˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙

DRESS
(( — DEAD POETS SOCIETY — ))

—chapter v: of caves and old poems

LORAINE WOULDN'T HAVE THOUGHT that charlie would be waiting for her in front her brothers room. quiet stupid of him, she thought, considering students weren't allowed in that very hallway. how he had known where to find her, was beyond her too.

now the group was quietly running — as quiet as you could do that — down the stairs. neil had been as smart as to bring treats for the dog, calming him down. they quietly made their way out of the front door, charlie closing it behind loraine softly, before taking her hand and running off as quickly as possible.

the way wasn't as long as they had thought, but it did take them a few minutes to reach the cave.

"charlie?" loraine looked around, having lost the boy a few seconds prior. "meeks" she said relieved as she noticed the familiar face.

just a second later, charlie jumped into the air next to them, flashlight to his face. "yarrr!" he screamed "i'm a dead poet"

the scream that left loraine's mouth would have been able to shatter a wine glass, while meeks nearly passed out. "jesus, charlie"

as soon as loraine had realized what happened, she slapped the boy on the shoulder. "you're so funny" she said sarcastically, before she helped meeks to get up.

"hey, i am!" charlie protested, as loraine stepped away from him and rolled her eyes.

the group climbed into the cave one after another, with charlie going in last, before he helped loraine down. "thank you" the girl muttered flustered, they were so close she could feel his warm breath on her face. charlie just smiled at her, before his hands left her waist and one of them traveled to hold her hand, pulling her down to sit beside him.

the boys tried to make a fire, nearly smoking up the whole cave.

"the smoke is going right up this opening" meeks pointed to the ceiling.

"alright, forget the fire" neil shook his head as it just wouldn't work. "let's go gentlemen and lady" he send a look to loraine, to which she indicated a bow. "i hereby reconvene the dead poets society"

the group cheered at his words, while neil smiled, smoking his cigarette. "the meeting will be conducted by myself and the other new initiates now present" he motioned the flashlight among his friends, lighting up their faces "todd anderson, because he prefers not to read, will keep minutes of the meetings, i'll now read the traditional opening message by society member henry david thoreau"

loraine looked at charlie, who watched neil in amazement. she looked down to his hand, which was laying in his lap, before she went to grab it, directing it to lay in her lap, interlacing their fingers. charlie smiled upon the action after her eyes had went back to neil. knox, who had noticed what happened as well, raised his eyebrows at the other boy.

"i went to the woods because i wanted to live deliberately. i wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life" neil read

"i'll second that" charlie brought his cigarette up to his mouth, while he smiled.

"to put to rout all that was not life, and not, when i had come to die, discover that i had not lived" neil finished the reading "and uh keating's marked a bunch of other pages"

"all right, intermission" charlie moved the flashlight around "dig deep, right here. right here, lay it down"

"on the mud?" knox asked "we're gonna put our food on the mud?"

"sorry, i forgot the tablecloth i usually carry around with me" loraine replied sarcastically as knox last question was directed at her.

before knox could say another word, charlie spoke up again. "meeks, put your coat down. picnic blanket."

meeks did as he was told.

"don't keep anything back, either" charlie instructed "you guys are always bumming my smokes"

"raisins?" meeks asked in disgust as he noticed the package pitts had dropped

"yeah" pitts smiled

"wait a minute" charlie held up a hand "who gave us half a roll?"

"i'm eating the other half" pitts stated with his mouth full

"come on"

"don't worry, i brought an extra one" loraine smiled, taking out paper bag and handing it to charlie "you can have it"

"you sure, sweetheart?" loraine nodded and charlie smiled at the gesture "thank you, ray"

a few minutes later, neil was telling a horrorstory

"it was a dark and rainy night. and this old lady who had a passion for jigsaw puzzles sat by herself in her house at her table to complete a new jigsaw puzzle. as she pieces the puzzle together, she realized to her astonishment that the image that was formed was her very own room, and the figure in the center of the puzzle, as she completed it, was herself. and with trembling hands, she placed the last four pieces and stared in horror at the face of a demented madman at the window. the last thing that this old lady ever heard was the sound of breaking glass"

the whole group laughed at the story, charlie and loraine giggling to each other while neil was still talking.

"i've got one that's even better than that" said cameron

"this is not gonna be good" muttered loraine into charlie's ear, who squeezed her hand in agreement "bet it's gonna be the story you told him"

"there's a young married couple, and they're driving through the forest at night from a long trip. they run out of gas, and there's a madman—"

"—that thing with the hands?"

"—and he cuts her husbands head off?"

the boys all talked at the same time. "told you" loraine whispered to charlie

"i love that story" cameron said offended

"i told you that one" charlie said, agreeing to loraine's words

"you did not. i got that in, uh, camp in sixth grade" cameron argued

the groups mumbling was suddenly interrupted by pitts, who was reading a story from keatings book.

"in a mean abode in the shankill road lived a man named william bloat; now, he had a wife, the plague of his life. who continually got his goat. and one day at dawn, with her night shift on, he slit her bloody throat."

the boys and loraine laughed at the poem.

"oh and it gets worse" pitts laughed

"you wanna hear a real poem?" charlie asked smiling

"want this?" pitts was holding the book in the boy's direction

"no, i don't need it. get this out of here" charlie stood up from his place, plastering a kiss on loraine's hand, before letting go of it and walking in to the groups middle.

"did you bring one?" asked cameron

"you memorize a poem?"

"i didn't memorize a poem. move up" charlie instructed "an original piece by charlie dalton"

charlie cleared his throat, paper in hand, before his eyes caught onto loraine. "you should better close your eyes, ray" he smiled suggestively. loraine did not close her eyes but rather watched as he then unfolded the paper, revealing a photograph of a naked woman.

"charlie!" loraine said loudly

"told you" charlie shrugged and loraine crossed her arms in anger

"where did you get that?" cameron asked loudly, catching charlie's eyes, which had still been on the girl

the rest of the boys were snickering and whistling loudly.

"teach me to love? go teach thy self more wit; i chief professor am of it. the god of love, if such a thing there be. may learn to love from me"

loraine, who had mostly kept her eyes to the ground, looked up as she recognized her favorite poem

"wow, charlie" neil said "did you write that?"

"no he didn't" loraine shook her head "but abraham cowly did"

charlie nodded, proud that she had caught that, despite looking like she hadn't listened to him

"i copied that just for you" charlie whispered as he sat down next to her again. he grabbed onto her hand, plastering a kiss on it. "you can never stay angry with me, can you?"

loraine tried to listen to the poem neil was reading from keating's book. she could feel charlie's breath on her neck, which kept her from concentrating

"answer me, ray" charlie whispered and loraine shivered.

"stop corrupting me, charlie" loraine turned her head to him. they were just inches apart, and maybe if they hadn't been surrounded by all of their friends charlie would have kissed her.

"oh?" charlie smiled suggestively "now i am corrupting you all of a sudden? i thought this was called talking" he put a hand to his chest as if she had just offended him greatly. "you can't keep it in your pants, can you, woman?"

loraine rolled her eyes and was about to answer, when she suddenly noticed that the rest of the group had grown silent, neil had seemingly finished his poem, and all eyes were on her and charlie.

"eh, great poem, neil" loraine smiled, slowly applauding

"neil has finished the poem about five minutes ago" knox explained "and you weren't even listening"

"i were!" loraine replied

"of course you weren't" charlie whispered into her ear "you were concentrating on more important things anyway" his hand wandered to her waist and loraine suddenly shrieked up.

"woah" charlie laughed at her sudden action

loraine was feeling uncomfortable, not by charlie, but by how he made her feel. how every word he whispered and every touch she felt was making her feel warm inside and.. she couldn't quite put a finger on it...

also everyone was still staring at her, so that didn't help either. before loraine could do anything, meeks jumped to her rescue.

he had keatings book in hand and was reading another poem, turning it into a chant. "then i had religion, and then i had a vision. i could not turn from their revel in derision. then i saw the congo creeping through the black—"

someone began clapping and one after another the rest of the boys joined in

"—cutting through the forest with a golden track"

the rest of the group joined into the chant

"then i saw the congo creeping through the black cutting through the forest with a golden track"

the group continued chanting the poem, making their way out of the cave and back into the forest. singing louder and louder. charlie and loraine followed the group, until charlie held back the girl by her arm, making sure the group was ahead and not in ear shot.

"sorry if i made you feel uncomfortable back then" charlie spoke softly "i felt like i did too much, so much even that you had to stand up"

"oh no" loraine shook her head "you didn't do anything that made me uncomfortable. you never do"

"oh, are you sure, ray?" charlie rubbed the back of his neck "you don't have to say that so i feel better. female empowerment, remember? speak up when you're wronged by somebody"

"you remember that?"

loraine had told charlie much about her views, that started years ago and she hadn't really thought he would remember any of it

"of course! i remember everything you told me"

loraine looked up at the boy in awe. "thank you" she smiled "and i swear that everything's fine, i would tell you if it weren't. you're my best friend after all, right?"

charlie nodded and for a second loraine thought he was frowning, but then his smile was back and she discarded that thought.

"yeah" charlie nodded "let's catch up, before the others are too far"

loraine held up her hand for him to take it. then they both began to run.