Meet Me In The Woods

Neil

Neil was practically glowing with pride. Not only had Todd managed to speak up in front of several hundred strangers and the press, but he had also unintentionally wrapped said room around his finger without even realising it. 

That was the moment Neil knew they had won. Todd had won them over, they loved him already, Neil saw it on their faces. Well, except for Doucebag, maybe, but he didn't count anyways. 

It  didn't take very long after that for the judges to decide Mr Perry's sentence. Neil didn't really care about that, though, seeing as it didn't matter to him anymore. He was officially Mr Keating's charge now! 

The hammer hit the pad, and the poets broke out into yawps. Neil beamed, a relieved laugh leaving his mouth. 

Jeffrey clapped him on the shoulder, a proud look on his face, and Mr Keating proudly wrapped an arm around his shoulders. 

Neil avoided his father's scalding gaze. 

As soon as they stepped outside the official area, the poets slammed into him, Charlie at the lead. He rugby-tackled Neil to the ground, yawping and going down with him, and the rest of the poets dog-piled on top of him. Cameron, who was protesting, was dragged down by Knoxious and landed flat on top of Charlie, who let out a big Ooof. Pitts was still pulling Todd along and the two of them jumped onto their weird hug pile together, cheering. 

When they somehow managed to struggle to their feet, Charlie had somehow managed to latch onto Todd so he was giving him a piggyback ride. Todd's expression was absolutely priceless as a boy quite a bit smaller than him gallopped around the room with him on his, whooping loudly while the only thing Todd could do was hold on for dear life. 

The cameras were still flashing, and Neil supposed they were going look both dumb and amazing in the newspapers. He couldn't bring himself to care, not now, when he was laughing amongst his friends. 

(There were photos of Mr Perry, too. He looked like a very angry, constipated black - and - white tomato.) 

⛄

Mr Keating and Jeffrey drove them back to Welton where they were welcomed by Nolan. The entire school had to sit through a speech on the importance of responsible adults in teenagers' lives and the poets, Mr Keating and Jeffrey were called to the front, where Nolan sang Jeff's praises (Mr Anderson was always one of our most promising students, bla bla bla, barf), grudgingly komplimented Mr Keating, talked about Neil like a little child and a damsel in distress and ignored the rest of the poets. 

Neil had never been so glad to get out of the assembly hall. 

Mr Keating shooed them outside to get some fresh air while Jeff and he went to his office to have a cup of tea and talk about the day. Neil also had a sneaking suspicion Mr Keating had discovered Jeff was fond of Oscar Wilde and desperately wanted to grill him about his favourite works. 

So the poets headed outside, unconsciously gravitating towards the lake like they always did. Neil secretly glanced at Todd to see wether he was bothered by it, but his friend didn't seem to mind. 

"I'm telling you she's my girlfriend now!" 

"Sure, Knoxious. She is - for now. Won't be long until she gets over her denial." 

"Denial for who?!?" 

"Ginny Danbury, of course! Are you blind, Overstreet? They act like an old married couple!" 

"They don't fight." 

"Old married couple without the fighting!" 

"That's contradictory."