"Carpe Diem... that's seize the day." DEAD POETS SOCIETY PREFERENCES/IMAGINES

"The tortilla boy." :TODD ANDERSON IMAGINE:

Todd's POV

I don't like school. I never have. But I especially don't like college. It's lonely. There's no Neil, there's no Charlie, there's no Meeks, there's no Pitts, there's no Knox. It's just me and my plants and my rocks in my college dorm. I go to class and then come home, just to sit by my lonesome, reading. Well I guess I'm not entirely alone. I have my vanilla scented candles. They keep me company. 

I usually like being by myself but... for the past few years of my schooling career, I've had the best friend anyone could dream about. Now, I had no one. Not even a neighbor or a roommate to shout good morning to. No one was even nice enough to look at me. If I said hi, which was rarely, everyone walked right by me or over me. I was a ghost. I was a blank space. I was a freak. 

One night, I went food shopping. I felt like quesadillas for some reason. Chicken quesadilla with American cheese and white flour tortillas, like how my grandma used to make them. She made the tastiest quesadillas for a short Swedish woman. She always used to let me shred the cheese for her. I loved cooking with her. 

I was making myself one when all of a sudden I heard shouting outside my dorm window. I walked to it and looked out, down at the courtyard. Massive groups of kids were partying, drinking, having a good time. Ew. It was frat night. That alone made me anxious. I ran to all of my windows, pulling down my blinds so none of the frat boys or girls could see inside. I didn't want them seeing me. I was weird enough to them already, they didn't need to see what my personal life was like so they could ignore me some more. 

I started cutting my quesadilla when I noticed how much I had left over. If I just left it out, it would go bad, and I would waste it. So I made more. And more. And more. And even more. Soon enough, I had fourteen quesadillas cut into four pieces so in reality I had, 56 pieces of quesadillas. I put them all on a plater my mom bought me as a dormwarming gift and placed them in the hall with a note, offering them to people who walked by. 

You may ask, why did I do this? Well, drunk people are also hungry people. And if they are left to starve, they'll be getting sick all night and regret having fun tonight tomorrow morning. I also knew drunk people probably didn't want to cook. So I made food for them and just left it in the hall for when they went by. I figured even if they're not nice to me, I can try to be nice to them.

I sat on my armchair, continuing to read my books with my candle friends. That's when I heard laughing and giggling in the hall. They were booming laughs of boys, probably boys from the frat party. I smiled at their laughing. It reminded me of the Dead Poets back home. How I missed them in lonesome moments like this. 

"Fuck- wha- this is fucking weird. I knew this kid was a freak but... this is next level." A boy said, earning laughing from other guys. They were talking about me. Who else? They were outside my door, and I had just left quesadillas. They didn't think it was nice. They didn't think it was creative. They didn't think I was trying to make peace. They thought I was an even bigger creep that before. I felt tears welling up in my throat. Then all of a sudden, I heard banging. It came from the boys. They continued to laugh hysterically and then all of a sudden I heard, "Freak deserves it." Their footsteps continued down the hall.

I just slammed my book shut and threw it at the ground, pulling my knitted blanket over my face. Why were they so cruel? Why were they so mean? Why was I such a freak? "You're a creep, Todd. You're an absolute weirdo. How can you stand yourself?" I said, cradling my head and pulling on my hair. I shot up and ran to my bedroom, getting out my suitcase. I threw all of my shirts on my bed, pulled all of my hoodies out of my closet, and got all my stuff folded nicely. I was going home tonight. I couldn't be here anymore. I tried. I spent an entire semester here and I just couldn't do it. There would be better opportunities for me at home anyway. The community college was fantastic back at home. My mother would understand. My father would call me a wuss and not speak to me for a few weeks, but my mom would understand. My brother would understand too. 

I started putting all of my stuff in my bag but then I stopped. Was this... rational? I couldn't decide. I didn't know where or who to turn to. So I sat down on my bed, picking up my telephone. I placed my phone to my face and dialed my best friend's number. I dialed Neil's number. The phone had no time to ring out. He connected to the line immediately. 

"Yes? This is Neil Perry." Neil said calmly. As soon as I heard his voice, I cracked. I hunched over crying. 

"N-neil?" I tried to muffle my cries. I didn't want him to worry about me. I just wanted him to feel that I was safe. 

"Todd, hey, calm down buddy. I'm here. You're fine. Tell me what's wrong." He said ever so sweetly. This is why he was my best friend. He always just spoke to me. Never shouted, never mocked me, he just spoke. 

"I can't be here anymore." That's when I told him everything. About how terrible people are, how I tried to make amends and friends, and how I was leaving. But he told me no. He forced me to stay. He told me I HAD to stay. I couldn't let the bullies win. Why I believed him, why I listened to him, why I felt better after that... I don't know. All I know is, my best friend is the greatest person ever. We went on to talk about other things and the boys. Not gossiping about them, mostly just speaking about them. But as I went to say something else to change the conversation, a knock was at me door. I told Neil I'd call him back. He said okay. I slammed the phone down and went to the door, getting ready to freak out on the bully who decided to now harass me face to face. 

I yanked open the door and went to scream "WHAT" but I stopped myself. There was no strong boy standing in front of me. There was no scowling rude person either. There was a nice person, a beautiful one too. They had reading glasses on their head, plaid pants on, black boots on, and a black tight sweater on as well. Their hair had gentle curls that looked natural and their skin was golden and looked soft to the touch. 

"Hi, sorry... did you make these?" They asked kindly, pointing to the tray I put out. I sighed, nodding. I was really embarrassed. I didn't thinks someone THIS beautiful would see what I did. 

"The tortilla boy..." They said, giggling. I giggled with them. I don't think they meant that rudely. "...well thank you. I'm sure the drunken frat parties will appreciate this. It's nice to see someone so kind just doing a good deed. I had began to give up on there being nice people at this University." They smiled brighter, putting out their hand for a shake. I said 'uh' but then shook their hand. 

"Oh- I'm Todd Anderson. And yeah, don't I know it. Some people didn't appreciate this though. Thank you for being so kind." I said, then mentally face palming. THANK YOU FOR BEING SO KIND? Gosh you are weird, Todd.

"Well I appreciate it. I'm (Y/N) (L/N). Not to be strange but, would you care to go out for coffee sometime? I think we both could use a friend." They jokingly said, laughing at themselves. I laughed with them. They definitely were charming, I'll tell you that much. I was honored they asked my out. They were correct, I needed a friend. But I couldn't help but hope me and this beautiful person would be more than friends, eventually. 

"I would adore that, thank you."

"Well, that's great. I'll see you soon then. I live at dorm C9, right down there..." They pointed. I bent down and looked to where they pointed. They pointed down the hall and to the left. Yay, they were close to me as well. "...stop by anytime you're free. I'll see you soon, Todd. Goodnight." They said, nodding their head goodbye. I waved. I went to close the door and could barely wait to call Neil back and tell him someone actually noticed me. But then, I heard their voice again. 

"WAIT!" They shouted. I jumped and looked. 

"Yes?" I giggled. 

"Do you have a garbage by any chance? I found all of these down the hall and... I'm so sorry." They held up a handful of quesadillas. That's what those frat boys did. Threw half a tray of my food down the hall. Jerks. I didn't even care though. The only thing I noticed was that (Y/N) kindly picked them all up and to replace the rudeness of our dorm mates, they thanked me and introduced themselves. That shows character and courage, and that is a person I want to be friends with. I took the quesadillas while laughing a bit, and nodded ferociously. 

"Thanks, (Y/N). Have a good night." I said, closing my door. I then BOLTED to my phone and belly flopped on my bed. I dialed Neil's number and he picked up immediately. 

"NEIL, YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT JUST HAPPENED!!!" I shouted proudly. I heard him laugh. I couldn't wait for him to feel proud of me as well.