The Poets

Chapter Five

   That night, Todd was wide awake. He was pestered with the thoughts of Neil, and the way that one hug made him go weak in the knees. He knew what these feelings meant, and he knew what his family would think. That night, he decided the only choice was to bury his feelings deep inside himself.

   The next day went by smoothly, Todd went through his classes following Neil like a puppy the whole time. That being until Keating's class.

   They were given the assignment to write a poem and read it out loud to the entire class. This would be a task for Todd. Reading in front of his friends was a feat in itself, but now having to speak in front of all his classmates...

   Todd immediately got to work on his poem. He didn't want to disappoint Keating or embarrass himself, so he knew the poem had to be good. After an hour or two at work, he was surrounded by discarded poems. He had no idea how he would ever be able to finish it.

The door to the dorm flung wide open, Neil threw himself on Todd's bed nearly falling onto him.

"I found it, I found what I want to do!", Neil exclaimed excitedly, he held up a crumpled sheet of paper in Todd's face

Inspecting the paper, Todd can see that it's a casting call for "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

"You're gonna act?", He asked looking up at him through his fallen bangs

"You know what you said to me last night, I really took it to heart and just decided to embrace it!", he continues, "..If others can see me as this ambitious guy who does what he wants, why shouldn't I be? Who cares what my father thinks!?! SCREW BEING A DOCTOR!!", Neil feels thrills of freedom pumping through his veins

"Wait Neil, hold on...how exactly do you expect to be able to do all this without your father knowing..?"

"I'll worry about that after I get the part..", he looks at Todd with a huge smile, "..This is my calling, I have to see where this leads..!"

"..But what if he finds out...what then?", Todd knew what displeased fathers were like, he didn't want anything to happen to Neil

   "Like I said, I'll worry about it after I get in..."

   "Okay, but-",

   "GOD TODD, I TOLD YOU I'D WORRY ABOUT IT!", Neil spat out. He didn't mean to yell at him the last thing he wanted was to upset Todd, but the mention of his father always set off a fuse within him

   A heavy silence hung in the room

Todd was about to speak, but decided against it. Speaking would just upset Neil more than he already was. He looked back down at his notebook instead, trying to focus on his original task. He reread the poem he had written. It was trash like all the others.

   Neil awkwardly got up moving towards the radiator, and sat himself upon its ridged structure. He looked over at Todd, noticing his frustration with his poems.

   Todd began to tear out the poem, but before it disconnected from the spiral Neil reached out grasping his hand.

   "Can I see it first..?"

   Jesus, why did he have to touch him again? He looked at Neil's hand on his, he felt like a child for getting so nervous over a touch of the hand. He was in his own world, not even aware of Neil talking to him.

   "Todd, can I read it?", Neil repeats this time he spoke a little louder

   "No- it's uh..it's really bad honestly..", Todd mumbled still incredibly conscious of Neil's hand on his

   "I wont judge..", Neil offered trying to convince Todd to let him take a peek

   Todd was just about to refuse again, when Neil snatched the notebook out of his hands. Todd was startled at first, but once he registered his notebook now being in Neil's hands he leapt out of his position. Their dorm was soon filled with sounds of laughter and stomping as the two boys chased each other.

   "Oh god, I'm being chased by Walt Whitman!", Neil cried out

   They continued their battle for the notebook, until they slammed into the wall next to Todd's bed. They collapsed onto each other, giggling like little girls. Once the laughter subsided, they realized their positioning. Neil was now on top of Todd their faces were practically inches apart, but neither boy made any effort to move away. They stayed like that just staring at each others completely flushed faces.

   The doorknob began to turn, "HEY WHATS ALL THE N-", Cameron began, abruptly stopping when he noticed the two

   They instantly moved to opposite sides of the room, both their faces beet red

   "This seems like a bad time, we can talk later...", Cameron said with a mix of confusion and embarrassment closing the door behind him

   Neil readjusts himself onto his own bed, "Well, I'm sure whatever you wrote is great.",remarks Neil feeling too nervous to make eye contact with Todd

   Todd lets out a slight chuckle, hoping his laughter would clear the awkward tension in the air. It didn't..

   Neil stiffly stood up and left the dorm, leaving Todd all alone

   Stupid Cameron..