Charlie: Well, she finally decides to make some characters complex! Me: It was hard considering some of you guys can't be serious for more than two seconds. Anderson: I resent that. Me: The truth is the truth hun; besides, I seem to remember someone eating a whole bag of sugar on a bet… Anderson: Uh…ok…it wasn't me you know… Me: Sure, right… Sabrina: Anyway… Me: Yeah! This chapter is called Hyperbole! Sean: You nerd… Me and Sabrina: WHAT DID YOU SAY!
Hyperbole- hyperbole is an exaggeration for the sake of emphasis and is not to be taken literally.
A few different things ran through my mind right then. Run. Scream. Say the devil made me do it. Lie that we got lost on our way to the bathroom, the list goes on forever. No one was even moving, aside from Sabrina freeing up Danny's leg. Not the teacher, not us. I glanced nervously around. What a situation to be in.
O'Ryan finally started shifting his flashlight around to get looks at our faces, a bewildered look gracing his own. What connection there was with the books and us sneaking out, he couldn't tell, and we knew he couldn't as his face contorted in thought. I was now fighting the overwhelming urge to run away. I could see Sean, Geoff and Anderson fighting the same battle. O'Ryan motioned for us to follow him into the building. I exchanged looks with my friends, what choice did we have?
The teacher, surprisingly, seemed more entertained by our being outside of the buildings than enraged. As we crowded an extremely small room, he sat a desk, hands folded and expression unreadable. I was glad to be in from the cold at least a little bit as we all stood there looking one another, getting no where. O'Ryan unwove his hands and motioned for us to sit…as if there was any room. I plunked down onto the floor next to Sean.
The man tipped backwards in his chair and looked briefly at the ceiling. "I would very much like to know just what you were doing out there at this hour."
I sucked in my breath and touched the book stashed beneath my coat. I saw Anderson, Rob, Sabrina, Rob and Danny do the same. Sean started to play with the buttons on his coat nervously. Geoff remained Geoff, his eyes somewhere else. I almost snorted with laughter; I knew what he was thinking about. His brother had given him a Dead Kennedys album for Christmas and he hadn't stopped listening to it yet. There are only so many times one can listen to "California Uber Alles" before you go nuts.
"Well?" O'Ryan reminded us that he was still there. "Well? I know very well you would all be in some hot water and a very deep hole if anyone else caught you."
"All Danny's fault." Anderson muttered under his breath. Danny, I think, fought the urge to do his usual and flip Anderson the finger; Dan was forced to settle for shooting the other boy a murderous glare. O'Ryan raised his eyebrows, interested. "Mr. Mc Geough's fault? It would appear to be very hard to make all seven of you sneak out at once."
"He made all the noise." Anderson retorted, looking subordinate. I groaned inwardly; now was not the time to say "f-ck authority"! O'Ryan merely nodded in a agreement, "Yes, it would appear that Mr. Mc Geough did in fact have some difficulties with his pants."
Silence.
"Now," O'Ryan continued, "It would seem that a few of you are carrying something, empty out your coats ladies and gents."
We did so, unwillingly, we didn't want to lose our precious books, but we did and O'Ryan became confused.
"Books of…poetry? When I was in school we were sneaking out smokes and back issues of Play Boy…" his brow furrowed, "Wait…" He picked up Verse to our collective horror and opened it. His face went pale as can be. Not. Good.
"Dead Poets Society! Where did you get this!" he thundered. My peers are so faithful…four out of six pointed right at me. I glared at them before turning to face the raging teacher before me.
"Ms. Dalton! You? Where did you get this!" O'Ryan brandished the book in my face. I crossed my arms in a last try attempt to stay aloof. "Home." I replied simply. It took O'Ryan naught but a second to piece something together.
"That Charlie Dalton? You're related to that Charlie Dalton? I though you were joking!"
"Well," I quipped, "I sort of know him as Dad."
O'Ryan shook his head, pacing back to his desk and throwing Verse down to flick through the pages. He pulled papers out and read, then flipped back to the front, running a finger over the signatures that marked the beginning pages. The oldest belonging to the first Society, the signatures of 1959 and the newest of the Society inducted in 1983. My stomach began to churn as the teacher became increasingly fascinated with the book.
"Incredible." He declared at long last, closing the book. "For no particular reason, you all have picked to risk expulsion, fatigue in the mornings and failing classes because you're too busy with this to do the work…you risk all that to go out into the woods and study, of all things, more English."
I looked at my companions, oh yeah, we were so dead. Dead beyond dead. We were going to be expelled. Expelled. No one wants to take that letter home to their parents. I swallowed hard as O'Ryan surveyed our faces again. The clock outside tolled half past twelve. O'Ryan cocked his head to it and piled the books.
"Guess you all better get going." He sighed, handing back our books to the surprise to the collective troublemakers.
"S-s-s-sir-" Anderson began, but O'Ryan cut him off.
"I think I can pardon this on two conditions. One, no more getting caught or I will not be so lenient. Two, not a one of you is allowed to get below a ninety in my class on any given test or quiz. Understand?"
All seven of us had to pick our jaws up off the floor to nod. Oh yeah, we got the message, loud and clear. Like some damn lucky fish, we were off the hook. We ducked back out into the cold February air and disappeared. I paused at the edge of the woods and looked back. O'Ryan was leaning against the doorframe, eyes peering off into the darkness, near where we were. His face cracked into a smile and he shook his head, closing the door behind him, he shut off the lights and went back to whatever he'd been doing.
I sighed and offered a prayer of thanks. Thank god O'Ryan seemed to be someone we could trust. Thank god he let us off so easy.
o-o-o
I rocked back and forth on my heels, waiting up for Anderson outside of Chemistry. He hadn't done so hot on his last test or something, I don't know, all I know is that he asked me to wait for him and I was doing so rather impatiently. I wasn't overtly fond of being around him as of late, he was trying, it seemed, too hard to be my friend. We'd been fine before; sort of the unofficial leaders of our group and friends as best as we could be. I leaned back against the wall. I was having a hard time believing that he was just concerned that I was going to grow disloyal to the Society. In fact, it seemed that he was trying to keep my securely under his watch.
I tugged at my tweedy skirt, wishing I had some pants in this cold weather. My knees socks and this damn skirt weren't quite covering it as February slipped easily into March. The snow was still falling fervently on the ground nearly every other night. Well, ok, we were in Vermont, I suppose that much is expected. The cold was seeping in through the cracks of the school and storing itself in the stone. I shivered and stood straight again, the icy feeling having penetrated my blazer.
I checked my small pocket to make sure I had remembered quarters to call Joel. I missed him like mad and I couldn't wait for the summer when I could run with my friends again. When I could just slide back to my normal routine, no boarding school, no rules, no rigid propriety and no worries. I smile worked its way onto my face as I thought about the summer and seeing my parents again. I hugged my books to my chest and sighed; summer was a long way off.
The door to the Chemistry room opened and Anderson popped his head out, grinning lopsidedly at me before stepping all the way out and running a hand through his brown and blond hair, making it stand up on end. I rolled my eyes at him and he just pulled himself up to his full height to prove just how much taller he was than me. Not to mention how much more in shape he was, what with being on the soccer team and all. I just looked down to the floor, thinking about going home.
I lost track of the fact that Anderson was now waiting for me until he hooked his arm through mine and lead me in a mock gentlemanly way down the hall. Dragging actually sort of fits the situation more. Something in me snapped over his behavior.
"Let me go!" I shouted, yanking away roughly and walking ahead. Anderson's smile slid right off his face and to the floor.
"I'm…sorry Charlie, I didn't mean to – um, embarrass you…I guess." Anderson was struggling for words, a rare moment for the chatter box. I just shook my head and continued on my way. After three seconds I heard the dress shoes clicking to keep up; I turned to tell him to just leave me alone for now, but-
Anderson tripped over his own bloody shoelace. And came down right into my middle, grabbing my tie. We slammed into the cold marble floor with a sickening thud and the scattering of paper and books. I held still for a second as my head throbbed and Anderson opened his eyes to find he was, in fact, alive. But not for long.
"Get. Off. Me." I said curtly. He didn't move immediately, but surveyed his position, taking his god damned time with that too. I tried to sit up, but found that he was just too damn heavy. I took advantage of my situation and kneed him in the crotch. Then he moved quick enough.
"Ooooh god, I'm sorry Charlie! I said I was sorry! I really did…oooh, Jesus f-cking Christ!" Anderson was swearing and walking funny as he collected his books. "What is your damage?"
I shook my head, "What about you Mr. You're Going To Leave Us All To Die? I didn't see any of you take damn responsibility the other night!"
"Is that's what's bugging you? Hey, if you can avoid the heat-"
"Plus you," I gestured wildly with my hands, "And your little theory that I'm gonna ditch you all! You think I'm that shallow!"
"No…" Anderson's face fell again and he looked like a kicked dog as I screamed at him. But I didn't feel bad; he was a big boy, he could handle this. I shoved papers brusquely into folders and muttered to myself until Anderson pulled me to my feet all the way and pinned me up against the wall. I sneered and gave the finger to passerby (a student, you think I'm that stupid?) who was tut tut-ing disapprovingly. Anderson's eyes were on fire, it was crazy. He pushed me harder against the wall, using more and more of his body to do it. I waited until I couldn't anymore and smacked him hard across his face. He pulled away, looking around and straitening his tie.
"Nothing?" he asked in a dead sounding voice. "You got nothing?"
"I got nothing but pissed right now you bastard." I said heatedly. "What, just what is going on in your head? What the hell is your problem!"
"Well, Charlotte, we all have our little issues. You seem to want to go home, well then the hell don't you just go already!" he shot right back at me. I squared my shoulders and walked off, head held high. "Maybe I will."
"F-CK YOU!" Anderson yelled after me, walking off in the opposite direction to Latin, though that meant he would have to walk around the entire school avoid me. I heard a loud crash and turned to see him kicking in the doors as he walked past them as if he was trying to break his foot.
I stormed into French class and slammed into my seat next to Sabrina with scowl. Sabs adjusted her glasses, "What happened?"
I glowered and spat out, "Anderson."
o-o-o
If I had thought that Danny and Sabrina's argument had been impressive, then mine with Anderson was monumental. We wouldn't talk to the other at any of the meetings and our friends had since given up on trying to get us back to normal. Hell, what was normal! I vented to Joel over the payphone.
On the other end he was trying patiently to calm me as I worked myself in a frenzy. He changed the subject gradually, steering my away from my fight. He delved into a tale of art reject antics that soon had me in stitches and more homesick than ever before. I rubbed my eyes and sighed.
"Hey kid, hang in there!" Joel said brightly. "Summer's gonna come, we're gonna have an awesome time…"
"Then I miss my senior year with you guys!" I choked into the phone. I hated my dad right then, hated him for making me come here, hated him for not letting me decide to come here. Joel made soothing little shushes into the phone and wished he was here to hang out with.
"S'ok Charlie…s'ok, calm down…sh…" I could almost see Joel's rounded face contorting with worry as he spoke to me.
"Thanks man, look-"
Click!
I looked up. Anderson had disconnected me with a cold look on his face. His hand rested on the phone, holding the tab down so there was no dial tone. I looked at him in total disbelief. He shook his head and turned away from me to walk back to his dorm, making me wonder just what was going on in that boy's head.
Me: Can anyone see it yet? The Hyperbole? The Society: Uh, no… Me: No? What a shame seeing as this will come in pretty dang handy later. Charlie: Whatever, all I do is fight with someone I fight a lot with anyway, big whoop. Anderson: What's with me in this thing? Me: Wait for it, it's gonna take a little time for this to work out.