𝐉𝐎𝐈𝐄 𝐃𝐄 𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐑𝐄, c.d.

𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧

CHAPTER ELEVEN | TALK TO ME
A knock on the door pulled Cove away from her notebook, thinking of her poem she had to write for Keating's class. The brunette girl got off of her bed and walked over to the door, opening it to see Charlie.

"Hey, Cove."

"Hi, Char." The boy looked at the girl as she crossed her arms over her chest, looking down at the floor. The Dalton boy looked down the hall to make sure no one would see him at her door because if any boy was caught by Cove's room, they would both be punished.

"Can we talk? Please." The brunette nodded her head as she stepped to the side, letting the boy in before closing the door. "Almost finished the poem?" The Overstreet girl mumbled a quiet, yes, asking her best friend what he wanted to talk about. "You know what I'm here to talk about, Cove. Listen, I'm sorry." The boy sat down on Cove's bed, motioning for her to sit with him. "Look, I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable. I shouldn't have brought the picture to the meeting in the first place. I wasn't thinking. I won't ever do it again, and the next time I make you uncomfortable without knowing, I'll let you slap me. But, I know I'll be more careful so I hope you won't ever have to slap me." Cove chuckled as she moved closer to Charlie, wrapping her arms around him as she tackled him onto his back. The two laughed as she rested her head on his chest, the two smiling like idiots as she spoke.

"It's okay, Char. I shouldn't have overreacted like that."

"No, you had every right to do that and feel the way you did."

..........

"I found it." The tall boy walked into his and Todd's room, a bright grin on his face as Todd questioned him. Earlier in the day, before Charlie apologized, Todd had asked Cove if she could help him with his poem and she happily agreed, not being able to say no to the boy. "What I wanna do right now. What's really, really inside me." Neil quickly handed his roommate the flyer as cove grinned in excitement.

"That's great, Neil. I'm happy for you." Cove knew better than anyone that Neil rarely ever found something that he cold be passionate about because of his father so seeing that he was so excited about something made her happy.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream?" The blonde looked up at his roommate, asking him what it was. "It's a play, dummy. They're putting it on at Henley Hall. Open tryouts. Open tryouts!"

"Yes, so?" Neil pounded on the bed, before pulling a blanket off his bed, wearing it like a cloak. Todd and Cove watched from his bed and desk as the boy turned dramatically.

"So, I'm gonna act. Yes, yes! I'm gonna be an actor! Ever since I can remember, I've wanted to try this. I even tried to go to summer stock auditions last year, but, of course, my father wouldn't let me. For the first time in my whole life I know what I wanna do." Neil grabbed a handful of papers off Todd's bed, tossing them into the air. "And for the first time I'm gonna do it whether my father wants me to or not! Carpe diem!"

"Neil, Neil, hold on a minute. How are you gonna be in a play if your father won't let you?" Neil grinned, his eyes moving from Todd to Cove.

"First I gotta get the part, then I can worry about that. But for any handwritten permission from my parents, usually Cove takes care of it." The girl nodded her head as Todd kept questioning him, asking if his father would kill him if he found out. "No, no, no, no. As far as I'm concerned, he won't have to know about any of this."

"Well, that's impossible." Cove shook her head, telling the boy that nothing was impossible. "Well, why don't you just call him and ask him? And m-maybe he'll say yes." The brunette girl looked at the boy next to her, stifling a laugh.

"Todd, you saw what happened on the first day. Mr. Perry got mad at Neil for taking a class offered by the school because it took up too much valuable study time. Imagine if he told him he was doing something that had nothing to do with school. There's some things that are better kept secrets." Neil nodded in agreement as he threw the blanket back on his bed, Turing back to Todd and Cove.

"If I don't ask him, at least I won't be disobeying him." The smaller blonde boy tried to speak but got interrupted by a pissed off looking Neil. "Jesus, Todd! Whose side are you on?" Todd said nothing as Neil looked at him for a moment, then taking the flyer back from Todd. He walked over to the window, his excitement suddenly gone. "I mean, I haven't even gotten the part yet. Can't I even enjoy the idea for a little while?" Cove sat there, not knowing what to say as she offered the Perry boy a sympathetic smile. After a moment, Neil sat on the heater while Todd returned to his poem, looking over to Cove for help.

"You're coming to the meeting this afternoon, Cove?" The brunette nodded her head before Neil asked if she and Charlie were good again. "He apologized earlier. We're all good."

"You've never been good at staying mad at him for long." The two teens chuckled as the tall boy turned to Todd. "What about you, Todd?" The Anderson boy shrugged his shoulders, his eyes never leaving the notebook in his hands.

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Nothing Mr. Keating has to say means shit to you, does it, Todd?" The Overstreet girls eyes widened at the boys sudden outburst.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You're in the club! Being in the club means being stirred up by things. You look about as stirred up as a cesspool." Neil got up from the window and stood over Todd.

"So you want me out?" The tal boy began to shake his head as Cove watched, seeing the way the two boys interacted with one another. It was kind of cute.

"No! I want you in, but being in means you gotta do something. Not just say you're in."

"Well, listen, Neil. I appreciate this concern, but I'm not like you. All right? You, you, you say thing and people listen. I'm, I'm not like that." Cove leaned over and placed her hand on the boys forearm, pulling his attention away from Neil.

"We'll listen."