celia was smiling as she said goodnight to neil and todd, who slept across the hall from her. she felt like a little girl, all giddy inside at the thought of a boy. puppylove, she assumed it was, but she still fell asleep and woke up with a smile on her face.

the next day, she walked with neil, as normal, to their classes. as they kept in stride with each other, celia would notice neil's blush at the feeling of the brush of their fingers or the catch of her gaze.

soon enough, they were in her father's class (which was undeniably everyone's favorite). the students were all immediately intrigued when keating lead them all outside, a bag of balls slung over his shoulder. since they were outside, they were permitted to wear their 'athletic wear', which, for celia, was used men's short athletic shorts and a gray welton hoodie. she couldn't say she didn't prefer it any day over the skirt.

"now," he said, "devotees may argue that one sport or game is inherently better than another. for me, sport is actually a chance for us to have other human beings push us to excel. i want you all to come over here and take a slip of paper and line up single file."

celia followed charlie and knox over to her father, grabbing a paper before joining the line. soon enough, her father blew his whistle, nodding at the first boy in line, which happened to be pitts. "you know what to do, pitts." he encouraged him.

the boy looked nervous as he read from his slip of paper. "'oh to struggle against great odds. to meet enemies undaunted.'"

"sounds to me like you're daunted." the teacher joked. "say it again like you're undaunted. "

pitts cleared his throat before trying again. "'oh to struggle against great odds. to meet enemies undaunted!'"

keating nodded his approval. "now go on." pitts then gave one of the soccer balls on the field a good kick. "yes! next."

"'to be a sailor of the world, bound for all ports.'"

"'oh, i live to be the ruler of life, not a slave.'"

keating started up a record player as celia walked up to the soccer balls, laughing to herself. "'to mount the scaffolds! to advance to the muzzle of guns with perfect nonchalance!'" she cheered, kicking the ball and running off to join knox and todd on the other side of the field.

"come on, meeks!" keating encouraged, turning up the sound of the classical opera. "listen to the music."

he pushed up his glasses. "'to dance, clap hands, exalt, shout, skip, roll on, float on!'"

"yes!"

"'oh, to have life henceforth the poem of new joys.'" hopkins, one of the boys, said lamely, barely tapping the soccer ball with his foot.

"oh, boo!" keating criticized. "come on, charlie, let it fill your soul!"

charlie, who was next, raised his hands over his head. "'to indeed be a god!'"

celia almost died of laughter as he nearly tripped over the soccer ball before running over to join the rest of the group. "to indeed be a god!" she said, giving him a high five, feeling nothing but happiness when surrounded by the laughing boys that she now called her best friends.

keating then looked over to his daughter, a proud smile on his face. she looked back over at him, meeting his eyes and grinning widely, giving him a happy wave.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

celia didn't think she'd ever felt more awake in the morning than she did as she prepared for her first date with neil. she quickly found herself throwing various clothing items across her room, desperately searching for an item of clothing that wasn't hand-me-down boys' clothes from the beginning of the semester. when she finally found a white blouse tucked in the bottom of her dresser drawer, she nearly jumped for joy.

the jeans and top wouldn't exactly have been her first choice, but when paired with the dirtied white converse (also a "gift" from the school), she decided it would just have to be good enough.

as soon as her clock read eleven, she opened her door, flustered to see the boy already standing outside of his. "you look... radiant." he said, smiling.

celia felt like she would burst with happiness as she smiled back, taking in his maroon sweater and jeans combination. "so do you." she replied.

the two, careful to not catch the eye of any teachers potentially lurking at the hour, crept their way out of the hall and to the rooftop. neil then opened up the bag he'd been carrying, revealing a picnic blanket. "i wanted to take you out for lunch, but i didn't think it would be a good idea to steal a car." he explained, laying out the blanket before carefully emptying his bag of food onto it. "i did steal the food, though." he explained when he noticed the question in her eyes.

"oh, my gosh, of course you did." she said, helping him set up before sitting next to him on the blanket. "i mean, at least you got good stuff." she said, picking up a strawberry.

"hey, i tried." he laughed. "so what have you been reading recently?"

celia hummed excitedly, finishing her bite before she spoke. "i went to the library and found a copy of pride and prejudice. i haven't read an austen book in forever."

neil smiled. "so, you're rereading it, i assume?"

"and what's wrong with that?" she countered, smiling back. "and what about you? you said you felt good about your audition?" the girl grabbed yet another piece of fruit.

"yes! yeah, i think it went pretty well; the director seemed to like it, so hopefully that's a good sign."

"yeah!" she agreed. "and you get results tomorrow, you said?"

he nodded. "yep. i'll let you know as soon as i find out, though." he grabbed a piece of bread, biting off almost the whole thing. "so, you're named after a shakespeare character, right?"

the girl laughed. "yeah, as you like it." she said. "it was always one of dad's favorite plays, but i never really connected to celia. the character, i mean."

"why not?" his brows furrowed; he was genuinely curious about her life and her feelings.

"well, i always thought she was just a background character. in the play, she basically serves as a reminder to the audience that the main character is dramatic and outgoing by showing how.. not.. outgoing celia is."

neil nodded along as she spoke, but when she was done, he thought for a moment. "well, maybe that's just as important. characters that don't talk as much can be the most important ones in the whole play, i think. and what you just said there, about her showcasing the attitude and traits of the other characters; that makes her arguably the most important one on the stage."

celia took in his words. "i'd never thought of it that way." she admitted. "you sound like my dad."

"great minds think alike?"

the two began to laugh uncontrollably, which ended with them both laying on their backs on the picnic blanket, looking up at the clouds.

"that one looks like.. a rabbit.. with a really fluffy tail." neil said, pointing to the left of celia.

she analyzed the cloud before agreeing with him. "and that one over there looks like a flower."

they found shapes in the clouds until they tired of it, looking over at each other with adoring smiles on their faces. "you.. you truly are beautiful." neil told her, looking into her eyes. she then smiled, feeling heat rise to her cheeks. "can.. can i kiss you?" he asked after a moment, his own cheeks becoming flushed.

celia nodded silently, moving instinctively closer to him. with a smile, he pressed his lips onto hers. the kiss was everything that could be expected from two romantics; soft, sweet, and simple. when they pulled away, they were both grinning and blushing like maniacs.

"can.. you do it again?" she asked.

neil smiled before putting his hand on her cheek and bringing her in for another kiss.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

the next day, neil raced down the hallway, jumping up and down with excitement. "charlie, i got the part! i'm gonna play puck! i'm gonna play puck!" he cheered, pounding on his friend's door.

"what did he say?" meeks asked, joining neil in the hall.

"puck?" pitts was equally confused.

"that's the main part!" neil explained.

knox smiled. "great, neil!"

"charlie, i got it!" he repeated when the boy walked out of his room.

"congratulations!" he said, patting him on the back. "good for you, neil."

neil then made his way to the end of the hall where celia's room was, but she'd already begun to open her door from all the noise. "what-"

"i got the part!" he exclaimed once more, holding his arms out in exuberation. "i got puck!"

the girl gasped, holding her arms out excitedly. he fell into them, wrapping his arms around her waist as hers wound around his neck. "aaa," she squealed, "i'm so proud of you! you're gonna do so well!" she said, feeling him smile against her shoulder. when she looked out of their little bubble and into the hall, she rolled her eyes at charlie's smirk. "i don't want to hear it, dalton."

he held up his hands defensively. "i wasn't gonna say anything! lovebirds." he added quickly before retreating to his room.

"they need a letter of permission from my father and mr. nolan." neil said to celia as he lead the way into his shared room with todd.

"you're not gonna write it." todd said, overhearing.

neil shot him a wicked grin. "oh yes, i am."

"oh god."

"oh, neil. neil, you're crazy." todd fretted.

he ignored both of them, sitting in front of his typewriter. "okay. '"i am writing to you... on behalf... of my son... neil perry.'" he read as he typed, laughing and stomping his feet giddily. "this is great."