In English the next day, Ana sat boredly with her feet on her desk. She was waiting for the rest of the class, including the Captain, to arrive. The boys had all previously had football practice, which Ana was neither bothered about nor allowed to do. After a short while, the door opened and in walked Mr Keating.

"O captain my captain." Ana saluted, a cheeky grin adorned her face.

"Miss Fitzgerald. I see someone is eager this afternoon." He smiled in return, setting down his coat and bag.

"Oh, quite keen. And please sir, if you are going to use my last name, use 'Fitz' rather than 'Fitzgerald'. It makes me feel like my own person, then, and not who my family try to make me." Ana said, removing her legs from her desk as her classmates began to fill in the class.

"As you wish, my dear. Ah, boys, boys, take a seat." Keating said, his usual smile on his face as he stood at the front of the classroom. As Neil walked passed Ana's seat, they both smiled sheepishly and looked down, blushing. They had been like that all day, not saying much, but not needing to.

"Hello, my dearest," Charlie said as he slipped into the seat in front of her.

"Why if it isn't my favourite Charlie Dalton," Ana replied, smirking.

"I'm your only Charlie Dalton." He grinned in return.

"How was football?" She asked, leaning forward on her elbows.

"It's called soccer." Charlie corrected and Ana poked her tongue out.

"I don't care." She replied, folding her arms.

"So are you finally going to explain your's and Mr Perry's rendezvous to me?" He asked quietly, leaning on her table. Ana blushed darkly.

"Can't you just come off it? I mean, what's it to you?" She asked, her gaze met Neil's and a huge grin spread across her face.

"What's it to me? Fitz, you're both my best friends. What's it to me? What a stupid question." He laughed and she swatted his arm.

"Whatever," Ana said, hiding behind a sheet of her curly hair.

"Alright class, open your textbooks to page 21," Keating instructed, leaning against his desk. "Uh, Fitz, will you please read the opening paragraph titled 'Understanding Poetry'." He said and Ana nodded.

"Of course, Captain." She smiled, adjusting her glasses and opening the book. "Understanding Poetry, by Dr J Evans Pritchard. To fully understand poetry, we must first be fluent with its meter, rhyme and figures of speech, then ask two questions. One, how artfully has the objective of the poem been rendered and two, how important is that objective?" She stopped to clear her throat before continuing. "Question one rates the poem's perfection; question two rates its importance. And once these questions have been answered, determining the poem's greatness becomes a relatively simple matter. If the poem's score for perfection is plotted on the horizontal of a graph and its importance is plotted on the vertical, then calculating the total area of the poem yields the measure of its greatness.

"A sonnet by Byron might score high on the vertical but only average on the horizontal. A Shakespearean sonnet, on the other hand, would score high both horizontally and vertically, yielding a massive total area, thereby revealing the poem to be truly great. As you proceed through the poetry in this book, practice this rating method. As your ability to evaluate poems in this matter grows, so will, so will your enjoyment and understanding of poetry." Ana closed the book and ran a hand through her hair.

"Excrement!" Keating exclaimed, startling Ana. "That's what I think of Mr J Evans Pritchard. We're not laying pipe, we're talking about poetry! Now I want you to rip out that page. Go on, rip it out!" A look of confusion flashed over Ana's face. 'Oh, what the hell. Carpe Diem, right?' she said to herself, standing on her chair and tearing it out and raising an eyebrow. Every head swivelled to look at Ana, who continued to rip it into tiny shreds. "Exactly. Everybody, follow Fitz's lead." Keating grinned.

Charlie was next to rip out the page, and he held it above his head, smirking.

"Thank you, Mr Dalton." The teacher said. "Tell you what, don't just tear out that page, tear out the entire introduction." Still standing on her chair, Ana tore out the other pages. Laughing, she dropped them on Charlie's head.

"Ana!" Charlie leapt out of his seat, laughing as the paper rained down on him. Smiling innocently, Ana sat back down in her chair as the whole class laughed, even Mr Keating. Charlie bent down and started to pick up the sheets.

"Charlie, stop. It's my mess, I'll clean it up." She said, getting out of her seat and beginning to pick up the papers, forcing Charlie back into his chair.

"I'll help." Neil stood up and crouched down next to her ()

"Oh Neil, you don't have to." Ana protested quickly.

"Oh, Neil." Charlie mimicked and Ana threw a glare in his direction before turning back to the papers. She could feel the stare of everyone in the class on them as they slowly picked up the papers. There on the floor of the English classroom, with their knees pressed together as they crouched, Ana forgot the papers, the boys and Keating. She forgot Welton, and her family, and England. All she could see, all she wanted to see was Neil.

Several coughs broke them from their trance and they stood back up quickly, Neil's elbow colliding with Ana's forehead.

"Oh my gosh, An, I'm so sorry." He gushed and she laughed. Neil continued to apologise profusely, but she insisted that she was okay. "You're sure?" He asked and she nodded.

"Positive," Ana said before her eyes fluttered closed. The last thing she saw before complete darkness was Neil's concerned, beautiful face.

All the boys began to crowd around the girl's unconscious body before Mr Keating barged his way through.

"This was not how I expected this lesson to go..." He said with a slight chuckle. "Mr Perry, do help me lift her. We will take her to the nurse's office." And with that, the teacher, Neil, an unconscious Ana, Charlie, Knox, Todd, Meeks and Pitts all rushed to the nurses office.

The nurse was an old woman who always wore a tight-lipped smile and her short wiry hair slicked back, flat to her head.

"My, what happened? It's only the second day of the year." The nurse said, unenthusiastically.

"Elbow to the head and she fainted." Mr Keating explained and the nurse pressed her fine lips together.

"We'll just have to wait for her to wake up. Who knows how long that will be. Put her down there and then all of you leave." She said.

"Of course, Nurse Randover." The boys, except Neil, said respectively, slinking back to the classroom.

"Mr Keating, do return to the classroom. Mr Perry, will you inform Mr Nolan of this incident?" The nurse asked and they both nodded.

"Thank you, Julia. We are extremely sorry to bother you." Keating said and the two of them exited the office. "Do you care to inform me of the incident that occurred on my classroom floor before Fitz passed out?" He asked Neil, a knowing smirk dancing on his lips.

"I- I don't know what you're talking about, sir," Neil muttered, his cheeks suddenly becoming incredibly warm.

"I see." The teacher nodded and the pair split down the corridor, Neil towards Mr Nolan's office, and Mr Keating back to his classroom filled with curious teenage boys.

It was an hour before curfew when Ana finally woke. Confused, she stared around at her surroundings. This was somewhere that she hadn't been before.

"Ah, you're awake. Good. You can go back to your dormitory now, Miss Fitzgerald." The nurse said, ushering her out of the office. Wandering out of the room, Ana stared around, still confused. She seemed to be at the end of a hallway, and at the other end was a junction, where four corridors met. Taking a left at the end of the hall, she found herself back in the student lobby. All of a sudden, Neil, Charlie and Meeks burst out of the common room.

"Ana, you're awake!" Neil cried and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Careful, she might pass out again from lack of breathing." Cameron snickered from the door.

"No one asked your opinion, Cameron." Charlie scoffed as Neil let the girl go. Meeks hugged her next, followed by Charlie.

"I'm so glad you're okay. So much happened today, you will be so annoyed that you missed out." Neil chuckled, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"Neil, can I- can I go back to my room, please?" Ana asked in a quiet voice.

"Sure. Yeah, 'course." He replied and the two of them walked down the hall to her room.

"You can come in if you'd like. I just need to write this all down in my journal-" she patted her waistband, but there was nothing there.

"It's okay, you left all your things in Mr Keating's room. Meeks can go get them back for you." Neil said and they both sat down on her bed. "How are you feeling? Dizzy?" He asked and Ana shook her head.

"Just tired." She replied with a yawn. "Can you just look away, just for a minute while I change?" Ana asked and Neil nodded, blushing and turning to face the wall. As quick as she could, she clambered out of her uniform and pulled on a grey sweater and some baggy blue tracksuit bottoms. "Okay, you can turn back around now." She giggled, putting all her uniform on coathangers and placing them on the door handle. Neil pushed himself so his back was flat against the wall as he sat on her bed. "Tell me about some of the cool things that happened today, then." She said, sitting beside him, entwining their fingers together.

"Well, when we got back to class, it was hard to focus but we all huddled up and Captain gave a speech, no surprise there." He chuckled and she smiled sleepily. "Then I found Mr Keating's old annual from when he was here, some really interesting things. Apparently, he was a hell-raiser. And part of this group called the Dead Poets Society. Mysterious, right?" Ana nodded, resting her chin on his shoulder as he explained with a wide grin on his face.

"Well, did you find out what it was?" She asked and he nodded.

"They would go down to this cave, just across the river and read poetry, and suck the bones of life and--"

"Suck the bones of life?" Ana laughed.

"Well, I think it was 'suck the marrow out of life'..." Neil chuckled, making Ana laugh harder. "Anyway, we're going tonight. You in?" He asked.

"I don't know, Neil, I'm really tired..." She began.

"So sleep now. I'll wake you when it's time to go. Please, An. For me?" He asked hopefully, flashing her his dazzling, irresistible grin.

"Okay, fine. Anyway, tell me more about eating the skeletons of nature or whatever." She grinned, nestling the top of her head into his neck and he placed his arms around her, resting his head on hers.

"Well, we all get to..." Ana didn't catch much of what else Neil said, as she drifted off into a dreamless slumber, her head still on Neil's shoulder and hand still interlocked with his. With a kiss on her forehead, he stroked the back of her hand with his thumb and thought about what was to happen later that day.

Come quatre-to-midnight, Neil shook Ana awake.

"An. Ana, wake up." He mumbled and she rubbed her eyes. "Come on, we've gotta go." He said and they both stood up from Ana's bed. "You might want a coat. And a jumper. Maybe a second pair of socks." He chuckled and she pulled it all on.

"Come on, let's go get you some extra layers." She said in a quiet voice, opening the door and leading them down the hall as quietly as possible.

After waking up Todd and meeting the other boys by the staircase, they crept out of the school and towards the cave. Adrenaline pulsed through Ana's body and she held Neil's hand tightly in her own. Their walk became a jog and they grew closer, the night getting darker. Ana could hear the sounds of rushing water.

"Neil, I think we're close." She said to the boy beside her, who nodded.

"Arr, I'm a dead poet!" Charlie jumped up in the air, grabbing hold of Ana's arm. Startled, she let out a squeal.

"Charlie!" She whisper-yelled and the others laughed. "Not funny, you guys." She pouted.

"I think we found it," Meeks said from a bit ahead. The three of them jogged to catch up with the rest of the group.

The cave was certainly an interesting spot. The walls were narrow and damp, the cold air biting at their bare cheeks. To try and warm them up, the boys tried to light a fire, but it proved to no avail.

"Holy cricket, are you trying to smoke us out of here?" Ana coughed, stuffing her head out of the entrance, taking deep breaths.

"Sit down, Ana. The smoke is going right up this opening." Meeks explained and Todd stood up, offering her his seat.

"No, no, Todd. Keep your seat. I'll sit over here." Ana took off her coat and laid it on the floor, sitting on it.

"Okay, let's get going." Knox clapped his hands together and the others cheered, except Pitts who was cradling his head from when he had bashed it on a rock. Neil opened up the book, a wild grin on his face.

"I hereby reconvene the Dead Poets Society." He said and another round of cheers echoed through the small cave. "The meetings will be conducted by myself and the other new initiatives now present. Todd Anderson, because he prefers not to read, will keep minutes of the meeting. I'll now read the traditional opening message by society member Henry David Thoreau. 'I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life'." Neil stopped reading and flashed a grin at Ana, who was biting her knuckle to contain her laughter.

"Eating the skeletons of nature." She mumbled and the others, except Neil, sent her confused looks.

"Erm, should we be concerned?" Meeks asked and she threw a pebble at him, barely missing the top of his head. Neil chuckled before continuing:

"To put to rout all that was not life, and not, when I had come to die, discover that I had not lived'." Neil flipped through the pages, mumbling about how Keating had marked a bunch of other pages.

"Alright, intermission. Fitz, get up, put your food on her coat." Charlie said.

"But there's no space!" Ana protested.

"Neil has a lap, doesn't he?" He winked and Ana sucked her teeth, trying to refrain from snapping at him. She stood up and leaned against the wall.

"Scooch up, Perry. Let Ana sit down." Knox said with a smirk and Neil nodded.

"Not like I wasn't going to anyway." He said, shooting a sarcastic smile at Knox and Charlie before moving up. Ana sat down beside him, shivering as her coat was on the floor. Neil wrapped both of his arms around her and she smiled gratefully. Everyone began emptying their pockets onto the coat.

"Raisins?" Neil pulled a disgusted face and Ana laughed. She rummaged around in her trouser pockets and pulled out a few peppermint sticks and a small bag of peanuts.

"Put those nuts away, Fitz, I'm allergic." Cameron protested and she scowled, shoving them back in her pocket. She was half-tempted to throw them at him and see what happens, but that would just get her expelled.

"Wait a minute, who gave us half a roll?" Charlie asked.

"I'm eating the other half!" Pitts protested, his words muffled by the bread.

"Come on."

"You want me to put it back?"

"Ew, no!"

Ana's gaze flitted over to Todd, who sat in thought, staring at the ground.

"Hey, Todd, you hungry?" She asked and he lifted his head.

"Huh?"

"You hungry?" She repeated.

"A little." He mumbled.

"Catch." She gently tossed him the apple she was about to bite into. Catching it, he sent her a grateful smile.

After all the food was eaten, Ana sat with both her's and Neil's coat around her shoulders, her teeth still chattering.

"It was a dark and rainy night, and this old lady, who had a passion for jigsaw puzzles, sat by herself in her house at her table to complete a new jigsaw puzzle. But as she pieced the puzzle together, she realised to her astonishment, that the image that was formed was her very own room, and the figure in the centre was herself. With trembling hands, she placed the last four pieces and stared in horror at the face of a demented madman at the window. the last thing that this old lady heard was the sound of breaking glass." Neil said, holding his torch to his chin.

"Oh, shit..." Meeks mumbled quietly.

"This is true," Neil said and Ana scoffed.

"Oh please. That ending didn't even make sense. I have a real scary story." She said with a sly smile.

()

"Go on then," Charlie said and she stood up, taking the torch from Neil and holding it under her chin.

"Not so long ago, there was a madman who escaped from prison. He had no legs or hands, but a wheel attached to his hips and hooks on the ends of his arms. When he moved, he made this sound." She clicked her tongue twice and dragged her foot along the gravel. "Now, there also was a teenage girl. She wanted to go to a party that her friends were having, but her mum told her no. When the girl protested, the mother simply said 'whilst you sleep beneath my roof, you obey my rules'. So the girl set up a tent in the back garden, determined to prove her point. At around midnight, the mother was sat on her sofa, listening to the news on the radio and doing a crossword, when a particular story caught her ear. She set down her crossword and turned up the volume on the radio." Ana imitated turning a knob on a radio. Clearing her throat, she switched her voice to a deeper one.

"'Breaking news: a man, of around 45, has escaped from Rockwell prison, and is now roaming the streets of the neighbourhood. This is urgent, lock your doors and windows, turn out all of your lights, bring in your pets. This man is ruthless, and is responsible for many horrific murders.' The woman switched off the radio and rushed around the house, locking the doors and windows, forgetting her daughter who slept in the garden. Meanwhile, the prison escapee was making his way down a narrow cut-way." Ana clicked her tongue and scraped her foot along the floor a few more times before continuing. "Slowly, he creaked open the gate into one of the gardens. Suddenly, the mother remembered her daughter and rushed into the garden. But she was too late. There in front of her lay her daughter, limbs ripped from their sockets and eyes gouged out..."

()

Smiling sheepishly, Ana sat down. Silence filled the cave as all the boys stared in awe.

"Holy shit, Ana, your storytelling is great," Charlie said and she blushed.

"Thanks, Dalton." Ana grinned and Neil pulled her into a hug.

"I've got one that's better than that," Cameron said and Ana rolled her eyes.

"Of course you do." Knox groaned.

"I do! There's a young married couple, and they're driving through the forest at night on a long trip. They run out of gas, and there's a madman on the--"

"The thing with the hand--" Charlie interrupted and all the other boys began recalling the story.

"I love that story." He said with a sigh.