landslide, neil perry

three.

celia was ruefully forced awake the next morning by the sound of harsh rapping against her door. groaning, she ran a hand over her sleepy face and stumbled out of bed, opening the door. "what?" she let out begrudgingly.

"morning, ceil." charlie said, his face looking smug. "bright and early!" he then called over his shoulder, going to give neil's door the same treatment.

the girl rolled her eyes, closing the door to get dressed. her uniform was the same as the boys, but she'd been given a plaid skirt in replacement of their pants. though pants were significantly more comfortable, in her opinion, she didn't really mind the mediocre skirt and sweater combination. she tied her hair back with a black ribbon; her typical lame attempt to keep it out of her face throughout the day.

once again, neil walked with her to their classes. he was very interested in her life, it seemed, and would ask her questions about her favorite books and poets.

"i like emily dickinson." she'd told him on their way to english, having been unable to answer the question before, claiming it was too difficult. "she was a woman, of course, which made people underestimate her in most everything, but her poetry.. her poetry was something to be marveled."

neil didn't think he'd seen her eyes light up like that ever before, so he pressed on. "i don't think i've ever read anything by her. what did she write?"

"well," celia smiled, "she wrote one of my favorite poems of all time. 'hope is the thing with feathers'. it's a metaphor, it.. it talks about hope as a bird that rests in your soul, sings on and on, and yet never demands anything, not even in the most dire of circumstances." when she looked over at him, he seemed captivated by her, as if he was holding on to every word she was saying. "if you want, i have a collection of her poetry. i can lend it to you." she offered.

"yes." neil replied immediately. "yes, i'd love to read it."

"okay." she smiled up at him, noticing, for the first time, the crinkles by his eyes as he smiled.

a throat being cleared distracted them, making them break out of each other's gaze and look over to charlie. "ceil and neil, how are my favorite nerds?" he asked, making the two roll their eyes.

"ceil and neil?" the girl asked, raising a brow. she couldn't say she didn't like the way that their two names had been paired together.

neil shrugged his shoulders. "it's better than most of the other things he could say." he reminded her, looking down with a smile on his face. "oh, hey, if you're giving me a book, could i give you one, too?" he asked as he followed her into the classroom.

she sat down at her desk, nodding her head up at him. "yeah, that would be really nice! a mini book club." she suggested, making him chuckle and nod.

"sounds like a deal."

keating walking into the room made neil reluctantly leave her, sitting down at his seat and unfolding his reading glasses. "gentlemen, and celia," the classroom chuckled, "open your text to page twenty-one of the introduction. mr. perry, will you read the opening paragraph of the preface, entitled 'understanding poetry'?"

charlie tapped on the back of celia's chair, making her turn over her shoulder to him. "what?" she whispered.

"you and neil making a mini book club, huh?" he asked, his lips upturned in a suggestive smirk.

celia shrugged her shoulders. "yeah, so what?"

he didn't say anything more, only smirking at her before pointing his pen to the front of the room, as if reminding her that she needed to focus on the lesson. when she turned back around, neil had already begun to read the section, leaving celia to quickly flip through the pages until she landed on page twenty-one.