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       There's certain moments in life that are so perfect that you never want them to end. Like a perfectly ombréd sunset and at the right moment two birds fly overhead. Those summer days when your surrounded by all your friends and everyone is taking turns in throwing each other into the water or the complete opposite when it's freezing outside and your curled up in-front of an open fire.

       This moment right here was that for me. Charlie Dalton's light snores echoing through the room. His arms wrapped tightly around me Almost like if he lets go I'll disappear forever.

      It's been a week since Charlie and I made the bet. Within that week he has read half of the book

       It was only the other day he was sat at the breakfast table reading it -yes he got a lot of stares, but he didn't seem to care as he bit down on his Apple before frantically waving his arms out towards me.

     "Quick, write this down" he has also been making me take note of certain quotes he find amusing. Once he noticed I was ready he read out the quote in an elegant voice

      "I wonder who first discovered the efficacy of poetry in driving away love!" He looked up to me as I finished

       "Got that?" I nodded "okay new line" he said as I moved down to the next line and he began reading again "I have been used to consider poetry as the food of love," he finished it before looking up at us. Knox was looking at him as if he had two heads.

      Meeks had the spoon just infront if his mouth and was staring. Neil had a grin, one which Todd reciprocated as Cameron shook his head

       "He's been doing this while I'm trying to study" poor Cameron's been getting the brute of it when Charlie shouts 'take this down'

      "Well Cameron, I can't read and write at the same time" Charlie said shaking his before looking to me "can you put an E beside the first line and a D beside the second so I know who said which?"

      I laughed at him nodding as Pittsie leaned over his shoulder looking down at the book, reading one line, scoffing and the then turning to Meeks.

    "It's like trying to read Latin"

     Charlie began to stir beneath me. It was rare I was ever up before him, but there was something accomplishing about it. Even if it was only for a minute or two.

     Charlie's hand reached up and rubbed his eyes as he looked at the clock on my bedside table that read, 3:38pm.

      Classes finished at 2 today and, as usual, I came back to nap and woke up with Charlie beside me. Usually when classes finished I'd nap or run before dinner and every time I either woke up or came back, Charlie Dalton would be laying up on my bed reading, sleeping or sometimes just staring at the wall thinking.

      "How long have we been asleep?" He yawned, rubbing a hand over his face before his eyes settled down on me.

     "an hour and a bit" I rubbed my eyes like he had trying to wake myself up more.

     "Not too bad, and still some time to spare before dinner" he leaned down towards me, capturing my lips with his. My leg was across his waist and his hand came to rest on my hip.

*KNOCK*

       Charlie and I tore apart from each other and looked to the door "Phi?" My eyes widened as did Charlie's as we both sat up in sitting positions. "You in there?"

"Quick act natural" Charlie looked at me like i had ten heads. I thought for a minute I could pass it off as us just taking a nap if it hadn't been for Charlie trying to move off the bed and falling.

"Phi?"

     "Yeah Neil. Come in" I said as Charlie looked at me from the floor. The door opened and Charlie put his hands on the ground as I grabbed a book and pen.

     "48" Charlie said as Neil walked into the room. He looked between Charlie and I confused as Charlie dropped into another push up "49. Oh hey Neil"

Neil stood at the door "what's going on?"

     "What do you mean what's going on?" I asked from the bed

     "Well Charlie's doing push ups and your reading" he said as Charlie shouted 50 and moved to a seated position

"What's so weird about that?"

     "He has no shoes on and your writing in the book" I let out a scoff and looked down to the pages

"I was annotating the book "

"But that's a library book?"

"Oh right. Slipped my mind for a second" I said closing the book. Neil looked at Charlie who threw his hands out to the side and if I could see his face I'm sure it would read the expression of 'what can I say? She's crazy'

    "Right...Well dead poets meeting at 4:30" he said looking between us earning nods in response. He looked like he wanted to say something to me but rethought it and moved out of the doorway. I lay down and let out a breath before the door opened again and Neil looked at me with a gaze I'd never seen before.

    It was soft and unsure and almost like he didn't know what he was doing was right.

      "Phi? Could we go for a walk?" He said softly "I need to talk to you ?" I nodded to him

      "I just have to change. I'll come get you when I'm ready yeah?" I asked him softly as he moved out of my room before turning to look at charlie

      "You coming?" Charlie looked up from the ground to me and then to Neil as he nodded

     "Yeah I'm just gonna put on my shoes then I'll be out" Neil looked at him unsure before looking at me.

     "Make sure he's out of the room before you change"

"Obviously Neil" I said as he turned and shut the door behind him.

      Charlie turned to look at me and shook his head "we're gonna have to tell him soon" he said in a singsong voice

      I flopped back down on my bed and let out a sigh "I know. Can't we just stay in our happy little bubble for a little while longer?" I asked lulling my head to the side to look at him

      "Our happy little bubble?" He asked sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling on his shoes

       "Yeah, where no one has any opinions on us, and we don't have to worry about Nolan finding out. Or Neil getting angry at us. It's Just the two of us. No one else" I sat up and leaned my chin on his shoulder

       "I do love our happy little bubble" he said turing to look at me "but I'd much prefer not having to pretend I'm doing push-ups when he come in" he leaned down left a peck on my lips as I sighed.

      "You could always pretend to do sit-ups instead" I smirks as he smiled patting my leg

"Ha ha, I'm serious Soph"

      "Yeah you're right. Look just give me some time to figure out how to tell him yeah?" I asked as he half nodded "of course if you want to, you could always tell him" Charlie stood from my bed and turned back to look at me and if you didn't know Charlie you would think the expression on his face meant he was thinking deeply about something

      "I don't think that's the best idea, I think it should come from you seeing as your his sister" he said truthfully surprising me "he also won't get as mad at you And want to punch you if you tell him"

      "Get out" he leaned down planting a kiss on my forehead before grabbing his blazer and walking out the door

       I got up off the bed as the piece of bed cloth that Charlie had gotten caught in, captured my foot. I let out a yelp as my back hit the floor and just as I went to get up my bedroom door opened. I quickly grabbed my skirt pulling it so that it covered me.

     "Are you okay?" Charlie laughed as he stood in the doorway with his arms crossed.

     "Please leave" His laugh sounded through the room before the door clicked and I pushed myself up off the floor

      I found my shoes as I shoved my foot into the left  before I grabbed my Welton jumper and threw it over my shirt.

      I hopped out of my room , trying to push my other foot into the right stubborn shoe. I got to my brothers room and knocked then opened the door. Both Neil and todd moved away from each other quickly earning a look of confusion from me.

"Am I interrupting?"

"Uh- no" Neil protested

      "We were j-just talking" Todd stuttered looking between Neil and I. The top of his ears were beginning to go pink. I smirked at them knowingly before Neil moved over to me pulling me from the room and closing the door behind me

      We made our way down to the lake and the path where the bench was. It became clear to me what Neil now wanted to talk about. We sat in the quiet for a few moments before I broke the silence.

     "So...Todd" I said still looking out at the lake before turning to Neil

     Ladies and gentlemen my brother, blushed. Blushed!! "No, it's nothing"

     "Nothing?" He shook his head "Neil you forget that I've spent my whole life with you and know when your lying" he stayed quiet not meeting my eyes. "do you like him?"

      "No. No" I gave him a look before he looked at me "maybe. I dont know. It's complicated"

"I'm listening"

      "I-i think I love Todd" my face lit up as I looked at him "Its strange Sophie. Its like an invisible pull. Whenever I'm with him I'm so happy and I can be myself, I'm free. Its like I'm on top of the world and nothing can bring me down." A smile lit up his face as he spoke about todd "and I've never felt like this before. Never" he turned to look at me, the smile was so bright on his face it was like sun rays had attacked him.

"Really?"

"Yeah, bu-but I don't know so-"

     "Neil you have to tell him" I said turning towards him more.

      "I cant" he stuttered looking at me with wide eyes.

"Why not?"

      "I just cant, I mean can you imagine what father would say?"

    "Who cares what father says, What?, you think people stopped him from being with mother? No why should they? It's love. Look Neil, its different, it is. There's no promising that people are going to be okay with it but who cares. Why should you be judged because of who you love. Why should your love be any less important than anyone else's. Why because its not common? Because people dont agree with it? Fuck them Neil"

      "And what do you think?" He looked back at me and that vulnerability was back in his eyes and if I didn't know any better his eyes were beginning to tear up

"I think you should go for it"

     "You dont hate me?" A tear spilled onto his cheek as he waited for my answer.

      "What? Hate you?" I moved closer to him "Neil you drive me crazy and I wanna strangle you sometimes but I love you. I could never hate you and never for something like this. Like I said, it's love. You can't help who you fall in love with"

     It happened at once and his arms wrapped around me. I relaxed into the hug "thank you Phi"

      "Of course" I said squeezing him before letting go. We sat in silence for a minute again, a big smile on Neil's face as he wiped away the tears "And just so you know Todd definitely feels the same"

"Really?"

     "Oh yeah 100%" I smiled. He stood suddenly and bounced on his feet.

"I'm gonna tell him"

     "Right now?" I asked him as he nodded quickly "okay let's go get you your man" I said standing as we made our way back to the school.

    We made it up the stairs and towards the rooms. We stopped right in-front of Neil's and he took a breath before hugging me and going in. I smiled at the closed door and made my way down to my own. Checking the clock that read, 4:09, I had a few minutes before we went to the cave.

      I went to the bathroom and when I came out o got ready to leave but my bedroom door flung open and someone's body flung into mine, their arms wrapping around my waist. It took me a minute to realise who was now latched onto me but when I figured out who it was I straightened up hugging him back a bit.

     "Thank you, Sophie" he said straightening up

"I don't know what you mean"

     "You know exactly what I mean" he said shaking him head before stepping back

     "I'm going to assume since you're in my room hugging me, that you told him you loved him too" I laughed as he nodded.

    "Where is he now?" I asked him looking over his shoulder towards the door

     "Said he had to go get something" I pulled my eyebrows together "yeah I dont know either" he laughed.

     "Hey, are you guys coming or not?" A voice shouted from the hall, both of us looked towards the opening to see Charlie standing with a barrette and a saxophone. I laughed at the sight and grabbed my book before leaving with Todd.

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     When we got to the cave all the boys except Neil were there and they were all distributing pipes and tobacco. I rolled my eyes and waved my hand infront of my face at the scent and smoke.

     "Jesus, it's like putting your head down a chimney" I took a seat between Charlie and Knox.

     "Do that a lot, do ye Sophie?" Meeks said across from me trying to light his pipe. The others laughed as I shook my head.

    "You want some?" Charlie asked pointing it towards me

      "No thank you, I like my lungs" I opened the book and took out the bookmark as I read but got pulled out of the words as Pitsie began to cough

    "Attaboy, Pitsie. Inhale deeply" Charlie encouraged him as Meeks turned to look at us

"My dad collects a lot of pipes"

"Really? Mines got thirty"

      "Your parents collect pipes? Oh, that's really interesting" Pitsie sneered making me and Todd laugh as I looked towards Charlie

      "You sure that's just tobacco in those?" He smirked down at me then looked over my shoulder at Knox

     "Come on, Knox. Join in" the boy looked like he wanted to do anything but join in earning a sympathetic

     I sat up a bit with my book still in my lap, my left arm brushing against Charlie as his arm came around the my back

     "Yeah, Knox, we're from the government. We're here to help" Cameron said from the rock he was sitting on earning a chuckle from me.

     "What's wrong?" I asked him as all the boys tuned in around me

"It's Chris"

      Pitsie unfolded the playboy photo and put it in front of Knox. "Here's a picture of Chris for you"

     "Put that in your pipe and smoke it" Meeks said as I took the page from Pitts hands

      "Leave him boys" I warned them as Knox pointed the pipe at Pitts accusingly

     "That's not funny" a whistle sounded from my left as Charlie looked between the boys

      "Knock it off. Smoke your pipes" he said putting an end to the joking. All the boys stopped and sat back. I folded the page and put it behind me before patting Knox's knee and leaning back against the rock.

      Neil came in through the cave opening holding a familiar lamp "Neil" Meeks cheered looking back at the boy who made his way through us

      "Friends, scholar, Welton men, little sister" he finished as Charlie nudged me laughing and the others cheered at the look on my face

     "What's that Neil?" Meeks asked motioning to the lamp where Neil was now sitting over by Todd.

      "Duh it's a lamp Meeks" Pitsie replied smartly earning another laugh from me. For some reason since Todd had his breakthrough in Keating's class the whole group has become closer. I leaned forward inspecting the lamp.

       "Isn't that the old lamp, mother made father throw out cause it had a little man on the inside and it freaked her out?"

     "No, this is the god of the cave" Neil said pulling the shade from it to reveal the little man mother hated.

"There it is" I said still leaning forward.

      "The god of the cave" Meeks repeated as Charlie began playing the saxophone loud and out of tune. I turned my head away from the sudden noise before looking back at Charlie slapping his arm

"Jesus Charlie you trying to deafen us?"

"Charlie what are you doing?" Pitsie asked

      Charlie looked between us all as I settled back into the rock "what do you say we start this meeting?"

      I looked back down and began reading my book as Todd asked for a light. "God my earplugs?" Cameron asked as Charlie made his way into the middle with the saxophone

      "Gentlemen, Darling" Charlie said making me look up to him "poetrusic' by Charles Dalton" he said making me look back down shaking my head.

"Oh boy"

"He's gonna play" the boys complained

     Charlie began playing loads of notes out of tune as he turned slowly in a circle "laughing, crying, tumbling, mumbling. Gotta do more. Gotta be more" I laughed a bit as he began playing again out of tune he held a note at the end shoving it into Pitsie's face "chaos screaming, chaos dreaming. Gotta do more. Gotta be more!"

      Charlie pulled the saxophone up to his lips and I braced myself for more terrible notes. Surprised was an understatement when i heard the saxophone being played in an actually melody. I slowly lifted my head from my book and looked at him with my mouth agape. You could probably tell just how much I loved this boy by just looking at my eyes.

       He knelt down infront of a sullen looking Knox and finished the tune before messing up his hair. The minute he finished Todd began to clap and Meeks looked at Charlie amazed

"Wow"

"That was nice" Cameron said from his seat

      "That was great, where did you learn to play like that?" Neil asked Charlie as he took the seat beside me. He lightly rested his hand on my leg.

    "My parents made me take the clarinet for years"

"I love the clarinet" Cameron said from his seat

      "I hated it" the others laughed as I rolled my eyes looking at Cameron

      "I love the clarinet too" Charlie's head turned towards me and the gaze made me look back at him

      "Well maybe I should've kept it on then" I raised me eyebrows at him as Meeks and Todd let out whistles. I looked towards them shaking my head "the saxophone. The saxophone is more sonorous" my head turned back to Charlie with a surprised look on my face

"Sonorous?"

"Sonorous"

"Ooh"

       "Vocabulary" me and the boys said at once laughing slightly. Knox jumped up from beside me making me slightly jump too

"Jesus Knox"

     "I can't take it anymore. If I don't have Chris, I'm gonna kill myself" he said sitting up a bit as I put my head into my hand

"Jesus Christ not this again"

     "Knoxious, you've gotta calm down" Charlie said from beside me, his thump lightly rubbing my thigh. My eyes moved to Neil's who's eyes were squinted as he looked between Charlie and his hand

      "No Charlie. That's just my problem. I've been calm all my life. I'm gonna do something about it" he said standing making me look up confused.

"Where are you going?"

     "What are you gonna do?" I asked after Neil. Knox, who was halfway out the cave, turned back to us.

     "I'm gonna call her" all the boys grabbed their things and moved up from their seats as I did with mine

      "Holy shit, he's gonna speak to her" I said looking back to charlie, grabbing my book as I scrambled out of the cave after him, pitsie right on my tail, leaving the rest behind as Charlie began to play more tunes on the saxophone.

      We made it to the building and stood around the phone waiting for Knox to finish dialling the number. I stood Infront of him by the wall as I looked at him. A voice came through the other side and Knox hung up making me look at him confused.

      "Usually you have