Thank you so much for all of the wonderful reviews. I don't think that I let you know how much I appreciate them enough. And to all of the silent readers who don't leave comments, thank you as well. I see the numbers and I know that you are there. Seeing how many individuals actually take the time to read this story each month is absolutly astounding!
'O TO make the most jubilant song!
Full of music—full of manhood, womanhood, infancy!
Full of common employments—full of grain and trees.
O for the voices of animals—O for the swiftness and balance of
fishes!
O for the dropping of raindrops in a song!
O for the sunshine and motion of waves in a song!
O the joy of my spirit—it is uncaged—it darts like lightning!
It is not enough to have this globe or a certain time,
I will have thousands of globes and all time.'
~ 'A Song of Joys,' Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman (1855)
Chapter Ten - 'From this hour, freedom'*
"Sixty-four?" She bit her lip and looked up at Cameron for reassurance.
"No," he shook his head, "you should have gotten forty-seven." She handed the red-head her notepad and he studied her work, his eyebrows furrowed as he tried to unpick her method.
"What did I do wrong this time?" She groaned, stabbing her pencil lead into her eraser. She had been working for half an hour and they had only gotten to question three. Although, without Cameron's help she would not have made it past the first question at all. In her defence, the first fifteen minutes had been spent in the common room on a crowded table where they hadn't been able to get anything done at all, no matter how many times Cameron snapped at people to shut up.
Ready to tear her own hair out, Kat had progressed from asking the boys to quieten down to begging them. It was Fraser's distasteful comment about begging that had caught Charlie's attention - even though he was throwing paper planes at Meeks from the other side of the room. Abandoning the game, he had dropped into the seat beside his roommate to suggest they move to the dorm for some peace. Cameron had pointed out the likelihood that it was against the rules, even if it had not been specifically stated, but Charlie's logical argument soon won.
Now, a half hour later, she was curled up on the floor of the boy's dormitory suffering through her impossible algebra homework in near silence.
"You multiplied the six, but forgot to subtract the previous answer at the end," Cameron concluded, correcting her work and handing it back, "question four is almost identical in method. Just watch the clarity of your columns and you should be okay."
"Thanks," Kathleen replied. She had just begun question four when the door opened. Charlie walked in.
"Sorry to interrupt. I was just wondering if you'd seen Neil yet?"
They both shook their heads.
"Three?" She asked Cameron. He checked his own answer sheet and nodded.
"I think you've finally got it!" Pride dimpled the corners of his bright smile .
She returned his enthusiasm, but the second she caught sight of the next question her cheeriness slid away.
"I'm sure it's not that bad," Charlie shut the door and sat across from the pair, creating a triangle around the study materials which littered the floor.
"You have too much faith in me," she muttered, passing him her corrected work as proof.
His eyebrows shot up but he hid his surprise quite well in her opinion. "Okay, you're a little out."
"A little?" She rolled her eyes and handed Cameron the next question to mark.
"It's mainly confidence," Cameron commented as he examined her work.
"See," Charlie chuckled, "even Cameron agrees with me!"
"He's right. It's a rare phenomenon," Cameron deadpanned.
Kathleen took a second to stare at him...had that been a joke? With Cameron, it was often hard to tell. Luckily, the pause was interrupted by a tremendous thumping, accompanied by a Neil like yell.
The trio rushed to the doorway to peer into the corridor, and sure enough, Neil was practically jumping from wall to wall with joy.
"Charlie, I got the part! I'm going to play Puck! I'm going to play Puck!" He tackled his oldest friend into a hug. Charlie returned it with a fierce grin.
"Of course, you did! You're good. Congratulations, now go and tell Todd!" He patted Neil on the back and pushed him in the direction of his own door, which he enthusiastically threw open with another round of excited shouts.
Kathleen shook her head with a smile at Charlie's amusement as he watched Neil descend upon a red-faced Todd.
He caught Kathleen's expression, "look me in the eye and tell me that you haven't noticed."
"I can't," she replied, sharing his mirth, "we're their best friends. How could we not."
"True," he laughed, "but they seem pretty clueless about each other, if you ask me."
"Haven't what?" Queried Cameron, startling the pair. Charlie closed the door, blocking the sight of the two boys embracing.
"Nothing," he said.
"Thanks for your help, Cameron," Kathleen gathered her things, "please can you check it again tomorrow? I have to go otherwise Hager will find me in here."
The boys looked at the clock on Cameron's desk. Sure enough, It was fast approaching eight o'clock and Hager would begin his rounds any minute now.
"Of course," Cameron nodded "it's nice to have someone who actually appreciates the help." He looked pointedly at Charlie before he continued, "and who's willing to work instead of copying the answers."
"I'll take that as my cue to leave," she laughed, "night!"
xxxx
It was early on Tuesday morning when the upperclassmen were still bleary-eyed and inattentive that Mr Keating's whistle echoed through the hallways of Welton. He strolled into his classroom in high spirits, but the class was paying more attention to his outdoor attire than his good mood.
"Are we going outside today, Captain?" Neil asked, speaking for the class as usual.
"We are, Mr Perry." Keating picked up a football from beside his desk and threw it at Pitts who caught it, "we're going to get some fresh air today and exercise not only our bodies, but our voices and minds." He turned to Kathleen, "I know that you're not usually allowed to participate in physical activity, but do you have a sports kit, Miss Murray?"
"I do," she nodded, thinking about the clothes which remained unused, and were still folded at the bottom of her wardrobe since she was unable to take up any sport other than walking at Welton.
"Good, meet us outside the main doors in ten minutes," he turned to address the rest of the students "lads, we're off to the changing room!"
The students filed out, the boys followed Mr Keating over to the P.E department, and Kathleen headed upstairs to her dorm room. She dressed in her navy and white St. Mary's gym suit, put on the matching socks, and laced up her white sneakers. She then tied her hair up as she headed down to the main doors.
A few of the boys were already there, dressed in their grey, Welton sports kit. The rest continued to join them at a leisurely pace until the whole class was ready. Mr Keating joined them with a net of footballs - or soccer balls as they call them in the States - slung over his shoulder as he led the march down to the pitch. Upon arrival, the confused class saw a gramophone set up on the side-lines.
"What are we doing?" Wondered Todd.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Kat replied, eyeing the goal which was situated directly ahead of where the group had come to a stop.
Keating turned to address the eager crowd, a whistle ready and waiting in one hand. "Now devotees may argue that one sport or came is inherently better than another. For me, sport is a chance for us to have other human beings push us to excel. I want you all to come over here and take a slip of paper." He waved his left hand in the air, and then gestured with the whistle in his right, "and then line up in single file."
He then put down the equipment and began to hand out the slips of paper. "Meeks, time to inherit the earth," he joked. "Mr Pitts, rise above your name." Soon all of the students had a small note where a single line of poetry was written. Chance may have dealt the hand, but each line seemed aimed specifically at their own weaknesses.
Kathleen got in line, with Charlie in front and Todd behind, followed by Neil and then Cameron. The others had been pushed to the front. It seemed like nobody wanted to push Charlie or Cameron out of place, luckily for the three in the middle.
Keating suddenly blew the whistle, "you know what to do, Pitts."
The others craned their necks to try and see what Pitts was doing. They saw him step forward, "Oh to struggle against great odds. To meet enemies undaunted."
Keating held up his hand, "It sounds to me like you're daunted. Say it again like you're undaunted."
"Oh, to struggle against great odds. To meet enemies undaunted!" He said with more volume.
The Captain nodded, "now go on."
Pitts ran forwards and kicked the ball towards the goal. It skimmed past the man-made post.
"We have to kick it?" Kathleen observed apprehensively.
"Well, it is a ball," Charlie said, turning to look at her, "what were you expecting?"
She crossed her arms, "I've never really played football-soccer, or whatever you call it. Girls are usually banned from the pitch unless they're cheerleaders."
"You've never played a proper ball game?" Neil repeated incredulously.
"Tennis and lacrosse," she shrugged.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously," she nodded.
"Shit," Charlie muttered, "I would teach you properly but we're up soon. Basically, you use the inside of your foot here, like this," he mimed a kick in slow motion which she copied. He nodded in approval, "make sure you lock your ankle and keep your body straight. Power comes from the leg."
"Swinging your arms will help," added Neil, leaning on Todd's shoulder as he watched her try to imitate Charlie's demonstrative kick.
"You'll be fine," Todd reassured her, surprised that for once he wasn't that nervous. Whether it was because he had never seen Kat so unsure and was too busy worrying about her, or because he was growing more at ease with himself. Also, Neil was touching him which caused his heartbeat to become erratic for an entirely different reason.
"I'm going to look like an idiot," she said, her eyes following Keating as he adjusted the record to play at a rather high volume. They moved closer to the front of the que. Meeks was up next.
"Come on, Meeks! Listen to the music" Keating called above the violin solo.
"To dance, clap hands, exalt, shout, skip, roll on, float on," he read over the classical record.
"Yes!" shouted Keating, gesturing for Meeks to move on. Meeks kicked the ball and managed to get it into the goal. Kathleen studied his kick, it didn't look that difficult, but all her life she had heard that girls were rubbish at sports, and that ball games and mud were for the boys. Just another stereotype that she needed to prove wrong, she thought, watching Hopkins lazily take a shot. Without question the boys seemed to believe in her, genuine in their disbelief raher lack of a sporting history and willingness to teach her.
"Oh! boo!" Keating shouted, "Come on, Charlie. Let it fill your soul!"
Kathleen snapped out of her thoughts, realising with a jolt that she was next. She saw Charlie take a deep breath with his arms flung out in a dramatic power pose, he yelled "TO INDEED BE A GOD!"* and he aimed a powerful kick at the ball, shooting it straight through the middle of the goal. Kathleen's mouth dropped open, how on earth did he expect her to emulate that!?
"Kathleen," called Keating, "you're up!"
She stepped forwards and let out the words that she had long ago memorised as they were, coincidently, taken from one of her favourite poems, "From this hour, freedom! From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines." She tried to imitate the boys she had just watched, and aimed a hard kick at the ball which rolled in the right general direction, but stopped before it was in close vicinity to the posts. She pulled a face and made her way off the pitch and joined the others who were taking shelter beneath the trees.
"Good try," Knox, patted her on the shoulder.
"It was, but maybe we should teach you. Keating wants to do more of these active lessons in future," Neil said worriedly, putting on a smile for the sake of her pride.
"It was a rubbish kick, be honest," Kat laughed before admitting, "I would be very grateful for any lessons in sport, politics and anything else that the administration frowns upon me knowing."
"We can do that," Pitts smirked, "Keating said that the club wasn't a Greek organisation. All members should be equal, surely the same principle applies to skills and education."
"Pittsie's right," agreed Meeks, "between the two of us, we could easily train you to fence."
"Neil and I can take soccer and football," added Charlie, "real, American football."
"My parents have taught me everything to do with law and politics," Knox shrugged, "that's my area of expertise."
Kathleen nodded, "Cameron already tutors me in math."
"Todd? What about you?" inquired Cameron.
"Uh-"
"I don't think there's anything left! We've got quite a long list already," interrupted Kat.
"Well, there's always the male anatomy..." Joked Meeks.
"And to think that I expected better from you," Kathleen shook her head, ignoring the laughter.
"Cars," mumbled Todd so quietly that only Neil who was stood beside him heard it.
"Cars?" Neil repeated loudly, "I didn't know that you were interested in cars."
All heads turned towards Todd, whose cheeks flushed at the attention, "I-I had a friend who worked in his family's garage and I, erm, I used to help. I also fixed Jeffrey's car in the summer," he explained.
"Well, it's settled then," Charlie said, "and tomorrow we need to plan how we're going to sneak your friend into school."
"Why tomorrow?" Neil smiled, "It sounds like the perfect opportunity for another meeting."
"Tonight then?" asked Kat.
"Tonight," Neil nodded, looking at the group.
* 'Oh to struggle against great odds. To meet enemies undaunted,' /'To dance, clap hands, exalt, shout, skip, roll on, float on,' /'To indeed be a God,' A Song of Joys, Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman (1855)
* 'From this hour, freedom! From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines,' Song of the Open Road, Walt Whitman (1856)