Eutony | Todd Anderson

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟖

𝙸 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔
𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 -𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚢𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚜

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𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐝'𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 since he almost kissed Ophelia. Not only did he feel more comfortable around the boisterous group, he found himself itching to spend more time with the girl. Ophelia, however, had become distant. Ophelia had gone home for a family dinner the day after their almost kiss, barely looking at him once she arrived back at school and walked straight to Charlie's room. Todd missed listening to her in the afternoons as she read him books and poetry, cuddling close to him as she read about love and tragedy. He missed observing the way her hair fluttered on her shoulders, swaying as the leaves danced around her, the gentle morning rays shining through the leaves of the tree she leaned against, creating an ethereal glow around her forehead. He missed talking about the future, always picturing her in it. He missed her. Now, Todd watched wistfully from afar as his two favourite people spewed Shakespeare from across the field.

"Again!" Ophelia exclaimed from her place above the rock. "Oh come on, Lia. We've been practicing for two hours," Neil groaned, sending pleading glances towards her. "You are a perfect actor, Neil, but you won't be a perfect Puck if you don't learn your lines." He sighed, moving back to his final verse. "'Else the Puck be a-' How should I say this? Should it  be emotional or uplifting?" He asked, cutting himself off. Before Todd could hear her answer, a pen was thrown at his forehead by an annoyed Meeks. "Come on, Romeo. I know you're in love with her but that doesn't mean you need to stare at her while we're doing a project." Todd began to pull at the grass in front of him, shivering slightly as the wind picked up. "I can't help it. She's stunning," he sighed, rubbing his eyes in frustration that she hadn't spoken to him in over a week. "Can I ask you guys a question?" The poets nodded, urging him to continue, "Why is she ignoring me?" He noticed how their demeanour changed, especially Charlie, who became incredibly tense and looked anywhere but at Todd. "What is it, Charlie? I deserve to know." Charlie sighed, looking back at the pair and smiled at how calm they looked. "You need to ask her that, Todd. It's not my place to tell you." Todd sighed, staring off at her again. He began to think of a future with Ophelia, besides only knowing her for around a month. It was as though his soul yearned for her, that when they met, his being decided that she was the person he had been waiting for his entire life. "I'm going to do it," he firmly stated. "I'm going to win her back."

Ophelia was the first to breakfast today. She had been skipping meals when Charlie or Knox weren't there with her, not wishing to talk to Todd. She sighed in relief when she noticed she was alone and slumped down to eat her toast. "Finally eating with us?" she heard from behind her, a voice that made her close her eyes in exhaustion and fear. She stayed silent as she sipped her coffee, refusing to make contact with the boy who sat across the table from her. "How are you?" Todd asked, Ophelia immediately beginning to say, "Look, Todd, I-"
"Good morning, beautiful." She was cut off by a kiss on the cheek from Charlie as he plopped himself down next to her and continued, "We swapping sides this week?" She sighed and looked up at Todd who had become incredibly annoyed and said, "Yes actually. I thought it would be interesting to sit somewhere else for once. I have sat on that side for years now." He nodded and carried on eating, looking up at Todd and gestured for him to leave with her, silently urging the boy to talk to her outside. "Hey, Ophelia, can we talk?" Todd asked, eyes pleading as she nodded slightly, moving to follow him. They walked to a secluded hallway, Ophelia leaning against the wall with her arms crossed against her chest. "Alright," Todd began, "I want an honest answer, I deserve that at least. Why did you stop talking to me?" She closed her eyes, knowing this question would come. "It's complicated, Todd." He moved closer to her, voice rising with each word, "What is so complicated? Explain to me why you stopped talking to me. We were perfect, Ophelia. What happened?"
"You don't understand!" She exclaimed, uncrossing her arms in anger. "Then make me understand. Is it Charlie? I always knew there was a reason he was so protective of you. You're with him, aren't you. That's what happened. Your parents told you that you're marrying Char-"
"My father hits me!" she yelled out, cutting him off from his rant. "My father hits me. I came back here with a bruised neck and hips and I didn't want you to see me. That's why Charlie is so protective of me."
Silence.That was all that could be heard in the hallway. Todd stared at the girl who he had grown to love, the happy girl who always made sure everyone else was alright while she battled a demon every time she went home. "Why didn't you tell me?" he whispered, frowning when she snorted. "As if you'd stay with someone who is abused. I didn't expect you to care about me when you have your own life to worry about. It's best we leave this, I don't know, this thing between us alone." Todd shook his head, grabbing her hands frantically. "Look at me, Ophelia. Hey, I said look at me." She lifted her head to make eye contact with him, eyes brimming with tears. "I love you, Ophelia Williams. I am so in love with you it hurts. You are everything to me. I'm not going to leave you." A tear dropped down her cheek at his confession, only to have Todd kiss it away. "I am in love with you, Ophelia," he whispered while resting his forehead against hers. "I love you, Todd," she whispered back, taking in a shaky breath before grabbing the back of his neck and pulling his lips to meet hers. The words she had read over the years about a first kiss lay bare in comparison to the heat she felt as his lips moved against hers, a fire which reached every inch of her body and encircled her soul. Todd Anderson felt loved for the first time in his life, and he was going to hang onto it.

"No grades at stake, Lia and gentlemen. Just take a stroll," Mr. Keating's voice boomed through the courtyard. It had been four days since the couple had confessed their feelings to one another, their bond growing stronger. To say the boys were pleased with their announcement would be an understatement, each hollering through the corridors while carrying Ophelia around, who glared at Todd who causally strolled behind them. Neil felt a sense of relief, not fully understanding why. He felt happy that she had finally found someone who would love her how she deserved to be loved, someone who would treat her as an equal. Now, the class was outside for Mr. Keating's lessons, taking a short break from the usual classroom atmosphere. They began to walk normally, until they found a rhythm to march to. "There it is," the teacher muttered, before calling out, "I don't know what I've been told." This caused the boys to repeat the words while clapping to the beat. "Doing poetry is old," Mr. Keating continued, causing a giggle to arise form Ophelia and a smile to find its way to Todd's face. After their chanting stopped, Mr. Keating thanked them and stated, "If you noticed, everyone started off with their own stride, their own pace. Mr. Pitts, taking his time. He knew he'll get there one day. Mr. Cameron, you could see him thinking, "Is this right? It might be right. It might be right. I know that. Maybe not. I don't know." He looked towards Ophelia, a proud look flashing across his eyes as he said, "Now, Miss. Williams," he turned to the boys and whispered loudly, "Soon to be Anderson," causing a chorus of wolf whistles and hollers to come from the class, while a flustered look covered the couple's faces. "Our lovely lady walks with confidence, ensuring you don't look down on her due to her sex. She walks with grace, with so much love in her heart. Mr. Overstreet, driven by deeper force. Yes. We know that." More laughter came from the boys as Ophelia made eye contact with Todd, who was already watching her with a gentle smile. "All right. Now, I didn't bring them up here to ridicule them. I brought them up here to illustrate the point of conformity: the difficulty in maintaining your own beliefs in the face of others. Now, those of you, I see the look in your eyes like, "I would've walked differently." Well, ask yourselves why you were clapping. Now, we all have a great need for acceptance. But you must trust that your beliefs are unique, your own, even though others may think them odd or unpopular, even though the herd may go, "That's bad." Robert Frost said, 'Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.'" He looked around the boys, eyes resting on Todd's as he said, "Now, I want you to find your own walk. Your own way of striding, pacing. Any direction. Anything you want. Whether it's proud, whether it's silly, anything. Gentlemen and Ms. Williams, the courtyard is yours." Ophelia giggled as she watched her one classmate, Dylan, begin to shake his legs as he walked away from the group. Her feet, seemingly on autopilot, paced toward Todd before she even realised she was in front of him. "What?" she asked, having noticed his stare throughout the lesson. "Am I not allowed to look at the woman I love?" he asked cheekily, taking her hand as they began to walk around the courtyard. "You're so sappy," she whispered with a blush beginning to rise up her neck. Todd turned to face her, cupping her cheeks as he placed a peck on the tip of her nose. "Only for you."
"You promise?" she asked, holding out her pinky. "I promise."

That night, Meeks had made his way into her room to study Latin, while Pitts sat himself in the corner to work on his trigonometry assignment. Knox and Charlie were writing love letters in some corner of the school, leaving the three in a peaceful study environment. While Meeks and Ophelia were transcribing a book they found in the library, Pitts spoke up in a gentle tone, "Do you think we'll be okay?"
The pair halted their work and looked at their friend with questionable gazes.
"I mean, do you think we will eventually have the happiness we desire? Will we be free of the chains our parents and society place on us?"
Meeks sighed lightly and sat next to his friend, pulling Ophelia along to sit on Pitts' other side. "Well, I can tell you for a fact that we will eventually be free of our parent's chains. Society... that's another issue which I cannot speak on with full knowledge." The boy looked at his friend's crestfallen expression and bumped his arm. "As long as we all have each other, we will be alright. Who knows, maybe we will move far away and find a massive cave to live in. We can all be uncles to Ophelia and Todd's children!" 
The two boys laughed at the girl's gasp, causing her to chastise them for predicting her future in a such a manor.
Ophelia grabbed Pitts' hand and squeezed it gently. "Everything will be okay, Pitts. We won't lose each other and that's all that matters in the end. I'm sure there is nothing but happiness in our future."