Pink Camelia - Neil Perry x Reader/OC

'~ Chapter 10 - YAWP. ~'

~~~

Neil absolutely bolted down the hallway, yelling out excitedly to anyone who wold listen.

"I GOT THE PART! I GOT THE PART!" he cried as he ran down the hall- "CHARLIE I GOT THE PART!" 

"Good for you Neil!" Charlie congratulated his friend from the doorway.

"I'M GONNA PLAY PUCK. I'M GONNA PLAY PUCK!"

Neil then sped into his dorm and whirled over to the desk giggling madly.

"Okay- okay- okay" he took a deep breath out as Todd sat down beside him at the typewriter. 

"Neil, how are you gonna do this?" Todd asked, very skeptical.

"They need a letter of permission from my father, and Mr Nolan."

"You're not gonna write it." Todd said in disbelief. 

"Oh yes I am!" 

"Neil you're crazy!" 

Neil squawked at Todd, smiling giddily- "Okay. 'I am writing to you on behalf of- my son," he began to write, looking pointedly at Todd as he wrote "'Neil Perry.'" He giggled and stomped his feet ecstatically- "This is great."

"So are you gonna tell Dione?" Neil's smile grew even bigger at the mention of his other friend. 

"She probably already knows, she was at the auditions- OH! I have dinner with her soon!"

"So uhm, what's going on with her, and uh- you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, y- you act sort of, different- when we mention her."

"I don't-"

"Forget it, I don't know what I'm talking about, I've been hanging out with Charlie too much-"

"No- what do you mean by different?" Neil raised an eyebrow. 

"w- well y- you get a bit red in the face a-and-" Todd had no idea how to even talk about something like this- how did Charlie tease people like that?

"Oh- I didn't even notice." Neil lied through his teeth, he had noticed a shift in his own demeanor around her, but he had no idea what it meant- maybe he should ask Charlie...?

"It's probably nothing, go back to writing- I can look over it if you want." Todd desperately attempted to break the incredibly awkward aura that had swept the room. 

A few hours later Todd paced the dorm, desperately trying to squeeze some semblance of a poem out onto the page. The sound of bagpipes washed over the whole school, filling Todd's ears as he tried to form a rhythm in his head. At this point he was praying that the school would catch fire. 

'~'

"For Chris." Knox stood affront the class, with his poem in hand. 

Charlie's interest was certainly piqued. Murmurs of 'who's Chris' 'Chris?' 'OooOoh ChRiIsS' filled the room, before petering out as Knox began to read.

"I see a sweetness in her smile, bright light shines from her eyes. But life is complete; contentment is mine, just knowing that..." he faltered as some students began to snicker- "just knowing that she is alive." he finished sounding defeated. 

"Sorry captain, it's stupid." Knox mumbled as he crumpled the poem in his hand, and shuffled back to his desk. 

"No, no, it's not stupid Knox, it's a good effort." Keating turned to the class- "It touched on one of the major themes; love! A theme not only present in poetry, but in life. Mr Hopkins, you were laughing! You're up." he called out the boy.