Dead Poets Society

asked.
    “Of course just like that. That’s how you always know when it’s right.”
    “And if it so happens that you’re wrong? If it just so happens that I couldn’t care less about you?“
    “Then you wouldn’t be here warning me about Chet,” Knox pointed out.
    Chris thought this over. “Look,” she said, “I’ve got to go. I’m gonna be late for the play.”
    “Are you going with Chet?”
    “With Chet, to a play? Are you kidding?”
    “Then let’s go together,” Knox suggested.
    “Knox, you are so infuriating. ”
    “Just give me one chance. If you don’t like me after tonight, I’ll stay away forever.”
    “Uh-huh,” Chris said with a cynical smile.
    “I promise. Dead Poets Honor. Come with me tonight. Then, if you don’t want to see me again, I swear I’ll bow out.”
    Chris hesitated. “God, if Chet found out he’d...”
    “Chet won’t know anything,” Knox promised. “We’ll sit in the back and sneak away as soon as its over.”
    “Knox, if you promise that this will be the end of it...”
    “Dead Poets Honor,” he said, raising his hand
    “What is that?”
    “My word.” He crossed his heart with his fingers and looked sincerely at Chris. She sighed as he led her reluctantly off toward Henley Hall.
    Knox and Chris entered the high-school auditorium long after Mr. Keating and the other students had taken seats in front. They sat in the back and when his friends spotted him with Chris they shot him gestures of encouragement.
    On stage, the performance had begun. Sporting a crown of flowers, Neil made his grand entrance as Puck, and the Dead Poets Society cheered him loudly. Neil scanned the audience with a momentary look of fear. Todd crossed his fingers.
    “‘How now, spirit! Whither wander you?’” Neil began as Puck.
    “‘Over hill, over dale, thorough bush, thorough brier...’”an actor playing a fairy responded. Mr. Keating glanced at the boys in the audience and gave a thumbs up signal for Neil.
    “‘Thou speak’st aright;/ I am that merry wanderer of the night. / I jest to Oberon, and make him smile, / When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile, / Neighing in likeness of a filly foal...“
    Neil’s friends watched him intently as he delivered his lines with skill and ease, enjoying every moment, getting laughs in all the right places. Todd sat mouthing the lines with him as if this might help Neil get through it. But Neil needed no help.
    “He’s good! He’s really good!!” Charlie whispered excitedly to his friends.
    The play continued with the characters of Lysander and Herinia. Ginny Danburry played Hermia, dressed in an eye-catching costume of leaves and twigs.
    “One turf shall serve as pillow for us both; / One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth.’”
    ‘“Nay, good Lysander, for my sake, my dear,/ Lie further off yet; do not lie so near,”‘ Ginny replied as Hermia.
    Charlie flipped through the program looking for the name of the girl playing Hermia. “Ginny Danburry! She’s beautiful!” he sighed as his eyes returned to her leaves and twigs.
    “ But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy / Lie further off, in human modesty; / Such separation as may well be said / Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid, / So far be distant; and, good night, sweet friend. /Thy love ne’er alter till thy sweet life end! ” Ginny recited.
    Charlie sat enraptured by her. As Ginny and Lysander played their scene, Neil stood in the wings looking out. Suddenly, he spotted his father enter the rear of the auditorium and stand at the back. His pulse quickened but his expression remained calm.
    On stage, Lysander and Ginny completed their scene. “‘Here is my bed. Sleep give thee all his rest! ” Lysander said.
    “‘With half that wish the wisher’s eyes be pressed!‘” Hermia returned.
    The pair lay down on the stage, and their characters went to sleep. A musical interlude signaled Puck’s re-entry to the scene.
    Neil moved in the wordless lyrical revelry uninhibited, joyful, magical. The other characters appeared in the slow motion interlude as well. Hermia, glowing brightly, held Charlie spellbound. Mr. Keating, Todd, and the other boys sat awed and delighted by the whole production. Knox missed most of the show because he stared at Chris in complete rapture, and trying hard not to show it, Chris found herself becoming infatuated with Knox as well.
    As the musical interlude ended, Neil stood alone on the stage as Puck. He addressed the