✓ | FIAT NOX ✶ charlie dalton

⠀⠀⠀𝒙𝒊𝒗. conformity

⠀⠀⠀"No grades at stake, gentlemen. Just take a stroll," Keating called to the boys, although they no longer hesitated to follow his odd directions.

⠀⠀⠀Pitts merged into line with Cameron and Knox as they formed a line, their steps syncing together as they stepped in time. Their stomps incited their other classmates to clap, along with small laughs, as they walked around the circle.

⠀⠀⠀"I don't know, but I've been told!" Keating shouted, marching beside Cameron.

⠀⠀⠀"I don't know, but I've been told!" the boys repeated after him as they had in their gym sessions time and time again.

⠀⠀⠀"Doing poetry is old!"

⠀⠀⠀"Doing poetry is old!"

⠀⠀⠀"Left, left, left-right-left. Left, left, left-right-left. Left, halt!" Keating exclaimed with a jump as he turned to the three boys. "Thank you, gentlemen," he smiled, the boys now off to the side along with their classmates.

⠀⠀⠀"If you noticed, everyone started with their own stride, their own pace," Keating noted, sauntering from where he stood with Knox, Cameron, and Pitts to the center. "Mr. Pitts, taking his time. He knew he'd get there one day," he said, mimicking Pitts' long strides with his short legs. "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 muttered, hunching over and scratching his head. "And Mr. Overstreet! Driven by a deeper force," he stated, pushing his groin forward. "We know that," he laughed along with the other boys.

⠀⠀⠀"And Eliza there!" Keating exclaimed as Eliza walked languidly into the courtyard, late and yawning loudly as she made her way to stand by Charlie and Neil. Charlie was quick to wrap his arm around her shoulders loosely since it was only them out there. "A daydream away. She'll never actually get here."

⠀⠀⠀"Sorry," she said through a second yawn. "I forgot we were coming out here today."

⠀⠀⠀"I only told you this morning," Keating said with a shake of his head as she shrugged. "Now, I didn't bring these boys 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 this... why were you clapping?"

⠀⠀⠀A sharp silence took over the boys as Keating left them hanging on his point, a smirk upholding his lips as he turned away.

⠀⠀⠀"Now, we all have a great need for acceptance, but you must trust your beliefs make you unique, your own, even though others may think them odd or unpopular, even though the herd may go 'that's baaaaad'," he stated, his voice drawing out into an imitation of a sheep. "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. Gentlemen, the courtyard is yours," Keating smiled, bowing slightly with an arm extended to allow them space.

⠀⠀⠀The boys took to the courtyard, walking amongst themselves. A few of the boys strode like they usually would, and the others, the goofier ones who had taken Keating's words to heart, walked around teasing each other or walking like a chicken.

⠀⠀⠀Keating spun to see Charlie Dalton and his niece standing back at the walkway.

⠀⠀⠀"Mr. Dalton, Eliza? Will you be joining us?" Keating asked, his lips quirking up at the edges and his eyes creasing at the corners with bittersweet happiness for his niece.

⠀⠀⠀"Exercising the right not to walk," Charlie said with a similar smirk making up his features.

⠀⠀⠀"Thank you, Mr. Dalton. You just illustrated the point. Swim against the stream!"

AUTHOR'S NOTE —

POEM: Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken"

SONG: I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash

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.