SING ME TO SLEEP -- neil perry

chapter ten: i care about you

This one is nearly 6,000 words which is the longest thing I have ever written so I hope you guys enjoy it!

The four hours of sleep were wearing on Neil as he walked into his english class the next day. His head was aching and felt heavy. His eyelids refused to stay open without intense force and mental concentration, although his mind seemed barely able to focus on anything. He didn't regret last night's adventures though, despite the toll they were inflicting on him now. He had thoroughly enjoyed himself and it seemed the rest of the club had as well. They already had a meeting date set for Friday night.

He walked into the classroom and sat down at his desk, dropping his books onto it with a loud thump. Mr. Keating walked into the classroom with a swagger and a large book on his desk. "Today boys, he said, we are going to be examining the beauty of words." Neil was slightly confused. Was that not what they had been doing the entire time the had been in Mr. Keating's class?

"I see your looks of confusion," Mr. Keating said, then held up the large book he was holding. "This here, as you can see is a dictionary." Neil grinned. Trust Mr. Keating to pull out a dictionary to teach a lesson. "Let me explain the assignment. I will give you a word and you must write down a synonym to that word which is more beautiful, more poetic, more inspired. Each of you will tell me the word you have come up with and whoever has come up with, in my opinion, the most beautiful word will win..." Mr. Keating paused making his class lean forward in anticipation, "a sticker." There were several groans around the classroom as the teenage boys realized that they were only going to get a sticker if they did well on this assignment.

"Oh, but those of you who are groaning obviously don't understand the value of a sticker and I suppose I'll have to leave you to find it out on your own." Neil was personally very excited at the prospect of receiving a sticker and vowed to try and do well on this assignment. He did, in fact, really enjoy stickers and had an entire notebook filled with stickers he had collected over his 17 years of life. They got increasingly better in quality as time went on and he could barely remember where the stickers that filled the first few pages came from.

"Here is your first word," Mr. Keating said, looking down at the notebook lying on his desk. "Angry."

Neil put his pencil in his mouth and began to think. Annoyed was far too easy. He could use infuriated or enraged but they still seemed too simple, surely someone else in the class would think of those and write them and he didn't want to be unoriginal. He combed his mind for any other words he knew that meant angry. Suddenly, a word popped into his mind, splenetic. It wasn't exactly what you would call beautiful but it would have to work and he hardly thought anyone else in the class would think of it.

"Time," Mr. Keating, who had been looking at his watch the whole time Neil had been thinking, called. "Now boys tell me what you've got. We'll start with Mr. Camden, and then from the front to back of each row."

The boys began to list their words and Neil was glad to hear that no one had thought of him. It was finally his turn. "Splenetic," he said and received a smile and an approving look from Mr. Keating. The last row of people read out their words and Mr. Keating went back to the front of the classroom.

"Our first winner is Mr. Neil Perry. Please come up to accept your prize." Mr. Keating announced like a king speaking to his soldiers. Neil grinned and pushed aside his chair with a loud creak. He walked up to the front of the classroom and stood in front of Mr. Keating. "Please bow your head and give me your hand." Neil laughed, but obeyed and felt a sticker being placed on his right hand. He turned around to face the class and lifted his hands as if directing an orchestra. There was a loud chorus of applause and an extremely loud whoop flew through the classroom from Charlie's mouth. Neil walked back to his seat, high-fiving the boys in his row as he went.