the next day in class, keating took the students outside once more. "no grades at stake, gentlemen. just take a stroll." he said to pitts, cameron, and knox, who began walking in circles in the middle of the courtyard. after a few moments, their individual paces began to conform, and they marched to the same beat. "there it is." their teacher nodded.

celia joined the other boys in clapping to the beat, laughing as her father began a chant. "i don't know, but i've been told-"

"i don't know, but i've been told-" the group repeated.

"doing poetry is old-"

"doing poetry is old-"

the call and response died out as keating joined the boys, marching with them. "left, left, left-right-left. left, left, left-right-left. left, halt!" the three boys stopped. "thank you, gentlemen. if you noticed, everyone started off with their own stride, their own pace. mr. pitts, taking his time. he knew he'll get there one day. mr. cameron, you could see him thinking, 'is this right? it might be right. it might be right. i know that. maybe not. i don't know.'"

he walked with his groin pushed forward, clearly imitating cameron. (charlie almost fell over at this).

"mr. overstreet," keating continued, "driven by deeper force." the group laughed, thinking back to his poem about chris. "yes. we know that. all right. now, i didn't bring them up here to ridicule them. i brought them up here to illustrate the point of conformity: the difficulty in maintaining your own beliefs in the face of others. now, those of you - i see the look in your eyes like, 'i would've walked differently.' well, ask yourselves why you were clapping."

celia tilted her head to the side, taking in his words.

"now, we all have a great need for acceptance. but you must trust that your beliefs are unique, your own, even though others may think them odd or unpopular, even though the herd may go, 'that's baaaaad.'" he said, making a sort of goat impression that made the group all laugh. "robert frost said, 'two roads diverged in a wood and i, i took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.' now, i want you to find your own walk right now. your own way of striding, pacing. any direction. anything you want. whether it's proud, whether it's silly, anything. the courtyard is yours."

charlie remained leaning on the wall. "mr. dalton? will you be joining us?"

the boy smiled. "exercising the right not to walk."

"thank you, mr. dalton. you just illustrated the point. swim against the stream."

celia laughed as some of the boys made silly walks, but remained composed, casually walking with her posture slightly slouched. as she made her way in a small circle around the courtyard, neil joined her, keeping in stride. though the two were taking different steps, they remained at the same pace, moving together through the yard.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

"thou speakest alright, i am that merry wanderer of the night. i jest to oberon and make him smile, when i a fat and bean-fed horse beguile, neighing in likeness of a filly foal; and sometimes lurk i in a gossip's bowl. in very likeness of a roasted crab, i-" neil stuttered, trying to think of his next line. "i.." he looked to celia for help.

the girl sat across from him, her legs folded as she held his annotated actor's copy of a midsummer night's dream. "and when she drinks," she prompted, looking up at him over the book.

a moment of realization flashed across his eyes as he remembered his line. "and when she drinks, against her lips i bob, and on her withered dewlap pour the ale. the wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale, sometimes for three-foot stool mistaketh me; then slip i from her bum, down topples she, and 'tailor' cries, and falls into a cough; and then the whole choir hold their hips and laugh, and waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swear. a merrier hour was never wasted there. but, room, fairy!" he stopped quoting his lines, looking over to her. "and then i announce oberon, right, and that's-"

"that's your last line in that scene, yeah." celia flipped through the pages, scanning for the character 'puck'. she found it, stopping. "okay, you don't talk again until after titania's big speech, and then she asks about the sea-maid music?" she looked up as he nodded. "and then you say you remember, and then.."

neil closed his eyes in thought before nodding. "i'll put a girdle round about the earth in forty minutes!" he said triumphantly, remembering the line. "and then i exit, right?"

"yep." celia confirmed, trying to make words out of his chicken-scratched stage cues. "and your next big speech isn't until you cast the love spell, but we already went over that part. unless you need it again?"

he shook his head. "no, i think i know that." neil then flopped back on her bed. "thank you for going through lines with me. they want us to be off book by the end of the week, but i have so few people to bounce off of that i have to know mine earlier than everyone else."

she nodded, setting his book down on her desk before joining him in sitting on the bed. "well, i believe in you. you're already doing a great job with the memorization, don't stress on it." she advised him, rubbing a comforting hand on his back. "just do what you know."

"thank you." he smiled, pressing a quick peck to her lips. she laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck for a hug. he immediately complied, his hands wrapping around her waist as he held her body to his.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

neil and celia were laughing as they walked from the library (where they'd been, once again, reading poetry to each other) to their rooms. the dormitories and the library were connected by a thin bridge of a walkway, and as the two made their way down it, they noticed a familiar figure sitting by himself. "todd?" celia asked, smiling as the boy looked up. "hey!"

"oh- hey." he replied, looking up at the two.

"what's going on?" neil asked.

todd shrugged. "nothing. today's my birthday."

celia gasped. "what? it's your birthday? happy birthday!" she wanted to ask why he hadn't told anyone, or offer to make him something. but if she knew anything about todd, it was that he was definitely way too shy to accept any sort of recognition, even on a day like this.

"is today your birthday? happy birthday!"

"thanks." he smiled.

"what'd you get?" neil asked him.

todd shrugged once more. "my parents gave me this." he gestured to a deskset, which was sitting next to him, still entirely in its wrapping.

though celia didn't see the problem with it, neil furrowed his brows. "isn't this the same desk set-"

"yeah, yeah." todd nodded. the same deskset was in their shared room. "they gave me the same thing as last year."

"oh." celia and neil said together, frowning.

"oh." todd repeated, seemingly used to this disappointment.

neil then laughed. "maybe they thought you needed another one." he suggested.

todd titled his head, not fully agreeing with his theory. "maybe they weren't thinking about anything at all. uh, the funny thing is about this is i.. i didn't even like it the first time."

"todd, i think you're underestimating the value of this desk set." neil then accused, picking up the package to examine it more closely. "i mean, who would want a football or a baseball, or-"

"or a car." the boy added.

"or a car," neil agreed, "if they could have a desk set as wonderful as this one? i mean, if, if i were ever going to buy a, a desk set-"

"twice." celia reminded him

neil nodded. "twice, i would probably buy this one.. both times." the three laughed. "in fact, its, its shape is.. it's rather aerodynamic, isn't it? i can feel it. this desk set wants to fly." he lightly tossed it in the air, catching it before it could fall. "the world's first unmanned flying desk set."

"todd?" celia invited, handing him the present.

with a smile, todd flung the desk set over the side of the walkway, watching as it fell into pieces below them. "oh, my!"

neil shrugged. "well, i wouldn't worry. you'll get another one next year."

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

at the next society meeting, celia was sitting on the floor between neil and todd, who were on their normal respective log benches. charlie and knox, meanwhile, were missing; knox at chris' party and charlie unaccounted for. nevertheless, the meeting persisted as normal. "to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life. to put to rout all that was not life." the boys, and celia, said, having the introductory poem memorized by now.

the group all stopped as they heard the sound of a girl giggling outside. "you've gotta be shitting me." celia mumbled under her breath when charlie followed two girls into the cave.

"go ahead, go on in." charlie told the two. "it's my cave. watch your step."

"we're not gonna slip, are we?" one of them asked.

the boys all shined their flashlights on the girls, and celia didn't miss the conspicuous lightshow that one of them had begun on their chests specifically.

"hi." one of the girls said, clearly embarrassed.

meeks, in an attempt to stand up, slammed his head on the ceiling. "hello." he smiled, rubbing his head.

celia rolled her eyes, looking up at neil, who seemed equally frustrated. had none of these boys ever seen a girl before?

"hi, you guys." charlie finally spoke. "meet, uh, gloria," he gestured to the girl who had been talking, "and-"

"tina." she reminded him, offended that he hadn't remembered.

he nodded as if he hadn't forgotten at all. "tina. this is the pledge class of the dead poets society."

celia gave them a tight lipped smile, nodding her head in acknowledgement as the guys all mumbled soft hellos and greetings.

"i thought you said there weren't any girls at your school?" gloria asked, looking to charlie.

celia raised a brow at this. her posture certainly wasn't ladylike as she sat with her legs pulled to her chest and her arms on her knees.

"oh," charlie said, turning to look at her, "yeah, ceil isn't really.. she's a girl, but she's not.. a girl, you know. she's one of us." his explanation did nothing. "she's the only girl who goes to welton. her dad's our teacher, and she's the smartest person alive. probably."

her eyes narrowed, not knowing what he meant by anything he'd just said. "thank.. you?"

"yeah, anytime. okay, guys, move. move." charlie encouraged them all to aside to make room for his new friends. "come on, folks. it's friday night. let's get on with the meeting."

as the boys began to move down, celia got up from the floor, thankful that todd had waited for her to sit before moving. now sitting between neil and todd, she looked over to charlie, who was sitting between the two girls.

"guys, i have an announcement to make." he spoke. "in keeping with the spirit of passionate experimentation of the dead poets, i'm giving up the name charlie dalton. from now on, call me nuwanda."

"nuwanda?" celia repeated, letting out a snort of a laugh.

charlie looked her way but didn't reply, stealing tina's tube of red lipstick and using it to put red marks on each of his cheeks.

"dear lord." she muttered, only loud enough for neil to hear.

"we gonna have a meeting or what?" he asked after a few moments of awkward silence.

gloria nodded. "yeah. if you guys don't have a meeting, how do we know if we wanna join?"

it was then that neil, who was their resident leader, had had enough. "join?" he asked, his eyes flicking between charlie and the girls.

charlie leaned over to tina. "'shall i compare thee to a summer's day?'" he said, quoting shakespeare. "'thou art more lovely and more temperate.'"

the girl was entirely fooled. "that's so sweet."

"i made that up just for you."

"you did?"

the boys, and celia, all laughed at her gullibility. charlie ignored them, moving to sit by gloria. "i'll write one for you too, gloria. 'she walks in beauty like the night. she walks in beauty like the night. of cloudless climes and starry skies. all that's best, dark and bright, meet in her aspect and her eyes.'"

"that's beautiful." she marveled. "did you write that, too?"

celia laughed. "i thought he said he changed his name to nuwanda, not to byron."

charlie waved a hand at her. "she's just kidding. there's plenty more where that came from." he flirted, making celia roll her eyes once more.

"so, what do you guys do?" gloria asked, looking at the group.

"me and pitts are working on a hi-fi system. it shouldn't be that hard to, uh, to put together." meeks said, clearly flustered.

pitts nodded. "yeah. uh, i might be going to yale. uh, uh, but, i, i might not."

celia fought the laughter that built in her at his awkwardness.

"don't you guys miss having girls around here?" gloria asked, as if the other girl wasn't even there.

"yeah." meeks and pitts, starry eyed, admitted.

celia rolled her eyes again, softening as she felt neil grab her hand. she silently intertwined their fingers, trying to avoid getting too frustrated. the girls had already proven that they weren't the smartest.

"we have celia, though." todd uncharacteristically spoke. the entire group turned to look at him, genuinely shocked that he had spoken up about something. he uncomfortably cleared his throat. "i just mean.. we have a 'girl around here'," he quoted the girl, "and so.." he trailed off as he realized everyone was still looking at him. "yeah."

the girl gave todd a small smile. "thanks."

charlie ignored his rant. "that's part of what this club is about." he said to the two other girls."in fact, i'd like to announce i published an article in the school paper, in the name of the dead poets."

"you did what?" celia asked him.

he continued as if she hadn't spoken. "demanding girls be admitted to welton."

"you didn't." pitts gasped.

"so we can all stop beating off." charlie whispered to meeks.

celia was still angry. "have you lost your mind?"

neil nodded his agreement. "how did you do that?"

he shrugged. "i'm one of the proofers. i slipped the article in."

meeks looked around nervously; his one condition to joining the group was that no one could find out about them sneaking out. "look, uh, it's, it's over now."

charlie turned to him. "why? nobody knows who we are."

"well, don't you think they're gonna figure out who wrote it?" cameron asked. "they're gonna come to you and ask to know what the dead poets society is. charlie, you had no right to do something like that."

celia nodded. "i can't believe i'm saying this, but i agree with cameron. charlie, you can't just do something like that without asking the group."

he rolled his eyes. "it's nuwanda, celia."

"that's right." gloria spoke in a light voice. "it's nuwanda."

celia then began to take deep breaths, reminding herself that it wouldn't do any good to get too riled up about it. "you might have to hold me back." she mumbled to neil, who was still holding onto her hand.

"are we just playing around out here, or do we mean what we say?" charlie asked. "if all we do is come together and read a bunch of poems to each other, what the hell are we doing?"

neil furrowed his brows. "all right, but you still shouldn't have done it, charlie. this could mean trouble. you don't speak for the club. especially with something like this that could get back to celia or single her out." he added.

charlie rolled his eyes. "hey, would you not worry about your precious little neck and your precious little girlfriend for one minute? if they catch me, i'll tell them i made it up."