After lunch, the group joined some of the other students who had taken to spending time in the fresh air instead of somewhere holed up in the school.
"Todd?" Maria called out suddenly, slowing her steps so that she was walking beside him now.
He turned to her with wide eyes. "Yea?"
"Are you joining study group today? I was hoping to ask you a couple of questions about history."
Todd hesitated, stuffing his hands deeper into his pant pockets. "Me? You... you want to ask me?"
Maria nodded, smiling up at him brilliantly. "I heard you're very good at history."
"Not as good as Meeks though," Todd said softly.
"I'm sure you're plenty good," Maria said. "Meeks and Pitts will probably be busy with their radio - I mean, radar science experiment anyway. I'd appreciate your help a lot, Todd, really."
Todd knew what she was doing. He'd have to be dumb to not, but she was looking up at him with such heartwarming kindness that he felt his resolve falter almost immediately. She was trying to get him to study group, to join in with the rest of them, and she was doing so in the most indirect and gentlest way she possibly could.
And Todd was so thankful for that.
He remembered what she had told him the other day, about how she could teach him to fake it, to overcome the shyness within himself. He hadn't believed that she'd once been just as shy as he was until she explained to the group that her nickname - meadow mouse - had come from the fact that she had rarely spoken up in grade school and one of her teachers, during a parent-teacher night, had compared her to such.
"Mr. Foster said that all I'd need was a tail and I'd be right at home in the fields as a meadow mouse."
She had told them that Keating had found it extremely amusing and the nickname had stuck ever since.
But now she was so... Todd didn't have the right words to describe her, but he just found that he admired her. Maybe a part of him was a smidge envious at how she had overcome something that seemed to plague him day and night, but he wanted to learn from her. He wanted to be like her in some way and he'd take this olive branch she was extending out to him readily.
Todd looked over at her and smiled. "Sure," he said.
Maria smiled, about to say something more, but then suddenly turned to her right.
Someone had tugged on one of her curls, forcing her attention away from Todd and she felt someone move to walk beside her. She had half-expected it to be Knox, who now seemed to enjoy tugging at her curls, but it was Charlie instead.
"What?" She looked at him.
Charlie tugged at the tie around his neck and she was almost about to say that if he pulled at it anymore it would come entirely undone, but she held her tongue. He didn't look at her right away but instead looked towards a group of younger boys - probably sophomores - who were lounging under a tree and following the group with hawk-like eyes. He gave them a dirty scowl and stepped closer toward Maria, forcing her more into the center of the group.
"Nothing," he said, casting a glance over to her.
Now that they were walking side-by-side, Charlie noticed how she came to a perfect height beside him, just a little bit less than a head shorter.
"You pulled my hair," she replied back pointedly.
"And?" He gave her an expectant look and smirked when she seemed to struggle to come up with a response and shook her head at him with an exasperated sigh.
"You're annoying, Charlie Dalton."
"You like it though, Maria Keating."
She made a funny noise. "What?"
"You're just saying that doll," Charlie said, lowering his voice. "You don't really find me annoying. You find me charming, I'm sure of it."
Maria didn't say anything but was looking at him with an unreadable expression. It was somewhere between disbelief and amusement, and Charlie soaked in the fact that her cheeks were definitely pink and she was definitely blushing.
"You're impossible," she mumbled, more to herself than him, and moved away from him toward Neil. "Look, there's Uncle John."
"Mr. Keating? Mr. Keating?" Neil called out as the group moved closer to Keating who was walking down toward the lake, whistling a familiar tune. "Sir?"
Maria nudged Neil. "Captain," she mouthed.
"Oh Captain, My Captain?" Neil tried.
Keating turned almost immediately. "Gentlemen," he nodded. "Maria."
"We were just looking in your old annual," Neil said, brandishing the annual he had tucked under his blazer. He held it out for Keating to take who flipped it open to his photograph and let out a breathy laugh.
"Oh, my God. No, that's not me," Keating said wistfully, his eyes focused on the picture of his younger self.
"What was the Dead Poets Society, Sir?" Neil asked.
Keating looked up to glance at all the inquisitive faces around him. "I doubt the present administration would look too favorably upon that," he said.
"Why? What was it?"
Keating lowered his voice. "Can you all keep a secret?"
The group nodded, leaning toward Keating with restrained excitement.
"The Dead Poets were dedicated to sucking the marrow out of life. That's a phrase from Thoreau that we'd invoke at the beginning of each meeting. You see, we'd gather at the old cave and take turns reading from Thoreau, Whitman, Shelley; the biggies. Even some of our own verse. And in the enchantment of the moment, we'd let poetry work its magic."
"You mean it was a bunch of guys sitting around reading poetry?" Knox asked with a laugh.
"No, Mr. Overstreet," Keating shook his head. "It wasn't just "guys", we weren't a Greek organization. We were romantics. We didn't just read poetry, we let it drop from our tongues like honey. Spirits soared, women swooned, and gods were created. Not a bad way to spend an evening, eh?"
Maria looked at her uncle. "Father was a part of it too, wasn't he?" She asked.
Keating smiled and nodded. "He'd sneak your mother out from Henley Hall every once in a while to join as well," he said, wiggling his brows. "See? Not just "guys", gentlemen."
The others looked between one another as Keating handed the annual back to Neil. "Thank you, Mr. Perry, for this trip down amnesia lane. Now, burn that, especially my picture," he said before turning and walking away.
"Dead Poets Society," Neil breathed after Keating had left.
"What about it?" Cameron questioned.
The school bell rang telling the group to start returning to class.
"I say we go tonight," Neil said, turning so that he was walking backwards toward the school and facing the others.
"Tonight?" Charlie asked.
"Now wait a minute," Cameron said with a concerned expression.
"We don't even know the cave he's talking about," Pitts said.
"I do," Neil grinned mischievously. "It's beyond the stream. I know where it is."
"That's miles," Pitts said.
"Sounds boring to me," Cameron said stiffly, not wanting any part in whatever this was.
"Don't go then," Charlie countered back.
"You know how many demerits we're talking, Dalton?" Cameron fired back.
"So don't come, please," Charlie stated with a shrug.
"Look, all I'm saying is that we have to be careful, we can't get caught."
"No shit, Sherlock," Charlie rolled his eyes.
"You boys there, hurry up!" Hager yelled from the school entrance, his glare so strong that the group could make it out from where they were on the grounds.
"All right, who's in?" Neil said with a giddy look.
"Come on, Neil, Hager's right -"
"Forget Hager," Neil interrupted. "Who's in?"
"I'm in," Charlie proclaimed loudly.
"Me too," Cameron said quickly, not wanting to be left out after all.
"I don't know, Neil," Pitts said, unsure.
"What? Pitts-"
"Pittsie, come on," Charlie said, clapping him over the shoulder.
"His grades are hurting, Charlie," Meeks said.
"You can help him, Meeks," Neil said, picking up speed as Hager, once again, yelled at them to hurry the hell up.
"What is this, a midnight study group?" Pitts glared at the group.
"Forget it, Pitts. You're coming. Meeks, are your grades hurting too?" Neil asked.
"I'll try anything once," Meeks said.
"Except sex," Charlie cackled.
"Ha ha ha."
"Maria, as legacy, you're obligated to come," Neil said to her.
She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, but was too focused on keeping in pace with the boys who had now begun full-on sprinting towards the school building to be able to reply. It wasn't as if Neil had left her much space to argue in his statement, anyhow.
"I mean as long as we're careful," Cameron said, but the others didn't seem to hear him.
"What about you, Knox?" Charlie asked.
"I don't know, Charlie," Knox said, uncertainly.
"Come on, Knox, it'll help you get, Chris."
"Yeah? How?" Knox said quickly, intrigued almost instantly.
"Didn't you hear, Keating?" Charlie fired back, hand on the door. He laughed, wiggling his brows at Knox. "Women swoon."
"But why do they swoon? Charlie, tell me why they swoon. Charlie!" Knox called, but Charlie had already slipped inside. Knox turned to hold the door open for Maria who was flushed and breathing hard at having to keep up with the boys. "Maria, you're a woman, tell me, why do you swoon?"
What came after his question was a look Knox hadn't expected from his new friend's face. A look that Knox found upon his own face whenever he looked into the mirror and thought of Chris. And then Knox realized with a tickling fascination that the red on Maria's face wasn't simply from the cold or from running.
She gave him a wide-eyed look, her voice squeaking and rising several octaves. "I don't know! Ask Charlie!"
And then she darted off.
Knox's mouth twitched.
Oh, this was gold.
••●••
Knox found Maria perched on one of the tables during study group with a textbook laid out in front of her and a pencil in her mouth. She nibbled on the end, eyebrows pulled into a troubled expression as she listened to Todd explain something about the Civil War.
Knox made his way over to them quickly, scanning the room to pinpoint where exactly the rest of his friends were.
Meeks and Pitts were at the end of the table, closest to the windows, once again, messing with their makeshift radio invention.
Neil, Cameron, and Charlie were at the other end of the table, looking over a map.
He slid into the free seat beside Maria, bracing one elbow onto the table and using his other hand to grab hold of one of her curls and tugged lightly.
"Can I help you?"
Knox glanced up to see Todd who was looking at him curiously.
"You certainly can, Maria."
She lifted a questioning eyebrow.
Knox couldn't help it. "So, are we going to talk about it?"
"Talk about what?" She turned back to her workbook.
"About how you practically proclaimed your love for Charlie."
Maria's eyes snapped up at Knox at the same time Todd choked back a cough. She opened her mouth and then closed it, looking around hastily to see if anyone aside from Todd had heard what Knox and said.
"I did not," she hissed.
"You so did," Knox grinned.
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Knox Overstreet."
"Oh, I don't know," Knox pitched his voice higher, but spoke in a whispered tone. He wasn't cruel enough to actually embarrass her that badly in front of everyone, but he still wasn't going to give up the chance to tease her. "Ask Charlie."
"I do not sound like that," Maria glared at him and whirled around to glare at Todd too when he chuckled softly. "Todd Anderson, don't you dare laugh."
Todd lifted his hands up in surrender. "I didn't say anything."
She huffed and faced Knox again with narrowed eyes. "What I meant was that Charlie is suave and seemingly flirts with anything that walks. If anyone were to know how to make women swoon, it would be him."
Knox braced an arm over Maria's shoulder. "We're just a pair of lovesick ninnies, aren't we?"
She shook him off. "Speak for yourself, Overstreet!"
"What are you all talking about there?" Charlie asked, eyes leaving the map in front of him to cast a look over to their end of the table.
Maria pursed her lips, blindly kicking Knox's shin when he began chuckling openly. His laughter morphed into a disgruntled cough when she kicked him again - harder this time.
"Nothing," Maria said tightly. "Just the Civil War, right Todd?"
Todd didn't dare do anything but nod when he saw the warning look Maria shot at him.
Charlie looked unswayed but chose to ignore his suspicions. "Well, stop messing about and come look here," he said and pushed the map closer to the center of the table so that everyone could gather around it. "Meeks, Pitts."
The pair turned to join in.
"Okay," Neil said, voice dropping into a low whisper after he looked toward the study lounge doorway to make sure Dr. Hager wasn't hovering about. "We follow the stream to the waterfall. It's right there. It's got to be on the banks."
"I don't know, it's starting to sound dangerous," Cameron said, gnawing on his bottom lip.
"Then stay home," Charlie shot at him.
"I might actually," Maria said softly, but Charlie, Neil, and Knox whirled to her.
"No," Charlie and Knox said firmly, while Neil shook his head and said, "You're legacy. You have to come."
"I'll come get you," Charlie said, "since your room is further from the entrance than ours."
"And what happens when you and I get caught together after hours, Charlie Dalton?" Maria whispered when Hager poked his head in to inspect the room.
Charlie grinned and shrugged. "Then I'll say you're a temptress that lulled me to commit acts of debauchery with you," he said and laughed when Maria flung her pencil in his direction. He twirled it between his fingers and gave her a reassuring look. "I'm joking. We won't get caught."
Maria shook her head - it seemed that exasperation was the only emotion she'd muster up around Charlie - and then turned to Todd. "Todd, are you coming tonight?"
"No," Todd said, shaking his head.
"Why not?" Neil asked. "What's up with you both? God, you were there. You heard, Keating. Don't you want to do something about it?"
"Yes, but -"
"But? But what?"
"Keating said that everybody took turns reading and I don't want to do that," Todd said. He looked down dejectedly.
Maria's heart tugged and she reached out over to squeeze Todd's arm. "Oh, Todd."
"Gosh, you really have a problem with that, don't you?" Neil asked.
"N- no, I don't have a problem, Neil. I just- I just don't want to do it, okay?"
"All right," Neil said. "But what if you didn't have to read? What if you just came and listened?"
"That's not how it works," Todd said stiffly.
"We're the new generation of Dead Poets," Maria said, letting go of Todd's arm. "We can make new rules."
"Exactly," Neil said with a nod. "Forget how it used to work. We say it's okay, it's okay. Will you come now?"
"I-I- " Todd looked towards Maria who nodded at him encouragingly. "I guess."
"Perfect," Neil grinned and Todd felt proud of himself for the first time in a long time.
••●••
The plan was in motion.
Neil stood in his doorway, casting a look across the hall to the other room where Cameron and Charlie were standing. Charlie gave him a thumbs up and began to move down the hall towards Maria's room.
"You got a flashlight, Slick?" Neil whispered as he passed.
Charlie smirked and gestured to his back pocket. He then lifted a brow at Neil and quirked his head to the side before he rounded the corner, out of view.
Neil grinned and turning back into his room, he grabbed his clock and flashlight.
"Ready, Todd?"
The other boy got to his feet slowly, an apprehensive look marring his pretty features, but nodded nonetheless.
And then Neil reached for the book on his desk.
The cover's golden letters shone bright: Five Centuries of Verse, it read and upon opening it, he saw the name John Keating written at the top of the page, followed by "Dead Poets". Below the title of the book, written in black ink: "To Be Read At The Opening of D. P. S. Meetings" with several lines from Thoreau following it.
Neil's eyes looked over the poem quickly and he smiled to himself.
"I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately..."
••●••
Dr. Hager would've walked straight into Charlie if it weren't for the hand that had reached out and grabbed hold of his arm at just the right moment.
Charlie stumbled, his back hitting the stone wall, but he held his tongue when he heard a soft, "Shhhhh."
His nose filled with the scent of sweet florals and spice... and was that lavender? Or was it peach? Bergamot? Cinnamon or -
"Charlie," Maria whispered in the dark and he blinked, pulled out of his dazed trance.
He looked down at her. Her hair was pulled back away from her face in a ponytail, secured with a shining ribbon, and he realized suddenly that it was her that he was smelling. That the intoxicating scent that currently held him frozen in spot was her.
They were only inches apart.
He swallowed, taking in her appearance under the dim light.
She was very pretty - he couldn't deny that. With doe-like eyes framed by subtle lashes, but sultry lips always painted with the prettiest shade of pinky-red. She was this perfect mixture of sweet and alluring and Charlie wondered what would happen if he dropped his chin right now and placed his mouth on hers - what would she do?
Would she shove him off?
Or would she let him kiss her?
He contemplated it for a moment - did he dare? But he quickly shook the thought away. It wouldn't be right to just kiss Maria like this. A part of him felt like she wasn't like the other girls he had met before and he didn't want to mess this all up by kissing her just yet.
He could almost imagine Neil and Knox cackling at him in his head and Knox's previous statement about him turning into a romantic looped in his mind.
Oh god, he was fucked.
He shook the thoughts away and switched their positions so he was holding Maria's hand instead. "Let's go," he said quietly, tugging her around the corner and down the hall and toward the entrance.
Just as they got to the entrance, the sound of a dog barking stopped them in their tracks.
"Shit," Charlie grumbled, spotting the dog by the door.
"Here," Maria said, letting go of Charlie's hand and pulling something from out of her coat pocket. "Dog biscuits."
"God, you are a genius," he breathed and took the biscuits from her hand, chucking them towards the dog who took them readily.
"Let's go," Charlie said and totally in an act of slight self-indulgence, he reached for her hand again and pulled her along, very much liking the way her hand fit into his. They met the others around the exit and all of them shared similar mischievous looks before setting off running across the fields towards the woods.
••●••
"Arr, I'm a dead poet!" Charlie screamed, jumping up behind Meeks with his flashlight giving off a ghastly glow.
"Aww, Charlie," Meeks jumped, pressing a hand to his chest. "You're funny. You're real funny."
Everyone laughed as they dipped into the cave. It was dark and damp and their attempts of making a fire quickly failed.
"It's too wet," Meeks said.
"God, are you trying to smoke us out of here?" Charlie said.
"No, no, the smoke's going right up this opening," Meeks said pointedly.
"Stop. Please stop whatever it is you're doing," Maria coughed slightly, waving a hand in front of her face.
"Gah, God!" Pitts howled when he stood and slammed his head onto the low rock ceiling. "You couldn't have picked a taller cave?"
"You okay?"
"Meeks, stop."
"Oh God. Clowns."
"It's wet."
"No shit."
"How am I supposed to sit if it's wet?"
"You're joking."
"Maria's an actual girl and you don't hear her complaining."
"I can't see."
"Turn on your flashlight then, dimwit."
"God, my pants are getting wet."
"Oh shut it, Princess Cameron."
"All right, all right, settle down, everyone. Forget the fire," Neil finally said. "Let's get started lady and gentlemen."
The group finally settled in the cave. Todd sat by the entrance, beside where Neil stood with Maria next to him. Beside her was Charlie, then Meeks, Pitts, and finally Cameron. They all looked expectantly up at Neil who had a book tucked under his arm and a cigarette between his teeth.
"Slick, lighter," Neil said, holding out his hand, palm up.
Charlie rolled his eyes, fishing his lighter from out of his pocket and chucking it in Neil's direction who caught it expertly and flashed the others a grin.
Neil lit up his cigarette and passed the packet and lighter around for the others. Neil took a long drag on his cigarette and untucked the book out from under his arm. "I hereby reconvene the Dead Poets Society," he announced.
Maria laughed as the boys cheered, passing the packet of cigarettes and lighter over to Todd after it had made its way around the group.
"You don't smoke?" Charlie asked her curiously.
"Not enough to light up a whole one," Maria said.
"Then share mine," Charlie replied and held out his to her.
She hesitated a moment before taking the cigarette from out of Charlie's fingers and bringing it to her lips. She took a slow breath, letting the smoke fill her lungs, before she exhaled and savoured the hazy daze it allowed her. Maria had only smoked a couple of times here and there and she didn't like it enough to be a frequent smoker, but she enjoyed it once in a while as all teens did nowadays.
She handed the cigarette back to Charlie who grinned at her and said," Looking hot there, doll. Smokin' hot."
She rolled her eyes.
"Welton chapter," Neil started. "The meetings will be conducted by me and the other new initiates here. I don't why I'm leading because, despite being actual legacy, Maria Keating refused to take the lead here," Neil looked at her pointedly.
"You rediscovered it," she stated simply.
Neil rolled his eyes. "Todd Anderson, because he prefers not to read, will keep minutes of the meetings. I'll now read the traditional opening message by society member Henry David Thoreau. 'I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.'"
"I'll second that," Charlie said, lifting his cigarette to the air.
"'To put to rout all that was not life, and not, when I had come to die, discover that I had not lived'," Neil finished as some of the boys whistled softly in reaction to the poem. He fingered some of the pages of the book. "And Keating's marked a bunch of other pages as well."
"All right, intermission. Dig deep right here. Right here, lay it down," Charlie said, prompting the others to show their share of midnight snacks.
"On the mud? We're gonna put our food on the mud?"
"Meeks, put your coat down. Picnic blanket."
"Yes, Sir. Use Meeks' coat."
"Don't keep anything back either. You guys are always bumming my smokes."
"Raisins?"
"Yuck."
"Oh! Butter biscuits."
"I stole them from Uncle John."
"Genius girl."
"Wait a minute, who gave us half a roll?"
"I'm eating the other half."
"Come on."
"You want me to put it back?"
They quickly settled in, munching on their snacks and huddling together to stay warm in the dingy, dark cave. It was the perfect atmosphere to tell scary stories and so Neil, lit up by a flashlight in an eerie way, began to tell everyone a story.
"It was a dark and rainy night, and this old lady, who had a passion for jigsaw puzzles, sat by herself in her house at her table to complete a new jigsaw puzzle. But as she pieced the puzzle together, she realized, to her astonishment, that the image that was formed was her very own room," Neil said. "And the figure in the center of the puzzle, as she completed it, was herself. And with trembling hands, she placed the last four pieces and stared in horror at the face of a demented madman at the window. The last thing that this old lady ever heard was the sound of breaking glass."
"Oh goodness," Maria cooed, nibbling on her bottom lip.
"This is true, this is true," Neil cooed back teasingly.
"I've got one that's even better than that!" Cameron said, lifting a hand into the air.
"Ha! Yeah right," Charlie laughed.
"I do," Cameron fired back. "There's a young, married couple, and they're driving through the forest at night on a long trip. And they run out of gas, and there's a madman on the -"
"The thing with the hand-" Charlie interrupted and the other boys sprung forward the mime the scraping sound on the roof of the car.
"I love that story," Cameron said dejectedly, a little put off by the fact that he didn't get to finish his story himself.
"I told you that one," Charlie said.
"You did not. I got that in camp in sixth grade."
"When were you in six, last year?"
The two continued to argue as Maria turned to Todd and tapped his arm lightly.
"Are you enjoying this, Todd?"
He nodded slowly, matching her smile. "Yea, this is fun," he said just as Pitts began reading from the book.
"In a mean abode in the shanking road, lived a man named William Bloat. Now, he had a wife, the plague of his life, who continually got his goat. And one day at dawn, with her nightshift on, he slit her bloody throat."
The boys laughed at his reading and the dramatic face he pulled his thumb across his neck in a miming motion.
"Oh, it gets worse," Pitts said.
"You want to hear a real poem?" Charlie asked, jumping up onto his feet. He shoved away the poem book Meeks had attempted to hand him. "No, I don't need it. You take it."
"What, did you bring one then?" Meeks asked.
"You memorized a poem?" Neil asked.
"I didn't memorize a poem. Move up," Charlie said and he took Neil's spot.
"An original piece by Charlie Dalton, then?" Meeks whistled.
"An original piece," Knox repeated with a snicker.
"Take center stage," Pitts said.
"You know this is history. Right?" Neil said to Maria, wiggling his brows. "This is history right here."
Charlie cleared his throat and pulled a page from a magazine out of his pocket and slowly unfolds it, unveiling a Playboy centerfold and a very, very, naked woman.
"Oh, gosh," Maria squeaked at the same time Knox moved to place a hand over Maria's eyes in a protective way.
"Goodness, Charlie. We've got a lady in company," Knox said, but his eyes glanced over the picture quickly.
"You're so gross, Charlie," Maria said, peeling Knox's hands away from her eyes, but only rolled her eyes when Charlie grinned at her.
"Oh, wow," Meeks breathed.
"Where did you get that?" Cameron crowed.
"Teach me to love?" Charlie read. "Go teach thyself more wit. I, chief professor, am of it. The god of love, if such a thing there be, may learn to love from me." Charlie finished with a salacious wink thrown in Maria's direction as the boys laughed and cheered.
"Did you actually write that?" Neil asked Charlie.
Charlie turned over the centerfold to show where he had written the poem. "Abraham Cowley. Okay, who's next?"
Neil took the spot readily and began reading Tennyson aloud.
"Are you going to read something?" Todd asked Maria quietly.
"Probably not," she said. "I have no poems memorized. Do you think you'll read one day, Todd?"
Todd shook his head quickly.
"Why not?"
"I won't be any good at it."
"You don't know that until you try," Maria said.
"I just know. I'd be lousy at reading poetry."
Maria didn't say anything for a moment and before he stopped himself Todd asked, "You said you were shy before. How did you change? What changed?"
Maria met his gaze and smiled slyly. "Teresa Brewer."
"What?"
Maria laughed softly. "My aunt heard me singing along to Teresa Brewer in my room and promptly stuck me in vocal lessons," Maria explained. "It's a little hard to stay shy when you have a vocal teacher pushing you to belt."
"You sing?" Todd was shocked to discover that and was even more excited when he saw a bashful look cross over Maria's face.
"Please don't let the others know," she said. "They'll make me sing."
"But I want to hear you sing too," Todd said.
"And I want to hear you read poetry," Maria countered back. "I guess we can't all have what we want, can we, Todd Anderson?"
She got him there.
"I..."
"Listen here, gents and lady," Meeks said loudly, taking center stage and began reading a poem like he was performing a chant. "Then I had religion, then I had a vision. I could not turn from their revel in derision. Then I saw the Congo creeping through the black, cutting through the forest with a golden track. Then I saw the Congo creeping through the black-"
"Go Meeks, Meeks."
"...cutting through the forest with a golden track. Then I saw the Congo creeping through the black, cutting through the forest with a golden track. Then I saw..."
Knox picked up a metal container and began using it as a drum to accompany Meeks' chanting. The other boys stood and began going around in circles, making music with anything they could get their hands on.
"Come on, Todd," Maria said, pulling Todd up to his feet to join in.
The group - the new Dead Poets Society - moved out of the cave and through the forest, chanting the chorus over and over again, feeling contentment and exhilaration filling up every bit of them - even their bones.