Growing Pains

Chapter Six

Allison had woken up late the next day. She was contemplating skipping the whole school day. All she could think about was the night before. The bell signaling 3rd period ended rang through the halls. Allison closed her eyes again, but was startled awake by Alex barging into their shared room.

"Come on Allie you need to get up. You gotta at least come to Keatings class." She said ripping the blanket Allison was cuddling with.

"Why? I can just go by after school and get my missing work." She said, rolling her eyes.

"You know, Charlie was asking about you. He was asking if you were okay." She paused. "He said he was going to come by and check on you during lunch, so if you don't want your crush walking in on you having a sad bitch moment then you should get up."

Allison chuckled. "Okay. But only for english. After I'll just go to the nurse and tell her I'm not feeling good."

"Deal. I'll see you there." Her friend said as she left. The bell rang and Allison hurridly got dressed. Her uniform was poorly put together and her hair was kind of a mess. She tried her best to hide the fact that she had been crying, grabbed her books, and ran down to Keatings classroom.

She practically ran to her seat when she got there to give everyone less time to awkwardly stare at her.

"Nice to see you today Allison." Keating said. She was expecting to get yelled at for being late, but Keating just greeted her politely.

"Nice to see you too."

Todd tapped her shoulder. "Are you okay?" He whispered.

"I'm good. Just not used to staying up late." She chuckled.

Keating cleared his throat. "A man is not very tire, he is exhausted. And don't use very sad, use-" He paused to look through the room. "Come on Mr. Overstreat you twerp."

Knox took a second to think and then spoke up. "Morose?"

"Exactly! Morose. Now, language was developed for one endeavor, and that is? Mr. Anderson?"

Todd didn't say anything. "Come on! Are you a man or an amoeba?"

Keating walked over to Todd's desk. Todd looked at Allison and she gave him an encouraging smile. Todd still didn't say anything. He felt like he was drowning. Like his chest was on fire, but he was underwater at the same time. His hands were sweating and the longer he waited to talk, the more he couldn't.

Keating walked away and looked at Neil. "Mr. Perry?"

"Uh, to communicate?" He asked.

"No! To woo women. Today we're going to be talking about William Shakespear."

Everyone sighed and grumbled about how much they all hated shakespeare.

Keating smiled. "I know. A lot of you looked forward to this about as much as you look forward to root canal work. We're gonna talk about Shakespear as someone who writes something very interesting. Now, many of you have seen Shakespeat done very much like this-" He held his right hand out dramatically and started talking in a British accent. "'O Titus, bring your friend hither.' But if any of you have seen Mr. Marlon Brando, you know, Shakespear can be different. 'Friend, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears'. You can also imagine, maybe, John Wayne as Macbeth going, 'Well, is this a dagger I see before me?'"

All of a sudden he jumped on his desk as they were all laughing at his impressions. "Why do I stand up here?" He asked.

Charlie smiled. "To feel taller."

"No!" Keating said as he rang the bell on his desk with his foot. "Thank you for playing Mr. Dalton. I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way."

He took a moment to look around the classroom before speaking again. "You see, the world looks very different from up here. You don't believe me? Come see for yourself. Come on."

Charlie and Neil were the first one up to the desk and then everyone else followed. Allison and Todd made sure they were the last two. After Allison jumped off the desk Charlie came up to her.

"Where were you this morning?" He asked, hints of concern showing even though he tried to hide it.

"I overslept, that's all."

"Oh really? You weren't with that Dawson kid?"

Images of his hands on her flashed through her head and she frowned.

Keating was closely observing the two kids' conversation while he was writing at his desk.

"You were, weren't you." He asked again. This time his tone was cold and he had his arms crossed.

"It wasn't like that at all, Charlie."

"What do you mean?" His anger faltered. She seemed really upset.

"I was out smoking and he showed up out of nowhere. I didn't want anything to do with what happened. So whatever he's told you is probably true, but I didn't want any of it."

Charlie was mad at himself. Of course that dick forced himself on her. But he was also worried for his friend. He didn't say anything.

"Please say something." Allison said. She hated not knowing what he was thinking.

Would he believe her?

He pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry." He whispered.

"It's okay. But please keep this between us, okay? Alex knows too, but I don't want the rest of the group to know."

He sighed. "You don't want to talk to Nolan?"

She scoffed. "No. He won't believe me."

The bell rang and they all grabbed their books.

Keating started talking again. "Now, in addition to your essays, I would like you to compose a poem of your own, an original work."

The students all groaned and Keating started flickering the lights. "That's right! You have to deliver it aloud in front of the class on Monday. Bonne chance, gentelmen." He said.

Before he left he turned to look at Todd, who was standing on the desk. "Mr. Anderson? Don't think that I don't know that this assignment scares the hell out of you, you mole."

They all left the classroom and headed for the lunch room.