WE ARE GOLDEN--DEAD POETS SOCIETY

CHAPTER TEN

Scarlett half-stumbled, half-fell into English the next day, eyes barely open. Luckily for her, class had not quite started. Lilith followed her friend in, looking vaguely concerned.

"Scar, you look like hell," Knox commented as the blonde plopped into her chair. She flipped him off and buried her head in her arms.

"She stayed up all night," Lilith explained, taking her seat.

"Why?"

"Dunno. Where's Charlie?"

"Right here," the cheeky brunet grinned, taking his seat beside Lilith."Miss me?"

He looked at Scarlett with veiled concern.

"Didn't sleep?"

"Nope."

Class began, and Mr. Keating continued to pour dreams into his students, speaking with such vigor the class was at the edge of their seats. Minus Scarlett, who was barely managing to keep her eyes open.

"A girl is not very tired, she is exhausted," he proclaimed, walking past Scarlett's desk. "And don't use very sad, use- Come on, Mr.Overstreet, you twerp!"

"Morose?"

"Exactly! Now, language was developed for one endeavor, and that is? Mr. Anderson? Are you a man or an amoeba?"

Todd shrunk back into his chair, eyes wide. After a few seconds, Mr. Keating moved on.

"Mr. Perry!"

Caught off guard, Neil gave the first answer which flew through his mind.

"To communicate?"

"No! To woo women. And men, we don't discriminate."

Scarlett gave a half-hearted flump of her arm in appreciation.

"Today, we will be talking about William Shakespeare."

A chorus of groaning rang through the classroom.

"I know. A lot of you looked forward to this about as much as you look forward to root canal work. We're gonna talk about Shakespeare as someone who writes something very interesting. Now, many of you have seen Shakespeare done very much like this:"

The eccentric teacher extended his arm in a clawlike fashion and began to recite in a decrepit English accent.

"O Titus, bring your friend hither." But if any of you have seen Mr. Marlon Brando, you know, Shakespeare can be different. "Friend, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears." You can also imagine, maybe, John Wayne as Macbeth going, "Well, is this a dagger I see before me?"

The whole class burst out laughing. Now they were interested. How else could Mr. Keating bring Shakespeare's admittedly boring work to life?

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"That was quite a class," Meeks chuckled as he and Azalea left the room.

"Yes, truly. If he ever stops teaching, Mr. K should become a comedian," his companion agreed, quite oblivious to the panic coursing through her companion.