𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲 ✰ 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲

nineteen ✰ "ladies and gentlemen, 'poetrusic' by charles dalton."

"it's fine if you don't feel that way about me yet, but i needed you to know that i love you. "

scarlett nodded. "i-i am gonna go back to my room. see you at the meeting later?" 

neil nodded as scarlett reached up and kissed neil on the cheek. 

✰

as scarlett walked back to her dorm room, her head was spinning. 

neil perry is in love with me. that thought made her dizzy. 

scarlett threw her body onto her bed, burying her face in her pillows, ignoring parker and rory who were sitting on parker's bed. 

the two girls shared a look.

"what's the matter, honey?" parker asked.

"neil said that he loves me." scarlett said into her pillow.

"neil said what?" rory asked. 

scarlett groaned as she lifted her head from her pillow, shifting her position so she was sitting upright on her bed. "neil told me that he is in love with me while we were running lines for his play."

parker and rory squealed. 

"that's amazing, scar!" 

"perry is in love with you? any girl would kill for a guy like him." 

"i didn't say it back." scarlett whispered. "and i think i really hurt his feelings by not saying it." 

rory got up from parker's bed and sat down next to scarlett. "i am sure you didn't. neil is a great guy, very understanding." 

parker nodded in agreement. "yeah and saying 'i love you' is a big thing, especially since neil is your first major boyfriend." 

"say it when you for sure mean it, scar. don't say it because you think you have to. you'll know when you love neil." rory pulled scarlett into a hug, parker soon joining. 

"okay, enough about me." scarlett grinned. "what is going on with knox and parker because those poems were really something." 

parker rolled her eyes. "shut up." 

✰

later that day, the members of the dead poets society (minus neil, who had play rehearsal, and parker, who was with her father). 

each of the boys had a pipe, except scarlett. she was smoking a cigarette while making small talk with todd. rory wasn't participating in those festivities. 

charlie sat neck to rory, his saxophone hanging from his neck-strap. he was sporting a black beret and cheering on pitts, who was smoking his pipe. "attaboy, pittsie, inhale deeply." 

"my dad collects a lot of pipes." meeks said.

"really? mine's got thirty." said charlie.

"your parents collect pipes? oh, that's really interesting."

knox sat next to charlie and rory, not smoking from his pipe. 

"come on, knox. join in." 

"yeah, knox, we're from the government. we're here to help man."  meeks chuckled. 

"it's parker. isn't it, knox?" scarlett asked. 

pitts held up the centerfold as meeks said, "smoke that. put that in your pipe and smoke it." 

knox rolled his eyes. "that's not funny."

"knock it off." charlie instructed. "smoke your pipes, cigarette if you're scarlett."