Our Secrets ~ Dead Poets Society

Chapter 2

The door creaked open ('That's going to be annoying,' thought Addie) revealing their dormitory.

There were 2 beds on either side with a small desk in-between. The window was above the desk at the end of the room and, looking through it, the girls could see the lake across the grounds. They had a wardrobe and desk each at the end of their beds.

"It's not that bad," said Addie, claiming the bed on the right as hers, flopping down on top of the covers. "The mattress isn't too hard."

"Or too lumpy." Faye grinned mimicking Addie, laying down on her own bed.

"I guess we should start unpacking."

"Ugh! Can't we do that later? I want to look around this place, the building's huge!"

"I do want to check out the library," Addie confessed, walking over to where she dumped her suitcase, unzipping it.

"Nerd," Faye joked, joining her friend's side, earning an elbow to her ribs. "I probably should go to the library at some point though. My grades were barely high enough to get in here and the only reason I convinced my parents to let me come here was that it would help them improve." Faye sighed as she opened her suitcase. When she heard that her best friend was switching schools, she had begged her parents to send her there too.

"You didn't have to do that for me." Addie was eternally grateful to Faye for everything she'd done for her. She had been dreading having to leave her.

"Of course I did. Being alone at our old school without you would be hell." Faye looked into Addie's brown eyes, trying to convey her sincerity. "You know I'm always going to be there for you." The two embraced, each with large smiles on their faces. "And also, I didn't think you'd do a great job of making friends here by yourself. Social interaction isn't really you're thing."

Addie laughed before replying, "That is true. But with you here I don't need new friends."

"You'll make plenty of friends here. Trust me. I'll have loads because I'm so amazing and I'll introduce them to you," Faye quipped.

"What would I do without you?" Addie replied. Despite her sarcastic tone, she genuinely didn't know what she would do without her best friend. She was sure Faye would be very popular. She was naturally good at talking with others and everyone loved her and Addie couldn't blame them. Her own social skills differed greatly: she preferred to keep to herself and avoid speaking in front of people. Addie knew they would both receive a lot of attention, due to them being the only girls in the year, and the thought made her stomach drop.

She brushed those thoughts aside and got to putting away her things, pulling out a pile of not-so-neatly folded clothes.

~~~

Todd didn't know why he had agreed to go meet the new girls, but here he was, outside their door with 6 other boys. He didn't get why everyone was so fussed about girls attending Welton. He was new this year too and no one was rushing to introduce themselves to him. Not that he wanted them to. Meeting his new roommate and his friends and now the other new students was definitely enough for one day.

He stood at the back of the group and watched as Charlie knocked on the door. A few moments passed and a few muffled words were heard behind the wooden door, before it swung open. A girl with long, blonde hair that passed below her shoulders in waves stood upon the threshold, looking at them with bright blue eyes.

"Hi," she greeted them, smiling warmly.

Todd watched as the other boys stared for a few seconds, except Neil, which Todd found curious. He fought the urge to roll his eyes at his new classmates' gawking. He never understood why boys his age acted like that around members of the opposite sex. He did admit the girl was very pretty, but that didn't mean he wanted to date her or feel the need to stare, which Todd thought was probably making her uncomfortable.

Being the only one beside Todd who seemed to still function properly, Neil introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Neil Perry."

"Charlie Dalton," Charlie interjected, snapping out of his reverie and sticking out his hand.

The girl shook it, still smiling. Todd noticed a small blush on her cheeks as her and Charlie's hands made contact.

"I'm Faye. This is my friend Addie." She stepped aside, showing another girl they couldn't see before. This other girl had hair much like her friend's, except for the colour, which was a dark brown, and a less friendly expression on her face. She was still smiling, but it appeared slightly forced. Todd assumed she didn't want to have to introduce herself and could see Faye looking at her knowingly. It reminded him of whenever his parents would force him to talk to strangers at events.

"Nice to meet you."

"You too," replied Neil. The others were yet to talk.

"Do you want to come in?" asked Faye, looking more at Charlie than any of the other boys. Addie quickly glanced over at her. A look of annoyance washed over her face for a moment before being replaced by that same smile again.

The boys thanked her before entering and introduced themselves.

"We came to ask if you'd like to join our study group," asked Meeks.

"And to welcome you to Hellton," added Charlie, who was sat next to Faye on her bed. "It's every bit as tough as they say, unless you're a genius like Meeks."

"Addie will be fine here then," said Faye. Addie blushed slightly as everyone looked at her. "I, however will definitely need that study group."

The group talked a little more, Todd and Addie both sitting quietly, until the boys eventually left. A few other students had come by, but upon seeing the others already there, they quickly left, looking almost defeated. Todd was happy to leave. The girls seemed nice, but Todd felt awkward just sitting there without anything to say. The girls (mostly Faye) asked all about Welton and Todd had no answers to those questions, being new himself. He was glad that he knew more about the school without having to ask questions himself.

After they left, the group split and returned to their respective rooms. Todd finished unpacking whilst talking with Neil. Neil was the one to start the conversation but, surprisingly, Todd found himself talking easily with the other boy. Todd found Neil easy to speak to, despite just meeting him. He was silently glad that he had him as his roommate and thought that it would make the year slightly more tolerable.

~~~

Addie and Faye both lay awake talking as the moon came up outside of their window, it's silver light peeking through the gap in the curtains.

"Those boys were nice," Faye commented.

"You mean Charlie was nice," Addie scoffed.

"He was. And handsome," Faye giggled, causing Addie to roll her eyes. She had a fond smile on her face that she was glad Faye couldn't see. "But the others were nice too," the blonde continued. "That Todd was a bit quiet though. You two would be good friends."

"Possibly. He was also one of the only ones who seemed in control of his face when they saw you. It's like they've never seen a girl before. I know you're pretty, but I see you all the time and am still able to easily form sentences. And I'm a massive lesbian."

Faye couldn't stop the laugh that escaped her, causing Addie to laugh too. "Aw, you think I'm pretty?" she teased, still giggling.

"Don't let it go to your head. I'm going to sleep now. Night."

"Goodnight."

Moonlight poured through the window, bathing the room in a silver glow as the two drifted off into sleep.