❛ Love is a losing game. Love can be a sham. I know of a fool, you see. For that fool is me! ❜

DEAD POETS SOCIETY
chapter thirteen

THE DEAD POETS had reconvened for their next meeting the following Saturday. Light pooled into the cave from the afternoon sun as they settled into the dry ground of the cave. Meeks had brought down a few pipes he had taken from his dad on his last trip home and had smoked some pot Charlie had gotten from god knows where. Pitts, Charlie, and Meeks all lit up as the rest waited to bum a drag off them.

⠀⠀⠀"Attaboy, Pittsie!" Charlie cheered as Pitts' pipe began to smoke. "Inhale deeply."

⠀⠀⠀"My dad collects a lot of pipes," Meeks stated blatantly.

⠀⠀⠀"Really? Mines got thirty," Charlie mused.

⠀⠀⠀"Your parents collect pipes?" Pitts joined in, making a face at the two. "Oh, that's really interesting."

⠀⠀⠀"Come on, Knox. Join in," Charlie urged as he handed his pipe over to Eliza, who impatiently sat beside him.

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, Discipline. It's no fun without you being a part of the party," Eliza agreed behind a cloud of smoke.

⠀⠀⠀Charlie watched his friend for a moment, cocking an eyebrow, "What's wrong?"

⠀⠀⠀"It's Chris!" Pitts screamed, taking the picture Charlie had brought on the first night and shoved it in Knox's face. "Here's a picture of Chris for you!"

⠀⠀⠀Knox groaned in annoyance, not finding their high as funny when they were feeding off his misery.

⠀⠀⠀"Knock it off," Charlie scolded Pitts. "Smoke your pipes."

⠀⠀⠀"Kiss your girlfriend," Pitts retorted as Neil slid into the cave, coming into the conversation with wide eyes, as he awkwardly waited as he held a lamp in one hand.

⠀⠀⠀Charlie forced a laugh.

⠀⠀⠀"What are you talking about?"

⠀⠀⠀"Your girlfriend!" Pitts exclaimed, unable to keep his mouth shut as he flapped a hand at Eliza. "Or is she not? You've kissed, right? I don't know, almost kissed?"

⠀⠀⠀Neil tried to change the subject to the God of the Cave, a few boys oohing and ahhing at the sight. Still, Eliza kept her narrowed eyes trained on Knox as he sat tense and looking anywhere but at her. His strange demeanor could have been because of Chris, but she knew that this was his guilty act, and she was not impressed.

⠀⠀⠀"Knox!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide with horror.

⠀⠀⠀At that moment, Charlie stood with the saxophone in his hand and interrupted her with loud, annoying notes he threw in her face.

⠀⠀⠀"What do you say we start this meeting?" Charlie asked, turning to look at the boys before sending a wink to Eliza.

⠀⠀⠀"You told them," Eliza said with a frown as Charlie continued to blast his saxophone.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm sorry, Liza! Neil got it out of me! And besides, if anything, one of us deserves to be happy," he muttered, drawing his legs into his chest as he reflected on Chris and his unrequited love.

⠀⠀⠀"Gentlemen," Charlie began, turning to Knox and Eliza, still talking. "Lady. Poetrusic by Charles Dalton," he introduced, pounding at the tabs of his saxophone before continuing. 

⠀⠀⠀"Laughing, crying,
⠀⠀⠀Tumbling, mumbling.
⠀⠀⠀Gotta do more.
⠀⠀⠀Gotta be more." 

The saxophone continued horrendously. 

⠀⠀⠀"Chaos screaming,
⠀⠀⠀Chaos dreaming!
⠀⠀⠀Gotta do more!
⠀⠀⠀Gotta be more!" 

His erratic notes turned into a harmonious melody as he turned to Eliza, bending down to one knee, so he was at eye level with her.

⠀⠀⠀As he finished, the boys wolf-whistled and cheered excitedly.

⠀⠀⠀"Wow!" Meeks exclaimed, a shit-eating grin taking up his and the rest of the boys' faces.

⠀⠀⠀"That was nice. That was great. Where did you learn to play like that?" Pitts asked as Charlie returned to sit beside Eliza, his arm wrapped around her shoulders rather than keeping at a safe distance.

⠀⠀⠀"My parents made me take the clarinet for years," Charlie explained.

⠀⠀⠀"I love the clarinet," Cameron cheered.

⠀⠀⠀Eliza snorted, "You would."

⠀⠀⠀"I hated it," Charlie agreed. "The saxophone. The saxophone is more... sonorous," he explained, his voice deepening as the boys cheered at Charlie's choice of vocabulary besides Knox. The latter jumped as if burned by a fire.

⠀⠀⠀"I can't take it anymore! If I don't have Chris, I'm gonna kill myself!" Knox declared, all eyes worriedly on him.

⠀⠀⠀"Knoxious, you've gotta calm down," Charlie told him, Eliza's hand reaching out for Knox to set her hand on his knee for comfort.

⠀⠀⠀"No, Charlie!" Knox snapped. "That's my problem. I've been calm all my life. Look at you, got the girl, and you're not calm. I'm gonna do something about that," he stated, jolting up to his feet and running out of the cave.

⠀⠀⠀"Where are you going?" Neil asked.

⠀⠀⠀"What are you gonna do?" Charlie asked after Neil.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm gonna call her," Knox said with a big, stupid grin, chuckling as everyone grabbed their coats. Then followed after him as he dashed off back to the Academy. Charlie's saxophone livening their way.

KNOX STOOD AT the payphone before hanging up suddenly, his hand still on the headset, as he turned back to his friends.

⠀⠀⠀"She's gonna hate me. The Danburrys will hate me. My parents will kill me," Knox stated, stumbling over his words, anxious eyes landing on Eliza, whose smile reassured him everything would be okay. 

⠀⠀⠀"Alright, goddammit. You're right!" Knox groaned without her having to say a word. "Carpe diem! Even if it kills me," he recited, picking up the headset and popping in another coin. "Hello, Chris?" Knox asked into the receiver, Charlie slipping away from Eliza to stand by Knox. "Hi, this is Knox Overstreet."

⠀⠀⠀Knox held the headset away from him, setting his hand over the microphone so he could whisper, "She's glad I called."

⠀⠀⠀"Would I like to come to a party?" Knox asked Chris so that the swarm around him would know what she was saying.

⠀⠀⠀"Yes. Say, yes," Charlie urged Knox quickly.

⠀⠀⠀"Well, sure," Knox agreed hesitantly. "Okay, great. I-I'll be there, Chris. Friday night at the Danburry's. O... Okay. Thank you," he said quickly, hanging up the phone and leaning back against the wall so that he could let out a relieved yawp for all the boys to hear. "Can you believe it? She was gonna call me. She invited me to a party with her!" Knox exclaimed.

⠀⠀⠀"At Chet Danburry's house," Charlie repeated back to Knox, raising an eyebrow and watching Knox nod his head with him.

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah."

⠀⠀⠀"Well?"

⠀⠀⠀"So?"

⠀⠀⠀"So," Charlie threw back at him. "You don't really think she means you're going with her?"

⠀⠀⠀Knox paused a moment to process Charlie's question before rolling his eyes. "Well, of course not, Charlie, but that's not the point. That's not the point at all!"

⠀⠀⠀"What is the point?" Charlie continued to push, waiting for a straight answer.

⠀⠀⠀"The point, Charlie, is, uh—"

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah?"

⠀⠀⠀Knox turned to Charlie, that stupid smile back on his face as he leaned back onto the wall, his face melting into a love-struck obliviousness. "That she was thinking about me," he shrugged. "I've only met her once, and already she's thinking about me. Damn it. It's gonna happen, guys. I feel it! She is going to be mine!" he declared, moving through the group and halting behind them to turn back. He rose his chin, flipped his scarf over his shoulder before running up the stairs.

⠀⠀⠀"Carpe! Carpe!" Neil chanted as Mr. Keating had done on their first day.

⠀⠀⠀"El, wanna grab some lunch in town?" Charlie asked Eliza with his own stupid grin growing on his face.

⠀⠀⠀"Are you even allowed to go into town?" Eliza asked Charlie with a knowing smirk.

⠀⠀⠀"Maybe Dr. Hager will allow us to go support our friend Neil!" he exclaimed, dragging Neil by the neck towards them. "Or we could always sneak out. I like to live dangerously."

⠀⠀⠀Eliza rolled her eyes at Charlie.

⠀⠀⠀"Let me get my purse; you ask Dr. Hager if it's alright. I have money," she stated, turning to the stairs, but Neil stopped her in her tracks.

⠀⠀⠀"Are you two dating now?" Neil asked, his smile bright and undaunted by the question.

⠀⠀⠀Charlie and Eliza looked at each other for a moment. They hadn't really talked about being together or dating. They had, in fact, not even been able to have their first kiss, always surrounded by the boys or teachers.

⠀⠀⠀Charlie's smirk grew though as he turned to Neil.

⠀⠀⠀"Yes, we are," he stated suddenly. "Carpe diem, am I right?" he asked, looking back at Eliza, who gave him a soft smile before running to her room.

AUTHOR'S NOTE —

This chapter's a bit boring :/ but it's about Knox so who cares!

Anyways, thank you guys SO MUCH for getting this story to 2k so quickly, holy crap! Daydreams has been stuck at 2k reads since i abandoned it (so maybe we can surpass that and I'll be really happy...) (Ashley in 2021: Yeah, we really surpassed that 2k lmao) but that's not why I write this story. I truly do love Eliza and Charlie and now they're together and happy but for how much longer? 

POEM: Charlie Dalton, "Poetruisc"

SONG: Why Do Fools Fall In Love by Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers

Thank you for reading! Leave comments telling me your thoughts on this chapter, but however you interact, know that I really appreciate you reading. I hope you enjoy, and until the next one.