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Meeks was completely ecstatic.
As he scurried down the few corridors leading to his dorm room, the corners of his lips quirked into a grin. Walking the short route from Nolan’s office that he knew all too well, he kept his hands gently clasped around the small animal nestled in his hands. Cupped between his palms was a small, Egyptian tortoise. His new tortoise.
He'd always dreamt of having a pet; what young boy hadn’t? He’d spent years listening to the other boys tell countless fervent stories about their own dogs or cats. Whilst they spoke, he’d nod along politely, trying to mask his childlike pang of jealousy that would inevitably arise at every fond memory recounted to him. But, every time he had brought the prospect of a pet up to his parents, he was shut down with comments about allergies, or a lack of space, or another excuse that he had to fight the urge to roll his eyes at. Now, after months of relentless begging - and a few heavily researched powerpoint presentations - they’d finally given in. Whilst it wasn't a dog or a cat - hell, Meeks thought, it was probably better - it was something. It was his.
He allowed his mind to play over how he would break the news to others. Just the thought of what his friends would say, especially Charlie, made him pick up the pace of his steps as he rounded a corner.
Approaching his and Pitts' dorm, he pushed the door open with his free hand and cradled the tortoise towards his chest. Pitts looked up from where he was stretched out on his bed, an open history textbook long discarded by his side. This crashed to the ground with a thud as he sprung from his position to see what his roommate was holding. Upon seeing the animal, his eyes met Meeks', wide with excitement.
His eyes darted between the beaming Meeks and the tortoise resting in his hands, and he approached the boy with an expression of wonder. "You finally won them over?"
"Only took three and a half years." A chuckle escaped Meeks as he collapsed onto his bed, laying the reptile in his lap. Its’ head tentatively poked out from the top of its shell and as it craned its neck to take in its surroundings, Meeks knew he couldn’t have asked for anything more. He supposed it was silly - holding the creature he’d had for less than two hours in such a high regard, but the wave of joy that engulfed him pushed the thought out of his mind quicker than it had appeared. He mindlessly traced the patterns of its shell with a finger, tracing the smooth plates with a lazy smile.
“Guess I should probably tell the others hm?”
-
The group all sat in a rough circle surrounding their newest addition.
Todd sat at the head of Meeks’ bed, laying against the headboard as Neil rested his chin at an awkward angle on his shoulder (not that either of the boys seemed to mind). Cameron was perched at the end of the bed, eyeing the creature warily as it slowly explored the dorm room. He didn’t quite share the same level of excitement as the others, casting a glance over to Pitts who sat backwards at his desk chair with a content expression. Knox and Charlie were sprawled across Meeks’ bed, bickering between themselves as they struggled to get comfortable. Meeks sat in the valley of the two beds, cross-legged on the worn, dull floorboards. He watched his new friend with intense fondness, refusing to pull his eyes away for even a second as it meandered around the sparse room.
Cameron picked tensely at his thumb nail. “I can’t believe Nolan’s letting you guys keep a tortoise. I mean, what if it goes missing? What if you can't look after it properly? What if-”
“They'll be fine, Cameron." Neil interjected, flashing a teasing grin at Meeks. "Meeks knows what he's doing, he's a smart boy.”
Meeks nodded at this, pushing his glasses further up his nose as he turned to face Cameron. “He’s an Egyptian tortoise. They’re supposed to be easy to take care of, and they only grow a couple of inches, anyway.”
“What are you gonna name it?” Knox questioned, raising his head from its resting place on the wall. Everyone's eyes fell on Meeks as they awaited an answer.
“I don’t know." He crinkled his nose slightly and shrugged. "Haven’t really got around to that yet.”
Instantly, the entire room began throwing suggestions at him, which became progressively more outrageous with every answer. Neil started to list off characters from various Shakespeare plays, as Cameron argued with Charlie over his crude suggestion, and Pitts adamantly proposed that the best pets were pets with human names, like Fred. It wasn't until Todd faintly put forward an idea that the group began to quieten down.
"What'd you say?" Neil shot him a reassuring smile from his spot next to him and nudged the blonde boy's leg gently with his own, prompting him to speak.
With a slightly nervous breath, he repeated himself. "Walt. I just thought that,” he shrunk slightly under everyone’s gazes, but opened his mouth again to continue. “I just thought that we could call him Walt. Y'know, like Walt Whitman?” His face flushed a little, and he looked as if he regretted his answer almost immediately. The look of panic promptly faded as he was met with a chorus of appreciative noises. Even Cameron nodded along with the group, commenting that he liked it.
“Walt it is.” Meeks declared, letting his eyes wander back over to his tortoise. Walt . Meeks couldn't think a better name for it if he tried. It was the epitome of everything he loved, a reminder of the six boys he'd become so close to, and the feeling of freedom he felt every time he entered the cave across the stream. Yeah, Meeks thought. Walt was perfect.
“So,” Charlie began. “Meeting. Tonight. We're gonna celebrate our newest member." A familiar smirk crept onto his face as he continued. "We have to initiate him into the society somehow. He can be our guest of honour.”
Meeks produced a noise of disapproval.
"We can't take him to the cave, are you serious?"
"Of course we can. If we just-"
"Charlie, put him down!"
With an over-dramatic sigh, Charlie reluctantly placed Walt back onto Pitts' bedsheet. He sat back against the wall and stroked the reptile's head gently, almost as if communicating a silent apology for disrupting his peace. He muttered complaints animatedly under his breath, but had enough of a poorly concealed smirk to let the others know he wasn't at all serious.
“Oh c’mon Meeks, how’s he gonna be a member of the Dead Poets Society if he can’t even come to a meeting?” Knox protested, watching Charlie deliver his complaints to the animal by his side.
Knox's comment was taken as a sign for the other poets to begin pleading. Meeks buried his head in his hands with a groan, trying to block out his friends attempts at persuasion. Pitts had begun repeating 'please' over and over, dragging out the sounds longer and longer each time with further desperation. Charlie and Knox were grinning at what they'd started, knowing that Meeks would cave in eventually. Neil had even gone as far as to detach himself from Todd's side and drop to his knees in front of his friend, his hands clasped together as he began begging. As convincing as it was, Neil was an actor for a reason, Meeks refused to budge.
"Nope. He's staying here and that's final."
-
It was not final.
It was a few hours after curfew when Pitts and Meeks began to get ready for their meeting. Meeks attempted to hide the heat lamp in his coat, slotting it under his arm and holding Walt securely in the other palm, mumbling to himself about how stupid this was and how he was bound to get caught, and God his parents would never trust him again. Pitts had laughed at this, and placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to reassure him. After the pair were certain Meeks would be able to safely carry everything to the cave, they slipped out of their room and followed the group across the courtyard and into the forest.
About twenty minutes later, they'd arrived at the cave and fell into the routine they'd become accustomed to over the past few months. Neil led the group through their opening message, and Walt was situated towards the centre of the cave. He lay on top of an old, knitted jumper provided by Todd, who worried he'd be too uncomfortable on the cave's floor. Meeks propped the heat lamp up and adjusted it accordingly, ensuring Walt would stay at his necessary temperature.
In keeping with Charlie's claim that Walt was the guest of honour, Whitman seemed to make up the majority of their readings that night. Charlie leafed through the copy of 'Five Centuries of Verse', his fingers tracing lines on the well-loved pages with a furrowed brow. After a minute, he smiled coyly and cleared his throat.
"Gentlemen, an excerpt from 'Song of Myself', by Whitman." He spun on one foot and sunk down to be level with Walt, holding his head high as he read.
"I think I could turn and live with animals,
they are so placid and self-contain'd,
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth."
The boys cheered loudly and Cameron letting out a low whistle as Charlie bowed before them and shot a wink in Meeks' direction. Meeks was smiling so hard his cheeks were beginning to hurt, but as he looked around at his friends and his new pet he realised he wouldn't change anything for the world.