celia quickly learned to be thankful for the rambunctious boys that would become her closest friends. the entire school was a maze, first of all, one that she wouldn't have been able to navigate if not for having almost the same schedule as neil perry.

"i can show you where it is." he had said over her shoulder. celia looked up from her stack of books, maps, and schedules to meet his gaze, visibly confused. "i mean, i heard you asking where the latin room is.. i have it next. mcallister, right?"

"uh.. yeah." celia nodded, a small smile spreading on her cheeks as he groaned.

"ugh, the worst! well, since you're already good at latin, you'll probably be fine." he teased. "sorry, i don't mean to buy into the pressures nolan already set up for you. where'd you go before hell-ton, anyway?"

celia cleared her throat, trying to keep up with neil's long legs and fast pace. "girls' preparatory school. london." she told him, easing through the winding hallways behind him.

"so this must be a complete change from home, then?" he asked, slowing down his strides so he wouldn't lose her.

"oh, yeah." celia laughed, looking up at the winding staircase. "it's not too bad, though. not yet, anyway."

neil laughed. "a few minutes with mcallister and you might be ready to go home."

"that eager to get rid of me, already?" she replied, a brow raised.

"no, of course not, i just mean-"

celia threw her head back in a laugh. "i know, perry, just giving you a hard time."

the two eventually made it to the latin room, and celia wasn't quite sure what to expect of the teacher (especially not after neil's unsubtle jabs at his teaching). whatever she'd been imagining was proven considerate after about two hundred 'agricolas' and 'agricolis'.

"you weren't kidding." she mumbled to neil, who had sat at the desk next to her. he chuckled, a smile on his face, but didn't respond out of fear of getting in trouble on the first day.

the rest of the classes seemed to be equally as boring; full of premature assignments and overused syllabuses. that was, at least, until they had english class.

charlie had met up with neil and celia in the hallway, and they found out that all of the 'study group' had english together. "if your dad's class is as boring as hager's, i might have to file a strongly worded complaint." charlie said to celia, following her into the room.

the room was already bustling with students talking and acting up when celia found a seat next in front of charlie, who was trying to spit paper balls at the back of some poor kid's head. the entire class calmed down quickly when her father entered the room, whistling the 1812 overture. he calmly walked the length of the classroom and then out the door without a word. "well come on." he said when no one moved.

with some hesitation, everyone grabbed their books, following him into the main entranceway. "do you know what's happening?" knox asked celia, who shrugged in response.

"'oh captain, my captain'. who knows where that comes from?" keating asked when all of the students stood in front of him.

celia, of course, knew, but didn't want to be the first to talk. from her spot standing next to him, she noticed todd looking up as if he knew the answer, but he seemed also too nervous to admit it.

"not a clue?" her father chimed when no one spoke. "it's from a poem by walt whitman about mr. abraham lincoln. now in this class you can call me mr. keating. or, if you're slightly more daring, oh captain, my captain."

the students around celia let out small chuckles, but she remained silent, looking over at neil.

her father cleared his throat. "now let me dispel a few rumors so they don't fester into facts. yes, i too attended hell-ton and survived. and no, at that time i was not the mental giant you see before you. i was the intellectual equivalent of a ninety-eight pound weakling. i would go to the beach and people would kick copies of byron in my face."

once again, the boys all laughed.

"now, mr... pitts. that's a rather unfortunate name. mr. pitts, where are you?" the boy quietly raised his hand while everyone around him (other than celia) snickered. "mr. pitts, would you open your hymnal to page 542 and read the first stanza of the poem you find there?"

pitts quickly opened his page, reading hesitantly. "'to the virgins, to make much of time'?" he read it as more of a question than a title.

"yes, that's the one. somewhat appropriate, isn't it." keating joked.

"'gather ye rosebuds while ye may, old time is still a flying, and this same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying.'" pitts finished.

keating smiled. "thank you, mr. pitts. 'gather ye rosebuds while ye may." the latin term for that sentiment is carpe diem. now who knows what that means?"

meeks, who was known for his talent at latin, immediately raised his hand. "carpe diem. that's 'seize the day.'"

"very good, mr.-"

"meeks."

the man nodded. "meeks. another unusual name. seize the day. gather ye rosebuds while ye may. why does the writer use these lines?"

"because he's in a hurry." charlie piqued from the other side of celia.

"no, ding!" keating said, slamming his hand down on an imaginary buzzer. "thank you for playing anyway. because we are food for worms, lads. because, believe it or not, each and every one of us in this room is one day going to stop breathing, turn cold, and die."

"damn." celia whispered, earning a small smile from todd and a chuckle from charlie.

keating turned to the trophy cases behind him, which were filled with trophies, footballs, and team pictures from the years before. "now i would like you to step forward over here and peruse some of the faces from the past. you've walked past them many times. i don't think you've really looked at them."

slowly, the students all gathered around the cases. celia wasn't unaware of neil's position over her shoulder, nor was she blind to the feeling of his warm breath against it.

"they're not that different from you, are they?" keating asked. "same haircuts. full of hormones, just like you. invincible, just like you feel. the world is their oyster. they believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you. their eyes are full of hope, just like you. did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? because you see, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. but if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. go on, lean in."

celia was inwardly disagreeing, as she was the first girl to ever step foot into the classrooms of welton. however, she did as her father said, leaning in to the case.

"carpe." keating whispered gruffly from behind them, making cameron turn his head. "hear it?" he whispered again: "carpe. carpe diem. seize the day, make your lives extraordinary."

"that was weird." pitts said when the group of boys (plus celia) walked outside of the school doors, all loaded down with their handfuls of books.

"but different." neil argued, smiling over to celia.

knox shuddered dramatically. "spooky if you ask me."

"think he'll test us on that stuff?" cameron asked. celia didn't know most of the boys well, but she could tell that he was definitely the odd one out when everyone sent him a look.

"come on cameron, don't you get anything?" charlie asked, leaving the boy standing alone.

"what? what?"

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

"are you having dinner with us?" neil asked celia as they got out of their last class of the day.

the girl shrugged, looking up at him. "if that's okay with you guys."

neil smiled then. "no one would mind, you're a part of the group now. i hope you're looking forward to hell-ton hash."

"oh boy." she replied.

the best thing, celia thought, about being the only girl there was that she got a lot of privacy. as all of the other boys filed into the showers, she made her way to her private bathroom, complete with a tub and a shower. she wondered how little the headmaster, a man, knew about women when she found an entire closet full of "women's hygiene products" in the bathroom.

dinner was fun, she had to admit, but she especially liked watching the boys (besides knox, who had gotten out of dinner to meet a family friend) discreetly throw their food at each other anytime a teacher wasn't looking. celia looked over at todd, who seemed uncomfortable with the people he didn't know well yet. "you coming to the study group?" she asked him.

todd shook his head, making his fluffy hair shake. "no, no, i uh.. i have some history homework to do." and so she dropped the subject, not wanting to make him more uncomfortable than he already was.

as she made her way to the student lounge for her first study session, clutching her books in hand, celia was beginning to wonder what she'd gotten herself into.

"cel-lion!" charlie spoke from behind her, ruffling the hair at the top of her head.

the girl shrunk into her shoulders, letting out an annoyed groan. "dalton-" she accused, turning as if to hit him, only for him to laugh and move across the room. celia scoffed in response, brushing her fingers through her hair in a lame attempt to fix it back into its previous ribboned half up/half down.

"just replace these numbers here with 'x', for 'x' and 'y'." cameron was telling neil, who was sitting at the table with glasses perched on his nose.

"of course." he responded.

cameron seemed offended as charlie joined them. "of course, so what's the problem?"

when celia sat down next to them, knox entered the room, dramatically leaning on the closed door behind him.

"how was dinner?" charlie asked.

knox seemed out of it as he looked over at his friend. "huh?"

"... how was dinner?" he repeated.

"terrible. awful." knox replied, leaving the door and sitting down with the group.

celia looked up from next to charlie. "why? what happened?"

knox still wasn't looking at anyone in particular as he spoke. "tonight, i met the most beautiful girl in my entire life." he said, running a hand through his hair. "i mean, other than you." he added, looking to celia.

the books all let out small whoops and hollers of excitement as celia just widened her eyes, not used to the attention. hoping to distract the attention from herself, she looked back over at him. "wait, so.. what's wrong with that?"

"she's practically engaged." knox explained. "to chet danburry."

"that guy could eat a football." charlie said to celia, as if it would give her a better mental picture.

"that's too bad." pitts said.

knox mocked offense. "too bad? it's worse than too bad pitsie, it's a tragedy. a girl this beautiful in love with such a jerk."

"all the good ones go for jerks, you know that." pitts said. "no offense." he added, looking over to celia.

the girl shook her head with a laugh. "none taken."

"ahh, forget her." cameron said to knox. "open your trig book and try and figure out problem five."

"i can't just forget her, cameron." knox replied. "and i can't think about trig."

meeks and pitts, who had been working on a radio, were both alarmed as it started to let out a hum of static. "we got it. holy cow." they mumbled.

"all right gentlemen, five minutes. let's go." hager said, not acknowledging celia.

the boys all quickly moved to pack up their things, but charlie leaned in close to knox. "did you see her naked?" he whispered.

"dude." celia said, sending him a look.

"very funny, dalton." knox replied.

"oh, celia!" neil said as she was about to walk out of the room. the girl turned back to face him, holding her books tight to her chest. "i was wondering.. if you want to walk to class together again tomorrow? you know, if you still need directions, or.. or anything."

she smiled, nodding her head. "yeah, that would be nice."