A/N: The disclaimer here: I do not own anything of 'Dead Poets' Society", none of the characters, settings or situations. I only have my original characters.
Chapter 1: The Four Pillars
When we entered the chapel at Welton, I only counted nine other girls, and none of them looked like seniors. As if life couldn't get any worse.
"One hundred years ago, in 1859, forty-one boys sat in this room and were asked the same question that greets you at the start of each semester. Gentlemen, what are the four pillars?" the headmaster Mr. Nolan asked the whole assembly.
Immediately, all the boys stood up and chanted "Tradition, honor, discipline, excellence". None of the girls seemed to know what to do.
The headmaster went on to say something about Welton having graduated 51 students last year, and three fourths of those going on to the Ivy League. I'd heard earlier that our class would have 52 students, myself included.
No wonder they had to accept girls in Welton.
My parents quickly ushered me and John off to unpack at the dorms. We saw Mr. Nolan at the doorway, greeting every parent and student leaving the hall.
"Mr. O'Donnell, Mrs. O'Donnell" Mr. Nolan greeted, shaking my parents' hands. John and I looked stiffly at each other. We never were the best of friends, but not mortal enemies either.
"Vanessa, John, it is a pleasure to have you two here" Mr. Nolan said, turning to us.
"Yes sir" I managed to say. I heard someone chuckling behind us and I didn't care to look.
"I will see to it that you two will not have a problem settling in the dorms" Mr. Nolan said cordially.
"No, we will be fine, thank you, sir" John piped up. Mr. Nolan nodded as we left the doorway.
"Now you two behave yourselves. John, be a man, and Vanessa, look out for your brother" my mother admonished. John and I nodded, eager to get away from each other's company. After the usual goodbyes, John picked up his suitcase and scooted across the lawn to the dorm, leaving me alone there, squinting at the lawn full of parents with their boys and girls in tow. Mr. Nolan was still greeting parents at the doorway, and I was wondering how many of these boys were genuinely happy to be here.
After a while, I got my suitcase and lugged it up to the dorm where I'd learned earlier that I was assigned to. The whole place was chaotic, filled with boys going about, in and out of the rooms. I almost ran into a sandy-haired boy who was quietly going up the stairs.
"Ouch!" I said. The boy on the other hand looked startled like a jackrabbit. I suppressed a laugh and held out a hand by way of introduction.
"My name is Vanessa" I said, trying to ease his apparent shyness.
"Todd Anderson" he said softly.
"You new too?" I asked. He nodded as he helped me lug my suitcase up the stairs and into the hall. I saw that our rooms were beside each other and was slightly relieved. After throwing my suitcase on the lone bed in the room, I slipped out to take a look.
"I heard you got the new kid. Looks like a stiff!" I heard a red-headed boy say to who must've been Todd's roommate. Curious, I peeped in and saw that Todd's roommate was a tall and handsome dark-haired boy who seemed like an over-achiever, judging by all the pins on his jacket. Todd had silently placed his suitcase on a bed and had begun unpacking.
"Don't mind Cameron. He was born with his foot in his mouth, you know what I mean" the taller boy said, hitting Todd on the back with a couple of papers. "Oh yes, my name is Neil Perry. This is Todd Anderson" he added, holding out his hand to shake mine.
"I'm Vanessa O'Donnell. A pleasure to meet you, Neil" I said, shaking his hand warmly. The door opened again and three boys stood there. One had a smirk on his face, the other had spectacles and the last seemed rather affable and rather abashed.
"Rumor has it, you did summer school" the boy with the smirk said, pointing at Neil.
"Chemistry. My father wanted me to get ahead. How was your summer, Slick?" Neil replied.
"Keen" his friend replied as the three boys filed in. The guy with the glasses shut the door.
"Meet Vanessa O'Donnell, and Todd Anderson" Neil said by way of introduction. Todd nodded an acknowledgment as I turned to face the newcomers.
"I'm Charlie Dalton" the guy Neil had called 'Slick' said smugly.
"Steven Meeks" the one with the glasses said.
"Knox Overstreet" the last one said, extending a hand in a friendly way. Todd shook his hand and went back to unpacking rather uneasily.
"Todd's brother was Jeffrey Anderson" Neil said as he sat on the radiator.
"Valedictorian, National Merit Scholar..." Charlie began, rather bored as he plopped on Neil's bed.
"Gentlemen, what are the four pillars?" Neil asked.
"Travesty, horror, decadence, excrement" the rest said in unison. Todd snorted and I suppressed a giggle.
"I heard you call it Hell-ton" I joked.
"Quite right there, Vanessa. It's every bit as tough as they say, unless you're a genius like Meeks" Charlie interjected.
"He flatters me, so I tutor him in Latin" Meeks grinned.
"And English. And Trig" Charlie laughed.
"I could use a Latin tutor." I sighed as I sat on the edge of a bed. 'So travesty, horror, decadence, excrement, eh?"
"She's catching on good, Charlie. Quit corrupting her mind" Knox said in a joking way.
"I didn't do anything...' Charlie said mock innocently as he lit a cigarette. Suddenly, a knock came on the door.
Neil waved the smoke from the air and called. "It's open"
Next part: trouble starts brewing