WE ARE GOLDEN--DEAD POETS SOCIETY

CHAPTER FOUR

Bright and early the next morning the girls clambered down the many flights of stairs, weaving their way between the mess of boys. They snuck past the grumpy-looking Latin teacher and hurried to the dining hall.

"Everyone ready for class?" Azalea asked, doing a mental headcount of all her classmates, who all nodded, albeit somewhat resigned. Azalea had become the mother of the group without really meaning to. Taking care of people was just something she was used to doing. 

In Chemistry, the only two people in the class who seemed to remotely know what was going on were Azalea and Meeks. They traded off answers to their friends as well, when they dared to pass notes. 

"You are so gonna have to help me with those twenty questions," Scarlett groaned, scooping up her textbook. The girls made it to Latin barely in time. Not that they would miss much anyway, as the majority of the class was spent declining and reciting nouns.

"Agricola, agricolae, agricolae..."

Finally Latin ended, and with Azalea's promises to help them, Camille and Scarlett headed to Trigonometry and Lilith and Azalea walked together to Calculus. In her head, Lilith was slightly bemoaning her decision to take Calculus instead of repeating Trigonometry. Sure, it would have been boring as hell, but at least she would have an easy class. 

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Meeks was shocked. Flustered. Possibly in love.

Azalea Knight was the smartest person in the history of the universe, he was pretty sure as he and Cameron sat in Calculus. She appeared almost bored the whole class, raising her hand only when the mysterious dark-haired girl sitting behind her poked her teasingly with her pencil.

Hagar wrote a problem on the board, then turned to his depressed-looking students. 

"Now this may seem daunting, but I assure you by the end of this year problems like this will come second nature. Would anyone like to take a stab at this problem? Mr. Meeks?"

All eyes turned in his direction, and he blushed slightly and shook his head.

"I'll try, sir."

Azalea Knight, to the rescue. She stood up and took the chalk from Dr. Hagar. After staring at the problem for two seconds, Azalea began writing. The class sat in stunned silence while Azalea returned to her seat. Lilith grinned. Her best friend was a genius, and anyone who thought otherwise could suck it. 

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The English classroom was chaotic when Camille and Scarlett arrived. Azalea was chatting happily with Neil Perry, while Lilith sat silently next to Charlie Dalton, smiling in veiled amusement at the antics occurring around her. Boys were throwing paper, yelling, sitting on their desks. It was most teachers' nightmare. 

Not Mr. Keating's.

He emerged from his office, suddenly causing the class to go silent. Whistling, he walked down the middle of the class and out the door. 

"What the--?" Scarlett mouthed. 

Mr. Keating poked his head back into the classroom.