Dead Poets Society ~ Charlie Dalton

Chapter Twelve: Reunion

The next morning, Mireille is woken up by a hand shaking her shoulder rather roughly.

"Mireille. Mireille, wake up." She opens her eyes a bit but turns around almost immediately.

"Neil, it's too early. Let me sleep a bit more", she mumbles. He sighs.

"I know. I know. I'm sorry. But you have to wake up. It's almost eight, my parents will look for me soon." Mireille abruptly sits up, rubbing her eyes.

"Oh yeah. Alright. I'm gonna get ready." She stands up and yawns before looking at Neil cautiously.

"You won't do anything stupid again, right?", she asks, not breaking her stare.

"No. No, I won't. I can't just leave you all alone with Charlie. And Todd needs me." Mireille chuckles.

"Yeah, yeah. Thank you for that." She walks towards the window, opening it.

"Are your parents in the living room at this hour?", she asks. Neil shakes his head, walking towards her.

"No, they are usually in the kitchen. So, it's safe. Don't worry." Mireille nods, starting to climb out the window.

"Alright. I will see you again soon. Promise?" Neil nods with a smile.

"Promise." She responds with another nod. She looks down before jumping. The snow from yesterday is still there. She ducks, trying to avoid Neil's parents seeing her. Once she's back on the sidewalk, she jogs back to Welton. As she jogs, she can feel the warmth vanishing and coldness replacing it. But she doesn't care.

She arrives at Welton after a good half an hour. She enters and is grateful that other students are awake already. She worms her way through them, ignoring the stares and weird looks she gets and walks up the stairs. Mireille immediately walks into Knox's and hers room, seeing it, to her surprise, empty. She quickly changes before grabbing her toothbrush and toothpaste and walking to the washroom. Mireille scans the room and sees her friends at their usual spot. She looks at them confused, seeing how they are bickering with each other.

"What are you arguing about?", asks Mireille when she arrives by them, setting her things down onto the sink. Since she turns her back on them, she misses the confused and worried looks. Before anyone can say another word, Charlie spins her around and hugs her tightly. She stands there for a moment, surprised at the sudden action.

"Damn it, Mireille! Where the hell where you?", he asks angrily yet worried. She hugs him back, remembering last night events.

"I... was at Neil's", she begins, looking at the others. Charlie lets her go but doesn't break his gaze form her.

"What? Why?", Todd wants to know, worry clearly in his voice. She lowers her head lightly. How should she tell him that his boyfriend tried to kill himself? Mireille swallows hard.

"Well, um... I-I had a bad feeling and juts wanted to make sure that Neil is okay", she explains, avoiding making eye contact with Todd. That just makes Todd more worried.

"B-Bad feeling? W-Why?" Mireille sighs, hitting her head on Charlie's shoulder.

"I-I don't know. I just woke up in the middle of the night and had a bad feeling, so I went to check on Neil."

"And?", asks Meeks. Mireille looks at him.

"Huh?" Mireille looks up, releasing Charlie's shoulder.

"Is he okay?" Mireille takes a deep breath. It's not her right to tell them what happened and what Neil wanted to do. Should she tell the truth or lie?