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Back Anne of Greenville Save as PDF
Chapters (31)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright
  3. Dedication
  4. NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
  5. ONE
  6. TWO
  7. THREE
  8. FOUR
  9. FIVE
  10. SIX
  11. SEVEN
  12. EIGHT
  13. NINE
  14. TEN
  15. ELEVEN
  16. TWELVE
  17. THIRTEEN
  18. FOURTEEN
  19. FIFTEEN
  20. SIXTEEN
  21. SEVENTEEN
  22. EIGHTEEN
  23. NINETEEN
  24. TWENTY
  25. TWENTY-ONE
  26. TWENTY-TWO
  27. TWENTY-THREE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR
  29. TWENTY-FIVE
  30. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  31. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“Nothing doing.” Gilly’s father put the truck in park. “Thanks for saving my kid, Miss Anne.”

Gilly rolled down her window as I stepped onto the lawn.

“Thanks,” Gilly said, resting her chin on the window ledge. “For everything. Thanks.”

“Nothing doing.” I gave a little bow.

A wisp of her hair swooped over her face as another tendril floated up and out of the window like a kite string.

Gilly waved. “Bye!”

“BYE!”

And they drove off. And I headed up the walk to the sound of Monty barking her head off and my heart beating out of my chest.

I had a bunch of messages on my phone, which I’d completely forgotten I’d charged. Two were from Millie, wondering where I was and asking me to clean my room. Two were from Lucy, a little more frantic and wondering where I was and why I wasn’t answering my phone.

The rest were from Berry.

BERRY

Hey!

BERRY

Sorry was being weird earlier.

BERRY

About when Gilly stood up for you?

BERRY

I have kind of a weird history with her?

BERRY

It’s fine though

BERRY

Do you want to come over?

Weird history with Gilly? Geez, was nothing in Greenville simple?

SEVENTEEN

Millie and Lucy came out in the eighties, which Millie has often pointed out to me was an easier time to be gay than previous decades, but it was also when it was still entirely possible that if you thought a girl liked you, and you were a girl, it could be, as Millie said, “complicated.”

Like Millie actually got beat up once for liking a girl, by the girl’s two older brothers. I mean, she still dated the girl, in high school, but that part clearly sucked.

So, obviously, in some sociopolitical ways, liking someone of the same gender (let alone having a gender that doesn’t neatly fit into the binary) is easier now than it used to be. And in other ways it’s just endlessly complicated. Because no matter what decade you’re in, it’s still HIGH SCHOOL.

High school goes out of its way to live up to its reputation of being a place that makes everything miserable, in my humble opinion. Every choice in high school feels like you’re in a horrible reality game show.

Like all night, after I apologized to Millie and Lucy and then explained what happened and then took Monty for a walk, I was wrecked with indecision about what to do next. I mean, was I supposed to text Gilly after she and her dad dropped me off? Or was that whole thing her saying that she and me were friends? Like maybe she liked me in a way that we might end up being friends because that’s what happens when people go through strange and awkward situations together?