls terribly."
From Diana's voice it was clear that Diana liked being teased by Gilbert Blythe.
"Gilbert's in your class," Diana went on.
"He's on the fourth book because he missed school when his father was sick.
He's usually at the top of the class though.
You're at the top of the class now, Anne."
"I'm glad Gilbert is coming back," said Anne.
"I don't feel proud about being at the top of a class with little boys and girls who are only nine years old!"
The girls went into the classroom. "That's Gilbert Blythe sitting across from you, Anne," said Diana. "Isn't he handsome?"
Anne looked. She had lots of time to look because Gilbert was busy tying Ruby Gillis' long golden braid to her chair.
Gilbert was a tall boy with curly brown hair and a cheeky smile.
When Ruby Gillis tried to stand up, she fell back screaming, thinking that her hair was being pulled out!
Everybody stared at her, and she started to cry.
Gilbert read his book and looked very serious.
But when everyone was quiet again, he looked at Anne and winked at her.
"I think your Gilbert Blythe is handsome," whispered Anne to Diana.
"But he's very bold. It isn't polite to wink at a girl he doesn't know."
In the afternoon Gilbert tried to get Anne's attention again.
Mr. Phillips, the teacher, was in the back of the room, explaining math to an older girl.
The other students were drawing pictures on their slates, eating apples, whispering, or playing with some crickets.
Gilbert Blythe tried to make Anne look at him, without success.
Anne stared out the window at the Lake of Shining Waters, lost in her own world.
Usually girls did look at Gilbert. He thought, "That redheaded Shirley girl should look at me."
He reached across the aisle and grabbed the end of Anne's long red braid.
He held it out and said in a loud whisper, "Carrots! Carrots!"
This time Anne did look at him—and she did more than look.
She jumped up and stared fiercely at Gilbert.
"You mean, hateful boy!" she shouted. "How dare you!" And then—thwack!
Anne cracked her slate on Gilbert's head.
The students at Avonlea School always enjoyed a scene, and this was an especially good one.
Diana gasped. Ruby Gillis began to cry again.
Mr. Phillips stalked to the front of the classroom.
"Anne Shirley, what happened just now?" he said angrily.
Anne did not answer. It was too embarrassing to tell everybody that Gilbert had called her "Carrots."
Gilbert spoke. "It was my fault. I teased her," he admitted.
Mr. Phillips ignored Gilbert. "Anne, stand in front of the board for the rest of the afternoon," he told her.
With a pale, stony face, Anne obeyed.
Mr. Phillips wrote on the board above her head, "Ann Shirley has a very bad temper. Ann Shirley must control her temper."
Then the teacher read the words aloud so that everybody, even the youngest children who could not read, understood.
Anne stood there all afternoon. She didn't cry because she was still angry.
Anne thought, "I'll never speak to Gilbert Blythe again!"
When school finally ended, Anne marched out and waited for Diana on the porch. Gilbert approached her.
"Sorry I teased you, Anne," he whispered. "I'm really sorry."
Anne ignored him. Gilbert put a candy that said "You are sweet" on the ledge near Anne.
Anne picked it up carefully, dropped it on the floor, and ground it into a fine powder under her shoe. Then she started walking.
"Oh, Anne," said Diana. "How could you ignore his apology?"
"I will never forgive Gilbert Blythe," Anne retorted furiously.
"And Mr. Phillips spelled my name without an 'e'!"
"Gilbert teases all the girls, Anne," Diana said.
"He laughs at my hair because it's so black, and calls me 'Crow.'
He's never said sorry to any girl before today!"
"There's a big difference between 'Crow' and 'Carrots,' Diana!" Anne said with a sniff.
The next day at school, Mr. Phillips' mood had not improved.
He spotted Anne talking to Charlie Sloane.
"Anne Shirley, since you like boys so much, you will sit with Gilbert Blythe," said Mr. Phillips.
The other boys laughed. Anne did not move.
"Anne, obey me at once," the teacher said.
For a moment it seemed Anne would never move.
But at last she got up, sat down beside Gilbert, and buried her face in her arms on the desk.
To sit next to a boy was bad enough, but to sit next to Gilbert Blythe was unbearable.
When school ended, Anne picked up everything from her desk—all her books, her pen and ink, and piled them onto her cracked slate.
"Why are you taking everything home, Anne?" Diana asked.
"I'm not coming to school anymore," said Anne.
When Anne got home, she told Marilla she had finished school—forever.
"Nonsense," said Marilla.
"Marilla, I've been insulted."
"You'll go tomorrow," was Marilla's answer.
"Oh no," said Anne. "I'm not going back. I'll study at home."
Marilla knew Anne was stubborn, and so she let Anne study at home—for the time being.
She hoped that Anne would miss her schoolmates and return to school soon.
"But it is Anne," Marilla acknowledged with a sigh. "So anything could happen."