Meet You Halfway

CHAP. 8

⚠️WARNING⚠️
This chapter will include descriptions of suicide. Viewer discretion is advised.

   Mr. Keating looks at the photograph of his wife on his desk. A smile grows on his face. "Tea's ready." (Y/n) sets the tea tray on the small dining table in her father's office when someone knocks on the door.

   "It's open." Neil opens the door and closes it as he enters the office. Y/n nods to the boy before leaving, giving them more privacy. Mr. Keating looks up at the boy. "What's up, Neil?"

   "Can I speak to you a minute?" "Certainly. Sit down." When Neil goes to sit, the chair is full of books. He picks them up to move them. "Oh! I'm sorry." Mr. Keating stands and takes the books, setting them on another chair. "Get you some tea?"

   "Tea, sure." Mr. Keating pours him a cup. "Like milk or sugar with that?" "No, thanks." Neil looks around. "Gosh, they don't give you much room around here."

   "No, it's part of a monastic oath. They don't want worldly things distracting me from my teaching." He hands Neil the cup of tea and they both sit down. The boy looks over at the picture on the desk. "She's pretty."

   "She's also in London." He laughs. "Makes it a little difficult." "How can you stand it?"

   "Stand what?" "You can go anywhere. You can do anything. How can you stand being here?"

   " 'Cause I love teaching. I don't want to be anywhere else." Neil sits in thought. "What's up?"

He looks up at Mr. Keating. "I just talked to my father. He's making me quit the play at Henley Hall..." Neil laughs dryly. "Acting's everything to me. I- But he doesn't know...I can see his point. We're not a rich family like Charlie's, and we-...But he's planning the rest of my life for me, and I- h- he's never asked me what I want."

   "Have you ever told your father what you just told me? About your passion for acting, you ever showed him that?" Neil shakes his head. "I can't."

"Why not?" "I can't talk to him this way."

   "Then you're acting for him too. You're playing the part of the dutiful son. I know this sounds impossible, but you have to talk to him. You have to show him who you are, what your heart is." Neil looks down, holding back tears. "I know what he'll say. He'll tell me that acting's a whim, and I should forget it, that they're counting on me." He sniffles. "He'll just tell me to put it out of my mind, for my own good."

   Mr. Keating leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "You are not an indentured servant. If it's not a whim for you, you prove it to him by your conviction and your passion. You show him that, and if he still doesn't believe you, well, by then, you'll be out of school, and you can do anything you want." The boy shakes his head. "No." He wipes away a fallen tear and sniffles. "What about the play? The show is tomorrow night."

   "Then you have to talk to him before tomorrow night." Neil groans "Isn't there an easier way."

   "No." Neil laughs through his tears. "I'm trapped."

"No, you're not."

-

   Knox runs up the stairs and to his group of friends. "Hey, how'd it go? Did you read it to her?" Charlie grabs Knox's arm. "Yeah!" The boys cheer and pat him on the back.Charlie shushes them. "What'd she say?" "Nothing."

   "Nothing? What do you mean nothing?" Knox shrugs. "Nothing. But I did it." He turns from the group with a smile. They all chase after him down the hall. "What did she say?!"