Anne intended taking up the Second Year work being advised to do so by Miss Stacy; Gilbert Blythe elected to do the same.

This meant getting a First Class teacher's license in one year instead of two, if they were successful; but it also meant much more and harder work.

Jane, Ruby, Josie, Charlie, and Moody Spurgeon, not being troubled with the stirrings of ambition, were content to take up the Second Class work.
Anne was conscious of a pang of loneliness when she found herself in a room with fifty other students, not one of whom she knew, except the tall, brown-haired boy across the room; and knowing him in the fashion she did, did not help her much, as she reflected pessimistically.
Yet she was undeniably glad that they were in the same class; the old rivalry could still be carried on, and Anne would hardly have known what to do if it had been lacking.
"I wouldn't feel comfortable without it," she thought.

"Gilbert looks awfully determined.

I suppose he's making up his mind, here and now, to win the medal.