A/N: Hello! Finally, it's summer where I am, so let's get this show on the road again…still don't own anything besides Van, no characters, no script.

Pushing the Limits

I didn't remember walking back in the dorm, or what happened after, but the next thing I knew was that the sun was up, and the corridor was filled with boys rushing to get ready for the day. When I opened my door, I managed to catch sight of Charlie hurrying to the bathroom amid the confusion.

"Van! Come on, if we don't hurry, Hager will let us have it!" Cameron yelled at me from somewhere as I ran to the ladies' room. After quickly washing and dressing, I managed to get downstairs just in time for the second bell. Meeks, Cameron, Neil, and Todd were already waiting when I got there.

"Morning!" Neil greeted cheerily when he saw me. Unlike the other boys, he looked rather chipper and ready to take on the day. Meeks had eye bags, Cameron looked jumpy, and Todd was yawning.

"Where do you get your energy, Perry?" I yawned. Meeks snorted and Todd laughed.

"Believe me, he's hard to wake up, right Todd?" Meeks kidded as Todd nodded gleefully. Just then, Knox and Charlie clattered down the stairs. Knox was already fresh, but Charlie's hair was still out of sorts.

"You there ! Move it, Dalton, or it'll be straight to the Disciplinary Office for you!" Hager bellowed from upstairs. We went to the dining hall quickly before the tell-tale sound of the teacher's boots hit the stairs.

"When's English?" I asked Neil.

"Last period..."

"Again" Knox sighed. This was going to be a long day.

" A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. And don't use very sad, use-" Mr. Keating said lively as he circled the room. We'd been studying diction (a normally boring subject for me), and the discussion was turning energetic, not as in the rowdy energetic, but more of a charged up sort.

"Come on, Mr. Overstreet, you twerp," Mr. Keating said, pointing to Knox, who was scribbling.

"Morose? " Knox asked, seemingly unsure.

"Exactly! Morose. Now, language was developed for one endeavor, and that is? Mr. Anderson? Come on! Are you a man or an amoeba?" Mr. Keating continued, looking at Todd. Todd on the other hand looked back at him with a blank expression.

"Mr. Perry?" Mr. Keating asked.

"Uh, to communicate" Neil replied quickly.

"No! To woo women" Mr. Keating said, glancing from him to me, much to everyone's laughter. I rolled my eyes, but I was chuckling too.

"Today we're going to be talking about William Shakespeare." Mr. Keating began. Everyone groaned and some of the boys buried their heads in their books.

"I know. A lot of you looked forward to this about as much as you look forward to root canal work. We're gonna talk about Shakespeare as someone who writes something very interesting. Now, many of you have seen Shakespeare done very much like this:" he said matter-of-factly as he stopped walking.

"O Titus, bring your friend hither." But if any of you have seen Mr. Marlon Brando, you know, Shakespeare can be different. "Friend, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears." You can also imagine, maybe, John Wayne as Macbeth going, "Well, is this a dagger I see before me?" he added as he put on different accents. Some people started cracking up.

It wasn't long till we were huddled around him as he continued reading out passages from different selections. I liked most of them, except for the one about dogs.

"That's just…bizarre" I whispered to Meeks, who was nearest me.

"That's the way some people wrote. Remember William Bloat?" Charlie joked from nearby.

Five minutes till the bell rang, we were back in our seats, then all of a sudden, Mr. Keating jumped up on his desk.

"Why do I stand up here? Anybody? " he asked.

"To feel taller." Charlie called

"No!" Mr. Keating replied, ringing the bell on his desk.

"Thank you for playing, Mr. Dalton. I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way." he corrected. He looked around and seemed to smile.

"You see, the world looks very different from up here. You don't believe me? Come see for yourself. Come on. Come on! "he invited us. Charlie and Neil stood up first, then me, looking very uncertain. The rest of the class followed, and we formed a queue.

I managed to climb up onto the desk, and I did look around. Sure, it was the same classroom, but it did seem nicer up there. When I did jump down, I nearly forgot to gather my skirt around me so it wouldn't fly up. Charlie was sniggering at this, and I shot him a death glare.

"If looks could kill" Hopkins joked from nearby. I sat on my desk as I watched the rest of my classmates take their turns to stand on the desk.

"You must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all. Thoreau said, "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation." Don't be resigned to that. Break out!" Mr. Keating said, in a more serious and impassioned tone than he'd used earlier in the class. I couldn't help but glance at Neil, who was also sitting on his desk. My thoughts began wandering to my situation at home. Maybe I was quietly desperate after all.

Suddenly, just as Priske stood on the desk, the bell rang. Mr. Keating gathered up his things and began going to the door.

"Now, in addition to your essays, I would like you to compose a poem of your own, an original work" he said. Everyone began groaning, as Mr. Keating began to flicker the lights ominously.

"That's right! You have to deliver it aloud in front of the class on Monday. Bonne chance, gentlemen, lady." he added as he stepped out the door. I saw some jaws drop at this, for it was already Wednesday, and we had less than a week to write the poem amid our piles of work!

Todd was about to jump off the desk when Mr. Keating peeped back in. "Mr. Anderson?" our teacher called. Todd nearly fell off the desk with a surprised expression on his face.

"Don't think that I don't know that this assignment scares the hell out of you, you mole". Mr. Keating finished as he turned off the lights.

After English, it was time for Sports, but since there was Rowing and Fencing practice that day, there was no soccer practice. Meeks and Pitts disappeared off somewhere with their radio, Charlie and Cameron went to dress for Rowing, Knox went to the library to do some homework, while Todd and I went to the dorms. After I'd changed out of my uniform into slacks and a blue shirt, I decided to wander the grounds for a while.

The afternoon was pleasantly cool for an autumn day, and the sun was out. A slight breeze was in the air, bringing the smell of water and leaves to everyone's noses.

"Take a power train in two! Three! Keep your eyes in the boat!" Mr. Nolan ordered from somewhere in the area of the lake. Charlie and Cameron were so engrossed in rowing that they probably wouldn't have noticed if something fell in the lake, much less if there were people waving at them. I looked up to see two people on the roof, installing an antenna on the highest part.

"Oh my God!" I whispered. Meeks and Pitts were really bent on trying out the radio.

"Miss O'Donnell" I heard Hager say in a reprimanding way behind me.

"Good afternoon, sir" I greeted, trying not to appear scared.

"You aren't allowed to loiter, even if there is no soccer practice. Do your homework' he ordered. I looked up at Meeks and Pitts dancing goofily on the roof and shrugged. Shaking my head in wonder, I decided to get a head start on the poem.

I work better when talking to someone, so I decided to hang out with Todd for a while. The door to the room was unlocked, and when I opened it, sure enough, Todd was busy scrawling in his notebook. There were several wadded up papers on the bed he was sitting on.

"Getting somewhere?" I asked. He turned his writing pad over as if surprised, and he shook his head.

"I'm stuck for ideas" I muttered, sitting on the other end of the bed. I opened my notebook, and began scratching out a few lines. Todd must've been convinced that I wasn't going to talk much, so he got back to his work.

Suddenly, the door opened and Neil walked in, laughing and looking more bubbly than usual. He was holding a paper that he put down on the bed.

"I found it" Neil announced gleefully.

"You found what?" Todd asked curiously.

"What I wanna do right now. What's really, really inside me". Neil continued on, obviously excited.

'"A Midsummer Night's Dream"?" I asked, glancing at the flier. I'd seen it before, and was considering trying out.

"This is it" Neil said.

"What is this?" Todd asked, obviously befuddled.

"It's a play, dummy" Neil said.

"I know that. I-- Wh-Wh-What does it have to do with you?" Todd asked.

"Right. They're putting it on at Henley Hall. Open tryouts. Open tryouts!" Neil exclaimed.

"What!" I gasped.

"Yes, so?" Todd asked. Neil picked up a blanket and wore it like a cloak as he stood up.

"So, I'm gonna act. Yes, yes! I'm gonna be an actor! Ever since I can remember, I've wanted to try this. I even tried to go to summer stock auditions last year, but, of course, my father wouldn't let me. For the first time in my whole life I know what I wanna do…" Neil began excitedly as he picked up some papers.

.."and for the first time I'm gonna do it whether my father wants me to or not! Carpe diem!" he yelled, throwing the papers in the air.

"Neil, Neil, hold on a minute. How are you gonna be in a play if your father won't let you?" Todd asked as he gathered up some of the papers.

"First I gotta get the part, then I can worry about that" Neil replied flippantly. I stared at him as if he was going mad.

"Yeah, but won't he kill you if he finds out you went to an audition and didn't even tell him?" Todd asked.

"No, no, no, no. As far as I'm concerned, he won't have to know about any of this" Neil insisted.

"Well, that's impossible" Todd pointed out.

"Bullshit! Nothing's impossible' Neil countered.

"Well, why don't you just call him and ask him? And m-maybe he'll say yes" Todd suggested, trying to remain calm.

"That's a laugh!" Neil exclaimed.

"Come on, it wouldn't hurt to try. And parents always find out about these things, Neil." I said.

"If I don't ask him, at least I won't be disobeying him' Neil insisted.

"It could turn out for the best if you just tried…" I said.

'Yeah, but if he said—" Todd began.

"Jesus, Todd! Van! Whose side are you two on?" Neil shouted, obviously fed up. Todd's eyes widened and I swallowed hard. Neil put away the blanket and moved to the window.

'I mean, I haven't even gotten the part yet. Can't I even enjoy the idea for a little while?" Neil began more calmly, sounding slightly defeated. Todd remained silent. I threw up my hands and got back to writing in the awkward silence.

"You're coming to the meeting this afternoon?" Neil finally asked.

"I don't know. Maybe." Todd replied.

"Nothing Mr. Keating has to say means shit to you, does it, Todd?" Neil asked.

"W-What is that supposed to mean?"

"You're in the club! Being in the club means being stirred up by things. You look about as stirred up as a cesspool" Neil pointed out. By now he was standing over Todd, who was looking a bit scared.

"So- You want me out?" Todd asked.

"No! I want you in, but being in means you gotta do something. Not just say you're in"

Well, listen, Neil. I-I appreciate this concern, but I-I'm not like you. All right? You, you, you say things and people listen. I'm, I'm not like that…" Todd stammered. Poor guy had a confidence problem in my opinion.

"Don't you think you could be?" Neil argued. I was getting ready to pull him away in case this argument would end up out of hand.

"No! I--I, I don't know, but that's not the point. The, the, the point is that there's nothing you can do about it, so you can just butt out. I can take care of myself just fine. All right?" Todd replied.

"No"

"What do you mean, "no"? " Todd asked perplexedly

"No" Neil reiterated, a smile starting to form on his face. Suddenly, he grabbed Todd's writing pad and ran across the room. Todd and I jumped up and began running after him.

"Give me---Neil, Neil give that back" Todd called as he tried to grab the book. Neil saw my poetry and grabbed it up too!

"Hey! That's unfinished…come on, drop it!" I yelled as I tried to grab it from his hand. We were racing around in circles, jumping on the furniture as Todd and I tried to grab our works back (not an easy task, as Neil was pretty tall).

"We are dreaming of a--" Poetry! I'm being chased by Walt Whitman! Okay, okay…" Neil exclaimed as he read a bit of Todd's poetry before he dropped it.

Just then, Cameron opened the door, holding up his Chem book. "What are you guys doing? I'm sure-- You see this chemistry-"he began before Neil got his book. Cameron jumped up on Todd's bed and joined the chase.

"Hey, give me-- Neil, give me-- Don't be immature. Come on. I need my-" Cameron insisted. Neil tossed the book to me and I jumped to dodge Cameron before passing the book to Todd.

"Give it to me! Give it to me!" Charlie yelled as he entered the room. Pretty soon, we were all running around tossing the book all over the place while the guys played the bongos and a recorder. Finally, we all collapsed in a heap, laughing from the best fun we'd had in weeks.