Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Dead Poets Society... I am just inspired by it.

It's nearing the end of May… nearing our goal, graduation. It's almost hard to believe that in two more weeks, we'll be out of Hell-ton, free men, at least until college starts up in the fall. On this, the final pass day of the term, Todd and I are bicycling into town to buy a car for our road trip to Berkeley. It's finally starting to hit me, the last six months have been real and we've almost made it. I think back as we ride…

Todd spent most of the winter break with my family once more, allowing his parents to go to Connecticut to spend time with his brother Jeffrey. Knowing something of Todd's and my wish to go to California for college, Father gave each of us a road atlas and travel guide for Christmas, along with memberships to AAA. Grandfather gave me a checking account in my name with $500 in it, for the trip and to pay for any car troubles that might happen as we travel, and he gave Todd a nice journal or logbook sort of thing so we could keep track of our expenses on the road. I'm glad my family likes him. I can only hope they won't hate him whenever we finally tell them the truth. I hope they won't hate me, too.

Mother and Father drove us back to Welton a day earlier than usual, so they could head south to Washington D.C. for the Kennedy inauguration. Even though Father knows I won't be helping to promote the Cameron name through politics, he figures it won't hurt AJ's future political standings any to keep up ties with the Kennedy family. Several other students made the early return along with us, and for much the same reason.

In February, Todd and I escorted Linda and Carol to the Valentine's Ball. Both girls looked pretty, Linda in light blue and Carol in a deep green. I played photographer once more for our group, and with a little help from Carol who told me what to watch for, I managed to get pictures of Knox officially proposing to Chris, down on one knee and slipping the ring onto her finger.

Late April and early May brought the college acceptances. Meeks and Pitts both managed to get into MIT like they wanted, and Nuwanda and Knox both got into Yale. Chris would be going to Southern Connecticut State College to be near Knox. Ginny Danburry still had one more year at Henley Hall, but was looking into Connecticut schools as well for when she graduated next year. To his own relief as well as his father's disgust, Todd got wait-listed for Dartmouth, and was given grudging permission to attend UC Berkeley. I also got into Berkeley. Dartmouth did accept me, but I'd already had Father's permission to make my own choice of school.

I smile at Todd as we pull up outside the little village's car lot. "Finally feels real, doesn't it?" I ask.

He grins back a little nervously. "Yeah. I think this is where I'm supposed to ask you to pinch me or something, to make sure it's not all a really elaborate dream."

My grin turns evil and I reach over and pinch his arm. He yelps and swats my hand and we both start laughing. Parking our bikes, we walk into the lot and look around. Todd runs a wistful hand over the fender of a brand new Chevy Corvette. I wince a little at the price in the window, though. We could afford it… barely… but it's just a two-seater, hardly any cargo space. We really need something with a back seat as well as a good-sized trunk.

After consulting with one of the salesmen, we eventually decide on one of the trade-in cars, a green 1959 Volkswagen Beetle with a reasonable price. Todd gives the lot owner an extra $10 to keep it there until school is out, as we can't have personal cars on campus at Welton. Our next stop is the hardware store, where I purchase a good toolkit and a repair manual for Beetles, then we head to the town hall to find out what we need to do to get license plates for the car. Todd will have to come to town at some point on a weekday in order to fill out the necessary paperwork.

He chuckles as we leave the building. "I should probably go to the dentist once more on my father's money anyway," he laughs. "So I'll make an appointment for sometime this week, and take care of the paperwork at the same time. Nolan respects dental appointments."

"True enough," I agree. Changing the subject, I ask, "Think Mrs. Keating had the baby yet? The Captain didn't say anything in his last letter, but we're due another soon. Unless it came and he's too busy to write."

"He wouldn't do that," Todd tells me. "No way. He knows we're all wondering about the baby. I bet he even long-distance calls McAllister when it comes, because he knows McAllister will tell us the news. Besides," he grins, "in my last letter, I asked not only that he inform us of the birth, but the gender and name as well."

I grin. "Smart man. I knew there was a reason I love you so much," I murmur, glad there's no one around to hear me.

"I love you, too," he whispers back, a light blush tinting his cheeks. In his own bid to change the subject, he asks, "What do you want to do for lunch and dinner?"

"Grilled cheese at the diner for lunch," I suggest. "That's what I'm in the mood for anyway. With onion rings and a chocolate frappe."

Todd smiles warmly. "Sounds good to me. You know I love chocolate frappes. How about something like meatball grinders for dinner? Or since it's light until faily late now, we can even stay in town for dinner and have something at either the diner or the pizza parlor."

"Staying in town sounds good for a change," I decide after a moment of thought. "The weather is nice, we can start working out our trip, and just relax."

"Relaxing is good," Todd agrees as we pull our bikes up at the diner. "This year has been great, but so tense, too…"

"I know," I nod. "But we've made it. It's almost over. We're almost free."

"Free," Todd echoes with a smile. "I like that word. I like it a lot."