The next morning, Ana woke with a yawn and a stretch. Glancing in the mirror, she noticed how greasy her hair was looking and grimaced. She padded out into the hall with her towel and uniform before it hit her. She was going to have to shower with the boys. Eyes wide, she knocked on Neil's door. 'It's open' came the reply and she stepped inside.

"Good morning. Er, where am I meant to shower?" She asked nervously, twirling the end of her hair.

"Oh, I completely forgot. A little way down that hall is the sports showers. No one will be in there this time in the morning, so it's free to go in there." Neil replied and she let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness for that. What'd I do without you, Perry?" She grinned and made her way down the hall and into the showers that she could use. After a few minutes, she hopped out, dried herself and pulled on her hideous uniform, which consisted of a navy and red plaid skirt that came to three inches above her knee, a plain long sleeve blouse, a navy and red striped tie and a grey jumper. She pulled up her grey socks to just below her knee and tied up her shoes before walking back to her room. As she dried her hair, there was a knock on her door. "It's open." She called, continuing to dry her hair.

"Morning, Fitz. You all ready for classes today?" Charlie asked, leaning against the door frame.

"As ready as I'll ever be." She sighed, quickly braiding her hair and reaching for her glasses on her desk before realising that they weren't there. "My glasses. Ugh, I must have left them in the shower. I better go grab-" Just as she was about to dash from the room, Charlie caught her wrist.

"You wouldn't mean these glasses, would you?" He smirked, pulling them from his pocket.

"You halfwit, you made me panic. How did you get them, anyway?" Ana asked, sliding them on her face and he shrugged.

"You left them in my room last night. That's the whole reason I'm here, actually. Well, that and to see how you're feeling about everything." Charlie grinned and she rolled her eyes, tucking a pencil behind her ear and a notebook into the waistband of her skirt.

"Well aren't you just a gentleman." She said sarcastically, heading out of the room and he held out his arms.

"What can I say?" He smirked. "Hey, what's the pencil and the notebook for?" Charlie asked, jogging slightly to catch up with her.

"It's her hit list, and you're right on top." Neil laughed, coming up the o'er side of Ana.

"And you're right beneath." She grinned at him. "No, only kidding. It's always been my dream to be a writer, so whenever I have inspiration I just scribble it down." She shrugged and Charlie smirked, impressed.

"A writer, Hm?" Meeks joined Charlie's other side and Ana nodded.

"My parents hate the idea, though." She sighed and quickly whipped out her notebook, scribbling the words 'prejudice and manipulation'.

"What kind of stuff do you write?" Knox joined on the line beside Neil.

"Oh, all sorts, poetry, stories, lists, observations. Sometimes just random words."

"Can we see it?" Neil asked and Ana suddenly stopped walking.

"Nuh-uh. It wouldn't make any sense. Besides, it's awful anyway." She stuffed the notebook back into the waistband of her skirt, where she knew that none of the boys would try to grab it if they wanted to keep their heads.

"It can't be that bad, surely," Charlie said, raising an eyebrow.

"I've never let anyone else read my work, so I have no second opinion but I think that it's all a load of rubbish," Ana grumbled.

"Let us tell you if it's a load of rubbish then!" Neil said with an irresistible grin on his face.

"Okay, fine. But only Neil. I'll decide when the rest of you can read it." She said, reluctantly handing him the notebook.

"Why just Neil? I thought I was our favourite." Charlie said with a fake pout and she rolled her eyes, laughing.

"You think I'm dashingly handsome?" Neil chuckled, reading directly from the last page.

"It's difficult to express sarcasm through words." She explained and the group all walked into the chemistry classroom.

"Take a seat, boys. Miss Fitzgerald, I have assigned you a seat right here." He pats the table right at the front, almost beside his desk. "So you will prove no distraction."

Ana pulled a face at the boys before sitting down. As the textbooks were being handed out, she stared disbelievingly down at the size. Opening the first page, she felt a paper ball hit the back of her head. She picked it up from the floor beside her foot and un-scrunched it beneath the table.

'Look at the size of these things!!! Its gonna take forever to read this!!!' It read and she peeked over her shoulder at Charlie, who smirked.

'Can you even read?' She replied, and when Mr Morrissey turned his back, she threw it at Charlie, and it hit him straight in the nose, causing her and Knox to snicker. Ana turned to look at Neil, but he was still reading her notebook, eyes scanning the pages rapidly.

After what seemed like a lifetime, they were dismissed and as soon as they were out of the classroom, Neil began to gush to Ana.

"Fitz, this is really good. Unbelievably good." He said, eyes wide. Ana blushed, twirling her braid. "I mean it, An! Here, Charlie, you should take a look at this." Neil held the book out to the boy who walked the other side of Ana.

"Neil! I said I'd decide when I'd let the others read it." She scowled and he shrugged sheepishly. They walked into the Latin classroom.

"Come in, come in, take a seat boys. And girl." He chuckled and turned towards the chalkboard.

"I'm sitting with Meeks. Your Latin reputation proceeds you, Mr Meeks." Ana said, sliding into the desk beside him and he chuckled. "Besides, I'm gonna need all the help I can get. They never taught us Latin at Reynolds." She said, leaning her head into her palm and the class began.

The whole lesson, Neil was poking his pencil into the back of Ana's head boredly, and to her left sat Charlie, who was reading the pages of her notebook with the ghost of a smirk on his face.

"Miss Fitzgerald. Please repeat after me. Agricola, agricolae, agricolas." Mr McAllister said, pointing to the words on the chalkboard.

"Agricola, agricolae, agricolas." She said hesitantly, unsure of whether she was saying it right.

"Excellent. Now, here are your textbooks, if you would help me with those please, Mr Overstreet, and then you all can leave." He said. Knox begrudgingly stood up and handed out the textbooks. Ana gathered up both the Latin book and the Chemistry one, before standing up and leaving the classroom.

"You were a bit bored in that class, weren't you?" She nudged Neil who chuckled.

"Just a bit. And guess what, we've got trig now." Neil said and a collective groan was omitted from all of them, except Charlie who was still reading the notebook.

"Hey, you. Dalton." Ana elbowed him in the ribs and he looked up.

"What?" He asked and she shook her head.

"Nothing." She chuckled and they all walked into the classroom, except Charlie again who continued to walk. "Charlie!" She laughed, dragging him into the class by his arm.

"Do take your seats. Miss Fitzgerald, you will sit here as to not distract your fellow students." He pointed to the seat right at the front, separate from the other desks. Knox and Meeks sent her sympathetic smiles, and Neil let out a rather dramatic sigh. All Ana could do was shrug and sit down, crossing her legs and staring at the chalkboard glumly. The teacher placed a huge stack of books on Ana's table. "Be a good girl and hand these out." He said, patting the top of the stack. Clenching her jaw to suppress an eye roll, she stood up and tried to lift the whole stack of books, which proved to no avail. Taking the books in small amounts, she handed them out. When she reached Charlie's desk, he handed her the notebook with a smirk. Stuffing it into the waistband of her skirt, she quickly strode over to her seat once more and refolded her legs.

"Your study of trigonometry requires absolute precision. Anyone failing to turn in any homework assignment will be penalised one point off of his final grade. Let me urge you now to not test me on this point." Hager continued, and Ana zoned out. Resting her head in her palm and staring out the window, she wondered what Charlie thought of her writing.

"Miss Fitzgerald, do tell me, what is a cosine?" The teacher asked, staring down at her.

"I don't know, sir. I think Cameron does, though." She gestured to the boy who stood diagonally from her desk.

"Very well. Mr Cameron?" Hager turned to Cameron and Ana zoned out again. She thought of her sisters back at Reynolds, how they hated her for being the brightest. She thought of the expression of betrayal that each of them wore on their perfect faces. Unable to bear it any longer, she shook her head, clearing her mind of any thoughts of England, or her family.

When the lesson was over, Ana gathered up her books and walked out of the classroom before anyone could ask her what was wrong.

"Hey, Fitz!" Charlie called after her but she ignored him.

"Ana?" Neil called out too but again, they were ignored.

"What's up with Fitz?" Knox asked and the others all shrugged. Deciding that it was probably best to leave her be, they made their way to the English classroom. When they arrived, Ana was slumped in a seat at the very back, scribbling away at her notebook. Charlie slid into the seat in front of her.

"Whatcha writing?" He asked, peeking at the book.

"Nothing of your concern, Charlie." She replied, her pencil still scratching at the paper.

"Well, I thought your other stuff was really good. Crazy good." He said and Neil launched a paper ball at the two of them, causing them to look up.

"You alright, An?" He asked and she nodded.

"Just dandy, thanks, Neil," Ana replied before looking back down at the book.

"Liar!" He and Charlie both protested.

"You wouldn't understand." She mumbled, and the teacher, Mr Keating, walked into the room. Everyone fell silent, and Ana eyed him curiously. He was...whistling. Just whistling, and walking up and down the aisles between the desks. She looked at Knox, who was sat diagonally from her, and they shared a look. One that said 'what on earth is going on.' He walked out of the door and so Ana stood up to follow him.

"Ah, this young lady's got it. Come on, boys." Keating led them out and into the honour hall, where they all bundled up, texts in hand. "O captain my captain. Who knows what that's from?" He asked and Ana bit her lip, in thought before tentatively raising her hand. "Shoot."

"It's Walt Whitman, sir. About Abraham Lincoln. One of my personal favourites." She said and he grinned.

"A girl after my own heart. What is your name, Miss?"

"Anastasia Fitzgerald, sir."

"You are somewhat of a pioneer, aren't you? The first girl to ever attend Welton. You must be an extremely intelligent young woman. Now, in this class, you can either call me Mr Keating or if you're slightly more daring, 'O captain my captain'." Chuckles erupted through the group and both Neil and Ana smirked widely. "Now, let me dispel a few rumours so they don't fester into facts. Yes, I too attended Hell-ton and survived. And no, at that time I was not the mental giant you see before you. I was the intellectual equivalent of a 98-pound weakling. I would go to the beach and people would kick copies of Byron in my face." More chuckles escaped the lips of Ana's fellow students and she and Neil looked at each other, snickering. "Now, Mr...Pitts. Pitts, that's rather an unfortunate name. Pitts. Where are you?" Pitts raised his hand shyly and Ana chuckled, earning herself an elbow in the ribs from Neil. "Mr Pitts, will you open your hymnal to page five forty-two. Read the first stanza of the poem you find there."

Everyone opened their texts to the said page, and Neil chuckled at the title, and Ana elbowed him, smirking.

"To The Virgins to Make Much Of Time?" Pitts asked and Ana couldn't help but laugh along with the class.

"Yes, somewhat appropriate, isn't it?" Keating said and Neil laughed loudly.

"Oh, shush, let Pitts read the poem," Ana said. Every head swivelled to look at her and she offered Pitts a smile, to which he returned before starting the poem.

"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may

Old-time is still a-flying

And this same flower that smiles today

Tomorrow will be dying" He said and looked to Ana, who smiled reassuringly and gave him a thumbs up.

"Thank you, Mr Pitts. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. The Latin term for that sentiment is Carpe Diem. Now, who knows what that means?" Every head turned to look at Meeks, who they all knew was quite the Latin prodigy.

"Carpe Diem, that is 'seize the day'."

"Very good, Mr...?"

"Meeks."

"Meeks. Another unusual name. Seize the day, gather ye rosebuds while ye may. Why does the writer use these lines?" Keating asked.

"Because he's in a hurry," Charlie said with a smirk, causing Ana to roll her eyes at him. He poked his tongue out at her and she returned the gesture.

"No. Ding. Thank you for playing anyway," The teacher said and Charlie and Neil smirked at each other. "Because we are food for worms, lads."

"Excuse you," Ana mumbled into her hand and Neil chuckled, being the only one who heard her.

"Because, believe it or not, each and every one of us in this room is one day going to stop breathing, turn cold and die." Ana felt Neil squirm uncomfortably beside her. She placed her hand in his and squeezed it, smiling up at him. He seemed to stop fidgeting, but he did not let go of Ana's hand. "Now, I'd like you to step forward over here and peruse some of the faces from the past. You've walked past them many times, but I don't think you've really looked at them." Ana and Neil walked forward with the rest of the class, their hands still clasped together, hidden by the large bundle of people. "They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because you see gentlemen and lady, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it?" Ana leaned in closely, Neil and Knox either side of her.

"Carpe...Carpe...Carpe Diem...Seize the day, boys...make your lives extraordinary." The whispers seemed to hang in the air, repeating over and over in Ana's mind. She knew that it was really Keating whispering, but looking at the faces of those boys, Ana couldn't help but feel as though they really were talking to them. And it was then that she realised, looking at the faces of all those young boys, that it was her responsibility to bring diversity to Hell-ton, and break the traditions. Each cold stare that the boys wore sunk into Ana's bright green eyes, making them just a little bit brighter. She knew what she had to do now. She may not have believed in fate, but she couldn't help but wonder if this was the real reason she was at Welton. To break the traditions and bring a new lease of life to the old-fashioned school that was Welton Preparatory School for Boys.