"They can kiss the person the bottle is pointing at. It should be boy, girl, boy, girl.” Josie starts to say, but I already knew this game. Except that I played it in a very different way, it was true or dare.

"Where's Cole?" Billy asks, pretending to be funny.

"Why do you ask, Billy? Do you want to kiss him?” I asked, making the people present laugh. He looked at me badly.

"Jane, sit next to your silly brother," Josie orders her. “Tillie, you go this way. And Anne changes places with Charlie; who wants to spin it first?”

“Diana.” Charlie proposes.

She turned the bottle a bit awkwardly and the bottle fell on Moody. This one was surprising.

"Moody," Josie says.

“Me?”

"They have to kiss. In the mouth.”

Diana got up nervously and walked towards Moody, who seemed too nervous about the poor thing.

"Good afternoon, Moody."

"Good afternoon, Diana. I'm going to kiss you now.” He approached giving him a pick.
The girls started clapping excitedly. Diana sat down next to me again.

"Your turn, Aphrodite." I twisted the bottle and it fell on Charlie. He began to laugh nervously and without waiting for an answer from him, I gave him a pick” Now it's Anne's turn.

The redhead smirked a little and just as she was about to turn the bottle, Billy said, "I don't play."

“Why?” Josie asks him.

“No way. Ugly orphan”.

"What are you afraid of, Anne? I seem to remember that you know a lot about intimate relationships” Josie says. “You come from an unfortunate origin. Anne. Have you ever kissed?

“Do no.” He denies it before getting up and running away, without grabbing his things

Diana and I grabbed our things before running after the redhead. But Diana was stopped by Moody, which I paid no attention to, and went on my way in search of Anne.

“Anne!” I called her as we reached her side.

“Because you left?” Diana asks him.

"That Josie Pye. To have so little imagination, he knows how to invent cruel and unusual forms of torture,” exclaims Anne furiously. “Why do they force me to give an expression of tenderness to indifferent or in some cases, repulsive people?”

"Billy wasn't very nice. I'm sorry I hurt your feelings.” Diana says.

"This whole game hurts everyone's feelings. It is forceful.” Anne says.

“Overwhelming?” The black-haired woman asks, confused.

We came to a farm, which I assumed was Green Gables. The place that Anne told me so much about.

"At least the snow is romantic," Anne says, turning to see us.

"Just as I was leaving, Moody took me aside and told me my kiss was like fresh butter. Don't tell me it's not romantic.”

Butter? Nothing else occurred to you?

"It's different for you. They all want to kiss them.” He was about to reply, but their gazes lifted seeing a person.

It was a boy our age in a barn trying to get the straw. It was pretty cute.

"Hello, Miss Barry, and a pretty girl I don't know." The boy was French

”Bonsoir. Je m'appelle Aphrodite Kim, je suis la cousine éloignée de Diana.” I will introduce myself. The boy smirked.

“Et il parle français! Aussi parfait que son cousin.²” he replied. I'll get along with this boy.

"Leur dialecte est très différent du français classique.³, " Diana said.

“Je comprends qu'elle est la most belle fille que j'ai vue. ⁴” answered the French for Diana. Uh, how romantic.

"Leave my friends alone, Jerry!" Anne yelled at him.

"It's okay, Anne. He said Diana is the cutest girl he's ever seen.” I said.

“Thank you, but you're very daring," Diana said with a smile on her face.

"It was nice meeting you, ...!" I said goodbye, but I didn't know her name.

“Jerry Baynard.” answered.

I went with the girls who had already followed the path.

"How does it feel to be divinely beautiful?" Anne asks sadly.

"I don't think I ..." Anne cut me off.

“They are not. Please answer. I have to know.”

"Anne, you are too. We are beautiful in our way and that is good. You are beautiful and intelligent, you have an imagination that is second to none. Beautiful hair that resembles fire, eyes that look like the sky painted on them, and freckles that look like stars; you are beautiful, Anne Shirley-Cuthbert, and it is time for you to accept it.”

Anne smirked at what I said; the redhead introduced me to her adoptive parents, Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, two brothers without partners or biological children. They are very nice gentlemen from what I could see.

❪...❫

“And what do you think?” Anne asks, referring to her braids, which were covered by ribbon ties, three in each braid.

"Well ... your head is held high." Diana tried to say.

“Hey. If you don't mind, I would make an adjustment or two. To balance them out” Cole proposes. Anne was excited by the proposal, so they sat on the bench and Cole grabbed one of the braids and pulled it over her head.

"It'll look great on you, Anne," I say, to which the girl smiles.

"Aphrodite, can you ...?" I nod, then begin to undo the other braid.

I felt the looks of the rest on us, or was it on someone specific?

"They're all looking at us," Cole murmurs a little uncomfortable.

Cole pulled the finished braid over the girl's head.

"When appearance is very important."

"Reciting is the purest form of torture." The boy completed it.

“Torture? You can not be serious.”

"Standing in front of the room, with everyone looking at me?" Cole asks. I agree with him.

"That's what gives satisfaction."

“Not at all. It is like being under a microscope.” I say, looking away from the book I had started to read.

"I agree with Aphrodite. I feel too high, guarded, and ... weird.”

"It was beautiful, Cole!" Diana says, and it was true. Just as he was about to join them, the professor yells furiously:

“Cole Mackenzie!" We all stared at the professor. “Since you seem to be so feminine, let's indulge your tastes. You can sit with the girls.”

The boys started laughing. Anne, Diana, and I went back to our seats, Cole went to get his things and sat next to Ruby. That was so humiliating and all because of that stupid macho teacher.

Poor Cole Mackenzie.

TRANSLATION ✨

1. Good afternoon. My name is Aphrodite Kim, I am Diana's distant cousin.

2. And she speaks French! As perfect as her cousin.

3. Her dialect is very different from classical French.

4. I understand that she is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.

CLARIFICATION ✨

By “pick” I mean a short kiss.