The last lesson of the day was english. After a long day of boring lessons where she'd already been assigned a ton of homework, Addie was exhausted. She had no idea how she was supposed to get through the year if she felt this tired before the first day had even finished. Nevertheless, she was looking forward to this lesson, as english had always been her favourite subject.
The students all looked up when they heard the door open and Mr. Keating walked out, whistling a tune. Their gazes followed him as he strolled past their desks, towards the back of the classroom and out the door. Addie turned around and shared a confused glance with Faye, who was sat a few rows behind her next to Charlie.
Mr. Keating then stuck his head back round the door. "Well come on."
Baffled, the students slowly began to rise from their seats and follow him.
Addie fell into step beside Faye. "Any idea what's happening?" Faye asked.
"Nope."
The class gathered in the honour room next to a wall of glass cabinets displaying old school photographs. Mr. Keating stood in front of them as he started to speak.
"Oh, Captain, my Captain. Who knows where that comes from?" He looked around, slightly disappointed as nobody raised their hand. "Anybody?" Still, no hands go up. "Not a clue? It's from a poem by Walt Whitman, about Mr. Abraham Lincoln. Now in this class you can either call me Mr. Keating or, if you're slightly more daring, 'Oh, Captain, my Captain.'"
This caused a few laughs from the students. Addie and Faye exchanged bemused glances before focusing back on their teacher.
"Now, let me dispel some rumours before they fester into facts. Yes, I too attended Hellton and survived. And no, I was not the mental giant you see before you. I was the intellectual equivalent of a 98 pound weakling. I would go to the beach and people would kick copies of Byron at me." More students chuckled at that.
"Now, Mr... Pitts? That's a rather unfortunate name. Where are you Mr. Pitts?" Pitts slowly raised his hand.
"Mr. Pitts, could you please open your book to page 542 and read the first stanza of the poem you find there."
Pitts leafed through his book, as well as some of the other students, and found the poem. "'To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time'?"
"Yes," Mr. Keating confirmed. "Somewhat appropriate isn't it?" he added as the class sniggered.
Pitts cleared his throat and began,
"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a flying.
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying."
"Thank you Mr. Pitts. 'Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,'" Keating echoed. "The Latin term for that sentiment is Carpe Diem. Does anyone know what that means?"
Addie recognised the term but Meeks had raised his hand before she could remember its meaning.
"Carpe Diem," he stated. "That's seize the day."
"Very good, Mr. …?"
"Meeks."
"Meeks? Another unusual name." Meeks gave a bashful smile. "Seize the day. 'Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.' Why does the writer use these lines?"
"Because he's in a hurry?" Charlie joked.
"No. Ding! Thank you for playing anyway." Charlie looked over at Neil, both wearing amused grins on their faces.
Addie glanced at Charlie before she leaned closer to Faye and whispered, "He's funny too. Dreamboat." Faye had to muffle her laughter with her hand, a slight flush creeping onto her cheeks.
YOU ARE READING
Our Secrets ~ Dead Poets Society
Fanfiction"Rumour has it, you and Todd are dating." "What? Me and Todd? Todd Anderson? That's ridiculous." "I mean, you two are very close. And he's a boy and you're a girl. People are going to assume." "Maybe that's a good thing. It will stop people getting...
