It was the start of another year at Welton ─── or Hellton to the closest one. There was a new English teacher, Mr. Keating, as a replacement of Mr. Portius since his retirement.

After a long and rather painful lesson with Mr. McAllister in Latin, the students finally had a chance to meet the new teacher. As everyone got seated in their assigned seats ─── you sitting behind Richard Cameron, and close to Neil Perry and Gerard Pitts, while the rest of the group was scattered around the classroom. But it didn't matter much; All of them were good friends.

However, you quickly spotted a new face in their classroom, sitting close to the window while fidgeting anxiously with his sleeve. You spoke to Neil before and he said the boy was his new roommate ─── Todd Anderson, was his name. He was cute, even though Cameron called him a stiff earlier. The rest of the boys ─── Charlie Dalton, Knox Overstreet and Steven Meeks ───, along with Neil, already invited him to the study group after class.

Mr. Keating finally made his appearance in class after a couple minutes, with a shirt and tie but no jacket. He set his briefcase down on his desk and quietly assesses the classroom filled with young faces, before he shouted.

"Ha! Nimble young minds!" ── He seemed rather energetic for a teacher, but he was just in his thirties. The other teachers were on their 50s and above. John Keating's enthusiasm made the other students curious.

"O Captain, my Captain!" ── He recited, eyes sparkling with mirth as he looked around the class. ── "Who knows where that's from? Anybody?"

The silence in the classroom was loud, not a single person raising their hand. "Walt Whitman... about Abraham Lincoln." ─ You thought. You knew the answer, but were too hesitant to say it out loud.