*Author's Note: This is an old story, so it might not be as polished as some of my newer ones. It's also unfinished. If people like it enough, I might be inspired to start writing it again. By the way, this story and everything in it (well, almost everything) belongs to me. Please don't use it without permission from myself, the auther. Thanks and enjoy!*
Chapter 1:
Two Boys
Faith clung to her friend tightly. She didn't ever want to let go. Because if she did, she knew she would have to bid her family farewell, get on the plane, and leave her old life behind forever.
She was standing in the middle of the Tampa airport with her best friend Mandy, her parents, and her baby brother Ted. Her flight for Germany was about to leave. She knew she would have to soon, but she didn't want to stop hugging Mandy.
"I'll miss you so much," she whispered.
"Ditto," was all Mandy could manage to say. They were both nearly in tears.
They had known each other since kindergarten and had attended the same school for the past nine years. Now all that was about to change. Ever since they had started schoolteachers knew there was something not quite normal about Faith. Their guesses were right. Faith already knew how to read and write, multiply and divide (as well as add and subtract). By the end of kindergarten, she was on a third grade level. And by the 8th grade, her teachers were flustered. Even if they moved Faith all the way to the 12th grade, she still would not be challenged. Her learning surpassed their own ability to teach her.
For Faith was a genius.
Then, her parents learned of a boarding school in Germany, a school for geniuses, run by geniuses. It was perfect for Faith. Although very expensive, her parents were willing to pay. They were desperate to find a way for their daughter to nurture this extraordinary gift. There was only one problem. The school was for boys.
This did not stop them. All of Faith's teachers, the principle, her parents, even the mayor fought to get her into that school. They wrote letters, and eventually even took it up with the German president. After a year's hard work, a letter finally arrived for Faith Rogers, accepting her into the Germany's Finishing School for Young Men, as the first girl student ever in the history of it's existence.
It had seemed like a dream when she first received that news. But now, standing in the airport, saying goodbye, it was all too real.
Finally, Faith pulled reluctantly away from Mandy. She went over to hug her parents one last time. She kissed her two-year-old brother's fair head, and stroked his soft, baby cheek. Would he even remember her in half a year? Combing wisps of her platinum, silvery, waist-long, blond hair out of her green, gold-flecked eyes, she bent over to pick up her bag.
"Final boarding call for Germany! Final boarding call!" came a voice from a speaker.
Faith turned one last time to the girl with a black boyish haircut and brown eyes. "Write me, okay?"
Mandy nodded.
Then Faith turned and boarded the plane, before any more tears could escape. This was a drastic turning point in her life. She'd never been out of the town before, much less out of the country! Now she was going to live in Germany: another language, another culture, another country, and another side of the planet! She could speak German well enough. She had decided to learn when she was accepted and being a genius mastered the language within the three months of summer. And there were people at that school from all over the world, so it was not that she couldn't relate. But she would be going to school with all boys, would be terribly homesick, and was all of the sudden having second thoughts about this. But everyone had worked so hard to get her into that school, and she couldn't disappoint them. There was no turning back now.
Faith let the tears stream as she looked out her plane window. As the plane took off, she felt the warm, September-in-Florida sun fall on her face. She took a deep breath. "God help me," she prayed.
It took about nine hours to get there, after a stop in Paris, France. When she arrived in Germany she could tell by the sun that it was late afternoon. An escort went was waiting for her when she got off the plane. "Faith Rogers?" he asked.
"That's me," she replied in perfect German.
After claiming her bags, the escort led her outside the airport and opened the door to a limousine so she could step inside. The rest of the way they drove in silence.
It didn't matter to her, though. Faith was looking out the window and admiring the beautiful view of Berlin.
It was dusk when they finally reached the finishing school. It was a large and beautiful estate, set on 2,000 acres of wooded and cleared land. Two large iron gates blocked the entrance. Once through these gates, Faith could see several large buildings. Then her escort spoke.
"The largest building there, to your left is where you will be attending classes. Over this way, to the right, are the stables. Past those are the school-masters' building." They continued to drive. "And straight in front of us are the dorms. This is where you will be staying." All this he said in thick German, but Faith managed to understand.
He parked in front of the dorms and let her out. At the doors, a woman, tall and prestigious was waiting for them.
Faith shook her hand and the woman said, "I am the headmistress, Mrs. Baerstein. You will probably see me around the premises during the day, but you will not have me as a teacher." She spoke all this in German. "You are a freshmen, correct?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Very good."
Then Mrs. Baerstein continued to lead Faith into the building, up the flight of stairs, round the corner, and stopped at the second door to the left. As far as Faith could tell, no sounds at all were coming from any of the other doors. Mrs. Baerstein unlocked the door and opened it revealing a small, yet nicely furnished room. They stepped inside, and Faith saw that it had a bed, drawers, a television, a desk, and a bathroom - much like a hotel.
Mrs. Baerstein handed Faith a starched, clean-smelling uniform that had been pre-fitted for her. The escort set Faith's bags down on the bed.
"We will leave you now so you can unpack and rest," said Mrs. Baerstein. "We will be expecting you to be fully dressed, and at the morning assembly at 7:30 sharp." And with that, she turned and left the room, closing the door behind her, before Faith could ask her where in the world the morning assembly took place.
Faith woke up at seven the next morning. She had had a hard time falling asleep, and when she awoke, she almost forgot where she was. Then she remembered the assembly. She jumped out of bed and threw on her uniform. She wasted no time putting back her hair, but ran out of the room with her golden tresses flowing behind her. She wanted to be as early as she could, and she didn't even know where she was supposed to go!
As she ran through the doors of the building into the blazing, bright sunshine, Faith stopped dead in her tracks. Boys! Never had she seen so many boys! There were hundreds of them, all in uniform. Laughing, joking, talking with their friends, reading, and running around, none of them seemed to notice her. Faith suddenly wished she were back at her small school in Tampa.
Not knowing what else to do, Faith started walking blindly into the swarm of young en. As she passed, some stopped to look at her, then quickly looked away again. The assembly, she had to find the assembly. Was this the assembly? No, it couldn't be, there was no supervision.
She finally decided there was only one thing to do. She had to ask someone. She neared a group of six older boys standing near a picturesque brick wall. Taking a deep breath, she spoke.
"Excuse me . . ."
A tall, well-built boy with black wavy hair and hazel eyes, turned around. He gave her a look of absolute superiority, but said nothing.
Faith hesitated. "Um, could you tell me where the morning assembly takes place?" She was very proud of her German.
The boy continued to eye her and then he spoke. "Ah, you must be our first female student ever: Faith Rogers, I believe? From America, right? Welcome." His words were kind, but his tone was mocking.
"Yes, that's me."
Before she could say anything more, he said, "Well, then we have to give you our official welcome."
"Official welcome? What's that?"
"It's very simple, you see. Everyone who's new goes through it."
"Goes through it? Like a process?"
"That's right." He suddenly developed a devilish grin that made him look strikingly handsome. He motioned to his friends, and they all smiled as well.
"Yes," they agreed, "right this way. Please do come with us. After, we'll escort you to the assembly ourselves, we promise."
Faith didn't feel very good about it, but she didn't refuse. She had no wish to offend anyone of the first day.
They led her around the building and Faith took in the scenery. It was very beautiful there, with plants and trees and flowers. The sun and the breeze were warm. It looked very quaint with its brick walls going off into every direction, leading some where or another.
Eventually, they came t the stables. "Here we are," said the tall, handsome boy. "Step right inside," he urged, opening a large door to the stables.
"What's in here?" she questioned.
"You'll see, once you're inside. Just go on in."
Faith shrugged and stepped inside the barn. It was very dark and smelled of horses. Slowly, her eyes began to adjust. She could see there were stalls, some with horses, some without. There were piles of hay on the ground. The boys walked in behind her.
"I don't see anything . . ." she began to say
But suddenly she felt a tugging at her foot. She lost her balance and began to stagger. But she didn't fall on her face. Instead, she was pulled upward and found herself hanging by her left foot from a pole near the roof. The boys had somehow managed to attach a hook to hr foot that was tied to a rope. The rope went over the pole on the ceiling. With several of them pulling, they could hang her upside down from he roof. Luckily, Faith had been in such a hurry that morning, she had slipped her skirt on over her pajama shorts.
The young men began to laugh hysterically. The one with dark wavy hair said, "Have a nice day," and he turned and walked out of the stable. The others followed him, still laughing.
Faith couldn't believe her luck. They were actually going to leave her hanging here? She never thought it could be this bad.
"His name's Gregory Campton," a voice startled her form behind. A boy stepped out of the shadows. She hadn't noticed him before, but he had been there the whole time, watching her. "He and his little fan club love tormenting newcomers."
As he stepped closer and into the light, Faith saw that he was a tall young man, not quite as tall as Gregory. He had dark brown hair that fell into dark, dark, depthful eyes. He had a deep, yet soothing voice. He stood in front of her with his hands in his pockets, not smiling, very serious-looking. Although his tone wasn't mean, she could tell it wasn't friendly either.
"You had better stay away from him from now on -,"
"Um," she interrupted him, "could you . . .please . . .help me?" she asked sheepishly.
"I was about to do that," he retorted. "If you would have a little patience.
He walked over to the beam where Gregory's friends had secured the rope. Without ginger or caution he untied the rope from the beam and let it slide from his hands. Faith came crashing down on the barn floor. Fortunately, she landed in a pile of hay.
"Gee, thanks," she said flatly, forgetting her manners. Wouldn't you if you had fallen a yard on your head?
The boy shrugged and started walking away. Without turning around, he tossed his hand her way in what she believed to be a goodbye gesture.
"Take care, kid," he said.
Suddenly, Faith gathered herself and jumped up from the hay. "Wait!" she shouted after him.
He stopped and only halfway turned around to look at her.
Her voice softened. "Could you tell me where the morning assembly takes place?"
Without changing his expression, he answered, "In the auditorium of course." Faith looked at him blankly. He sighed, "Walk out of the stable, turn right, keep walking straight, and you can't miss it." He started walking again.
"Right," she said, trying to sound intelligent. She followed him out of the barn, but stopped at the door. She continued to watch him, a look of deep contemplation on her face, until he disappeared behind one of the endless brick walls.
"Strange boy," she murmured to herself.
And so went her first confrontation with Adam Dewman.
Chapter 1:
Two Boys
Faith clung to her friend tightly. She didn't ever want to let go. Because if she did, she knew she would have to bid her family farewell, get on the plane, and leave her old life behind forever.
She was standing in the middle of the Tampa airport with her best friend Mandy, her parents, and her baby brother Ted. Her flight for Germany was about to leave. She knew she would have to soon, but she didn't want to stop hugging Mandy.
"I'll miss you so much," she whispered.
"Ditto," was all Mandy could manage to say. They were both nearly in tears.
They had known each other since kindergarten and had attended the same school for the past nine years. Now all that was about to change. Ever since they had started schoolteachers knew there was something not quite normal about Faith. Their guesses were right. Faith already knew how to read and write, multiply and divide (as well as add and subtract). By the end of kindergarten, she was on a third grade level. And by the 8th grade, her teachers were flustered. Even if they moved Faith all the way to the 12th grade, she still would not be challenged. Her learning surpassed their own ability to teach her.
For Faith was a genius.
Then, her parents learned of a boarding school in Germany, a school for geniuses, run by geniuses. It was perfect for Faith. Although very expensive, her parents were willing to pay. They were desperate to find a way for their daughter to nurture this extraordinary gift. There was only one problem. The school was for boys.
This did not stop them. All of Faith's teachers, the principle, her parents, even the mayor fought to get her into that school. They wrote letters, and eventually even took it up with the German president. After a year's hard work, a letter finally arrived for Faith Rogers, accepting her into the Germany's Finishing School for Young Men, as the first girl student ever in the history of it's existence.
It had seemed like a dream when she first received that news. But now, standing in the airport, saying goodbye, it was all too real.
Finally, Faith pulled reluctantly away from Mandy. She went over to hug her parents one last time. She kissed her two-year-old brother's fair head, and stroked his soft, baby cheek. Would he even remember her in half a year? Combing wisps of her platinum, silvery, waist-long, blond hair out of her green, gold-flecked eyes, she bent over to pick up her bag.
"Final boarding call for Germany! Final boarding call!" came a voice from a speaker.
Faith turned one last time to the girl with a black boyish haircut and brown eyes. "Write me, okay?"
Mandy nodded.
Then Faith turned and boarded the plane, before any more tears could escape. This was a drastic turning point in her life. She'd never been out of the town before, much less out of the country! Now she was going to live in Germany: another language, another culture, another country, and another side of the planet! She could speak German well enough. She had decided to learn when she was accepted and being a genius mastered the language within the three months of summer. And there were people at that school from all over the world, so it was not that she couldn't relate. But she would be going to school with all boys, would be terribly homesick, and was all of the sudden having second thoughts about this. But everyone had worked so hard to get her into that school, and she couldn't disappoint them. There was no turning back now.
Faith let the tears stream as she looked out her plane window. As the plane took off, she felt the warm, September-in-Florida sun fall on her face. She took a deep breath. "God help me," she prayed.
It took about nine hours to get there, after a stop in Paris, France. When she arrived in Germany she could tell by the sun that it was late afternoon. An escort went was waiting for her when she got off the plane. "Faith Rogers?" he asked.
"That's me," she replied in perfect German.
After claiming her bags, the escort led her outside the airport and opened the door to a limousine so she could step inside. The rest of the way they drove in silence.
It didn't matter to her, though. Faith was looking out the window and admiring the beautiful view of Berlin.
It was dusk when they finally reached the finishing school. It was a large and beautiful estate, set on 2,000 acres of wooded and cleared land. Two large iron gates blocked the entrance. Once through these gates, Faith could see several large buildings. Then her escort spoke.
"The largest building there, to your left is where you will be attending classes. Over this way, to the right, are the stables. Past those are the school-masters' building." They continued to drive. "And straight in front of us are the dorms. This is where you will be staying." All this he said in thick German, but Faith managed to understand.
He parked in front of the dorms and let her out. At the doors, a woman, tall and prestigious was waiting for them.
Faith shook her hand and the woman said, "I am the headmistress, Mrs. Baerstein. You will probably see me around the premises during the day, but you will not have me as a teacher." She spoke all this in German. "You are a freshmen, correct?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Very good."
Then Mrs. Baerstein continued to lead Faith into the building, up the flight of stairs, round the corner, and stopped at the second door to the left. As far as Faith could tell, no sounds at all were coming from any of the other doors. Mrs. Baerstein unlocked the door and opened it revealing a small, yet nicely furnished room. They stepped inside, and Faith saw that it had a bed, drawers, a television, a desk, and a bathroom - much like a hotel.
Mrs. Baerstein handed Faith a starched, clean-smelling uniform that had been pre-fitted for her. The escort set Faith's bags down on the bed.
"We will leave you now so you can unpack and rest," said Mrs. Baerstein. "We will be expecting you to be fully dressed, and at the morning assembly at 7:30 sharp." And with that, she turned and left the room, closing the door behind her, before Faith could ask her where in the world the morning assembly took place.
Faith woke up at seven the next morning. She had had a hard time falling asleep, and when she awoke, she almost forgot where she was. Then she remembered the assembly. She jumped out of bed and threw on her uniform. She wasted no time putting back her hair, but ran out of the room with her golden tresses flowing behind her. She wanted to be as early as she could, and she didn't even know where she was supposed to go!
As she ran through the doors of the building into the blazing, bright sunshine, Faith stopped dead in her tracks. Boys! Never had she seen so many boys! There were hundreds of them, all in uniform. Laughing, joking, talking with their friends, reading, and running around, none of them seemed to notice her. Faith suddenly wished she were back at her small school in Tampa.
Not knowing what else to do, Faith started walking blindly into the swarm of young en. As she passed, some stopped to look at her, then quickly looked away again. The assembly, she had to find the assembly. Was this the assembly? No, it couldn't be, there was no supervision.
She finally decided there was only one thing to do. She had to ask someone. She neared a group of six older boys standing near a picturesque brick wall. Taking a deep breath, she spoke.
"Excuse me . . ."
A tall, well-built boy with black wavy hair and hazel eyes, turned around. He gave her a look of absolute superiority, but said nothing.
Faith hesitated. "Um, could you tell me where the morning assembly takes place?" She was very proud of her German.
The boy continued to eye her and then he spoke. "Ah, you must be our first female student ever: Faith Rogers, I believe? From America, right? Welcome." His words were kind, but his tone was mocking.
"Yes, that's me."
Before she could say anything more, he said, "Well, then we have to give you our official welcome."
"Official welcome? What's that?"
"It's very simple, you see. Everyone who's new goes through it."
"Goes through it? Like a process?"
"That's right." He suddenly developed a devilish grin that made him look strikingly handsome. He motioned to his friends, and they all smiled as well.
"Yes," they agreed, "right this way. Please do come with us. After, we'll escort you to the assembly ourselves, we promise."
Faith didn't feel very good about it, but she didn't refuse. She had no wish to offend anyone of the first day.
They led her around the building and Faith took in the scenery. It was very beautiful there, with plants and trees and flowers. The sun and the breeze were warm. It looked very quaint with its brick walls going off into every direction, leading some where or another.
Eventually, they came t the stables. "Here we are," said the tall, handsome boy. "Step right inside," he urged, opening a large door to the stables.
"What's in here?" she questioned.
"You'll see, once you're inside. Just go on in."
Faith shrugged and stepped inside the barn. It was very dark and smelled of horses. Slowly, her eyes began to adjust. She could see there were stalls, some with horses, some without. There were piles of hay on the ground. The boys walked in behind her.
"I don't see anything . . ." she began to say
But suddenly she felt a tugging at her foot. She lost her balance and began to stagger. But she didn't fall on her face. Instead, she was pulled upward and found herself hanging by her left foot from a pole near the roof. The boys had somehow managed to attach a hook to hr foot that was tied to a rope. The rope went over the pole on the ceiling. With several of them pulling, they could hang her upside down from he roof. Luckily, Faith had been in such a hurry that morning, she had slipped her skirt on over her pajama shorts.
The young men began to laugh hysterically. The one with dark wavy hair said, "Have a nice day," and he turned and walked out of the stable. The others followed him, still laughing.
Faith couldn't believe her luck. They were actually going to leave her hanging here? She never thought it could be this bad.
"His name's Gregory Campton," a voice startled her form behind. A boy stepped out of the shadows. She hadn't noticed him before, but he had been there the whole time, watching her. "He and his little fan club love tormenting newcomers."
As he stepped closer and into the light, Faith saw that he was a tall young man, not quite as tall as Gregory. He had dark brown hair that fell into dark, dark, depthful eyes. He had a deep, yet soothing voice. He stood in front of her with his hands in his pockets, not smiling, very serious-looking. Although his tone wasn't mean, she could tell it wasn't friendly either.
"You had better stay away from him from now on -,"
"Um," she interrupted him, "could you . . .please . . .help me?" she asked sheepishly.
"I was about to do that," he retorted. "If you would have a little patience.
He walked over to the beam where Gregory's friends had secured the rope. Without ginger or caution he untied the rope from the beam and let it slide from his hands. Faith came crashing down on the barn floor. Fortunately, she landed in a pile of hay.
"Gee, thanks," she said flatly, forgetting her manners. Wouldn't you if you had fallen a yard on your head?
The boy shrugged and started walking away. Without turning around, he tossed his hand her way in what she believed to be a goodbye gesture.
"Take care, kid," he said.
Suddenly, Faith gathered herself and jumped up from the hay. "Wait!" she shouted after him.
He stopped and only halfway turned around to look at her.
Her voice softened. "Could you tell me where the morning assembly takes place?"
Without changing his expression, he answered, "In the auditorium of course." Faith looked at him blankly. He sighed, "Walk out of the stable, turn right, keep walking straight, and you can't miss it." He started walking again.
"Right," she said, trying to sound intelligent. She followed him out of the barn, but stopped at the door. She continued to watch him, a look of deep contemplation on her face, until he disappeared behind one of the endless brick walls.
"Strange boy," she murmured to herself.
And so went her first confrontation with Adam Dewman.