landslide, neil perry

fourteen.

cameron scoffed. "look, in case you hadn't heard, dalton, there's something called an honor code at this school, all right? if a teacher asks you a question, you tell the truth or you're expelled."

"you little-" charlie lunged at cameron, but knox and meeks held him back. "he's a rat! he's in it up to his eyes, so he ratted to save himself."

"don't touch him, charlie." knox warned, keeping him back. "you do and you're out."

charlie laughed. "i'm out anyway!"

the other boy shook his head. "you don't know that, not yet."

"he's right there, charlie." cameron said. "and if you guys are smart, you will do exactly what i did and cooperate. they're not after us. we're the victims. us and neil."

charlie turned to him. "what's that mean? who are they after?"

celia, who'd been quiet the whole time, then moved towards the front, outraged. "you asshole!" she yelled, moving to cameron.

"what?" charlie looked down at her. "what, who is he after?"

"they're firing my dad," she looked at cameron, "and it's because of you?" she spoke through her teeth. "you are out of your mind. how could you even suggest that it was his fault that neil-"

"you guys didn't really think he could avoid responsibility, did you?" cameron asked. "who else would you think? the administration? mr. perry? mr. keating put us up to all this crap, didn't he? if he wasn't for mr. keating, neil would be cozied up in his room right now, studying his chemistry and dreaming of being called doctor."

todd then burst, making his way through the crowd. "that is not true, cameron." he shouted through his tears. "you know that. he didn't put us to anything. neil loved acting."

"believe what you want," he responded, "but i say let keating fry. i mean, why ruin our lives?"

charlie lunged at him once more, and this time no one made a move to stop him as he punched cameron in the face.

the red-head fell onto the floor, lifting a hand to his now bloody nose. "you just signed your expulsion papers, nuwanda." he spoke the name like bile, rising to his feet. "and if the rest of you are smart, you'll do exactly what i did. they know everything anyway. you can't save keating, but you can save yourselves."

"fuck you." celia spat.

he turned to her. "and you- you can pretend your dad's innocent as long as you want, but none of this would've happened if you hadn't been here. neil would still be here if you hadn't-"

"that's bullshit, cameron." todd spoke angrily, almost ready to punch the boy himself. "don't say that about celia, he loved her."

cameron rolled his eyes. "i'm warning you guys. you're going to ruin your lives for some stupid girl anyway." he made to move for the door, and it took the force of all of the boys to hold charlie back now.

·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

"i trust that you know why you've been called here." nolan said, looking to celia, who sat wordlessly across from him. "do you or do you not confess to being a member of the dead poets society?" he got angry as she didn't reply.

she eventually looked up, nodding. "yeah."

"that wasn't too hard, was it?" he then asked, passing her a paper. "i have here a detailed description of what occurred at your meetings. it describes how your father, mr. keating, encouraged you and the boys to organize this club and to use it as a source of inspiration for reckless and self-indulgent behavior. it describes how mr. keating, both in and out of the classroom, encouraged neil perry to follow his obsession with acting when he knew all along it was against the explicit order of neil's parents. it was mr. keating's blatant abuse of his position as teacher that led directly to neil perry's death."