CHAPTER SEVEN!
( WRONG FLOOR. )

   "A MAN IS not very tired, he is exhausted. And don't use very sad, use-" Mr. Keating scanned the room before pointing to the back of the class. "Come on, Mr. Overstreet, you twerp," he called.

"Morose?" Knox replied uneasily.

"Exactly! Morose. Now, language was developed for one endeavor, and that is? Mr. Anderson? Come on! Are you a man or an amoeba?" Keating exclaimed.

Mr. Keating strode towards Todd's desk. Todd glanced up at him anxiously but didn't say a word. Mr. Keating waited a moment more before moving on. Joan found herself sympathizing for Todd once again.

"Mr. Perry?"

"Uh, to communicate," Neil answered.

"No! To woo women," Keating winked as the class chuckled, "Or to woo men! We don't discriminate," he added. "Today we're going to be talking about William Shakespeare." Most of the class sighed in disappointment.

"Oh, god!" One boy groaned. Joan, for one, was excited. Unlike most she quite enjoyed reading in her spare time, and Shakespeare was never a chore to her.

"I know. A lot of you looked 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 held out his right arm dramatically and began to speak in an exaggerated, nasally British accent. "'O Titus, bring your friend hither.'" Joan laughed along with the class at Mr. Keating's impersonation. "But if any of you have seen Mr. Marlon Brando, you know, Shakespeare can be different. 'Friend, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears,'" he continued, speaking in yet another comedic accent. "You can also imagine, maybe, John Wayne as Macbeth going, 'Well, is this a dagger I see before me?'"

The entire class was giggling by the end of his performance, even those who were initially quite resentful towards Shakespeare. Every class Joan's respect towards Keating grew.

As Keating continued to teach, despite his engaging and entertaining lesson, Joan's mind began to wander once again. She didn't even really notice herself replaying the sequence of events that took place last night. She couldn't help but wonder if Charlie actually liked her or if he was just messing with her. She reminded yourself that he was just a flirt, and she shouldn't let yourself think of him as anything more than a friend, if even that. Joan tried to focus on Keating, on anything but Charlie. Her own eyes betrayed her when they glanced towards Charlie who was leaning back in his chair, twirling his pencil. His eyes began to turn towards Joan and she quickly snapped her head back to the front of the class, trying desperately to appear natural.

The rest of the day passed slowly, and the evening brought mountains of homework which kept Joan locked up in the library until nightfall. She and Violet sat in the back of the library, pouring over their homework. After they were kicked out of the library, Joan and Violet decided to wander the halls for a while so that by the time they were ready to go to their dorm, the hallways had already cleared up. Younger kids were so loud and hyper, even at night, it was a battle to get to their dorm room some days. The two of them chatted mindlessly about random things. They had come to the point in their friendship where they could start up a conversation about nearly anything and still feel comfortable.

They kept walking until Joan realized that she had no idea where in the school they were. It could sometimes be a curse to have such an old building for a high-school.

"Uh, I think our dorms are this way," Joan said uncertainly, pointing to the right.

"Why don't we just retrace our steps and go back to the library," Violet suggested.

"Wait, I hear people over here," Joan walked forwards, it sounded like students. The voices were too cheerful to be staff. She prayed they were students.

"Alright, but we better get back soon or else we'll be stuck in detention tomorrow," Violet muttered.

They rounded a corner and were met by the familiar faces of Charlie and Cameron.

"Oh, good it's just you two," Joan smiled in relief. The relief quickly turned to nervousness once she realized that she didn't know how to act around Charlie anymore.

"What the hell are you doing on the boys' dorm floor? Shouldn't you be in your room by now?" Cameron exclaimed.

"Oh, c'mon Cameron, relax. The ladies just can't resist me, had to see me one last time," Charlie smirked.

"This is the boys floor?" Joan asked. This was just her luck.

"Yeah, where'd you think you were?" Charlie queried.

"We didn't know, got kinda lost honestly," Joan admitted.

"Well lucky you," Charlie winked.

"You guys better get out of here quick, Hagar's gonna show up soon. I'm leaving, have fun getting demerits Charlie," Cameron huffed as he opened a door and hurried inside.

"Sweet dreams, Cameron," Charlie said sarcastically.

"So, if we're in the boys' dorms that means we're on the second floor, and that means that we just gotta take the stairs up one floor. Right?" Joan said.

"Yeah, I mean you could stay here," Charlie raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh my god, Charlie. Get over yourself. Okay, goodnight. We're leaving,"Joan grabbed Violet's hand as Violet chuckled before turning towards the stairwell.

"Goodnight ladies, thanks for stopping by," Charlie waved.

Joan turned back and shook her head at him while he just laughed.

❦

"Why do I stand up here? Anybody?" Keating asked while standing up on his desk.

"To feel taller," Charlie suggested, smirking.

"No!" Keating rang a bell on his desk with his foot. "Thank you for playing, Mr. Dalton. I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way.

Keating glanced around the classroom from atop the desk.

"You see, the world looks very different from up here. You don't believe me? Come see for yourself. Come on. Come on!"

Joan looked around before standing up, among the first to march up to the desk. Charlie and Neil were the very first to step onto the desk. Charlie chuckled as he looked down at her from the desk.

"You look so short from up here, didn't think you could get any shorter," Charlie teased.

"Oh, shut it Dalton," she responded, as he stepped off the desk.

"Back to Dalton huh? Ouch," he muttered, laughing. Joan stepped up as Keating continued to speak. 

"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! Now, when you read, don't just consider what the author thinks. Consider what you think."                

Joan looked out at the classroom, noticing small details that weren't visible from the ground. The tops of the bookshelves and smallness of the desks. She hopped down and returned to her sad, little desk.

"Students, 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. Thoreau said, 'Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.' Don't be resigned to that. Break out!"

Spaz and another boy seemed to only stand atop the desk for a millisecond before stepping off.

"Don't just walk off the edge like lemmings. Look around you." The school bell rang as the boys continued to climb onto the desk.

Keating began to gather up his stuff. The clock began to toll as Keating walked to the back of the class.               

"There! There you go, Mr. Priske. Thank you! Yes! Dare to strike out and find new ground. Now, in addition to your essays, I would like you to compose a poem of your own, an original work."

The students groaned at this. Keating started flickering the lights off and on while chanting ominously.              

"That's right! You have to deliver it aloud in front of the class on Monday. Bonne chance, gentlemen," he smiled.

Keating stepped out into the hall before quickly peeking back in once more. Todd was the last one to stand on the desk, he lingered for a moment, looking anxious as always.

"Mr. Anderson? Don't think that I don't know that this assignment scares the hell out of you, you mole."

Keating flicked the light off, leaving Todd to jump down in the darkness as his classmates laughed. Joan sighed, Todd just couldn't catch a break.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.
❪ ⋆࿐໋  𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒑𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒎. ❫

This chapter is low-key pointless
but I love Charlie and Cameron's
dynamic because it's so funny so
here you go. We're gonna deviate
from the real plot in a couple of
chapters I believe, but I'd love it if
you read them all, even if they're
not directly from the movie.