landslide, neil perry

eleven.

"i shouldn't have.." he ran a hand through his hair. "i shouldn't have said.. what i said. last night. i made it seem like you didn't matter, and i was rude to you, and to your relationship with neil. and i just.. i shouldn't have done that. because you're my friend." he looked over at her, to make sure she was listening to him. "friends shouldn't do that to each other. so, i'm sorry."

she didn't change her facial expression as she listened to him. when he was done, she cleared her throat. "thank you. for apologizing. i guess i forgive you." she added, a small smirk of a smile appearing on her face that he matched.

"thank you." he moved towards her bed as if he was going to plop on it (like normal) but then seemed to think better of it.

celia snorted a laugh as she watched him. "sore?" she asked with a raised brow, referencing to the paddling that everyone knew he'd received as a punishment. he made a face at her. "so, yes?"

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

charlie hit at his bongo drums, attempting to mimic nolan's footsteps. "creak. he started walking around towards my left." he told the boys, who were all crowded around him. "creak. creak. 'assume the position, mr. dalton.'" he stopped as the door opened.

when keating walked in, most of the boys stood from their seats. celia remained on the floor by neil, a copy of the tempest rested on her knee that he read from over her shoulder. "it's all right, gentlemen." her father said, easing the boys back into their seats.

"mr. keating." charlie smiled, his hair for once out of his face due to the sunglasses perched on his head.

"mr. dalton." he didn't seem impressed. "that was a pretty lame stunt you pulled today."

charlie's brows furrowed. "you're siding with mr. nolan? what about carpe diem, and sucking all the marrow out of life and all that?"

"sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone." he responded, getting to eye level with him. "sure there's a time for daring and there's a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for."

the boy frowned. "but i thought you'd like that."

"no." keating shook his head. "you being expelled from school is not daring to me. it's stupid, 'cause you'll miss some golden opportunities."

"yeah. like what?"

"like, if nothing else, the opportunity to attend my classes. got it, ace?"

charlie smiled. "aye, aye, captain."

"keep your head about you. that goes for the lot of you."

"yes, captain." everyone said, nearly bursting with respect for the man.

charlie nodded his head. "besides, we already have the best girl at this school anyway." he smiled over at celia, who was still seated with neil. she looked up, smiling back.

"phone call from god." keating was laughing as he went to leave the room. "if it had been collect, it would've been daring."

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

the next day in class, keating scrawled out the word 'college' in bolded letters, filling up the entire chalkboard. "lady and gentlemen," he said, "today we will consider a skill which is indispensable for getting the most out of college-- analyzing books you haven't read."

the room all laughed at this, knowing that they'd all been guilty of this at some point or other. hager's two chapters a night had often turned into only two chapters in total that they'd read of their textbooks.