FUNNY GIRL! (DEAD POETS SOCIETY)

THREE

THE four girls walked alongside each other as the made their way towards their English class. Their first day at Welton Academy hadn't been horrible, but it hadn't gone exactly as they had wanted or planned for it to go. They had suffered offensive comments throughout the entire day and Max was extremely exhausted of it. The school day was almost at its end. When they reached the classroom, Max Wheeler pushed the door open, allowing the foursome inside. Upon their arrival the room that had moments ago been filled noise from the group of rowdy boys was now silent. The silence was broken when some ignorant boy made some sexist comment, which all the girls, but Max ignored.

Maxine Wheeler could be a very emotional person and wear her heart on her sleeve, but when she had to she could become stone cold and it was if she could shut off her emotions entirely. In this moment she maintained a straight face as she followed Georgie to the back of the classroom. "Wanker." She called the boy. "How about going back to fucking a pasta strainer with your tiny dick?"

Max flopped down in the empty seat before her best friend as there was a chorus of snickers and "ohhh"s. Georgie grinned over at her, shaking her head lightly at Max. Marie and Lilly had found seats closer to the front of the class and alongside their friend Neil Perry. Max glanced beside her and saw that Charlie Dalton was seated at the other side of her. His face flickered into a smirk and he opened his mouth to make a remark but Max cut him off sharply. "Don't even start, Dalton." This only made his smile grow wider and didn't listen to her. She waved her hands in the air. "Hey, what did I say?"

Before either of them could do or say anything else, a man who Max could only assume was their English teacher entered the classroom, whistling, and strolled through before exiting through a door at the back of the classroom. The students all gazed at each other in visible confusion. Then he poked his head around the door. "Well, come on."

The boys and girls rose to their feet and departed from the classroom and they shuffled into the Trophy room. They were all pressed together and Max wiggled, uncomfortably. She focused her gaze on their teacher. "Oh captain, my captain, who knows where that comes from?"

Max Wheeler recognized the quote, but where it came from she was unable to remember. She nudged Lilly Sinclair who was beside her and would surely know the answer, Max knew her shy friend wouldn't be able to speak up. Lilly muttered the answer to the blonde and Max announced it without a moment's hesitation. "Walt Whitman, sir."

The English teacher's eyes fell on the girl and he beamed. "That is right!" He pointed at her. "Miss...?"

"Max Wheeler." She answered firmly, Lilly admired her friend's confidence. Lilly was always herself among their group but always had trouble speaking for herself in the presence of strangers or people she wasn't very  well acquainted with. "Ah, quite bright, are we?"

Max was smiling widely, in her opinion this was far from true. She didn't find herself intelligent at all. The teacher introduced himself as Mr Keating and added if they were more daring Oh captain, my captain, which earned laughs from the group of teenagers. he proceeded to inform them about his time at Welton Academy. "Now, Mr - Pitts?" He was holding a book in his head while glancing down at it. "Rather unfortunate name, where are you, Mr Pitts?"

Max found herself laughing, she liked this teacher already. English was one of few subjects she actually enjoyed studying and was relieved they had a decent teacher. Gerard Pitts was instructed to read a poem titled 'To The Virgins', which caused sniggers all around the room, it brought out an immature side of Max and she giggled. When Pitts had read out the poem Mr Keating thanked him and started to discuss the poem. "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may." He quoted. "The Latin term for that sentiment is Carpe Diem. Now who knows what that means?"

The boy who answered was Steven Meeks. The intelligent boy who the girls had been previously introduced to, he apparently was a genius when it came to Latin. "Carpe Diem, seize the day." He translated.

"Very good! Mister..?" Mr Keating awaited for Meeks' name and stated how it was another unusual name. "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may." The teacher repeated. "Why does the writer use these lines?"

"Because he's in a hurry!" Charlie Dalton said from the back of the classroom and it made Max's lips twitch into a smile as she turned around to briefly inspect him. "No, ding!" Mr Keating impersonated the sound of a buzzer. "Thank you for playing anyway."

"Because we are food for worms, lads and ladies. Believe it or not, each and every one of us in this room is going to one day, stop breathing turn cold, and die." He told them and Max pulled a face to Georgie at the bleak statement. "Now I would like you to step forward over here and peruse some of the faces from the past." All the students peered at the framed photographs of soccer players that had once attended Welton Academy. "You've walked passed them many times. I don't think you've really looked at them." As they do so, he points at the similarities between the past and present students. He instructed them to lean in closer and he appeared behind them.

"Carpe," he whispered and when he was stared at, pretended as if it wasn't him hissing the word. "Carpe Diem. Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary."

Max Wheeler was slightly confused but also inspired by the strange English lesson she had just attended and shared this with her three friends as they left the class. Georgie, of course, agreed with her best friend. The two usually had alike views on things. Marie has found it different and felt the same. Lilly, on the other hand, whose dedication for her education was more serious than her friends hadn't liked as much as the other girls. "It was silly," she declared, annoyance lacing her voice. "We should be sitting at our desks and learning from the book!"

Max rolled her eyes at the girl and gently bumped her shoulder against Lilly's. "Come on, Lill. Don't be so fucking uptight all the time," she said causing Lilly to frown at her. "I'm not uptight."

The three girls laughed at that defensive remark because they knew it was true and it made Lilly tell them off again, only making them laugh again.