It was only after Keating was sure that he had spoiled, pampered, and coddled Maria to the best of his abilities did Keating join McAllister for tea in the small room off the classroom.
It was then that Mr. Nolan knocked on the door and entered. "Excuse me," he nodded at the two men. "May we have a word, Mr. Keating?"
Keating nodded. "Certainly," he said, standing, fixing his tie and following Mr. Nolan into the classroom.
"This was my first classroom, John," Nolan said fondly. "Did you know that? My first desk."
"Didn't know you taught, Mr. Nolan."
"English," Nolan nodded. "Oh, long before your time. It was hard giving it up, I can tell you."
The tension between the two men grew steadily.
"I'm hearing rumors, John, about some unorthodox teaching methods in your classroom. I'm not saying they've anything to do with the Dalton boy's outburst. But I don't think I have to warn you that boys his age are very impressionable," Nolan said.
"Well, your reprimand made quite an impression, I'm sure," Keating said firmly. "Yours to my niece as well."
Nolan stiffened, it had been a while since he had been on the receiving end of an upset parent. Most of the Welton parents were at ease with him taking control of the discipline of the boys, peaceful with their dissociation from it all. But he should've known that Keating would probably be different, with having a niece - a girl - and all.
"I apologize if Miss Keating's discipline did not meet your expectations, John," Nolan trod carefully. "But I know you understand that we cannot have the students at Welton running wild. Particularly, we cannot have young girls running wild. Girls should be spoiled, indulged, yes, but not allowed to become flippant and rotten."
Keating narrowed his eyes, straightening his back. "I assure you, Mr. Nolan, that Maria is far from 'running wild'."
Nolan raised an eyebrow at that. "You must know that she played a part in that outrageous publication," he said. "She admitted to it herself that she had the idea and persuaded the Dalton boy to publish it for her."
"Her and I have discussed it, yes," Keating said and nothing more.
Nolan let out a small breath of frustration. "I hope you don't mind me overstepping, John, but as someone who's raised daughters, I advise you to keep a closer eye on Miss Keating," he said. "We wouldn't want any... incidents to occur, especially since she appears so very close to some of the boys and quite evidently has the ability to persuade them quite strongly."
"Mr. Nolan, my wife and I trust that we raised a well-mannered, thoughtful, and intelligent girl," Keating said, despite the sour taste in his mouth. "I trust her judgement in the friends she keeps and I trust in her, entirely."
"Yes, well, too much trust in a teenage girl may delude her," Nolan said. "Lead her to believe in things - foolish things - lead her to think that she can accomplish things that are outside her realm."
Keating said nothing, but the tension in the room grew palpable.
"What was going on in the courtyard the other day?" Nolan asked, shifting the subject.
"Courtyard?"
"Yes, Boys marching, clapping in unison."
"Oh, that," Keating nodded. "That was an exercise to prove a point. Dangers of conformity."
Nolan scoffed at that. "Well, John, the curriculum here is set. It's proven it works. If you question, what's to prevent them from doing the same."
"I always thought the idea of education was to think for yourself," Keating said thoughtfully.
"At these boys' ages?" Nolan actually laughed aloud at that. "Not on your life!" He shook his head, squaring Keating with a firm look. "Tradition, John. Discipline. Prepare them for college, and the rest will take care of itself."
••●••
Charlie made his way to Maria's room, feeling a sense of dread gnawing at his insides. He hadn't seen her at dinner despite the fact that Knox swore Keating had told him that Maria would be present for dinner. The thought that perhaps she wasn't feeling well, or that maybe she didn't want to see him only added to his growing guilt.
He knew he had messed up, and he knew that Maria had every right to be angry with him and that he might probably be the last thing she wanted to see.
He stopped in front of her door, hesitating, unsure of what to do.
"Come on, Charlie," he mumbled to himself. "Be a man."
He took a deep breath and knocked, hoping that she would let him in.
He heard rustling. "It's open, come in," Maria's voice called out and Charlie pushed open the door, stepping inside her room.
Maria was sitting on her bed, her nose buried in a book and when she looked up to see him, surprise flickered across her face. "Oh, Charlie," she said, straightening and quickly throwing her comforter over her bare legs.
Charlie gulped, his brain having already memorized the brief picture of Maria's long, bare legs peeking out from under her silk nightgown. A flush crept up his neck and he coughed slightly. Lord, he was here to apologize to her and he was already making up fantasies in his head about her.
"I, uh, sorry to bother you," he said, suddenly feeling like an intruder in her space. "I just wanted to see how you were doing."
Maria's cheeks were a pretty pink and she closed her book, placing it on her bedside table. "I'm fine, thank you," she said, a hint of weariness in her voice. "I thought you were Uncle John, that's why I told you to come in..."
Charlie nodded. "I gathered," he said, feeling the awkward tension between them. He wasn't sure what to say, how to make things right, the apology that he had practiced in front of the mirror suddenly evaporating from his thoughts.
"You can-You can sit," Maria said, pointing to her desk chair and then winced when Charlie made a pained expression. "Oh... I'm sorry. I-I, uh, how are you doing?"
Charlie smiled weakly and shrugged. "I'll be fine," he said. "I'm big and strong, you know."
Maria laughed lightly at that.
But then Charlie looked to her, his eyes catching sight of her left hand and his anger flared. Knox had told him about Nolan hitting Maria, about the angry red stripes that lined her palm when Knox had gone to get her and how Maria had cried. Charlie's blood boiled. How dare he lay a land on her? How could anyone be so cruel to his precious Maria?
Charlie took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He didn't want to scare Maria or make her feel any more uncomfortable than she already probably did, but he couldn't help feeling protective of her.
"I can't believe he actually hit you," Charlie said. "I know that Nolan can be a bastard, but that's beyond bastard...that's-that's-"
"It's fine," Maria said. "I'm fine. It doesn't hurt that much anymore."
But that means it did hurt before, Charlie wanted to say, but he held his tongue.
"Why'd you do it?" Charlie asked. "Why'd you say it was your idea? You knew it was mine."
"Nolan was certain there were others involved," Maria said. "Even if there weren't, he'd sniff something out until someone cracked and admitted it. I didn't want him to find out about the whole group. It was better that I just admitted to it, give him what he wanted, and he left the rest of the Dead Poets Society alone."
Gosh, how could she be so brilliant? So selfless?
And then, here he was, so selfish.
Charlie chewed on the inside of his cheek. "In the cave," he started. "I didn't mean anything I said to the two girls. I don't even know why I brought them there or why I was being so dumb and flirting with them and playing along with them. I shouldn't have. I really shouldn't have done it."
"Why did you do it, Charlie?"
"I don't know," he said softly. "It sounds stupid now that I say it aloud. I guess I was scared about how much I liked you and wanted to see if flirting with other girls would be like flirting with you." He looked up at her desperately, meeting her gaze. "You felt so different from all the other girls before. So special, so different, and I was falling so fast for you that I just had to see if I was just making it all up. I wanted to test it out."
"Test it out?" Maria repeated stiffly.
Charlie winced. "I told you it sounds bad," he said. "But I swear, Maria, I felt nothing when talking to those girls. I feel nothing when talking to or about any girl now. You're the only one that gets me going now. I don't want to talk to any other girl. Don't want to flirt with any girl. I just want to do it all with you."
Maria said nothing, her cheeks growing pink.
"Did I mess it all up?" Charlie asked.
Maria's nose twitched and then she hummed and lifted her chin up. "It depends."
"Depends?"
She nodded.
Charlie felt like she had just thrown him a bone. "What does it depend on?"
"If you promise me you won't do that again," Maria said softly. She sounded almost fragile - delicate. "I don't like the way you test your hypotheses, Charlie Dalton."
Charlie felt his heart burst as he felt the air shift between them. He nodded quickly and made fast work in crossing the room. He sat on the edge of her bed, absolutely loving the way she blushed, and reached for her hand. "I promise," he said in earnest, squeezing her hand. "I know it was stupid. I was stupid. I'm stupid."
Maria giggled at that.
"You're supposed to say that I'm not stupid," Charlie said pointedly.
Maria giggled again and cocked her head to the side. "Well..."
Charlie let go of her hands to instead reach for one of her curls and tugged in response. He laughed when her giggling erupted into a bubble of laughter and then he laid his hand gently on her face, running his thumb across her cheek.
"Maria Keating," he said, searching her face. "I think I like you very much. I've been meaning to tell you this entire time how much I like you. A lot."
Maria's eyes widened in surprise at Charlie's confession. She wasn't sure what to say, so she just stared at him, her mouth slightly agape.
Charlie continued, his words spilling out in a rambling rush. "I know it's crazy and we've been dancing around each other for so long, but I just can't help how I feel. Every time I see you, my heart beats faster and I get all nervous and tongue-tied. And I just want to get closer to you, want to be with you. I want to flirt with you and touch you and want to grab your hand and pull you away from all the other guys and just be with you. Just you and me and -"
"Charlie Dalton," Maria interrupted him. "Charlie Dalton, are you going to kiss me or not?"
Charlie froze for a moment, completely taken by surprise by Maria's boldness, but then he seemed to recover, and leaned in, pressing his lips against hers.
The kiss was soft at first, tentative.
Maria was warm under his hands and Charlie tried to hold back, tried not to push too far, tried not to be so demanding, but Maria shifted, moving to wrap her arms around Charlie's neck and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss.
Charlie smiled against her mouth, slipping his arms around her waist, revelling in the feeling of silk under his hands. He kissed her deeper and excitement shivered down his spine as Maria hummed in contentment against his mouth.
As they broke from the kiss, Maria smiled at him, eyes shining. "I think I like you very much as well," she said softly.
Charlie grinned back at her, relief flooding through him. "Oh, God Maria."
She laughed. "I'm not dreaming am I?" She asked cutely and Charlie shook his head, moving to press a kiss to her nose, and then to her right cheek, and then to her left, and then to her jaw, and then to her forehead, and then to her lips again, and then to her -
"Charlie!" She giggled, dodging his barrage of tickling kisses. "Charlie!"
"Does it seem like a dream now, doll?" He laughed and captured her lips again. This time, there was no hesitation, no awkwardness, and no uncertainty.
"Does this mean? We're..." Maria trailed off, a little bit breathless when they pulled away.
"You and me," Charlie said firmly and reached around to cup Maria's face with his hands. "We're going steady now, doll. Got that?"
Maria smiled her radiant, brilliant smile. "Got it."