March 10, 1941

The first day of class takes a nasty turn for the boys

Hersch "

Monday, March 12, 1941

            It’s been a long slow day, but somehow I haven’t found a minute alone for writing since I got off that bus. It’s after midnight now and I’m writing in my bed with the lamp from the desk.

My roommates are unusual, though no more unusual than me, I guess. Jim’s American, which makes him unlikeable around here even though he seems to be the most normal of us. Gabe is all right, but really quiet. But we’re all quiet at this point, and of the three of them I fell like he’s the one who wouldn’t be an a*****e if he actually talked. Erich scares me. He seems just like the Germans from back home. Or he would be if he ever opened his mouth. He’s said the least so far, so hopefully I haven’t made an enemy in him yet.

I’m starting to worry. Maybe I’m not so safe here. Dad always told me we would be safe in England, if I ever made it. But now that I’m here, I’m more on edge than ever.

S**t. Jim’s moving around. I think I woke him up. I should turn out the light. Classes start tomorrow. It looks like we all have British History together first period, so I guess I’ll be getting to know my roommates a little better.

…

Gabe "

            I woke in the morning to the pounding of feet as they rushed across the ceiling. Hersch sat up slowly, blinking confusedly at the wall, and Erich started awake above me as dust from the ceiling crumbled on to him. Jim rolled over and continued to snore.

None of us could seem to remember where we were. It took a minute, but it dawned on Hersch first. “S**t!” he exclaimed, “S**t, what time is it?” It occurred to me a second later and I scrambled for my watch.

“Goddamn!” I said once I could focus my eyes long enough to read the time. “It’s almost eight!”

“Eight?” Erich’s roar from above made me jump. “F**k!” He hit the floor in front of me as we all scrambled out of bed.

We rushed to our uniforms, barely remembering which pieces we were supposed to have. No one remembered Jim until we had peeled off our nightclothes and gotten reasonably dressed. “Get up, a*****e!” ordered Hersch, who, again, was the first to notice what the rest of us had forgotten. He tossed the tan slacks and white shirt at the lump, which started awake and almost slipped off the top bunk. Erich was the first one out the door, pulling his sweater-vest over his head. I was behind him, tripping over my feet and fumbling with my tie, then Hersch, glasses askew, sliding along in his socks with half-naked Jim at his heels.

We scurried through the halls for a long time, since apparently no one knew where we were actually going. We were looking for room two-fifteen, and I was the first one to spot it. Confused and out of breath, I yelled, “Eccola! Eccola! Due quindici!”  This obviously made no sense to anyone, and the next thing I knew, someone hit me behind and I went flying through the air, smashed my face into Erich’s rock-hard back, and tumbled through the door.

…

Jim "               

            Apparently, I was the last one to realize that we had slept too late and woke to the blinding slap of clothes to my face and a rush of activity on the floor below. It occurred to me a split-second later and, after nearly tumbling off the bunk, chased them out the door wearing only the shirt that had blinded me a minute before and trying frantically to get into my pants.

            We raced up the stairs and through the halls as I tried to avoid dropping the rest of my clothes. There was no one left in the corridors. Everyone else had obviously made it class on time. But now the problem wasn’t that we were late, but that none of us actually knew where we were going. What no one had bothered to tell us was that the damn building not only a hundred rooms but also three floors. We had the room number on our schedules, but we had no idea where it was.

            After a few minutes of running and a hell of a lot of stairs, Gabe yelled something in Italian which no one else understood until we saw that he had found the class we were looking for. Unfortunately, Hersch was about to turn the wrong way and stopped short when he saw the room. I hadn’t seen him stop and ended up toppling over him. Hersch slipped on his socks and skidded into Gabe, who flew ahead into Erich’s back just as he opened the door.

            We collapsed in a heap, swearing and yelling at each other until someone cleared his throat. We looked up together to see a furious-looking professor and a gawking class of boys in front of us. The four of us stood up, dusting ourselves off while we looked at the ground. “Well,” said the professor after a good long minute, “I see our new students need no introduction.” The class sniggered and he " the professor " hardened his tone. “Have a seat.”

            We kept our eyes down and slunk to our seats, which were unfortunately all next to each other. Erich, seeming uncharacteristically kind for a second, took a tissue from his pocket and handed it to Gabe, whose nose had started to bleed. But when the three of us gave him confused looks, he returned to his distinctive hunch-shouldered scowl, an attitude that we all soon reflected.

            That was how we spent the remainder of first period, ignoring the patronizing glances from the rest of the class and glaring at the short, annoying professor while he rambled about the monarchy. When we were finally released, the four of us got up and went our separate ways without a word. Second period turned out to be the only class of the day I didn’t have with any of them, something about classic literature, and I managed to catch a few minutes of sleep while the professor droned on.

            It was noon by the time class got out and I was starving. We were marched to the dining hall, a huge, high-ceilinged room with dozens of tables and full of guys. Despite the extravagant setting, though, we were all given just a sandwich. I eventually figured out that the rations in England were even sparser than the ones at home. I sat at a deserted end of one of the long tables, close to some of the guys I’d seen in the other classes but nowhere near any of my roommates (who I noticed were sitting in equally isolated areas).

My next class, Geography of Africa, was further away from the dining hall than I thought it would be. By the time I got to the room, seconds before class started, the last seat left was next to Hersch. We didn’t say anything to each other but exchanged skeptical looks while the tall, nasally professor assured us that the entire continent was both demonic and completely uncontrollable. I realized it was the first time I had seen him look the least bit pleasant. He walked out of class a step behind me and totally silent, though, letting me know I hadn’t made such a great impression on him after all.

We all had the last period of the day together, which turned out to be some kind of biology. Fortunately, or unfortunately (whichever way you want to put it, I guess), everyone else was already in their lab groups of four, and we were stuck together.

…

Erich "

            It was pretty damn clear that no one was happy about being put together as a lab group, especially after the incident of that morning.

My attempt to detach myself from my roommates was not working out. I just wanted to be alone. I wasn’t good at dealing with people, even if they barely said more than I did. I got edgier and edgier the longer I stayed with them and Biology seemed to go on forever. By the time the last bell rang, I was so tired of Hersch’s disheveled appearance, Jim’s accent and Gabe’s staring at me that I was about ready to explode. Looking back on it, it was definitely my fault that things unraveled the way they did that day. When it happened, of course, I blamed them, but it’s impossible to argue that I wasn’t eager to start a fight.

            When we were released, I still wasn’t free of them. Jim and Hersch walked together, a step ahead of us, and Gabe shadowed an inch behind me. He was irritating me the most of anyone, mainly because I couldn’t figure out why I didn’t like him. Back home, it was always best to know your enemies, and not knowing if Gabe was a threat was unnerving.

“So, German, huh?” he started, confusing me even more with his implacable accent. “It must be pretty rough over there,” he continued when I didn’t answer. “How’d you get here then, if you don’t mind my asking?”

He could not have possibly done anything to provoke me further. The last thing on earth I wanted to do with this weird guy I had just met was talk about Germany. “What’s it to you?” I grumbled, trying to keep from boiling over on him.

He shrugged, oblivious to how he was infuriating me, “Nothing, just wondering. I guess you weren’t the kind of guy I expected to meet here.”

For some reason, that was what put me over the edge. I turned to him angrily. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I demanded, giving him a push. “What kind of guy did you expect to meet here? Huh? Someone you could flip over and f**k in the a*s?”

I wasn’t sure why I chose that particular insult, but Gabe shrunk back like he’d been hit, looking away and biting his lip. “I’m not saying anything.”

I took another angry step towards him, fists clenched. Gabe was smaller than me; it would be an easy win. But Jim and Hersch were between us in a second, blocking any blow I could have thrown at him. “Come on, guys,” Hersch said, “Just let it go.” He looked me meaningfully in the eye and I realized he was probably stronger than I had thought. “He didn’t mean anything by it.”

It angered me more than anything that he had tried to calm me down. I shook him off my arm, turned away from them and spit. “Don’t f*****g touch me, you Jewish b*****d.”

“Hey!” I don’t know who actually yelled it, but it made me turn. Even though I was ready for a fight, Hersch was faster and I felt the sting of his punch to my face before I could respond. I moved in to return it, but he ducked and I got Jim in the gut. And when he jumped at us, Gabe tried to pull Jim out of it and got himself thrown forward between Hersch and me.

I guess we were all too angry to think straight, otherwise they probably would have been smart enough to gang up on me. I fought through the mess to get my hands on Gabe, my original target. I didn’t care if I won or lost at that point. Fighting was the most natural thing in the world to me and it was the only way I had ever been able to feel good about myself. At that point, it didn’t matter who I was hitting anymore. I had to let it out.

Only when a whistle blew did we break it up. A crowd had gathered around us, a crowd that was broken by the man with the whistle. He was tall and had a huge grey beard and a bald head. He looked at us disdainfully from behind his glasses and waited for us to stand before he spoke.

“You four,” he said affectedly, “come with me.”

We followed, keeping our eyes down and trying not to appear injured. Gabe’s nose was off center, Jim was badly winded and I could feel my cheek starting to swell where Hersch, who seemed mostly unharmed, had hit me.

 We followed the bald professor into the main building and up the first flight of stairs. His office was large and clearly intended to be intimidating, though nothing about it bothered me. He sat behind the large, dark desk and the four of us pulled up chairs in front of him.

The professor waited along minute to begin. “So, you’re the new students.” It was not a question. “I am Professor Knight, headmaster of Wellington’s.” He waited another few seconds, probably to try and make us appreciate his title. “I had intended to welcome you to the school, but I see you’re all already rather comfortable.”

When none of us said anything, he went on. “Now, I understand that you all come from very different places. And believe me, it was never my intention to group you as dormitory-mates. But, circumstances being what they were, I had no other choice. It is rare that students are accepted for only a semester, and I don’t think any of you appreciate your good fortune. And what none of you seem to understand is that, as new students, your standards must be even higher.” He turned to Hersch with purpose, “especially you, Mr. Abrahamson.” No one dared to ask what he meant by that, so he went on. “And that means no more skipping class, and absolutely no fights.”

“Sir, we weren’t trying to skip…” Gabe was the first one to speak.

“Also, the wearing of shoes,” he cut Gabe off and looking again at Hersch, “as well as pants, Mr. Banhart,” he looked at Jim who flushed and continued looking down, “is a necessity, since apparently that was not made clear this morning. Understood?”

 Though he said it perfectly seriously, it sounded so ridiculous that I could tell I wasn’t the only one near laughter as we nodded and said, “yes, sir,” in unison.

Professor Knight leaned back and smiled. “Good,” he said. “Now, I’m hesitant to punish you on your first day of class, so if you’re out of my office in the next,” he looked cynically at his watch, “oh… three seconds, I’ll let this slide.”

The four of us leaped up and nearly knocked over our chairs as we galloped out of that office. We then stood uncomfortably together in the hall for a minute. I looked at Gabe, wishing I had it in me to apologize. Instead I gestured to his nose, which looked a little broken. “You want me to fix that?” I asked, for lack of anything better to say. I knew it sounded strange and more than a little creepy, but it was honestly the best I could do.

The awkward silence that followed was agonizing. They all gave me an odd look and Gabe recoiled away from my extended hand like I would hit him again. “No,” he said. “No, really, it’s fine.”

No one followed me back to the room, making it the first time I had really been alone since arriving at Wellington’s. I climbed into the bunk and lay on my back, covering my face with my hands.

I had already messed things up, probably beyond repair. I had hardly been at school for a day and I had already proved I didn’t belong there.

I had thought I was under control. I hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone. I had wanted to badly to forget life back in Germany, to start over as a person who wouldn’t hurt anybody, who didn’t rush into a fight over nothing, who didn’t relinquish emotion by attacking the first person who looked at me the wrong way. I had tried to tell myself it wasn’t my fault, that out of Berlin I would be able to be whoever I wanted to be, as long as I was far away from the people who made me that way.

But I had already failed. And if I couldn’t do it, if at the end of the spring I was still like that, I would have to go back home. There was no other choice.

Author's Note

So, I wasn't planning on posting any more until I had a better idea of how I was going lay it out, but I'm stuck with a nasty case of writers block and I figured it might be good to gage reaction. Enjoy!

Reviews

[Arianna]

i really like how you get to know all four of them in each chapter. its a little confuseing but im sure as i keep reading the book ill sort it all out. i really like it, all four boys have something about them ... something intriugeing that i want to find out. im hooked.
i really enjoyed that you changed perspective troughout the day, so it wasnt just one person telling you what they did that day. :) onto the next chapter!
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[Coyote Poetry]

The chapter was entertaining. I like how their day begin. I like how the day was described in detail. Your words made me feel like I was a part of the story. A excellent chapter.
Coyote

[Jake Donald Stephens]

Again, a very strong chapter. At first I was concerned about the frequent POV switches, but you're actually making it work quite seamlessly, as it helps the reader become familiar with all four boys and keeps the perspective fresh. You've succeeded in hooking me to this story, and more important, I am sure it would appeal to a wide audience as well. Just excellent work. I will be reading more very soon.

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[hannah]

i really enjoy this, I love how plain weird and awkward teen guys are :) i liked their rush in the morning, it was fun to read :)

[LostinKristina]

I thought the last chapter was a little bit better,
but this still held my interest.
I can't wait to get to the the next one.

[trish420]

I'm glad you did! I stopped checking when nothing was added LOL :-)
I really like it.... I'm a little slow and still working on getting everyone down but that comes with time I suppose. It was interesting to get a better glimpse at Erich's POV hinting at deeper issues was good, you know there's more but haven't given away the secret yet. I like the dynamics you have created between them too, it's hard to write a fight and you did a great job of it. Can't wait to get to know them better!