Dead Poets Society

“Like you tell YOUR parents off, Mr. Future
Lawyer and Mr. Future Banker!” The boys studied their shoes as Neil stormed
around the room angrily. He ripped the school annual achievement pin from his
blazer and hurled it furiously at his desk.
    “Wait a minute,”
Knox said, walking toward Neil. “I don’t let my parents walk on me.”
    “Yeah,” Neil
laughed. “You just do everything they say! You’ll be in daddy’s law firm as
sure as I’m standing here.” He turned to Charlie who was sprawled across Neil’s
bed. “And you’ll be approving loans till you croak!”
    “Okay,” Charlie
admitted. “So I don’t like it any more than you do. I’m just saying...”
    “Then don’t tell me
how to talk to my father when you’re the same way,” Neil snapped. “All
right?“
    “All right,” Knox
sighed. “Jesus, what are you gonna do?”
    “What I have to do.
Chuck the annual. I have no choice.”
    “I certainly
wouldn’t lose any sleep over it,” Meeks said cheerfully. “It’s just a bunch of
people trying to impress Nolan.”
    Neil slammed his
suitcase shut and slumped onto his bed. “What do I care about any of it
anyhow?” He slammed his hand into his pillow, lay back silently, and stared
with glazed eyes at the ceiling.
    The boys sat around
glumly, feeling Neil’s disappointment and sadness. “I don’t know about anyone
else,” Charlie said, again breaking the silence, “but I could sure use a refresher
in Latin. Eight o’clock in my room?”
    “Sure,” Neil said
tonelessly.
    “You’re welcome to
join us, Todd,” Charlie offered.
    “Yeah,” Knox agreed.
“Come along.”
    “Thank you,” Todd
said.
    After the boys left,
Neil got up and picked up the achievement pin he had thrown. Todd started to
unpack again. He took out a framed photo of his mother and father with their
arms affectionately around an older boy who appeared to be Todd’s famous
brother, Jeffrey. Neil looked at the photo and noticed that Todd was slightly
apart from the family group, with them but not really a part of them. Todd then
unpacked an engraved leather desk set and laid it out on his desk.
    Neil plopped on his
bed and leaned against the headboard. “So, what do you think of my father?” he
asked blankly.
    “I’ll take him over
mine,” Todd said softly, almost to himself.
    “What?” Neil asked.
    “Nothing.”
    “Todd, if you’re
gonna make it around here, you’ve got to speak up. The meek might inherit the
earth, but they don’t get into Harvard; know what I mean?” Todd nodded, folding
a white button-down oxford cloth shirt. Neil held the achievement pin in his
hand as he spoke. “The bastard!” he shouted suddenly, jabbing his thumb with
the metal point of the pin and drawing blood.
    Todd winced, but
Neil just stared at the blood intently. He pulled the pin out and hurled it
against the wall.

Chapter
4

     
     
    The first day of
class dawned bright and clear. The junior-class boys dashed in and out of the
bathroom, dressing in record time. “Those seventh graders look like they’re
going to make in their pants, they’re so nervous,” Neil laughed as he splashed
his face with cold water.
    “I feel the same
way,” Todd admitted.
    “Don’t worry, the
first day is always rough,” Neil said. “But we’ll get through. Somehow we
always do.” The boys finished dressing and raced to the chemistry building.
“Shouldn’t have slept so late and missed breakfast,” Neil said. “My stomach’s
growling. ”
    “Mine too,” Todd
said as they slid into the chem lab. Knox, Charlie, Cameron, and Meeks were
already in the class along with some other juniors. In the front of the room a
balding, bespectacled teacher handed out huge textbooks.
    “In addition to the
assignments in the text,” he said sternly, “you will each pick three lab
experiments from the project list and report on one every five weeks. The first
twenty problems at the end of Chapter One are due tomorrow.”
    Charlie Dalton’s
eyes popped as he stared at the text and listened to the teacher. He shot a
disbelieving glance at Knox Overstreet, and both boys shook their heads in
dismay.
    Todd was the only
one among them who didn’t seem fazed by either the book or the things the
teacher was saying. The teacher’s voice droned on, but the boys stopped
listening somewhere around the words “the first twenty problems.” Finally, the
bell rang, and almost everyone from chemistry moved into Mr.