wherefore art thou » dead poets society

string quartet

neil knew, for the first time in a long time, what he loved. he discovered what brought a wondrous, glimmer glow to the world, what colored the dull monochrome pages of his life. and the brilliant realization that tangible happiness was but a mere few feet away from him at all times dawned upon him as he watched evaline's plump bottom lip dip under the pressure of her teeth sinking into it.

he loved evaline.

love came to neil on little cat feet. like a tide, creeping into the shores of his life, lapping at his feet. and for the first time, neil found tones of violet in his blue skies, specks of stardust in his clouds and beautiful melodies humming in his winds. it was blissful, blind, and he felt himself tumbling and falling soon to hit the ground when he spent time with her. the girl who didn't smile much. when she did, however, neil felt any troubles fade and he felt everything fall into place.

as winter began to thaw, so did the exterior of the ice princess herself, to give way to the colors of spring. the air remained fresh — not warm enough to be comfortable but not cold enough to be biting. she no longer sought opportunities to snap at him though she was inexplicably prickly if neil caught her in the wrong moment.

but at this moment, all defensive mechanisms and protruding claws were sheathed. evaline's eyes were half-closed and heavy bags shaded the underside of her eyes and she was sprawled over neil's lap as he hummed the melody from "the swan" by saint-säens. he was flipping through, no surprise here, "romeo and juliet" on this fine morning. neil's views on the story were much more different than evaline's. for one, he admired the burning passion of the young couple's love. the thought of eloping, to break free from the ties to parents, friends, family, society — a grand notion. truly. if only he could grow wings like romeo and sweep his juliet away to a safe-haven. not that the girl needed any protecting, that is. he regarded their love story as the ideal romance — the passion, the fire, the drama. but of course, he could set aside fire for his little snow princess who was still snoring away. ah yes, they weren't two teenagers risking their lives for love but neil thought they were on par with romeo and juliet.

his fingers traced the soft arch of her brows, the curve of her cheekbones, the pout of her lips, and soon the play was left aside and forgotten and neil became invested in a new appreciation of a new art. that was, until she began to stir and groan in her sleep, hands swatting at neil's until he couldn't help but let out a stifled giggle. and those dark eyes shot open, a louder, angrier noise escaping her.

"hey, my little sleepyhead it's time to wake up we have to go to chemistry in a couple of minutes," neil murmured with absolutely no intention of going to chemistry.

it took neil about 10 minutes to wake her up and by then it was too late to even make it to chemistry if they ran. evaline has descended into madness because she was a good student. she was a rule-follower, a goody-two-shoes if you will. and the long strings of colourful profanity she was muttering under her breath as she pawed through her papers was entertaining, to say the least.

"let's skip."

eva's movements ceased all at once and all machinery inside her groaned to a halt. a painted visage of incredulity seeped into her sleep-stricken features but she was met with a stony countenance of assurance and something that resembled charlie dalton's cocky, crooked grin. another disgusted sigh. neil's face contorted until he was pouting like a child who was denied desert before their meal, arms outstretched towards the smaller frame.

"come on, eva, it's just one class. no one will notice."

she snorted at that one but something about the sparks of electricity she felt that skipped its way from the tips of his fingers to her skin made her want to agree. he smiled at her and the sheer beauty of that smile — all teeth and crescent moon eyes — and she felt herself caving in. she swallowed hard and set down her papers and within seconds she found her enveloped by neil's warmth.

there's something inherently dangerous about love. it was dancing with fire, it was walking on breaking glass, it was leaping into the deep end. it was the thrill, the adrenaline, the excitement. common sense was but a childhood fairytale and rational thinking was an urban myth. your senses became inspired and soon eyes only saw a world of vibrant colours and ears that only heard sweet nectar-coated musing. and in evaline's cramped room, the whole world lay at their feet. they were rulers of their own corner of the earth, laughing away their worries. but outside the room came thunder and rain that would soon begin to close in on them.

but for a single moment in time — they had won the fight against the universe.