❛ Adrift in a world of my own. I've played the game but to my real shame, you've left me to grieve all alone. ❜

DEAD POETS SOCIETY
chapter twenty-four

AFTER THE MEMORIAL held in Welton's sanctuary, the boys and Eliza held an emergency Dead poets Society meeting. The meeting had been moved from the Old Indian Cave in the woods, where too many memories of Neil would haunt them. It would also be found soon because of the search Nolan was conducting into the matter of Neil's suicide.

⠀⠀⠀Now, they sat in a small, cluttered cloakroom on the second floor. They all held cigarettes between their fingers provided by Charlie and sat in the smoke silently.

⠀⠀⠀Eliza sat close to Charlie, her arm wrapped around his as she took in a lungful of smoke. Beside her, Todd sat perched upon a piece of furniture and his foot resting on a suitcase. Knox sat beside him, taking a long drag from his cigarette, and a deep frown crested into his features. Meeks sat beside Knox, and on his other side, a tower of suitcases like the one rested firmly beneath Todd's foot. Finally, Pitts sat on the other side of Charlie glumly.

⠀⠀⠀Cameron was nowhere to be found, but none of them had mentioned the fact that he hadn't. Eliza had quickly concluded that this could very well be the last time they all spent time together with how things were going. She knew that Welton would need someone to blame to keep their record clean and how better to do it with fresh meat.

⠀⠀⠀Both she and her Uncle had become new variables in Neil's life and would easily take the fall for Neil.

⠀⠀⠀Eliza couldn't hold herself together anymore, her neat facade breaking as a sob stuck in her throat and begged its way out. Knox noticed as he sat directly in front of her, watching as she choked to keep herself put together. Her hands flung to her face, pulling Charlie towards the process and allowing the tears to pool in her hands. Her gut-wrenching sobs filled the room, and the boys didn't know how to respond. They all felt as she did but had yet to meet the same fate as she and Todd had.

⠀⠀⠀She, Charlie, and Todd, although, had it the hardest out of them all. They all loved Neil, yes. They were all close friends and would miss him dearly, but for Todd, he had found something in Neil that he had longed for and would tear at his heart for years. For Eliza and Charlie, the couple had been at his house as the gunshot rang through the neighborhood. It would plague their nightmares for years to come.

⠀⠀⠀So, as she sobbed, all the boys could think to do was the same as they did for Todd. They pulled together, holding her tightly against their chests. Their breaths mingled, and tears fell onto the old wooden floor and dampened strands of hair.

⠀⠀⠀For Eliza, her sobs were not for Neil. She had already shed her tears for Neil the night he had pulled the trigger, and she would continue to cry for him as nightmares plagued her mind for years to come. But that day, those tears were for the seemingly uptight boys that had turned into rebellious brothers. They were for Charlie, who would stay in Vermont while she moved far away. They were for Welton, that would soon be a faded memory in the back of her mind as she continued moving forward.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm going to miss you guys," she whispered, her arms wrapped securely around Todd and Charlie, trying to pull them as close to her as she could. Maybe if she held them tight enough, they could become a part of her and never leave.

⠀⠀⠀"What are you talking about, Liza?" Knox asked, his already tight-knit eyebrows pulling ever closer to one another.

⠀⠀⠀"What do you think, Discipline?" Eliza sighed, tired. "Where do you think Cameron is?"

⠀⠀⠀"You told him about this meeting, right?" Charlie asked Pitts, pointing the butt of his cigarette at the teenager.

⠀⠀⠀"Twice," Pitts nodded, the boys gradually pulling back so their neighbors wouldn't burn the skin of their neighbors.

⠀⠀⠀The room filled with slight sniffles and the boys wiping their eyes dry. Eliza leaned into Charlie's chest, feeling new would soon become foreign.

⠀⠀⠀"Then, Birdie's right. We're all fried," Charlie sighed, taking a long drag f his cigarette.

⠀⠀⠀"How do you mean?" Pitts asked.

⠀⠀⠀"Cameron's a fink. He's in Nolan's office right now, finking," Charlie explained with a shrug.

⠀⠀⠀"About what?"

⠀⠀⠀"The club, Pittsie," Charlie sneered. "Think about it. The board of directors, the trustees, and Mr. Nolan. Do you think for one moment they're gonna let this thing just blow over? Schools go down because of things like this. They need a scapegoat."

⠀⠀⠀The door to the coatroom squealed open, the boys scrambling to put their cigarettes and wave the smoke away. All but the couple in the corner that stayed comfortable in their seats. They had accepted their fates in the grand scheme of things, and if caught for smoking, it wouldn't make matters any worse.

⠀⠀⠀Cameron stepped into the coatroom, a cheery faux expression on his innocent red face as he stood before the boys and Eliza. He glanced over them, but his mind was elsewhere.

⠀⠀⠀"What's going on, guys?" he asked with a flicker of a smile.

⠀⠀⠀Charlie stood, straightening his jacket and tossing his cigarette into the metal pot. "You finked, didn't you, Cameron?"

⠀⠀⠀"Finked?" Cameron laughed, looking at Charlie and then the rest of the boys. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about," Cameron chuckled.

⠀⠀⠀"You told Nolan everything about the club is what I'm talking about," Charlie continued, squaring his shoulders.

⠀⠀⠀Cameron rolled his eyes, his bittersweet façade dwindling as he shrugged, "Look, in case you hadn't heard, Dalton, there's something called an honor code at this school, alright? If a teacher asks you a question, you tell the truth, or you're expelled."

⠀⠀⠀Charlie lunged forward, angry and tired of Cameron. Knox and Meeks held his back quickly, before he could make a mistake he could never come back from.

⠀⠀⠀Eliza stood from her seat with the rest of the boys. The same anger flaring in her as it did in Charlie. Todd stood beside her, his hand on her shoulder to keep her where she stood. Eliza sighed, but kept her distance.

⠀⠀⠀"He's a rat! He's in it up to his eyes, so he ratted to save himself!" Charlie shouted, struggling in his friend's grip.

⠀⠀⠀"Don't touch him, Charlie," Knox tried to soothe him. "You do, and you're out."

⠀⠀⠀"I'm out anyway!" Charlie claimed, shaking off Knox and Meeks' hands from him. He turned to the back to find Eliza's gaze on him and couldn't handle her soft green eyes watching him, so he turned back to Cameron.

⠀⠀⠀"You don't know that, not yet," Knox sighed, stepping back.

⠀⠀⠀"He's right there, Charlie," Cameron said, catching the boy's attention. "And if you guys are smart, you will do exactly what I did and cooperate. They're not after us. We're the victims. Us and Neil."

⠀⠀⠀"What's that mean? Who are they after?" Charlie asked, eyeing Cameron up and down.

⠀⠀⠀"Why, Keating, of course!" Cameron shouted.

⠀⠀⠀Eliza tensed at his words and was thankful that the boys crowded her path towards Cameron.

⠀⠀⠀"The 'Captain' himself!" Cameron continued. "I mean, you guys didn't really think he could avoid responsibility, did you?"

⠀⠀⠀"Mr. Keating responsible for Neil?" Charlie asked, a small huff of disbelief leaving his lips. "Is that what they're saying?"

⠀⠀⠀"Well, who else do you think, dumbass?" Cameron quipped, his words stinging Eliza's skin the longer he talked. "The administration? Mr. Perry?" he asked, rolling his eyes. "Mr. Keating put us up to all this crap, didn't he?" Cameron asked the boys. "Neil would be cozied up in his room right now, studying chemistry and dreaming of being called Doctor."

⠀⠀⠀Eliza laughed, although it sounded tainted and distant. The boys parted so that she could face the beet-red Cameron. She couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth after the months spent in the Old Indian Cave together as friends. Now, he was dirt in her mouth.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm sorry for you, Cameron," Eliza told him.

⠀⠀⠀The sob from earlier still residing as tears streamed down her cheeks, and her words came out raspy rather than her normal sweet tone. A glint came to Cameron's ugly brown eyes that told her he never realized she was even in the room with them.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm sorry that you never knew Neil for who he was," Eliza told Cameron. Her voice held pity as she stared at him, disappointed in the boy she once considered a friend. "I spent four months with him, and yet, I feel like I knew him better than you. And for the rest of your life, you'll have to live with that.

⠀⠀⠀"Where were you? Because you went to every meeting, spent every lunch with us, and attended every class. So, what the hell happened?! Because I never suspected for you to be a backstabbing coward."

⠀⠀⠀Eliza walked towards Cameron, panting as she stared up at him, chin raised high and eyes pierced into his. She was a couple of inches shorter than Cameron, but it felt like she was towering six feet over him.

⠀⠀⠀His lips twitched down, and the words she had spoken pricked at his skin.

⠀⠀⠀"I hope when I leave here, because of you, I never have to see you again. I hope you have a good life, Cameron. You'll need it. There's no coming back after this."

⠀⠀⠀Cameron kept his composure further and stayed firm in his stance as he waited for her to move away. His face had turned even brighter than before, and his nostrils were flaring, but he kept his mouth shut tight. After today, he'd never have to see her again, is what he kept reminding himself as she had reminded him.

⠀⠀⠀"She's right, Cameron!" Todd shouted, bouncing forward as he pointed his finger at him. "You know that! He didn't put us up to anything. Neil loved acting!"

⠀⠀⠀Cameron was slowly growing even more furious as the boys he surrounded himself with turned their backs on him for years.

⠀⠀⠀"Believe what you want, but I say let. Keating. Fry!" he hissed, his brown eyes pointed directly at Eliza as he spoke. "I mean, why ruin our lives?" he continued.

⠀⠀⠀Eliza held her ground, holding onto the promise for the day they would cross paths, and she'd put his mouth back to its rightful place rather than where it currently resided in his ass.

⠀⠀⠀Charlie, however, was another story. He turned away from his friends, acting like he wouldn't hit Cameron. Meeks and Knox were too quick to accept Charlie's surrender. Charlie turned, swinging his fist into Cameron's nose, and a sharp crack was heard.

⠀⠀⠀Cameron fell back onto the floor. Meeks and Knox could pull Charlie back, but the damage was done.

⠀⠀⠀"You just signed your expulsion papers, Nuwanda," Cameron sneered, his hand patting lightly at the blood now resting on his lips. He stood to his feet, looking at the other boys, "And if the rest of you are smart, you'll do exactly what I did. They know everything anyway. You can't save Keating, but you can save yourselves."

AUTHOR'S NOTE —

I regret to inform you all but I think after this there will only be three more chapters. Clean this book up at twenty-seven real chapters, and thirty if you include the introduction, cast, and graphics.

This has been one of my favorite stories to write and I'll miss it dearly but at the same time, I will feel so good to have this story marked as finished. It's been a while since I've finished a book and looking at this one I will be unbelievably happy to have finished this one.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me during this journey, from the very beginning to just starting tonight. I love you all.

SONG: The Great Pretender by The Platters

Thank you for reading! Leave comments telling me your thoughts on this chapter, but however you interact, know that I really appreciate you reading. I hope you enjoy, and until the next one.