CHAPTER TWELVE!
( POETRUSIC. )

   THAT NIGHT JOAN AND Violet were sitting in their room, Joan was just sketching while Violet reading Joan's Emily Dickinson poem anthology, copying down the ones she liked to put up on the wall above her bed.

"So, you and Meeks huh?" Joan giggled.

"He asked me out y'know? Picnic next Thursday after school, he seemed really nervous," Violet laughed.

"No way! How much do you wanna bet he's getting Pitts to help him," Jo grinned.

"Probably. They do almost everything together," Violet paused, "Y'know last weekend they took me on this roof and they set up their hi-fi system, and let me just say, they are the most ridiculous dancers," she started laughing again.

"Nerds," Joan chuckled.

"Cute nerds," Violet added. Just then Violet got up to see what Jo was drawing, Joan quickly tried to cover it up but Violet garbled the page.

"This is Charlie!" she exclaimed excitedly, "I knew Juliet was a fitting nickname."

"No! It's not a fitting nickname! Hey, give it back," Jo cried, holding her hand out for the paper.

"Charlie likes you, Meeks told me so," Violet stated, slowly handing back the paper.

"I know," Joan replied.

"You do? Thank god, I feel like I shouldn't have said that," Violet sighed in relief, sitting back down with the poem anthology and her fountain pen. "How do you know?"

"He told me a few hours ago," Joan said casually. Violet's head shot back up at this.

"And you told him you liked him back right? Oh my god, I can't believe I knew it from day one! Remember? I called it after only a couple days of knowing you. I must be a fortune teller," Violet smiled.

"Okay, fine, but I called you and Meeks too, you've gotta give me credit for that."

"So, are you guys together or what?"

"Yeah," Joan shrugged, abandoning the drawing and throwing herself onto the bed.

"Look at us, pulling all the guys," Violet giggled.

"I mean who can blame them," Joan joked, flipping her hair.

❦

The following Saturday the dead poets met yet again. Joan made her way down through the mouth of the cave and took a seat near Knox. He was looking melancholy today. The rest of the boys were laughing as they lit their pipes.

"Attaboy, Pittsie, inhale deeply," Charlie said.

"How're you doing Knox?" Joan asked, nudging him lightly as the boys continued to talk about pipes. "It's Chris isn't it?"

He merely looked at her with downcast eyes and nodded. She decided not to prod and just patted him on the shoulder.

"Well, if you wanna talk girls, you've got me," she offered.

"Thanks, Jo." Charlie's nickname was beginning to stick.

Charlie's attention was now turned to Joan and Knox.

"Come on, guys. Join in," he urged. Joan smiled at Knox one last time before moving to sit next to Charlie. Charlie put his arm over her shoulder and handed her his pipe. She took a drag before looking back to Knox. The boys all began urging him to speak up.

"We're here to help, man," Cameron reminded him.

"Yeah, we're from the government," Meeks added.

"What's wrong?" Charlie asked. Joan turned around and gave him a pointed look, implying he already knew. "Oh," he nodded.

"It's Chris!" Pitts shouted, shoving a playboy centrefold in Knox's face. "Here's a picture of Chris for you!" The boys all began laughing as they teased.

"Smoke that! Put that in your pipe and smoke it," Meeks laughed.

"That's not funny!" Knox said. He clearly did not find their high very amusing.

"Knock it off!" Charlie finally said, shutting them up. "Smoke your pipes."

Just then Neil appeared at the mouth of the cave, he was carrying a beat up light post with him, which you thought was rather unusual.

"Neil!" Meeks greeted.

"Friends, scholars, Welton men and women," he grinned.

"What's that you've got in your hand?" Joan asked.

"Duh, it's a lamp," Pitts retorted.

"Oh shut up, Pitts," Charlie defended.

"Oh, right, gotta protect your girlfriend," he teased.

"Shut up, Pitts," Charlie repeated.

"You're not denying it," Pitts laughed. When Charlie didn't respond Pitts eyes widened.

"Guys!" Neil interjected as he pulled the shade off of the lamp to reveal the shape of a man. Everyone shifted their attention to him as they awaited an explanation.

"This is no lamp, this is the god of the cave," he smiled excitedly. Todd ran his fingertips over the face of the god before Neil propped it up on a ledge in the corner.

After a moment Pitts turned his attention back to Charlie. "Wait, are you guys actually dating? I thought that was a joke, Charlie," Pitts exclaimed.

"Wait you told them?" Joan asked.

"Well not really, I knew they wouldn't believe me," he shrugged.

"It's alright, I told Violet." Violet grinned and nodded, proud to be the first to know.

"Wait a minute," Meeks held up his hands, "You were actually serious?"

"How the hell did you pull that off, Charlie?" Neil laughed.

"Honestly I have no clue," Charlie grinned.

Todd just shrugged and looked at Jo. "I knew it," he smiled.

"Knew what?" she laughed.

"I mean that one time when we were watching rowing and you kept looking up at him, and then I saw your drawing and... well it was kinda obvious."

"You drew me? Wow you really were obsessed with me," Charlie interrupted.

"You wrote a poem about me and read it in front of the class. Besides, I didn't just draw you I drew the whole rowing practice," she explained.

"With a little extra work on you," Todd added. Joan glared at him and Todd just laughed, ruffling her hair.

Suddenly the loud blasting of Charlie's saxophone split the air. "What do you say we start this meeting?" he asked, winking at Jo.

"Y-Yeah, just- I need a light. I just gotta-"

"Got my earplugs?"

Charlie then stood up and cleared his throat, stepping into the centre of the circle of people. "Ladies and gentlemen, 'Poetrusic' by Charles Dalton." He began playing deafening erratic notes of the saxophone, causing the group to cringe.

"Oh, no," Meeks groaned.

"Laughing, crying, tumbling, mumbling. Gotta do more. Gotta be more," Charlie said, before continuing to play his saxophone terribly.

"Chaos screaming, chaos dreaming. Gotta do more. Gotta be more!" he exclaimed. This time he played a beautiful, melodic tune. He kneeled down in front of Joan so that he was at eye level as he finished playing the sax.

"Wow!" she breathed. "I mean I knew you played but not like that."

He just shrugged with a slight smile on his face. He winked at her before taking a seat once again.

"That was nice. That was great. Where did you learn to play like that?" Pitts asked.

"My parents made me take the clarinet for years," Charlie explained.

"I love the clarinet!" Cameron chimed.

"Well, of course you do," Joan laughed.

"I hated it!" Charlie said, pointing at Cameron. "The saxophone. The saxophone is more sonorous," he mused.

"Vocabulary," Meeks commented.

Suddenly Knox jumped up from where he had been silently sitting. "I can't take it anymore," he said, breathing heavily. "If I don't have Chris, I'm gonna kill myself."

"Knoxious, you've gotta calm down," Charlie stated.

"No, Charlie. That's just my problem. I've been calm all my life. I'm gonna do something about that." With that he started heading out of the mouth of the cave.

"Where are you going?" Neil called after him.

"I'm gonna call her," he replied, laughing menacingly. Everyone shot up to their feet and followed after him, excited to see how the scene would play out. Charlie began playing erratic noises on his saxophone again as they chased after Knox.

❦

Knox dialed the number, but after a few seconds he abruptly hung up.

"What was that?" Joan asked,

"She's gonna hate me. The Danburrys will hate me. My parents will kill me." Everyone looked at him with encouraging expressions, silently pushing him to call again. "All right, goddamn it. You're right. Carpe diem Even if it kills me." He put another coin into the slot and dialled her number for a second time. "Hello, Chris?" Knox said, "Hi, this is Knox Overstreet." Charlie stepped away from Joan to stand next to the Knox. "She's glad I called," Knox whispered excitedly, covering the microphone.

"Would I like to come to a party?" Knox repeated for the rest of you to hear.

"Yes. Say yes," Charlie mouthed, nodding quickly. Joan grinned and exchanged excited glances with Violet.

"Well, sure," Knox agreed, rather nervously. "Okay, great. I-I'll be there, Chris. Friday night at the Danburrys'. O-Okay, thank you. Thank you, I'll see you. Bye," he hung up the phone and immediately leaned back against the wall. He threw his head back and let out a loud, barbaric yawp for all to hear. Joan laughed and went up to pat him on the shoulder. "Can you believe it? She was gonna call me. She invited me to a party with her!" Knox exclaimed.

"At Chet Danburry's house," Charlie reminded him.

"Yeah," Knox nodded.

"Well?"

"So."

"So you don't really think she means you're going with her," Charlie clarified.

Knox rolled his eyes after processing Charlie's remark for a second. "Well, of course not, Charlie, but that's not the point. That's not the point at all!"

"What is the point?" Charlie asked. Knox waited for a moment, thinking it over. Charlie stared at him, waiting for a direct answer.

"The point, Charlie, is uh-"

"Yeah?"

"That she was thinking about me," Knox smiled. I've only met her once, and already she's thinking about me. Damn it. It's gonna happen, guys. I feel it. She is going to be mine," he declared, stepping through the small crowd that had formed around him. He threw his scarf over his shoulder and began to walk up the stairs. "Carpe. Carpe!" he bellowed gruffly.

Joan smiled broadly at Charlie who raised his eyebrows in surprise at Knox's new attitude.

"Well, that was quite something," she laughed, hearing Knox still singing in the distance. The rest of them stayed for a moment before heading off to do their own things.

"Wait, Joey," Charlie called.

"Still going with Joey?"

"Well I figured I might make the cut now, considering we are dating and all," Charlie laughed.

"Oh sure. I think we both know making the cut was never a factor," Joan laughed.

"Yeah, you're not wrong. Anyways, what do you say about getting coffee or something tomorrow?" he asked, striding up to her.

"Are we even allowed to do that? I didn't know we could go into town," she pondered, cocking a brow.

"Well... you see Joey, I like to live life on the edge. We could just sneak out, nobody will notice," he said. Joan looked around to see if any teachers could hear them.

"Alright. Fine, but drop the bad boy act," she grinned. Joan stepped away and began to walk back to her dorm, unable to hide the smile on her face.

"It's not an act!" he said, chasing her up the stairs.

"Oh, alright. By the way, you should play me something on your sax sometime. You're great at it, I don't know why you never mentioned it to anyone before, except me of course." Her compliment caused him to smile, he took off his beret and placed on her head.

"Can I play you something now?"

"Sure!"

Joan followed him back down the stairs and out the door to find a secluded area where he could play in peace. Where his songs would be uninterrupted.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.
❪ ⋆࿐໋  𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒑𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒎. ❫

Charlie's saxophone playing is
my favourite thing. I wish we saw
more of it in the movie. Also
Knox gives me so much second
hand embarrassment when he's
talking about Chris, I love him tho.