NOT SO DEAD POETS GC - the dead poets society

𝐭𝐰𝐨. todd anderson: the new kid

     Neil races down the stairs of Welton Academy, struggling to button the blazer he had just slipped on. Once he reaches the third step, he jumps down onto the landing and slides over to the new student and his family. Tucking his phone into his pants pockets, straightening out his jacket, and running a hand through his hair, Neil smiles welcomingly at his new roommate and his parents.

"Hello, nice to meet you sir," Neil greets in his polite schoolboy manner while extending his arm. "My name is Neil Perry, Mr. Anderson, Mrs. Anderson, and Mr. Anderson" he addresses and nods his head in the direction of each of the family members. His eyes linger on the boy who looks down, easily capturing Neil's attention

"Perry? Ah, I know your father quite well. Are you planning on going to Harvard's PreMed program?" Mr. Anderson questions with growing curiosity.

Neil simply nods in reluctant response. Neil notices that Mrs. Anderson seems to whisper lovingly and with encouraging nudges to his supposed roommate. The boy is has captured the eye of Neil. With his messy brown hair and his tinted pink cheeks, he looks like the human epitome of a hedgehog.

After his mother's encouragements, the hedgehog boy sticks his hand out and mumbles some incoherent words.

Responding to Neil's raised eyebrows, he squeezes out, "I-I'm Todd, nice to meet you" with a sigh of relief from his father.

Smiling and offering to carry one of Todd's three suitcases, Neil motions for Todd to follow him up the stairs while nodding politely to the thankful Mr. Anderson and Todd's weeping mother.

Making it up to their dorm, Neil kicks open the door and Todd follows only to screech and nearly fall over at the sight of three boys around his age with their hair either messy, sweaty, or both. One of his supposed classmates, who appears to exude confidence, starts singing The National Anthem very off key and only stops when the one next to them clamps their mouth shut.

Due to being the only sane one in the room, the boy wearing tortoise shell glasses extends his hand, "Sorry about him, I hope we didn't make you uncomfortable-"

"Just so you know, if you were feeling uncomfortable, we would have no choice but to corrupt your innocence!" the boy whose appears completely disheveled with his collared shirt's top buttons undone, interjects getting out of the grasp of the boy who hasn't yet said a word.

"Oh my god, please shut up for once" pleads the last of the three boys. "Sorry about him, I'm Knox Overstreet, this dumbass is Charles Dalton, Charlie, and this is Steven Meeks, who we sometimes call Steve just to piss him off" Knox introduced politely.

In a barely audible voice Todd introduces himself. Charlie raises one of his eyebrows as the smirk on his face drops into a look of confusion. He strains his neck forward, hoping to achieve a repetition in response. Realizing that he had simply provided a whisper not even ants would hear, Todd repeats,

"Sorry, I-I'm Todd Anderson"

"Now that all introductions have been made, would you guys please get out of our dorm so that Todd can unpack in peace?" Neil suggests, hoping to ease the awkwardness in the room.

Not wanting to force someone out of his room, Todd offers for them to stay and do whatever they please. Looks of disbelief, surprise, and happiness follow his statement. Clapping his hands excitedly, Charlie launches himself on Neil's bed and beckons him to join him.

Knox and Meeks offer to help Todd put his things in place, while also making light conversation, hoping to not scare him off while getting to know their new friend. Charlie and Neil have a loud and passionate conversation about some tv show that the rest of them hadn't watched.

While shelving the box of books that Todd brought over, a certain collection of poems catch the eye of Meeks: "No way! You have the complete collection of Oscar Wilde's famous poems?" he exclaims.

Whipping his head around excitedly, Todd widens his eyes in surprise but is quickly overcome with thrill and the two poet enthusiasts sit down cross legged on Todd's currently unmade bed. Their inhumane screech brings Charlie and Neil's tv show conversation to an abrupt stop, Charlie nearly falling out of Neil's bed. This sound is so loud that two other people run to the door and join their group in Todd and Neil's dorm room gathering.

"What is going on in here?" someone with red hair exclaims. "You could get in trouble!"

"Don't you mean, we?" Charlie questions.

"No, not we Charles, Cameron and I are leaving if we so much as hear a person of authority walk by" answers another boy who seems to barely graze the top of the door frame.

"Pitts!" exclaims Meeks, unknowingly dragging Todd with him to meet his boyfriend properly.

"Hey babe!" replies the tall boy by the name of Pitts, supposedly. "Who's this?"

Squeaking at the realization that everyone in the room was looking at him, Todd opens his mouth reluctantly and finds his mouth dry of words. Stepping in, Neil states

"This is Todd Anderson, he's my new roommate"

"Yeah he is" snickers Charlie while Pitts replies:

"Nice to meet you" only to be quickly followed by:

"Cool, I'm Richard Cameron" states the boy with red hair.

"But we call him Dick because that's what he is" chimes in Knox, to make sure no one forgot about him.

Conversation quickly blows up around the room and two small groups are formed to catch up and get to know one another again. The room never grows quieter, but somehow they don't get in trouble. Yet.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
Ahaha, not me taking weeks to post the next chapter just bc it's all in real paragraphs. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this one! I'm kind of working on establishing each of their friendships and relationships in Pitts and Meeks case.