Neil had always been your closest friend. From the moment you two met, there was an effortless understanding between you—late-night conversations, laughter echoing through the halls of Welton, a shared sense of frustration at the expectations placed upon you both. Neil was just... Neil.

But then Todd Anderson arrived.

At first, you hadn’t thought much of him. Quiet, reserved, the kind of boy who looked as if he wanted to disappear into the wallpaper. Neil had taken an immediate liking to him, though. Said he had a good heart. That he just needed someone to pull him out of his shell.

Neil had always been like that—drawn to the quiet ones, the ones who needed a push. You had seen him do it before, taking people under his wing. But with Todd, something felt... different.

It wasn’t just that Neil was kind to him. It wasn’t just that he invited Todd to join the Dead Poets Society, or that he started sitting next to him at lunch. It was the way he looked at him. It was the way he always seemed to be talking about him, bringing up things Todd had said, things Todd had done, as if every little moment mattered.

And maybe you wouldn’t have cared so much if Neil didn’t suddenly seem so distant from you. The stolen moments you once had felt like they were slipping away. You weren’t the jealous type. You weren’t. But for the first time, you started to wonder if Neil even noticed how much things had changed.

The final straw came one evening in the dormitory. Neil had been bubbling with excitement all day, and you half-expected it to be about another rehearsal, another performance. But no.

It was about Todd.

“I got him to come to the cave last night,” Neil said, grinning as he sat on the edge of his bed. “And you won’t believe it—he actually read something. It was brilliant, I mean it.”

His enthusiasm was infectious, his smile wide and real—but something about it made your stomach twist. He hadn’t even noticed you weren’t there last night. Hadn’t noticed that you hadn’t gone to the cave at all.