✓ FALLING.

TWENTY EIGHT !

☆彡

LENNY SMIRKED AS she and charlie strolled into the english classroom, their hands intertwined between their bodies. she saw the despair littering their friends' faces, especially todd's. she frowned as she took a seat, the boys not even turning to acknowledge herself and charlie.

"oh shit." she groaned as she saw mr nolan enter the classroom, assuming he would be taking the position as acting english teacher due to mr keating's unfair dismissal. the teacher glared at the girl, who simply stared at the old man with a look as cold as ice. she knew he hated her, and the feeling was definitely mutual.

lenny coughed into her elbow as she listened to nolan drone on about their textbooks, glad that this would be her final day at hellton. of course, she couldn't bare to be without her boys, but she could definitely deal with not living in hellton for another year. "i really hate him." she whispered to charlie, glaring at the back of cameron's head.

charlie only nodded, leaning over to sneak a sly kiss on her cheek while nolan wasn't looking. "me too, len." lenny smiled when she saw mr keating enter the room, claiming he needed to collect some of his things from the supply closet at the back of the room. she took notice of todd's foot tapping on the floor, hearing the cogs whirr in his brain.

"what is poetry?" she rolled her eyes at the drawl of mr nolan's voice, her eyes training on mr keating's figure in the supply closet. "that page has been ripped out, sir." she smirked to herself, feeling charlie's eyes on her, turning to face her future husband. she gave him a cheeky wink, holding her hand out for him to grab.

"well borrow someone else's book." the classroom felt dead to the girl, and not being able to see neil's little glasses behind cameron, or dotty staring at neil for the majority of the lesson. or harriet and knox flirting through the class. or todd conquering his fears, with meeks and pitts in tow. it was sad, really, that one man could ruin what they had.

"they're all ripped out, sir." lenny had to hide a chuckle behind her hand, covering it up with a very exaggerated cough and a wave of her hand to charlie who pretended to check on her. she could see mr keating grinning away to himself in the closet, which made her smile from ear to ear at the thought.

"what do you mean they're all ripped out?" mr nolan gave a nervous laugh, looking to cameron for support, or even to tell him that he was just joking, and the pages were still intact. "never mind. read." he placed his book in front of cameron, who took great pleasure in reading the beginning paragraphs of it.

it was wrong. he was reading the same words that neil read in their second lesson. the rat didn't deserve to breathe the same air as her precious boy, let alone read the same as him. she frowned as she saw mr keating walk out of the closet, walking past todd sadly, reaching knox and charlie. she knew that she had to do something, but it seemed todd would beat her to it.

she moved her desk closer to charlie's, resting her head upon his shoulder and sighing sadly, watching her favourite teacher walk out of the room, no questions asked. "this is so wrong, charlie. he doesn't deserve to leave like this." he only nodded to his girlfriend, kissing the top of her head gently and sighing.

"mr keating, they made everybody sign it." todd suddenly exclaimed, standing from his desk with tear stained cheeks and pouted lips. lenny felt for the boy, wanting nothing more to run up and embrace him like she did with neil. but alas, the boy had a plan in motion, and she wasn't about to stop him any time soon.

"you gotta believe me, it's true." he was practically pleading with the teacher to listen to him, the tears just flowing down his rosy cheeks. mr keating assured him that he believed him, urging him to sit down at his desk before any trouble came knocking at the poor boy's door.

"this is bullshit."