A/N: Hellooo :) Here we are again, another chapter is up and I really hope you will like it :) Your attention, ladies, the one and only Charlie "Nuwanda" Dalton is BACK *drums play*. And both our heroes try to cope in the conservative houses they live and Pittsie finally speaks up a bit :) Anyway, enjoy.

Guest- Thank you so much, I am glad you liked it!

Isabellina Lahey- Oh my God, your review was really great, thanks a lot :) You are very kind, reviews like these encourage me to continue! And I totally agree with you, Pitts is indeed the most adorable man on earth ;) :D

Disclaimer: Nope, I do not own DPS

"In a sense, who you are has always been a story that you told to yourself. Now your self is a story that you tell to others"

(Geoff Ryman, "Paradise Tales: and Other Stories")

Nellie's POV

Oppressive father or not, it felt nice to sleep in my own bed again after all these months. My dorm in Yale was comfortable enough and it was nice to relax in there, reading or having fun with Ginny, but I still needed some time to call it "my second home". Here in Medford, I had found my own room, the books I loved to read as a teenager, the piano I was forced to learn and play and, of course, my mother and brother. It had a warmth that was still missing from college and, besides, it was better than expected, considering that I would come only at vacation.

I woke up early the next morning, used as I was from college, where I had to get up either for my courses or to study in the library. Of course, I planned to relax now and study less—"we deserve it, after all", as Virginia had said—but waking up early was second nature to me; I had all day before me to do what I wanted. I dressed quickly and made my way to the kitchen, where Julia, our maid, was preparing some toast. She was one year elder than my brother and I wanted to know her better, despite my father's attitude that "proper ladies have nothing to do with the common people".

'Good morning, Julia, how are you?' I greeted her and suppressed a yawn.

'I am very well, thank you for asking, Miss Russell' she replied and smiled. 'I hope your first day home was pleasant after college?'

'Yes, it feels good to be back…in some aspects' I chuckled and she followed suit. 'And you can forget this "Miss Russell" nonsense, feel free to call me Nellie'

'That would not be proper, miss'

Poor girl; she was new here, only for a few months, and so she had no idea that me, the black sheep of the family, and "proper" were on a permanent vendetta for years now. I couldn't help but laugh and she stared at me surprised.

'You must know something about me, Julia. I don't care what proper is and what not; and I do not care about the rules my father establishes either' I explained. 'I do not want to put you in trouble, though, so let's make a deal: you will call me "miss" in the presence of others, if that makes you feel better, and by my first name when no one is around'

'Then we have an agreement…Nellie' she said and laughed. 'Now, tell me, what would you like for breakfast?'

'Oh, a slice of toast with butter and honey is enough' I went to the bench to prepare it myself. 'Do you know if anyone else is awake?'

'Your father has left for his office and your mother went to visit your aunt' Julia told me and I smiled; at least there was my aunt and my mother had a chance to go outside. 'And your brother has already eaten breakfast and is now learning in his room'

Of course he was. Surely he had gone through father's stern warnings from the second he arrived from school, no doubt. "Listen here, young man, it is your duty to excel in everything you do and therefore I will not endure any laziness" and so on and so on. But perhaps some company would do him good? I grabbed my plate, nodded towards Julia and went up to the second floor. Alexander's room was right next to mine and I could hear him groan in frustration from the stairs. Poor him; probably he was having difficulties in the subject he was studying at the moment. I knocked on the door and entered after his welcome "Come in". The little one was sitting in front of his desk, with a book and two notebooks in front of him, hands buried in his black hair. Even though, he smiled widely when he saw me.

'Hey, Nellie. How come and you are already awake? Now that you are a student you are allowed some more rest'

'Didn't feel like it and old habits die hard. I hope I am not disturbing you'

'You never disturb, dear sister of mine' he said as I sat on his bed and took a bite of toast. 'You will be a nice company in the nasty world of math'

'You do not like it very much, eh? I understand you, I never liked it either, too difficult and scientific for my taste' I nodded with compassion and thought about Pitts and Meeks, who were dealing with Physics and math every day. 'Do you like more theoretical subjects, like history, for instance?'

'Oh, yes, history is definitely Number One' Alexander smirked and turned to watch me clearly. 'Might as well take a break; after all, father's not here to scold me. What do you say, future lawyer?'

My eyes became round like a tennis ball; not only was my brother supportive of my decisions, but he was also turning into a small rebel as well. If anyone would tell me a year ago that Alexander would defy father's instructions and willingly take a break from his homework, I would answer them that they were mental. And he was willingly asking my opinion too.

'Don't worry, Alex. If the opponent asks me about you, I will inform him that you were studying all day and were very focused in what you had to do'

'It seems that the two of us have an understanding' Alexander chuckled and winked. 'And now that we're talking, tell me about college. Have you made new friends?'

'Most of them are mere acquaintances and only three are really good friends of mine. A girl, who studies Law with me and is my dorm mate, and two guys, who study Physics'

'You are joking! You have guys as friends? I never believed I would live to see that day!'

'What do you mean?' I pretended to sound offended, but my smile betrayed me. 'For your information, brother dear, they are very kind and treat us only too well. They're great buddies'

'I am glad to hear that! Warn them, though, that you have a little brother who will not hesitate to commit murder if anyone hurts you'

'Warning, check' I smiled and rolled my eyes; younger or not, brothers would always be brothers. 'I will make sure that you will meet them one day, I am sure you will get along'

'Sure, why not? After all, as siblings, we have to protect each other, right?'

Oh, I love being an elder sister!

Pitts's POV

Another day, another attempt to survive in this house.

Honestly, I had no idea how I would accomplish that, especially thinking that two weeks were ahead of me. From the moment I had arrived, I had faced my mother's obedient silence and my father's interrogation about the lessons, my grades and the upcoming exams. I had answered as politely as possible, although I had to fight the urge to yell. Recently, I often had to fight the urge to yell and that scared me. It was as if my life away from home as an independent man had triggered something inside me. It was always hard to get used in the environment of my family house, but this time it seemed almost impossible.

My father was in the hospital—he was a surgeon—and my mother was in the kitchen. I was in my room, pretending to study for university, but, actually, I was engrossed in one of the best books that had ever existed: Five Centuries of Verse. The very same book the Dead Poets Society was using in the Indian cave, back in our Hellton days. We knew that everything was over, yet it was beyond us to get rid of this book, and so we had an agreement: each of us would have it for six months before sending it to another. It had arrived only a few days ago, sent by Knox, but I didn't have the chance to open it. And now I was reading and reminiscing those nights when we used to sneak out and have some hours of peace away from the school we hated.

'"I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately…I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life!"' I read the traditional introduction, which we were reading at the beginning of every meeting. '"To put to rout all that was not life…And not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived"'

How right you were, Henry David Thoreau. But with all those walls surrounding us, this task is anything but easy; but it's worth the fight, is it not?

I was beginning to do as the text said…only beginning, but it was something. In Yale I was feeling so free, freer than I had ever felt in Welton or my house. So free, that when I was packing my things to return here I was having a heavy burden in my heart, like thousands of stones. I had to be strong, though, and patient, just like I always was. It was two weeks, not two months; and then I would go back to Yale with more eagerness to walk into my lessons and see my friends again. My mind travelled to Nellie and how we had met and become friends through poetry; through that verse of Tennyson she had read out loud and I had recognized it. She would love this book with the poems; I could clearly imagine her spending hours reading through it and analyzing everything. Perhaps I could borrow it to her someday or at least read to her some of the verses. It was a part of my life I wanted to share with her; not the entire story, but this journey to a time where I was not afraid to show who I truly was.

A soft knock on the door made me land back to reality and I quickly hid the book in one of my drawers as my mother came in. I did not want to give any rights for quarrels while I was here; I was honestly tired of them. When Cameron turned on us and told Mr. Nolan everything, my father could not stop yelling at me. So no thanks, I did not want any more of it.

'How are you, my boy? Do you need anything?' mother asked with a gentle voice.

'No, I am fine, thanks'

'A friend of yours wants to speak with you' she informed me. 'One of your former classmates, Charlie Dalton'

Charlie had called? Now that was a surprise! I hadn't talked to him in months; I was learning his news from Knox and Meeks, mostly, but this phone call was what I needed. Charlie was never afraid of anything; even when he got expelled, he faced it with dignity and optimism. I ran downstairs as fast as I could and picked the phone up.

'Hello?'

'Pittsie, my old friend!'

'Nuwanda!'

'Why this shock in your voice, mate? Who were you expecting, the tooth fairy?' Charlie joked and I burst into fits of laughter. 'After all these months without news, I am surprised you are still alive'

'No, Charlie, I was murdered and you are talking with my ghost right now' now it was my turn to tease him and I heard him chuckling. 'Knox and Meeks are telling me how you are, but how did you decide to call?'

'Ah, you know, I am back into the Dalton estate and I am already bored to death. So I said "Why don't you call the Dead Poets to see how they are?". Unless you have work to do'

'Don't worry about that, I was reading our book'

'Five Centuries of Verse, a book that will become history' Charlie commented. 'Glad to realize that we are still keeping the agreement we made. I assume Meeksie will take it after your six months are over?'

'Actually, Meeks told me that he was to do a research about a course in university and this will keep him busy. So I think I will send it to Todd instead, I believe it will give him inspiration to write a poem on his own'

'He certainly has a talent in poetry' Nuwanda agreed. 'Soooo…How's Yale? Difficult? Do you manage? Oh, and by the way, congratulations are in order'

'Congratulations? Charlie, what on earth are you talking about?' I asked confused. What had the spontaneous and carefree Charles Dalton in his mind again?

'Meeksie has already told me the news, so don't try to escape' Charlie replied. 'Did he lie when he said that you have two ladies from Law School in your company?'

'Oh, that's what you mean. Yeah, they're very nice, we have a lot of fun together. And?'

'And? And? Are you serious? You used to faint at the sight of a girl and now you are friends with two of them?'

'People change, Dalton' I told him and rolled my eyes. Typical Charlie; we hadn't talked for months and the thing that interested him most was the fact that I had met two girls.

'Hey, I didn't say that it's a bad thing, quite the contrary…especially considering what Meeks told me about one of them'

'What do you mean?' I wanted to know, not having a good feeling: if Meeks had said something about "one of them" concerning me, then it was surely about Nellie. What had he said that Charlie found so interesting.

'According to him, you and this lass are pretty close…Is it what I think it is?'

That sneaky ginger-haired midget!

If he had implied what I think he had implied, especially to Charlie, then he was so dead!

'No, Charlie, it's not what you think it is; we're just very good friends and she doesn't mind that I am more silent and laid-back. Nellie just accepts everyone for who they are and that makes me comfortable around her'

'That's good for you, honestly. I am really glad, Pittsie. Life goes on, after all'

'Yeah, you're right' I sighed. 'And you? How's Berkeley?'

'To tell you the truth, it sucks!' he said. 'It is boring and formal and I just want to run away! At least I have made some friends here, so it makes things slightly easier'

'I am not afraid of you; you always find a solution to problems. Just try to suck the marrow out of life' I reminded him.

'That's the spirit, Pittsie! That's the spirit!'

We continued talking for a while and, when we hung up, I was still smirking. Talking with a friend from school who was not in the same university and yet he remained a friend had helped me feeling better and we had exchanged happy memories from our school days, without any reference to the events that had broken all of us, even Charlie himself. At the thought of all my friends, though, I took a deep sigh and picked up the phone again.

I was shy, but there was no way I would allow this shyness of me giving the impression that I did not want to listen to the best female friend in the entire world.

Nellie's POV

In the afternoon, I decided to practice my piano a bit. It had been over two years since I played for the last time, as another try to resist my father's plans for me. Even though, I loved this instrument and, after the first tunes, I relaxed immediately. First I played hesitantly and the music was reluctant and awkward, but, the more time was passing, the more confident I became. I got lost into a world of my own, until Alexander's steps were heard on the carpet.

'Is my mind deceiving me? You willingly playing the piano?' he gasped. 'You hated the piano!'

'You're wrong, little brother. I hated the fact that father was forcing me to sit and learn it whether I wanted or not. But it is not the music's fault' I explained and noticed the book he was holding. 'Have you not finished yet? You have been studying for hours now'

'Just this subject and I will stop' he answered. 'It's just that piano music calms me down, so I'll read here, if you do not mind'

'Of course I don't, feel free'

Who would have known…me and my brother actually behaving like real siblings. Things were changing, I could feel it; Alexander willingly spent time with me and was by my side, I continued defending my choices openly against my father, Pitts seemed to be a bit more open, as if he wanted to share what was torturing him, but something was holding him back. Just what was happening? We were slowly growing up, settling down, discovering ourselves from the beginning; all of us.

We would find out sooner or later. Right now, things were either extremely well or extremely wrong; hard to conclude what of the two.

Pitts's POV

'Son? What are you doing down here?'

Oh, great! My father had walked in just when I wanted to call Nellie. Luck was not on my side, I guess.

Okay, stay calm, Pitts. Stay calm!

'I wanted to call a friend from college, sir'

'Do you not think that you should study instead of wasting time calling those whom you will meet again after vacation?' he snapped at me. 'Or do you think that the excellent grades will appear out of nowhere? Life does not favor those who do not try hard, how many times do I have to tell you this?'

'I am trying hard, father' I disagreed. 'I am learning at college and I have made a program about how I will study here; but I think that ten minutes of break to call a friend will not harm anyone!'

'Don't you dare object! Ever since that year at Welton Academy, with that subversive teacher of yours, you have changed for the worse!'

'People change, as does life' I replied. 'And life does not revolve only around exams and grades. Life is also the friends we make, the society we live in, and not only ourselves and how we will be successful'

'Shut your mouth!' he yelled and, unwillingly, I made a step backwards. 'As long as you live under this roof, you will do as I command without objections, am I clear?'

'Number one, I will live under your roof for two weeks and then I will go back to Yale. And number two, I am an adult, in case you have forgotten! I am no longer a little boy to sit down and obey to everything you tell me' I hissed and, the moment those words escaped my lips, I felt much lighter, as if I wanted to say this for a long time.

For a second, I thought my father was about to hit me, for his face was red because of his anger. Instead, he stormed into his personal office, yelling at Elizabeth, the woman we had in our service and who had practically raised me, to find him some papers he had left in the living-room. When he exited the house once more to go to the clinic, I took a deep breath and went for the phone again. Right now, I needed to hear Nellie's voice more than anything else.

A/N: Ooookay, guys, another chapter has come to an end :D Hope you liked it and I can not wait for your reviews. If you have any requests, something specific you want to see in the story, feel free to tell me :)