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DRESS
(( — DEAD POETS SOCIETY — ))

—chapter vi: of lessons and weekends

"A MAN IS NOT VERY TIRED, he is exhausted." Keating walked along the rows of students "and don't use 'very sad', use— come on, mr overstreet, you twerp" he pointed at the boy

"morose?" knox questioned

"exactly, morose" keating nodded proudly

"now, language was developed for one endeavour, and that is? mr anderson? come on, are you a man or an amoeba?"

todd's head moved down and loraine pitied him. keating walked in front of the boy, but quickly noticed his discomfort, moving on to another student 

"mr perry?" he asked

"to communicate" neil answered, but keating shook his head

"no. to woo women" the class laughed. loraine crossed her arms, but smiled at the joke. "today we're gonna be talking about william shakespeare"

"oh, god" charlie remarked loudly

"i know" keating nodded "a lot of you look forward to this about as much as you look forward to root canal work. we're gonna talk about shakespeare as someone who writes something very interesting. now, many of you have seen shakespeare done very much like this"

keating outstretched his arm. his face formed into a grimace. and his voice got nasal

"o, titus, bring your friend hither" the class laughed at the imitation

quickly, keating was back to his normal self "but if any of you have seen mr marlon brando" he changed his voice again: "you know shakespeare can be different. friends, romans, countrymen, lend me your ears"

loraine smiled at charlie who had quickly broke out into a fit of giggles.

"you can also imagine john wayne as macbeth going: 'well, is this a dagger i see before me?'"

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"DOGS, SIR?" KEATING WAS sitting in front of his students, who had all gathered together, reading from his book while faking an english accent.

"oh, not just now. i do enjoy a good dog once in a while, sir. you can have yourself a three—course meal from one dog. start with your canine crudités, go to your fido flambé for main course, and for dessert, a pekingese parfait. and you can pick your teeth with a little paw"

after every other word, the class broke into laughter.

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AT THE END OF the lesson, keating walked up to stand on his desk. "why do i stand up here? anybody?"

"to look taller" charlie replied smugly

keating tapped the bell with his right foot "thank you for playing, mr dalton" the class laughed

"i stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way" he turned around and looked at the walls of the classroom.

"you see, the world looks very different from up here. you don't believe me? come see for yourselves. come on" the students stood up and moved forward

"just when you think you know something, you have to look at it in another way. even though it may seem silly or wrong, you must try" keating jumped from the table to make room

neil was the first on the desk, he stood tall and looked down on keating. "now, when you read" said the teacher "don't just consider what the author thinks. consider what you think"

next came charlie. loraine was next to him and he helped her up onto the table, holding her hand the whole time, before he got down and took her waist, putting her to the ground.

"boys and girl" keating turned around to look at loraine, who was now behind him "you must strive to find your own voice. because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all"

knox and meeks were next on the table.

"thoreau said, 'most men lead lives of quiet desperation'. don't be resigned to that. break out. don't just walk off the edge like lemmings, look around you"

the bell rang, indicating the end of class. the boys still moved onto the table. keating was the first at the door. "now, in addition to your essays, i would like you to compose a poem of your own. an original work."

the boys groaned but loraine smiled upon the task. keating frantically operated the light switch. "that's right. you have to deliver it aloud in front of the class on monday" he left the room "bonne chance"

todd was now the last one on the table. keating poked his head back inside the room. "mr anderson" he said "don't think that i don't know that this assignment scares the hell out of you, you mole" he flicked the light switch a last time, leaving them in the dark.

"what are you going to write about?" asked charlie as loraine and him left the room.

"love" loraine shrugged "what else is there to write about?"

"feminism?" charlie suggested

"even better" loraine laughed and charlie smiled at the sound. "what will you write about?"

"love, what else is there to write about?" charlie repeated her words

"i'd like to see you try" loraine smiled. "see you later, i have to go to my room" she left him standing in the hallway in front of his own dorm, making her way down to her room. charlie looked after the girl in awe.

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LORAINE HAD underestimated the assignment and was now sitting at her table, clueless. there wasn't a thought in her head and not one idea she could put into words.

the conversation with charlie re—entered her head and she decided to write about feminism, as he had suggested. or more how she felt about being a girl.

quickly she had finished her work, the words flooding out of her and down onto the paper as fast as they entered her head.

loraine spent the rest of the weekend finishing her assignments, including her essay for english. her free time was spend outside, wearing warm clothes and sitting under trees reading. sometimes she was joined by charlie, who would lay next to her and listen carefully to what she was reading.

"have you finished your poem?" he had asked and loraine nodded proudly. "did you write it about love?"

"no" she shook her head "i wrote it about myself, about my feelings"

"wow" charlie had smiled "well i did write something about love"

"did you?"

"yeah and it's beautiful"

"i bet" loraine laughed at the grimace he had been making and charlie dwelled in the sound. he could sit under the oak tree and forever listen to her laugh.

"you have to go" loraine had pointed at the boats and students. "my father is waiting for you"

charlie had gotten up frowning. he looked over the water and identified mr nolan, who was looking away in the same second as charlie quickly bend down and plastered a kiss on loraines cheek. she giggled "off you go, lover—boy"

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ON SUNDAY, KEATING HAD gathered his students in the courtyard, loraine had taken a seat, unsure what to do, as it seemed keating wanted them to play soccer.

"now, devotees may argue that one sport or game is inherently better than another. for me, sport is actually a chance for us to have other human beings push us to excel. i want you all to come over here and take a slip of paper and line up a single file. you too, ms nolan, come one" he smiled at the girl and held out the last piece of paper he still had in hand.

the students lined up quickly. "you know what to do, mr pitts" keating encouraged

pitts walked forward and began reading from his slip of paper "oho struggle against great odds, to meat enemies undaunted"

"sounds to me like you're daunted" keating shrugged

pitts repeated the words more fiercly. "now go on" keating nodded and pitts kicked the ball in front of his feet.

a few of the boys followed, doing as instructed, before it was meeks' turn. "to dance, clap hands, exalt, shout, skip, roll on, float on" he read, before launching forward and kicking the ball.

"yes" keating shouted

"oh, to have life henceforth the poem of the new joys" hopkins voice nearly flattened out and he merely tapped the ball.

"boo!" keating said loudly, before his face light up at the sight of charlie "come on, charlie, let it fill your soul"

"to indeed be a god!" charlie exclaimed loudly, rasing his arms and kicking the ball with such force, it rolled off the field

after him came loraine. she read the words from the paper. words she had read before, which keating had probably known. "an educated woman is a danger. lock up your mate! keep a submissive stranger" then she kicked the ball and nearly ripped hopkins off his feet who had been standing in the way.

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LATER IN THE AFTERNOON, loraine had spent the time in charlie's room, neil came back from his audition.

they all had been excitedly waiting on the boy.

suddenly, charlie and loraine had been reading, they could hear neil's voice in the hallway. loraine opened the door. "lori, charlie, i got the part. i'm gonna play puck!"

loraine and charlie broke into laughter, happy for their friend.

"puck?" pitts asked

"it's the main part!" loraine answered cheering. "neil got the main part!"

neil grabbed her waist and held her up in the air, still filled with joy and loraine laughed. "can you believe it lori?" he asked "i'm gonna be the main part"

"don't rip her apart" exclaimed charlie, who had caught the girl the moment neil had let go of her. he gently put her down on her feet.

"this is incredible neil" smiled meeks

"we're so proud of you" loraine plastered a chaste kiss onto the taller boys cheek. "i'm so excited to see the play"

"congratulations. good for you, neil. good for you" charlie clapped neil's shoulder.

A/N

first, thank you guys for all the comments! it really motivates me to write! so much that the next few chapters will be out quickly, because i'm so eager to finish this story!! ahhh! i wrote an eventful chapter yesterday, that i just can't wait to publish ;))

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