𝐉𝐎𝐈𝐄 𝐃𝐄 𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐑𝐄, c.d.

𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

CHAPTER THIRTEEN | YOU'RE CRAZY
Neil raced down the hallway, the tall boy full of excitement as he leaped.

"Charlie, I got the part! I'm gonna play Puck! I'm gonna play Puck!" He pounded on Charlie's door, the door opening to reveal Charlie, Cameron, and Cove, all of them with grins on their face. The three watched as their other friends walked out of their room, asking what he had said.

"Puck?" Cove rushed towards her friend, throwing her arms around him, telling Pitts it was the main part.

"I'm so proud of you, Neil!" The two pulled away from each other as Knox came out of his room, a grin on his face like the rest of his friends.

"Charlie, I got it!"

"Congratulations. Good for you, Neil. Good for you." Neil entered his room with Todd and sat down at his typewriter, realizing he couldn't type a letter that seemed authentic.

"Cove!" Across the hall, Cove smiled, knowing that he had needed her for a letter. She quickly said goodbye to Charlie, telling him she would be back when she finished.

"Neil, how are you gonna do this?"

"I'm not going to do it. Cove is. They need a letter of permission from my father and Mr. Nolan." The girl walked into the room, smiling as the boy moved from the chair, letting the Overstreet girl sit down.

"You're not gonna write it." Cove rolled her eyes, turning in the chair to look at Todd.

"Yes, I am. You think it's worse than it actually is. The less his father knows the better. It's the same with all of our parents. You'll learn that sooner or later."

"Oh, Neil. Guys, you're crazy." Cove quickly began to type as Todd looked at the two worriedly. She knew that once the boy got over being scared all the time, he would fit right in, like he had been there the whole time.

"I am writing to you on behalf of my son Neil Perry." Neil began to laugh, stomping his feet up and down in excitement. "Thats great, Cove. You truly are an angel. I don't know what I would do without you."

"You wouldn't be apart of a play, that's for sure.

..........

Knox stood at the front of the room with his poem in hand, trying to calm himself with deep breaths.

"To Chris." Charlie suddenly looked up from his desk with a grin, Cove doing the same at the sound of the blonde girls name. "I see a sweetness in her smile. Blight light shines from her eyes. But life is complete; contentment is mine, Just knowing that..." Several students begin to snicker, making the boy mumble his last few words. "Just knowing that she's alive." Cove looked at her brother, her bottom lip out as she awed. Knox quickly crumpled his poem and walked back to his desk. "Sorry, Captain. It's stupid."

"That was sweet. She would love that"

"It made me knoxious." Cove crumbled up a piece of her notebook paper and chucked it at Charlie's head, making him shut his mouth as Mr. Keating spoke.

"No, no. It's not stupid. It's a good effort. It touched on one of the major themes, love. A major theme not only in poetry, but life. Mr. Hopkins, you were laughing. You're up." Hopkins slowly walked up towards the front of the class and unfolded his piece of paper.

"The cat sat on the mat."

"Congratulations, Mr. Hopkins. Yours is the first poem to ever have a negative score on the Pritchard scale. We're not laughing at you, we're laughing near you. I don't mind that your poem had a simple theme. Sometimes the most beautiful poetry can be about simple things, like a cat, or a flower or rain. You see, poetry can come from anything with the stuff of revelation in it. Just don't let your poems be ordinary. Now, who's next?" Cove looked up at made eye contact with Mr. Keating, turning away in hopes that he didn't pick her. "Ms. Overstreet." The girl sighed, taking her piece of paper off of her desk before walking up to the front. "Whenever you're ready."

"Veins collapse, opening like the small fists of sleeping children. Memory of old tombs, rotting flesh and worms do not convince me against the challenge. The years and cold defeat live deep in lines along my face. They dull my eyes, yet I keep on dying, because I love to live." Mr. Keating watched the girl for a moment, taking in a deep breath as he began to nod his head.

"Beautiful, Ms. Overstreet.

"Thank you."