2. The Party (1/2)

chapter ii

"so… what are you going to do now, jules? will you start your career as a nurse?" rose asked her cousin.

just after the birthday cake for walt and merry, the older generation drifted away to the garden of ingleside, leaving the young ones to themselves, although still having an eye on each of them.

three groups had been made. julia, rose, cilia, leslie and luna were lying underneath the tree lovers; walt, merry, gil, jake, blythe, owen and marshall douglas were, of course, near the table with snacks; and eventually cee, cordelia, nancy and tom, being the youngest of them all, played in 'pirates' together while screaming at the top of their lungs. they always devided themselves into groups at the parties especially when friends from the "outside" were coming over and the girls and the boys wanted to talk over things girls-with-girls and boys-with-boys.

"no, i won't… i mean not yet at least. i decided on staying at home for another year or so, just to get some peace and quiet after this long year and a half in a loud toronto." julia replied with a small grin.

rose, cilia, luna and leslie sighed in relief.

"but do tell us, how did you find toronto? did you make any friends that you didn't tell us about?" leslie chuckled and gave julia a naughty wink.

"no, i didn't make friends with anyone, or rather no one made any friends with me. i could see that other girls didn't care as much about the theory as i did, they were all covered in make-up and looking out for the boys - that's all they really did. so i focused on my studies, instead of focusing on making friends." julia grinned "besides, gil was visiting me once or twice a week, for he too, as you know, was lonely in his college."

"and what about toronto itself?" luna questioned, playing with a small flower in her hand.

"i liked toronto at first; you know how i always fancied living in a big city, but after a while, i just couldn't stand it sometimes. i missed being alone once in a while and in such crowded city like toronto, it is impossible to be alone, even in the middle of the night." julia explained "not that i tried it." she smiled and so did the girls.

"but you had fun, right?" cilia questioned with a raised

ow.

"of course, i did. after all, i have never been to so many clubs and dances in my whole life that i did during this past year." julia laughed "and oh, that was fun! i learned so many new steps with gilly! and girls…" she leaned towards the centre of their little cirlce with a cheeky smile on her face "the toronto-boys… you would love them!"

girls laughed light-heartedly over the way julia said this last line. she really had a gift of making people laugh and smile wherever she went.

"you mean, that you eventually got your first kiss?" rose whispered as if someone could overhear them.

julia chuckled quietly "of course not, silly! i said that you would love them. you all know that i have no intention of getting my first kiss from just anyone."

"and what about troy rogers?" cilia giggled and pointed at the tall young man who was coming over to the boys-group. julia blushed heavily and looked over luna's shoulder to see that troy was giving his presents to walt and merry.

troy, a boy three years older than julia, was a real handsome english boy. five years earlier, he moved with his parents from

ighton to glen st. mary when his father's

other died and left him his big mansion along with his huge farm.

at the age of seven, julia vowed that she will never get married and that she will dedicate her life to people in need. but she couldn't ignore her feelings for troy. he certainly was the handsomest of glen st. mary's boys with his coal-black hair and almost as black and dangerous eyes with very majestic nose and chin.

troy always liked julia and had a soft spot for her. they were really good friends from the beginning but surely not as good as julia was with her

others or cousins.

troy had a reputation of a 'heart

eaker' and wasn't very well thought of by the older generations in julia's family. there was something in him that just wasn't in other people who were of the race that knows joseph. but julia, being a silly girl of seventeen, didn't notice this little fact, and her mind was set up on getting her first kiss from no one else but troy.

"and what about you, girls? are you starting sweethearting already?" julia changed the subject slightly.

rose rolled her eyes, knowing her cousin's little tricks but answered sweetly: "well… cilia, here, certainly is."

cilia's cheeks turned red and she tried her best to hide the shadow of a smile forming on her small lips.

"why, cilia! you didn't tell me!" julia exclaimed and grabbed her friend's hand.

"you know that i don't like discussing such things, especially through letters or long-distance calls. but…" she looked at julia and smiled in a way only person in love can smile "two weeks ago, marshall douglas... kissed me." cilia couldn't help but to let out a small giggle.

julia, not knowing why, started laughing as well and luna and rose quickly followed their tracks. they got so hysteric that faith, una and nan looked at their daughters with glistening eyes of the past.

"i have never seen my girls in such state before! i'm sure one of them must have said something terribly funny." una said to her sister, her own eyes laughing at the image in front of her.

faith didn't answer and only chuckled herself, remembering the old days when both she, her siblings and the blythes spent their time in rainbow valley, laughing and joking under the tree lovers just like their own children did in that moment.

"what are we even laughing about?" julia was the first to ask when she wiped away the tears from her cheeks.

"i have no idea..." cilia replied and opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted.

merry put on his tap shoes and turned on the radio causing julia to jump as if something pinched her.

"sing, sing, sing! my favourite song of all time!" she gasped and looked over to gilly who immediately stood up and took julia, 'his little dancer', in his strong arms and gently stepped with her nearer the radio.

everyone started dancing. it felt almost like a sin, not to dance, especially on this beautiful day, down in rainbow valley. jem took his wife in his arms and so did shirley, carl and ken. even gilbert blythe couldn't resist and both he and anne, danced in the very middle of a not-small crowd of people to this fast but very enjoyable song.

only reverend john meredith, his wife rosemary and their son jerry meredith, with his wife nan and their children jake and rose had to sit down and watch how others dance more or less gracefully. they didn't mind at all, for the view that they were watching was almost just as much fun as dancing itself.

blythe stayed as well. he was never quite entertained by dancing and always claimed that others were much better dancers than himself. not even julia's beggings could make him to enter the dance floor.