EVERMORE | DEAD POETS SOCIETY

TWENTY ONE!

*May 7th, 1960*

CHARLIE DALTON HAD ASKED HIS LONG TERM BEST FRIEND, REBETTA CARMICHAEL TO THE PROM. All of the other girls at their new school would always drool over Charlie. Charlie loved the attention, because that was Charlie, he was a flirt. But every girl who tried flirting with him hated one girl in particular, that was Rebetta Carmichael.

It was because she was always in his eye. Of course he would flirt with Ginny Danburry whenever he had the chance, that's because he knew it got under her skin. But Betta... was different. He swore that they were only best friends and the two had history with each other. That history being, surviving Hellton and making it out alive together. But also losing Neil. She was the only person he had after leaving Welton. He didn't have Neil and he couldn't see the gang as much as he used to. Rebetta became his best friend. Betta was his safe space. So when every girl that flirted with Charlie found out that he had asked Rebetta Carmichael to the prom. They were pissed.

And Charlie didn't care. He walked her to every single class, everyday. He drove her home everyday. He wanted to make sure that she was okay, because he knew how much she was hurt about Neil.

He didn't want to become Neil. He knew how much it hurt when he moved to military school. But he also knew about how traumatic it was for Betta.. Seeing Neil hold a shotgun to his head. He knew from Todd about the crying, he knew from Rose about the mental breakdowns she would suffer after speaking to the moon every night. But he never experienced it himself. It's because he loved Betta, with all of his heart.

He was walking into prom with an open mind. He knew he wasn't Neil Perry. He knew that he would never replace him in Rebetta's book. He just wanted her to have a memorable night. He wanted her to have fun. He picked up the corsages and Rebetata picked out the bountarine for Charlie.

She was so excited for her first prom. She never had a guy ask her to the prom or any dance in particular. So when Charlie asked her, not even as a joke... she was taken aback. They were friends. They were best friends.

So Ginny, Chris and her all decided to go into town after school one day to find the perfect dress for the dance. Chris had decided to take Knox which Betta was very excited about and Ginny had been asked by one of the football players who was quite popular. Betta had only been going to this school since January, yet for some reason she didn't know everyone's names.

"Charlie Dalton asked you?" Ginny asked Betta as they scouted through all the different dress choices. "I mean, out of everyone at school... you say yes to him?"

Rebetta had become good friends with Ginny Danbury. Really good friends. But she also didn't know about everything Charlie and her went through at Welton Academy. Chris knew some of the things due to Knox's big mouth. But she didn't even tell most people how she felt about Neil Perry. Not a lot of people truly knew how she felt after he went away.

Rebetta grabbed a red dress from the rack and observed it. "Yeah, I did Ginny. Charlie's one of my best friends."

"He's a TOOL, Betta!"

"He's still my friend," She smiled realizing that the red dress just wasn't going to cut it. "I mean, who else would have asked me?"

"I don't know, why didn't you ask one of your Welton friends?" Ginny asked her again. Chris's head popped over the rack.

"Charlie is her Welton friend," Chris laughed and so did Betta. "Ginny, you just don't like him because he gets underneath your skin."

Ginny rolled her eyes as she kept pulling out dresses she wanted to try on. Rebetta nudged her. "Y'know, he's really not that bad. He's kind of annoying... but you just get used to it when you ACTUALLY get to know him."