landslide, neil perry

eight.

celia was smiling as she said goodnight to neil and todd, who slept across the hall from her. she felt like a little girl, all giddy inside at the thought of a boy. puppylove, she assumed it was, but she still fell asleep and woke up with a smile on her face.

the next day, she walked with neil, as normal, to their classes. as they kept in stride with each other, celia would notice neil's blush at the feeling of the brush of their fingers or the catch of her gaze.

soon enough, they were in her father's class (which was undeniably everyone's favorite). celia was disappointed, however, when she noticed that neil was no where to be found. she'd forgotten that he had auditions for a midsummer night's dream, and that he had been excused from class to travel over to henley hall. "upset that you're boyfriend's missing?" charlie teased.

"not my boyfriend." she was quick to correct him.

"yet." he smirked.  

the students were intrigued when keating lead them all outside, a bag of balls slung over his shoulder. since they were outside, they were permitted to wear their 'athletic wear', which, for celia, was used men's short athletic shorts and a gray welton hoodie. she couldn't say she didn't prefer it any day over the skirt.

"now," he said, "devotees may argue that one sport or game is inherently better than another. for me, sport is actually a chance for us to have other human beings push us to excel. i want you all to come over here and take a slip of paper and line up single file."

celia followed charlie and knox over to her father, grabbing a paper before joining the line. soon enough, her father blew his whistle, nodding at the first boy in line, which happened to be pitts. "you know what to do, pitts." he encouraged him.

the boy looked nervous as he read from his slip of paper. "'oh to struggle against great odds. to meet enemies undaunted.'"

"sounds to me like you're daunted." the teacher joked. "say it again like you're undaunted. "

pitts cleared his throat before trying again. "'oh to struggle against great odds. to meet enemies undaunted!'"

keating nodded his approval. "now go on." pitts then gave one of the soccer balls on the field a good kick. "yes! next."

"'to be a sailor of the world, bound for all ports.'"

"'oh, i live to be the ruler of life, not a slave.'"

keating started up a record player as celia walked up to the soccer balls, laughing to herself. "'to mount the scaffolds! to advance to the muzzle of guns with perfect nonchalance!'" she cheered, kicking the ball and running off to join knox and todd on the other side of the field.

"come on, meeks!" keating encouraged, turning up the sound of the classical opera. "listen to the music."

he pushed up his glasses. "'to dance, clap hands, exalt, shout, skip, roll on, float on!'"

"yes!"

"'oh, to have life henceforth the poem of new joys.'" hopkins, one of the boys, said lamely, barely tapping the soccer ball with his foot.

"oh, boo!" keating criticized. "come on, charlie, let it fill your soul!"

charlie, who was next, raised his hands over his head. "'to indeed be a god!'"

celia almost died of laughter as he nearly tripped over the soccer ball before running over to join the rest of the group. "to indeed be a god!" she said, giving him a high five, feeling nothing but happiness when surrounded by the laughing boys that she now called her best friends.