❛ Are the stars out tonight? I don't know if it's cloudy or bright. I only have eyes for you, dear. ❜

DEAD POETS SOCIETY
chapter five

"THAT WAS WEIRD," Pitts told the group as they stepped outside for lunch.

⠀⠀⠀"But different," Neil stated, still amused by the class. This semester was definitely going to be unlike any other.

⠀⠀⠀"Spooky, if you ask me," Knox commented from behind the two.

⠀⠀⠀"Well, while you losers were seizing the lecture, I was seizing the image of the new girl," Charlie laughed, raising his eyebrows suggestively at Knox.

⠀⠀⠀"Come on, man," Knox groaned, pushing Charlie away from him.

⠀⠀⠀Charlie laughed hysterically at Knox's reaction.

⠀⠀⠀Pitts pointed across the lawn to where Eliza stood with one of the other boys, Julian Beck, a pretentious dick who didn't know his own ass from his mouth.

⠀⠀⠀"Isn't that her?" Pitts asked.

⠀⠀⠀Beck stood uncomfortably close to the dark-haired beauty now, his hand rested on her hip, thumb running alone on the hem separating her pants from her shirt.

⠀⠀⠀"What the hell is his problem?" Neil asked, ready to fight when Charlie held his hand up.

⠀⠀⠀"I've got it," Charlie assured him. Neil already had one problem with his dad. He didn't need this on top of his list. Charlie was known to be mouthy and get into fights, so it didn't bother him. "Don't want your daddy comin' up here again, do we, Perry?" Charlie teased with a small smile before striding across the lawn.

⠀⠀⠀Charlie made his way to the two, hearing Julian say something like kicking his roommate out of the dorm for the night if she'd like. He stuffed his hands in his pockets to keep himself from hitting Julian and stood beside Eliza, waiting for him to notice.

⠀⠀⠀"We got a problem here?" Charlie asked, the lids of his eyes heavy as he held his chin high so that he could look down his nose at Julian.

⠀⠀⠀"No, we're good. Just asking Elizabeth if she would like to join me for lunch," he told Charlie with a charming smile that oozed lies.

⠀⠀⠀Charlie shook his head, frowning like he was disappointed.

⠀⠀⠀"Oh, damn," Charlie sighed. "It's too bad I had already asked her, and she said she'd join the guys and me for lunch. Said she'd rather hang out with us than a bunch of pretentious dicks."

⠀⠀⠀"Excuse me?" Julian asked, his hands finally off of Eliza as he turned to Charlie, not shocked at what he had said.

⠀⠀⠀"You heard me, Julian," he said, teeth clenched as he leaned in close. "Hit me or scram," Charlie urged, noticing Julian's fist twitch. "But we both know the second you lay a finger on me, Mr. Nolan will have heard of it, and you'll be out of here. No college scholarship to carry you out to your life of misery."

⠀⠀⠀Julian glared at Charlie, but his words were right, and soon he was drawing a loud sigh and storming away.

⠀⠀⠀Eliza turned to look at Charlie, her emerald eyes slightly glossy as she smiled kindly up at him. "Thank you. I never know what to do when men act like that," she explained, her hand tightly gripped around his arm as if it were a lifeline.

⠀⠀⠀"This has happened before?" Charlie asked, surprised, but the revelation wasn't groundbreaking news. On the other hand, it was apparent that women weren't treated with the respect they deserved.

⠀⠀⠀"Of course," she laughed lightly. "I usually just play along until I can get away," she explained, shrugging her shoulders.

⠀⠀⠀"Charlie, that was amazing!" Meeks shouted as the two regrouped with the other boys. Meeks had bounded over and slapped his hand down on Charlie's shoulder.

⠀⠀⠀"You didn't even hit him," Pitts agreed. "It's like a new you."

⠀⠀⠀"Hey, Eliza, right?" Neil asked, smiling widely as he stuck his hand out. "I'm Neil."

⠀⠀⠀"Nice to meet you," she nodded.

⠀⠀⠀"And this is Meeks, Pitts, and Todd," Neil continued, pointing to the other boys. "And you know Charlie and Knox."

⠀⠀⠀"Hey, what about me?" Cameron asked with a frown, glaring up at Neil as he had skipped him.

⠀⠀⠀"No one would ever want to meet you, Cameron. Eliza should call herself lucky!" Charlie exclaimed, a shit-eating grin coming up to his lips. Cameron gaped at him as he tried to develop a retort, but Charlie had turned to Eliza. "Lunch still stands. Care to join us?"

⠀⠀⠀"Love to," Eliza smiled. "I could use some real friends around here," she laughed, the group moving inside the main hall.

THE boys had invited Eliza to their nightly study with assurance from Mr. Nolan, as long as they stayed on topic, mostly.

⠀⠀⠀Sadly for her, Knox would not be attending their nightly study as he had dinner with the Danburry's. The rest of the boys, though, were scattered around the study room. Cameron, Neil, Charlie, and Eliza sat around one table, trying to figure out their trig problems. In contrast, Meeks and Pitts sat together in a room across the room, trying to tune a radio.

⠀⠀⠀Charlie had taken Eliza's questions she had received from her Uncle while Eliza was looking at Charlie's from class, the two trying to work out the others' problems.

⠀⠀⠀The only problem with Eliza's setup at Welton was that even though she could study with the boys, her concerns differed from theirs. Especially if they weren't on the same page.

⠀⠀⠀"And you want to do what with your life?" Eliza asked him, staring at the chicken scratch on Charlie's paper that made absolutely no sense as she tried to help him and Neil figure out number five.

⠀⠀⠀"I want to do something cool, like a prison guard or a reporter, but my parents have me going to be a banker," Charlie explained with a small shrug.

⠀⠀⠀"With these numbers, you'll be lucky to be a prisoner," Eliza said back with a small laugh. She took her eraser and erased everything he had already written.

⠀⠀⠀"Hey, hey, hey!" Charlie exclaimed, leaping towards her and ripping the paper out of her hands. "What the hell are you doing?!" he exclaimed.

⠀⠀⠀"You have everything wrong!" Eliza exclaimed.

⠀⠀⠀"Well, so do you. Where did you get forty-seven from?!" Charlie asked, pushing her paper back to her.

⠀⠀⠀"If you two are done," Cameron called, snapping his fingers at the two. "Can we continue with this? What did you get for five, Neil?"

⠀⠀⠀"I didn't," Neil stated bluntly, his lips turning into a frown.

⠀⠀⠀Charlie and Eliza snickered from across the table at Neil's quick snap.

⠀⠀⠀"What? Come on, why not?" Cameron asked, leaning in close to make sure he was looking at the same problem as them.

⠀⠀⠀"I don't get it!" Neil exclaimed, leaning back in his seat and folding his arms across his chest.

⠀⠀⠀Cameron let out a long sigh as he turned to Charlie and Eliza. They had stared at their pages, completely lost again in the problem. He sighed loudly, moving to stand between Neil and Charlie and set his textbook between them.

⠀⠀⠀"Just replace these numbers with x, for x and y," Cameron explained, pointing his pencil down at Neil's page.

⠀⠀⠀Neil looked up through his glasses with dissatisfaction, "Of course."

⠀⠀⠀"Of course? So, what's the problem?" Cameron asked, as if they were beyond help.

⠀⠀⠀"Is he always like this?" Eliza asked, leaning towards Charlie so that she could whisper.

⠀⠀⠀"He's worse when there isn't such a pretty girl in the room to cancel him out," Charlie said with a grin.

⠀⠀⠀"That's what I forgot to do!" Eliza exclaimed, ripping her paper from Charlie and setting it on the table so she could correct her mistake.

⠀⠀⠀The door opened as Knox slipped through, his blazer off and over his shoulder, as he dramatically leaned against the back of the door with a heavy sigh.

⠀⠀⠀"How was dinner?" Charlie asked, a teasing tone to his voice, as the room halted to turn and look at Knox.

⠀⠀⠀"Huh?"

⠀⠀⠀"How was dinner?" Eliza repeated.

⠀⠀⠀"Terrible," Knox muttered, slouching his way over to the table to sit beside Eliza. "Awful," he continued.

⠀⠀⠀"Why? What happened?" Charlie asked, pulling himself closer to Eliza and Knox to listen closer, quick to leave his trig homework behind.

⠀⠀⠀"Tonight, I met the most beautiful girl in my entire life," Knox stated morbidly.

⠀⠀⠀Eliza smiled widely, picking up Knox's hand and squeezing it sweetly.

⠀⠀⠀"Are you crazy?" Neil asked softly, removing his glasses. "What's wrong with that?"

⠀⠀⠀"She's practically engaged," Knox moaned, taking a breath as he enunciated the boy's name like venom dripping from his lips, "To Chet. Danburry."

⠀⠀⠀Knox's brown eyes rolled into the back of his head before returning to normal, as if he knew the guy. "That guy could eat a football," Charlie announced, trying to lighten the mood.

⠀⠀⠀Eliza laughed, turning to Charlie.

⠀⠀⠀"What does that even mean?"

⠀⠀⠀"It's poetry, dear Eliza, don't you understand?" Charlie smirked.

⠀⠀⠀"That's too bad," Pitts called from the other table as he and Meeks listened between odd whirring of their radio.

⠀⠀⠀Knox turned to Pitts, his shoulders slumping further.

⠀⠀⠀"Too bad? It's worse than too bad, Pittsie. It's a tragedy. A girl this beautiful, in love with such a jerk," Knox sighed.

⠀⠀⠀"All the good ones go for jerks, you know that," Pitts declared, leaning back into his project.

⠀⠀⠀"It's true," Eliza told Knox, winking to show she was teasing. "It's why I've been in love with Charlie ever since I met him."

⠀⠀⠀"What?" Neil asked, his voice raising an octave.

⠀⠀⠀Beside her, Charlie had been leaning back in his chair, and when the words Eliza said computed in his head, he flipped back and landed the chair onto the wooden floor. Then, quickly, he stood up in embarrassment.

⠀⠀⠀"Did this school beat the humor out of you idiots?" Eliza asked Neil, turning to Knox, who shrugged his shoulders in response. "It's a joke," she finished, looking at Charlie, who smiled awkwardly at her.

⠀⠀⠀"Ah, forget her," Cameron told Knox, waving his hands. "Open your trig book and try to figure out problem five."

⠀⠀⠀"I can't just forget her, Cameron, and I can't think about trig," he spat, watching Cameron huff in annoyance, but back away otherwise.

⠀⠀⠀A shrill beep cut through the room, silencing the boys and Eliza as they turned to Meeks and Pitts as their radio started working. Within seconds, Dr. Hager had stepped into the room.

⠀⠀⠀"Alright, gentlemen. Five minutes. Let's go," Dr. Hager called to the group. "And would one of you more respectable boys take Ms. Keating to her room?" he asked, giving Charlie a look.

⠀⠀⠀"I'll do it," Knox told Dr. Hager, patting Charlie on the shoulder as he stood to his feet and helped Eliza pack her things.

⠀⠀⠀Charlie stood as well, hitting Knox back.

⠀⠀⠀"Did you see her naked?" he asked with a laugh, struck in the arm sharply by Eliza.

⠀⠀⠀"Very funny, Dalton," Knox laughed sarcastically, hitching Eliza's bag onto his shoulder.

⠀⠀⠀"Night, everyone," Eliza called to the room, smiling at everyone as she waved to the boys. The boys all chorused a good night while Cameron said nothing at all, still trying to figure out number five in the last few minutes they had. Charlie sent her a wink and a quiet good night. "See you tomorrow," she said, rounding the corner with Knox.

⠀⠀⠀"Thank you, sir," Knox smiled, and the two headed out.

⠀⠀⠀They had walked a few minutes in silence until Eliza couldn't contain it any longer and turned to Knox with a larger-than-life smile.

⠀⠀⠀"Well!" she exclaimed, as if she had been waiting for his answer in anticipation. "What's her name?!"

⠀⠀⠀"Chris Noel," he said immediately and fluidly, as if the name was meant to roll off his tongue.

⠀⠀⠀Eliza grinned at the sight of him young and in love and soon heartbroken.

⠀⠀⠀"It's beautiful. Even if this 'Chet Danburry who could eat a football' is in the mix, maybe you have a chance. Most high school relationships don't last long anyway, but after that, she'll be looking to settle down," Eliza stated.

⠀⠀⠀"I didn't think of that," Knox muttered.

⠀⠀⠀"Maybe you'll be the one worth the time," she breathed, her smile reflecting that.

⠀⠀⠀The two made it to the front of her room, and quietly, Eliza had lifted herself to Knox's cheek and kissed his cheek even between the height difference.

⠀⠀⠀"I don't think I've ever been friends with anyone like this," Eliza told Knox with a stupid smile. "I feel like I could say you're my best friend already, Overstreet."

⠀⠀⠀"I could say the same, Keating," Knox smiled. "Hager may have extended my curfew, but he'll be up my ass within seconds. So, this is a good night," Knox whispered.

⠀⠀⠀"Good night," she agreed, opening her door as Knox walked back to the boy's dormitory.

AUTHOR'S NOTE —

Eliza is using sarcasm when she's talking about being in love with Charlie. Thank you for coming to my TedTalk, hope this clears things up since so many of you comment on it . . .

SONG: I Only Have Eyes For You by The Flamingos

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.