CHAPTER SIXTEEN!
( IT'S GOD. )

   JOAN WOKE UP to Violet shaking her awake.

"Five more minutes, Violet, it's Saturday," Jo groaned.

"Jo, there's an immediate assembly in the hall, get dressed," she said as she pulled on her blazer. Joan opened her eyes suddenly and landed her feet on the ground.

"What's it for?" Jo questioned, putting her socks on.

"They didn't say, but my guess is —"

"Charlie," Jo interrupted. "That dumbass."

Violet chuckled before pulling her out the door. They hurried down the steps and walked into the assembly hall. Most of the students had already arrived. Joan and Violet quickly sat down on the girls' side of the room. Jo immediately started searching the boys' side for Charlie and the rest of the dead poets. To her relief, Charlie was sitting in one of the middle rows with the rest of the boys. If Nolan hadn't gotten Charlie yet, then she was sure that this assembly would change that.

Just then, Mr. Nolan entered the room with a line of teachers behind him. All the students rose to their feet as soon as he entered the room. After all the professors had taken their places, Mr. Nolan addressed the students from the podium. His face was sporting a sour expression.

"Sit." Mr. Nolan barked. The students all sat down on the wooden benches. "In this week of Welton's Honor, there appeared a profane and unauthorized article. Rather than spend my valuable time ferreting out the guilty persons — and let me assure you I will find them — I'm asking any and all students who know anything about this article to make themselves known here and now. Whoever the guilty persons are, this is your only chance to avoid expulsion from this school," he declared. Joan sucked in a sharp breath. She trained her eyes on the seat in front of her to avoid looking at Charlie.

Just then the sound of a phone ringing could be heard. Jo glanced up at the professors who were looking around the room for its source. Nolan's face was growing angrier with each second.

"Welton Academy. Hello," Charlie's voice sounded throughout the hall. Joan looked to Charlie who was holding a phone to his ear. "Yes, he is. Just a moment." he stood up, holding the phone and bell towards Nolan. "Mr. Nolan, it's for you. It's God. He says we should let girls eat lunch with guys." Most of the students laughed while the boys from the cave all shook their heads in disbelief. Joan smacked her head against the bench in front of her. "Oh wait, what's that? One more thing?" She brought her head up again to see Charlie holding the phone up to his ear once more, "Alright, I'll let him know." He pulled the phone away from his ear. Charlie stared Nolan straight in the eye with his signature smirk. "He says we better let them in the boys' dorm rooms too."

Joan nervously looked at Nolan's face. Nolan looked like the only thing holding him back from jumping across the room and strangling Charlie was the fact that people were watching. Charlie had gotten himself in some deep shit now.

Nolan turned to his colleagues and suddenly a group of them stood up and started towards Charlie. When they told Charlie to come with them he complied. The group of staff and Charlie walked down the aisle lead by Mr. Nolan. Joan noticed a flash of worry cross Charlie's face, but he quickly regained his composure and stared straight ahead with a proud smile. She watched him in concern, a million worries circling through her head. Both Joan and Charlie knew what this could mean for him. As Nolan walked past Joan's aisle she stood up. Charlie sent her a look, telling her to sit down. Joan shook her head at him and stared worriedly as the teacher's grip on Charlie's arm tightened.

"Sit down, Missy," one of the staff members ordered as they passed. With some hesitation, she obeyed. She wanted to follow him, but that would only make things worse for both of them.

"Dismissed!" Nolan shouted as he left the room, followed shortly by the group holding Charlie. Charlie turned to look at Jo once more before the wooden doors banged shut.

Jo was the first one out of her seat once the doors closed. She rushed towards the doors and followed a safe distance behind Charlie. Charlie was lead up the spiral stairs and into Nolan's torture chamber (better known as his office). She waited on the steps, fiddling with the hem of her skirt. Mr. Nolan had said that speaking up was the guilty person's only chance to avoid expulsion. Hopefully Nolan stayed true to his words after Charlie's stunt. Joan continued to worry about him more and more with each second. Why was it taking so long?

After what felt like hours, she heard the door to Nolan's office open and footsteps followed. Charlie emerged, walking stiffly, a pained expression on his face. Once the door closed again she hurried up the stairs to Charlie's side.

"What the hell are you doing here, Jo? You should've gone to your dorm like everyone else," he said with a grimace as he took another step.

"You know I couldn't do that, Charlie," she stated, putting her arm under his to help him walk.

"I'm fine. I can walk myself," he tried to put on his usual proud face, but this time she saw through it.

"I know you can, but that's not the point. The point is that you're hurt," Joan said sternly. Charlie nodded reluctantly and allowed her to assist him down the rest of the steps. She looked up to see a tear run down Charlie's face. It pained her to see him hurt, she couldn't even be mad at him. Joan knew he only did it to save the rest of the club, and partially to look like the tough guy he always strove to be. If he hadn't told Nolan in the assembly, he'd for sure be expelled at some point, or the rest of the dead poets would've been dragged down with him. She knew he would never rat the rest of them out, she didn't even have to ask. It was one of the things she loved about him, he was always prepared to take the fall for the people he cared about.

"You're not expelled, are you?" Jo asked worriedly.

"No," he muttered. Joan sighed in relief. She stopped walking and turned Charlie to face her. He tried to turn away and wipe away his tears before she saw, but she'd already seen. She hugged him tightly. Charlie stood still for a moment before hugging her back, pressing his face into her neck.

"You idiot," Jo mumbled, pulling him closer. "Promise me you'll stop getting yourself in trouble. You can't leave me in this hell-hole," she said. Charlie removed his face from her shoulder and stared into her eyes. A small, real smile made its way onto his face.

"You know I can't promise that. Something I can promise is that I won't leave you. I might leave this school, but not you."

"I guess that'll have to do," Jo nodded, smiling softly.

"I think we both have this problem where we can't be honest about our weaknesses. I just want you to know that you don't have to act tough for me, or anyone for that matter. You're strong enough as you are, without the whole bravado," Jo said. Charlie didn't respond, he only held onto her tighter. They continued walking, and passed a frame that held the four pillars of Welton Academy in bold, decadent writing. Tradition, honor, discipline, excellence. It occurred to Jo that Charlie was all of those, only the school would never see that. After a while they reached the hallway that lead to the boys' dorms.

"You can't follow me down there," Charlie stated.

"I know."

Charlie looked at her for a moment, then to her lips. He slowly pushed a strand of her wavy hair out of her face and placed his hand on her cheek. Before she could say anything, Charlie closed the gap between their faces. He kissed her softly. She slid her fingers into his hair as she kissed back. Charlie's other hand rested on her waist and she lost all sense of time and space. He pulled away slowly. He kissed her lightly once more and ran a thumb over her cheek.

"Thank you," he mumbled.

"For what?"

He simply shrugged ambiguously and turned to go down the hallway to his room. A smile rested on Joan's face as she left towards the stairwell that would bring her to her own dorm room.

❦

"Creak. He started walking around towards my left. Creak. Creak. Assume the position, Mr. Dalton.'" Charlie recounted the events of the day to a circle of students around him. Jo sat against the chair, listening as he absentmindedly played with her hair.

Suddenly Joan heard the door open and she jerked forward, distancing herself from Charlie in fear of being caught. She looked up and saw Keating's warm face.

"It's all right," Keating reassured.

"Mr. Keating," Charlie acknowledged with a smile.

"Mr. Dalton. That was a pretty lame stunt you pulled today," Keating said. Charlie's face morphed into an expression of disbelief.

"You're siding with Mr. Nolan? What about Carpe diem and sucking all the marrow out of life and all that?" Charlie defended himself.

"Sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone," Keating said. Charlie looked down a little shamefully. It was clear that he really did care what Keating thought. "Sure there's a time for daring and there's a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for," Keating finished.

"But I thought you'd like that."

"No. You being expelled from school is not daring to me. It's stupid, 'cause you'll miss some golden opportunities."

"Yeah. Like what?" Charlie muttered.

"Like, if nothing else, the opportunity to attend my classes." This caused Charlie took smile up at Keating. "Got it, Ace?"

"Aye, aye, Captain," Charlie nodded.

"Keep your head about you. That goes for the lot of you."

"Yes, Captain," the rest of you chorused.

"Phone call from God. If it had been collect, it wouldn't been daring." Everyone laughed at Keating's remark. Keating left, shutting the door behind him. The group resumed their positions around Charlie and continued to talk about all that had happened. Joan enjoyed the comforting atmosphere as she listened to the people around her giggle and talk, perfectly content.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.
❪ ⋆࿐໋ 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒑𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒎. ❫

Hey guys, I hope you liked it.
I really didn't want to write
everything that comes next but
I did. Thank you for reading, I
hope you're all doing well. I love
you, and remember you are
beautiful. ALSO, I thought I'd show
you guys how my gif looked the first
time I tried to make one for this
book when it was an x reader lol: