"Neil," Mr. Perry said, ignoring Evelyn.
Neil knew what was coming, "Wait a minute. Before you say anything, please let me exp—"
Mr. Perry rose from the desk, startling Evelyn."Don't you dare talk back to me! It's bad enough that you've wasted your time with this, this absurd acting business. But you deliberately deceived me! How, how did you expect to get away with this?"
Neil stared. Evelyn stayed silent. She wanted to leave the room and let them be but there was no good moment to do so.
"Answer me. Who put you up to it? Was it this new man? This, uh, Mr. Keating?" Mr. Perry questioned.
"No. Nobody—"
"It was me, Mr. Perry," Evelyn said suddenly. "I encouraged Neil. He's incredibly passionate and talented—"
"Evelyn, stop," Neil turned to her.
"Ms. Davis this is none of your business," Mr. Perry said without taking his eyes away from his son, "Did you think I wasn't going to find out about this? 'Oh, my niece is in a play with your son,' says Mrs. Marks. 'No, no, no,' I say, 'you must be mistaken. My son's not in a play.' You made a liar of me Neil! Now, tomorrow you go to them and tell them that you're quitting."
Neil and Evelyn's hearts dropped. Neil stammered, "No, I—I can't. I have the main part. The performance is this weekend."
"I don't care if the world comes to an end tomorrow night. You are through with that play. Is that clear?" He waited for an answer, "Is that clear?" He repeated.
Neil hung his head, "Yes, sir."
Mr. Perry opened the door to leave and turned back to Neil, "I made a great many sacrifices to get you here, Neil, and you will not let me down."
"No, sir."
Mr. Perry left. Neil sat on his bed and laid his head in his hands. Evelyn was furious. "Fuck this." Neil looked up with watery eyes but Evelyn was already out the door.
"Mr. Perry!" She yelled after him. He was halfway down the stairs.
"Ms. Davis," he sighed.
Before he could start talking, Evelyn began, "Sir, I know you're looking out for your son. My mother does the same for me everyday. Trust me when I say that Neil is the most hardworking, intelligent, and skillful person I have ever met in my life. He is passionate for school and always does well. I know he appreciates everything you've done for him. But believe me when I say you are ignoring his true love for something. Something real, something he is incredibly proud of. He should have told you about the play from the beginning, I admit, but he can't let all those people down by quitting before the first show. He can't disrespect them like that. So, please, let him do the play," Evelyn was nearly out of breath.
Mr. Perry listened to her with full attention, never breaking eye contact. He sighed, "Goodbye, Ms. Davis," and continued down the stairs towards the schools exit.
Evelyn blinked. She didn't know if what she said got through to him at all. She felt helpless. After a couple minutes of staring into the empty stairwell, she turned back down the hall and met Neil's eyes. He was leaning against his door. She walked up to him, "Are you okay?"
"Do you really think all those things about me?"
Her eyes softened, "You heard all of that?"
Neil said nothing.
"Of course I do. You're the most amazing person I've ever met, Neil."
Neil nearly cracked a smile. "Why don't you go to dinner, maybe Pitts saved you a meatball."
"You're not coming?"
He chuckled sadly, "No. I've lost my appetite. I think I want to be alone." Evelyn frowned but she understood. Neil opened his door but before leaving her in the hall, he kissed her forehead, "I'll see you tomorrow."
Evelyn stood outside Neil's room. Sitting with her thoughts stirring frantically. She wiped the tear that made its way down her cheek and headed down to dinner. She made it for the last ten minutes and did her best to avoid questions about where Neil was and why she seemed sad.
When her and Maggie got back to their bedroom, Evelyn told her everything.
"Oh," Maggie sighed, "what an asshole."
Evelyn looked up at her.
"I mean Neil's almost an adult, isn't his birthday on Friday?"
"Yeah, it is..." Evelyn replied. Her eyes lit up.
"What?" Maggie noticed her expression change.
"You're right. Neil will be eighteen. It doesn't matter what his father wants after that."
"Evelyn, don't tell me what I think you're about to tell me." However, Evelyn told Maggie an idea. Maggie had already suspected this was what Evelyn was thinking about. Maggie shook her head in subtly. "You're crazy."
"It'll work."
"Whatever you say, pal. I believe in you."
YOU ARE READING
TEN DEAD POETS
Fanfiction"Maggie watched through her second floor window as the boys started rushing into the building. They finally said goodbye to their parents and were entering the school as they had been for years. Although this time, there were two new additions."
