wherefore art thou » dead poets society

no. 4

the hallways of welton fell silent just as the pearlescent moon began its rise from the depths of the skyline toward the murky darkness of the early evening sky. the boys had all headed off to dinner, abandoning the hallways as nighttime crawled into the classrooms and settled there. all lights were dimmed except the bright lamp in mr. keating's office where neil was headed.

he paused outside the wooden door having heard two soft voices drift from the slight crack in the door.

"... she says she'll mail you the score if -"

knock. knock.

the noise was loud and rung like the end to an elaborate solo in the depths of the desolate halls. the voices abruptly stopped and was followed with the sound of shuffling chairs.

"come in!"

neil, with moderate hesitancy, pushed the door open with one hand, tightly clutching some loose papers with his other. the hinges groaned as the door swung open to reveal two seated figures.

evaline.

and mr. keating.

the teacher smiled at neil but the girl didn't. unnerving, really. his eyes flittered past her motionless frame and he turned to his teacher, shuffling over to the desk and setting down the pristine pages.

"mr. keating, could you take a look at this?"

mr. keating picked up the papers and spend no more than a heartbeat scanning over them before handing it over to evaline. neil felt his heart fall and a cry of frustation pulling at his vocal cords. was he not worth even a second glance? was the writing not even worth an extra second of mr. keating's time? it was awfully uncharacteristic of mr. keating, he observed unhappily. the teacher was typically bubbling with enthusiasm and energy. the passive move he had made did not go unnoticed.

"evaline will look over them for you."

the room fell into an uncomfortable silence but mr. keating remained seemingly oblivious to this. he downed the rest of his tea, his two students watching him like a hawk, demanding an explanation. a thick fog of sheer unspeakable awkwardness surrounded the two teenagers and only the adult stood on the peak of the mountain, free of said fog. he hummed something, a short except from elgar's cello concerto, but didn't answer the burning question that lingered, sizzling, in the air.

it took few more moments and a few more bars of elgar for him to finally speak.

"it's good to have your peers edit your work. and it'll be good for evaline to get to know some of welton's students," the teacher hummed, rising from his seat. "now off you go, dinner is awaiting you."

and with that, evaline and neil made their way out of the office.

immediately, neil cleared his throat, "if you don't want to edit it it's fine i -"

"i'll take a look," she interrupted, both curtly and softly at the same time. this was the first time neil truly noticed the british accent that hugged her voice and the gentle tone in which she spoke. it was much more subtle and almost escaped his attention. it was a lovely touch, he decided, but made her sound snobby. he certainly hoped that she wasn't snobby.

"thank you," he offered a smile at her but she merely nodded. neil almost frowned at this response. well, she was awfully cold. snobby? maybe? he couldn't tell from that thick, thick exterior of hers.

"come eat dinner with us," neil tried again, taking a few steps towards the dining hall. he half-expected her to decline his offer but she nodded once more, trailing after him. surprises.

neil made several attempts to start a conversation that were only semi-successful (even that was a generous way of putting it). she responded with hushed answers that provoked no further thought, no further need to propel the exchange. he would only smile bitterly at the interaction, huffing a quiet sigh of relief as they entered the rowdy, brightly lit dining hall. no one paid much mind to the duo headed towards the end of the hall, from the youngest children stuffing themselves with mashed potato to the oldest boys cutting up their carrots with their knives and forks — all were too concerned with their food and their own banter to look up. well, almost everyone.

"it's neil with the new girl!" charlie whistled, raiding both brows suggestively. he prodded todd with his elbow but the smaller, sad-looking boy didn't look up from his small, sad-looking meal.

the girl ended up sandwiched between said boy and neil, picking nervously at her food. she didn't speak much, despite charlie's prodding and knox's gentle attempts at getting her to open up. what the boys did learn, at the end of that painstakingly awkward dinner session, that she moved to welton from some prestigious arts school for girls in london. she played the violin, too. but that was about it. they noticed that she would always bite her lips when she grew overwhelmed by the eager energy the rowdy group of boys were projecting upon her, and she would pick at her fingers when she didn't have much to say. she warmed up a little more, much to their amazement, but still remained soft-spoken and quiet for the most part.

as dinner wrapped up and the students of welton began their descent back to the dorm rooms, todd finally gathered enough courage to speak to the girl with the piercing ebony eyes. he approached her meekly, fingers digging into his palm — a nervous habit of his. he cleared his throat and those two onyx eyes met his.

"u-uhm, what was the m-music you had in english today?" his voice squeaked a little and he felt himself melt due to the embarrassment that quickly revealed itself in a soft pink blush. oh he felt like turning into a puddle right at the moment.

but todd was gifted with something he'd later on learn to treasure for it was a very rare sight. a smile. it was a stunning smile, really. all pearly white teeth and rosy lips drawn back. all honey-like and comforting and breathtaking.

"tchaikovsky. tchaikovsky's violin concerto in d."

evaline spent the study session with todd, talking about the russian composer and the art he had created. todd spent the study session with evaline, listening to her excitement and her passion take form in words and in music. and the rest of the boys spent the study session amazed at how todd, who was always shy, drew out the most talkative side in a girl who was equally as shy. oh, it was very unexpected that todd was the one who so quickly cracked the silent outer shell of the girl.

but this didn't go unnoticed.