˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙

DRESS
(( — DEAD POETS SOCIETY — ))

—chapter vii: of girlhood and soccer wins

"TO CHRIS", knox read, standing in front of his classmates. "i see a sweetness in her smile. blight light shines from her eyes. but life is complete; contentment is mine, just knowing that.. just knowing that she's alive" knox scrunched up the paper in frustration "sorry captain, it's stupid"

"no, no" keating exclaimed "it's not stupid. it's a good effort. it touched on one of the major themes: love"

knox sat down in his desk and charlie clapped his back. loraine leaned forward "i liked your poem, knox" she whispered and he smiled gratefully

"mr hopkins, you were laughing. you're up" keating said

hopkins walked to the front of the class. "the cat sat on the mat" he read and loraine rolled her eyes.

"congratulations mr hopkins" keating voiced "you have the first poem to ever have a negative score on the pritchard scale" charlie, knox and loraine laughed at that

"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. now, who's next. ms nolan?" keating asked and loraine looked up at the calling of her name.

she nodded softly and got up from her seat. "you'll do great" charlie whispered and loraine smiled at the boy, before she walked to the front of the class.

"being a girl" she read from her paper. "my hair is long, my dress is pretty. don't you dare and act so witty. be a good girl, follow the rules and you can wear your mother's jewels" she paused

charlie adjusted himself in his seat, locking eyes with her across the room.

"keep all your thoughts inside your head, no one cares what you would've said. there's nothing you may offer us, besides your beauty, well of course. you will lead a quiet life, be a mother, cleaner, wife. you will die as nothing more, but isn't that worth longing for?" she took a deep breath, noticing that her classmates had grown silent at the sudden shift in tone.

"there is no choice for me to make, there isn't more in life to take. if mother isn't what i see, how can i build a life for me? a woman can't be on her own, it's what we learn upon to frown. words and ideas can change the world, but yours, not mine, i'm just a girl" she finished and the room was so quiet, you could've heard a pin drop.

keating rose from his seat and slowly applauded the girl. his mouth was opened widely, astonishment flooding his features. "wow, ms nolan" he said "what a great work" his hand moved quickly across his cheek, getting rid of the single tear.

loraine smiled and went back to her seat. charlie looked at her. "that was amazing, ray" he said and she could hear his voice break a little "you're amazing"

"thank you" she smiled

"ms nolan chose a rather complicated theme. even today women don't hold the same position in our society as men do. i'm proud that ms nolan could put her feelings into such a great work, thank you loraine"

loraine nodded at the teacher.

"what about you, mr anderson?" keating kneeled in front of the boys' desk "i see you sitting there in agony, and i give it to you, following ms nolan's work won't be easy, but i'm sure you'll manage"

"i didn't do it" todd shook his head "i didn't write a poem" and his voice grew so quiet, loraine had to lean forward in her seat.

"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."

he walked up to the chalkboard. "i sound my barbaric yawp over the rooftops of the world. w. w., uncle walt again" keating said while writing down those words.

"now, for those of you who don't know, a yawp is a loud cry or yell." he went to stand before the anderson boy again "now, todd, i would like you to give us a demonstration of a barbaric yawp. come on, you can't yawp sitting down. let's go, come on, up! gotta get in yawping stance."

todd was lead onto the little stage by keating. "a yawp" todd said

"no, not just a yawp. a barbaric yawp!"

"yeah, yeah, right" todd nodded "yawp"

"come on, louder" keating encouraged

"yawp"

"oh, that's a mouse. come on, louder!"

"yawp"

"god, boy, tell like a man" keating shouted frustrated

"yawp!" todd screamed in anger at the man's words

"there it is!" keating smiled "you see, you have a barbarian in you after all" todd wanted to escape the stage as fast as possible, but keating hold him back "you don't get away that easy. there's a picture of uncle walt up there" he pointed to the classrooms wall.

"what does he remind you of? don't think, answer. go on!"

"a madman" todd answered while keating walked circles around the boy

"what kind of madman?"

"don't think about it, answer!"

"a crazy madman!"

"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 gibberish."

"a sweaty—toothed madman"

"good god, boy. there's a poet in you after all! there, close your eyes. close your eyes, close them. now describe what you see"

"i—i close my eyes"

"yes?" keating asked

"and this image floats beside me"

"a sweaty—toothed madman" keating reminded

"a sweaty—toothed madman" todd repeated "with a stare that pounds my brain."

"oh that's excellent! now give him action. make him do something!"

"his hands reach out and choke me" todd announced

"that's it! wonderful, wonderful" keating stopped moving

"and all the time he's mumbling"

"what's he mumbling?"

"mumbling truth. truth, like a blanket that always leaves your feet cold" the boys laughed but loraine didn't, her eyes wandered to charlie

"forget them. stay with the blanket, tell me about that blanket" keating instructed todd

"you can 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'll just cover your face as you wait and cry and scream" todd opened his eyes. the class had grown silent, amazed by what he had done, breaking into applause.

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙

"HEY LORAINE" after the class had ended, loraine had walked outside of the school, bored. her boys were busy playing soccer and as always, she wasn't allowed to join.

"oh" loraine exclaimed surprised "hi harry"

"so have you thought about italy?" harry asked "my offer still stands"

"yeah" she smiled, trying to stay friendly and not immediately lash out at him. "i think i'll pass. i'm sure my father would allow it, but i have a lot on my plate right now—"

"—is it because of dalton?" harry interrupted

"what? no, of course not, why do you even think that?"

"he is obviously in love with you" harry exclaimed annoyed "are you sleeping with him?"

"what?" loraine asked loudly, shocked by the boys audacity "i hope you didn't just say what i heard" she said angrily

"i'm sorry" harry rubbed the back of his neck "i didn't want to offend you"

"harry, i don't want to go to italy, because i don't want to, okay?" loraine held back her anger and replied calmly "not because of charlie and not because of anyone else. do you understand that?"

"woah" harry raised his arms and send her a bewildered look "no need to get mad at me!"

"i'm not mad" loraine said slowly, just to make sure he understood what she was telling him "i'm fuming!"

before harry could say anything else, loraine noticed the boys jumping into the air, celebrating their win. loraine smiled, her mood quickly returning back to happy. "see you, harry" she replied quickly, before she left the boy on his own.

harry looked after the girl, who began running and threw herself into the arms of no other than charlie dalton. the boy twirled her around, both laughing at the other.

harry rolled his eyes. loraine would regret how she had spoken to him. then he turned his back and walked away.

-