CHAPTER NINE!
( BARBARIC YAWP. )

   "TO CHRIS," KNOX began softly. Your ears perked up at this, you looked to the front of the class, all of a sudden very interested. You looked at Violet, exchanging suspicious glances. "I see a sweetness in her smile. Bright light shines from her eyes. But life is complete; contentment is mine. Just knowing that..." Knox paused as the boys began to snicker. You glared at one girl who seemed to find Knox's performance extremely comedic, surprisingly, you shut her up.

"Just knowing that..." Knox slumped his hands down in embarrassment, "she's alive," he finished quietly. He crumpled up his poem and walked back to his seat, looking defeated. "Sorry, Captain, it's stupid."

"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. Keating reassured Knox. Keating strolled down an aisle of seats before reaching Richard Hopkins' desk. "Mr. Hopkins, you were laughing. You're up," Keating said.

Richard walked slowly to the front of the class with a smirk on his face. He unfolded his paper and stood on the platform, carelessness written in his body language. "The cat sat on the mat," he read monotonously. Several boys began to chuckle. Richard walked back to his seat, winking at his friends as they gave him thumbs up. You rolled your eyes. What made him think he was so cool?

"Congratulations, Mr. Hopkins," Mr. Keating smiled, making his way over to Richard's desk. "Yours is the first poem to ever have a negative score on the Pritchard scale," he cheered, earning an eruption of laughter from the rest of the class. "We're not laughing at you, we're laughing near you," Keating assured smugly. "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." Richard nodded, now looking a little disappointed.

"Who's up next? Is there a daring spirit in this class who is willing to step up?" After a few moments of silence Charlie walked purposefully up to the front of the class. He held up a crumpled paper that looked like it had been stepped on, but he held it proudly nonetheless. You couldn't help but notice the fact that his lips were slightly upturned into a mischievous smirk.

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both, And be one traveler," Charlie began reciting The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. You laughed softly, if he really wanted to fool anyone he should've chosen a lesser known poem.

"No, no, no, Mr. Dalton. An original work," Keating said quickly. Charlie only grinned, making it clear that he was kidding.

"Alright, fine," he said, he cleared his throat and looked down at the page. His eyes flitted over the page in what seemed to be hesitation, which was strange for him, considering that he had no impulse control. He looked up and locked eyes with you for less than a second. In that time you managed to give him a swift reassuring nod. He finally opened his mouth to speak.

"How does one know;
what is love
and what is lust?
I don't know much,
but I feel my heartbeat,
when her eyes meet mine.
I know that it's strange
that I can't look away,
when I'm seeing her smile," he read. He let his guard down for a moment, but as soon as a chuckle came from a boy in the corner, Charlie was right back to defence mode.

"Who's the girl, Charlie?" A boy named Terry Smith giggled teasingly. You felt a little bit of jealousy blossom in your chest, you didn't even realize how badly you wanted to be the one he wrote about. Surely it wouldn't be though. Right? Someone as charming and audacious as him must have countless girls ready to go out with him. A bitter taste filled your mouth, but you suppressed the emotion and tried not to think about it. What were you doing? Falling for the most renowned flirt at Welton. God, stop thinking like that Y/N. You knew it was a bad idea getting close to him.

"Oh, shut up, Smith. It's nobody, it's just a stupid poem," Charlie stated. You let out a puff of air, in relief or disappointment? You didn't know.

"I too am curious as to who the lucky girl is, but I agree with Mr. Dalton. Keep your mouth shut, Mr. Smith," Mr. Keating defended, "Very good Mr. Dalton, once again touching on a very important theme of poetry, which is love. Poetry is about emotions such as love. Poetry is what happens when you allow your mind to disconnect from the writing process, and in that moment, all you do is feel."

Despite his momentary vulnerability at the front of the class, Charlie resumed his normal cocky disposition and strolled back to his desk. You tried to catch his eye, in hopes of a hint of what he was thinking, but he didn't dare look at you.

"Now, who's next?" Keating asked, walking over to Todd's desk. "Mr. Anderson, I see you're sitting there in agony. Come on, Todd, step up. Let's put you out of your misery." You sucked in a breath as you watched, hoping Todd would have the courage to read his poem. Todd looked around aimlessly, then his eyes landed on you. You saw the desperation in his face, you offered a reassuring smile before he turned away. He was still very anxious.

"I- I didn't do it. I didn't write a poem," Todd stated.

"Mr. Anderson thinks that everything inside of him is worthless and embarrassing. Isn't that right, Todd? Isn't that your worst fear? Well, I think you're wrong. I think you have something inside of you that is worth a great deal," Keating said earnestly.

Keating walked up to the blackboard and began to write "I sound my barbaric yawp over the rooftops of the world. W. W." He turned back to the class saying, "Uncle Walt again. Now, for those of you who don't know, a yawp is a loud cry or yell." You leaned forward, curious as to where the Captain was going with this.

"Now, Todd," he said, walking back to Todd's seat. "I would like you to give us a demonstration of a barbaric 'yawp.'" Todd looked distressed as someone let out a laugh. His plan hadn't quite worked out the way he had planned. "Come on. You can't yawp sitting down. Let's go. Come on. Up."

Todd pulled himself reluctantly to the front of the classroom, he was blushing profusely.

"You've gotta get in yawping stance," Keating chimed as he stepped back, giving Todd the stage.

"A yawp?" Todd looked at Keating in exasperation.

"No, not just a yawp. A barbaric yawp!" Keating exclaimed.

"Yawp," Todd quaked, just trying to get it over with.

"Come on. Louder."

"Yawp," Todd said, a little louder.

"No, that's a mouse. Come on. Louder," Keating encouraged energetically.

"Yawp," Todd spoke again, louder still but nowhere near what Keating was looking for.

"Oh, good God, boy. Yell like a man!" Keating boomed.

"Yawp!"Todd shouted, his voice splitting the air. You stared in shock for a moment, you didn't know he was even capable of yelling.

"There it is," Keating smiled victoriously. "You see, you have a barbarian in you after all." Todd tried to return to his seat but Keating grabbed his arm, turning him towards the wall behind him. "Now, you don't get away that easy," Keating pointed at a picture up on the wall. "The picture of Uncle Walt up there. What does he remind you of? Don't think. Answer. Go on."

Keating began to circle around Todd.

"A m-m-madman," Todd stammered.

"What kind of madman? Don't think about it. Just answer again."

"A c-crazy madman."

"No, you can do better than that! Free up your mind. Use your imagination. Say the first thing that pops into your head even if it's total gibberish. Go on, go on."

"Uh, uh, a sweaty toothed madman," Todd said.

"Good God, boy, there's a poet in you, after all. There, close your eyes. Close your eyes. Close 'em," Keating held his hands over Todd's eyes, spinning him in slow circles. "Now, describe what you see."

"Uh, I-I close my eyes," Todd stuttered.

"Yes?" Keating prompted.

"Uh, and this image floats beside me."

"A sweaty-toothed madman?" Keating encouraged.

"A sweaty-toothed madman with a stare that pounds my brain," Todd continued.

"Oh, that's excellent! Now give him an action. Make him do something."

"H-His hands reach out and choke me," Todd expressed.

"That's it. Wonderful. Wonderful," Keating removed his hands from Todd's eyes and held onto his blazer.

"And, all the time he's mumbling," Todd went on.

"What's he mumbling?"

"M-Mumbling 'Truth. Truth is like a blanket that always leaves your feet cold.'" Students began to laugh at Todd, but Keating quickly urged Todd to close his eyes again.

"Forget them, forget them. Stay with the blanket. Tell me about the blanket."

"Y-Y-Y-You push it, stretch it, it'll never be enough. You kick at it, beat it, it'll never cover any of us. From the moment we enter crying to the moment we leave dying, it will just cover your face as you wail and cry and scream," Todd opened his eyes as the class went silent. Todd was breathing heavily, staring back at Mr. Keating who was crouched on the ground.

You took a deep breath in, amazed at what Todd had just said. He truly was incredible. You brought your hands together and began to clap for him. The class quickly followed your lead. You smiled proudly at Todd, but you noticed that his eyes were trained on Neil, who was looking at Todd in complete amazement. Keating then stood up, and a small smile took over Todd's face.

Keating whispered something to Todd before allowing him to take a seat. You started to get the feeling that someone was looking at you, you felt eyes burning into the back of your head. You turned your head to see Charlie immediately turn away. You looked at him for a moment longer, but he never looked back. You decided to write it off as a misunderstanding, he was looking at something else. It was the only plausible explanation.

Unless...?

❪ ⋆࿐໋ 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒑𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒎. ❫

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

Sorry, I feel like this chapter sucks. I really suck at poetry so I tried my best to write the poem for Charlie to say, but ik it's not great. I hope you didn't find this too bad? I wanna thank you guys 1K reads, it's actually crazy. I didn't expect this many people to read this. Thank you!! I love you, and if you did enjoy this chapter, I would really love it if you voted :)

- s.