***This was loosely inspired by The Lovings and their legacy. The story is dedicated to them and every interracial couple who endured in far less tolerant times. This takes place just after Brown v. Board of Education, in 1957.

The story takes places in a fictional town in Vermont. The school is also fictional.

CHAPTER I: THE FIVE

——————————————————–

Nathan Fulton settled down in his easy chair to read his wife's latest book, a semi-autobiography called To Sleep in the Arms of Equity.

Though his eyes found every word his mind drifted easily…

____

Ashwood opened a day early that year. There were rumors that the school was to be integrated. Though no one knew for sure.

"Well," thought Nathan.

"I'll have extra time to unpack and settle into my dorm."

Ashwood was the most exclusive private school in the nation. Students had access to an education that spanned from ninth grade through graduate university courses, if they so chose. Specialized as it was, offering that many levels was a necessity.

Money alone would not allow entrance. A child had to have skipped at least two grades through his or her own merit. And the admittance officers had to find at least one subject in which the student consistently turned in prodigy level excellence.

For Nathan, this was mathematics. Equations seemed to almost solve themselves for him. Those few that didn't were a challenging pleasure, something he did for fun in his spare time.

Mathematics were his life. Nathan knew the answers could not be debated. They were absolute and universal for everyone. He loved it, not simply because it came easy to him, but because it was the most logical subject in the world.

Nathan was now seventeen, two years into his collegiate studies in most subjects at graduate level in mathematics and science.

Nathan Fulton was an enigmatic boy. A pair of spectacles hid large thoughtful brown eyes, framed by expressive dark eyebrows. He only needed them to read, but he liked them. They reminded him of one his favorite musicians, Buddy Holly.

His thick black hair was too long, but well-groomed. It was always careful parted and combed. If he'd cared more about his looks, he would have gotten more attention from the girls on campus. …Of course, he hadn't come to the Academy for girls.

As it was, many still could see the potential behind the black-rimmed glasses…Especially those who attended the school's track-meets where it just wasn't practical to wear glasses.

He was on the track team, but he didn't excel. A reserve member, the only benefit was that his body was in amazing shape, as typical of the sport.

He was in school based solely on his merit, having earned a full scholarship to attend. His single working-class mother couldn't have been more proud.

___

Ben, Nathan's friend and roommate knocked briefly on his door before letting himself in.

"There's a meeting in the auditorium, starting in five minutes. We're all required to attend."

Nathan sighed deeply and followed him.

____

A very severe looking older woman stood at the podium. She was the very definition of icy blond. With hair nearly white-blond from age pulled taut back from her face and wrinkles set into a permanent down-turned sneer, she was an intimidating looking figure.

The Chancellor, Dr. Alice Kensington, cleared her throat and the entire auditorium fell silent.

"I'm sure many of you are wondering, why you are on our campus early, this year."

Kensington gripped the podium, her eyes firmly set.

"Well, if you've been following the news, I'm sure you have heard about the plight of the colored citizens of our nation."

A few students whispered at this, as if this were confirmation of the rumors that had been floating throughout the school.

Kensington waited for it to stop, before she continued.

"…What you have heard, is true. We will began an integration program this year, beginning with five gifted colored students. We have opened the school early, allowing the students to better orientate themselves to our fine Academy."

Kensington paused, allowing the students a moment to take that in.

"…I trust that you will show them that we are as enlightened as this school purports us to be. I will not tolerate any manner of bigotry in these hallowed halls. …As a school for the gifted, we should be beyond that."

She adjusted her spectacles. They sat precariously on the end of her upturned nose.

Nathan looked around. Though, no one said anything, he could see there were many angry, disgusted, faces in the auditorium.

Nathan thought about this. The Academy was located in a entirely white area. In fact, he hadn't seen one non-white face since he began attending school here. No wonder, the head mistress was giving this speech.

"Dr. Kensington…" A stout blond boy stood up. "Why couldn't these students have stayed in their colored schools?"

"Well, these students have been tested. Their intellectual gifts have far out-stripped the capabilities of their own schools, or they would have stayed. We were the ones who convinced them to come here." Groans were audible throughout the auditorium.

"Sadly, our government provides little in the way of funds to colored schools….We could not, in good conscience allow these gifted students to continue to receive substandard instruction. We will nurture them here."

A pretty auburn-haired girl, Nathan had dated briefly the previous year was now standing.

"But, Dr. Kensington, has it not been proved that the intellect of the negro is simply substandard by nature? Even if they are gifted by the standards of their race, would that not be closer to that of the average student?"

Kensington adjusted her glasses. "Rebecca Mayhew, when I said they have been tested, I meant it. In fact, all five of them easily outstripped you in the IQ test."

A smattering of giggles reverberated throughout the crowd. Rebecca sat down, red-faced.

Kensington held up a hand.

"They are here."

Everyone quieted.

Kensington, turned and beckoned backstage. "Please, allow me to introduce: Fred Gale, Jasmine Coolidge, Janine Preston, Thomas Elton, and Anita Scott."

The five students filed out onto the stage, to a few bold hisses, which were quickly quieted by a stern look from Kensington.

Fred was a large well-muscled medium brown boy, who looked to be about sixteen. His conked hair was parted down the middle.

Jasmine was so light, they probably would not have known she was colored, had she not been introduced as such. She had hazel-green eyes and only a slight olive tone to her freckled skin. The only feature that gave her away were the generous waves in her jet-black hair.

Janine was a smiling round-eyed, faced, and bodied girl of the same medium complexion as Fred.

Thomas looked very young, no older than thirteen, Nathan guessed. He was a shade lighter than Fred and had yet to shed all of his baby-fat. He seemed to be focusing all of his energy on looking as mature as the others.

Nathan's eyes fell on Anita. She was statuesque and very elegant-looking. "…beautiful…" he thought and quite graceful. She carried herself like she was above it all, but she didn't seem snobby. It was a difficult juxtaposition, but it seemed comfortable on her.

The darkest of the bunch, her skin the color of stained mahogany. Her eyes were wide and clear and slightly upturned at the corners. Her cheeks were high and round, though she was not smiling. He could see that as openly optimistic as Janine looked, Anita looked wary and skeptical. He didn't blame her.

Though all of the negroes onstage looked neat and clean, she was neatest of them all. Her hair was styled-up into a high bun. Not a hair was out of place.

She wore a starched royal blue dress that was cinched at her waist and wide at her calves, as was the fashion. On her feet were bobby socks and shiny patent leather shoes. In her ears, she wore tiny pearl studs, which stood out against her skin.

"These are the first negro students to join our campus…Welcome!"

Finally, Kensington's severe expression broke. She smiled and gave each student a hug.

As she began to applaud, many of the students joined in, Nathan included. A significant number did not.

____

Nathan trekked across campus, his mind occupied by something other than his studies, for the first time in a long while. The fact that colored students were on campus, piqued his curiosity. He had known very few in his life and only then, in passing.

Though, their struggle in this country did thoroughly intrigue him. He had read Phillis Wheatley's poems, Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery and Fredrick's Douglass' Slave Narratives, just to name few.

…His mind kept wandering to the girl on the end.

____

He was almost to his dorm, when he noticed the pretty one, Anita struggling with a beat-up old black leather bag.

As he passed, he heard a few of the students giggling at her. She ignored them, focusing instead on her unwieldy bag.

Before he could think better of it, Nathan walked over to her and grabbed the handle of her bag.

It broke off in his hand. The other students, renewed their laughter, this time even louder.

"Thanks, but I'm fine." Anita didn't bother to look up.

"Come on. It's obvious you need help-"

Anita cut him off… "Look, it's not that I don't appreciate your offer, but I think you've seen how many folks see my kind." She said, taking her handle from his hand, deftly avoiding skin-to-skin contact.

"…It just wouldn't be wise for you to be seen around me."

Nathan took a breath. "Well, perhaps I've come to the conclusion that being a decent human being matters more than what bigots think of me."

He surprised even himself with that.

Anita really looked up at him for the first time then, her eyebrows raised.

"-This boy must be really stupid.-" she thought shaking her had.

"Okay." She sighed, skeptically. "My dorm is this way."

He gathered her heavy awkward bag into his arms and lumbered clumsily behind her.

All of the students they passed stared openly and whispered. Many gasped and one of them even spit at her.

She nasty glob landed on her dress, but she kept walking. Nathan had wanted to help her clean it off, but he could see she was strong in her resolve to not let them see it ruffle her.

So, he ignored it too.

___

Her dorm turned out to be an old abandoned house, long ago used by a now defunct fraternity. The house was across the street from the campus police and the Chancellor's office. For their safety, he presumed.

She was quiet for most of the walk, which was almost three fourths of a mile. He grunted and strained with her bag.

"What do you have in here?" He asked, breathlessly.

"Books." She replied, shortly.

He dropped the bag on the front porch. The old house was literally falling apart. It's painted facade was chipped and even crumbling with decay in some spaces.

"I'm sorry, I can't carry it anymore. My arms feel like lead." He said, shaking them out.

"My name is-"

"-Thank you." She said and without looking at him she dragged her bag quickly inside.

He stood for moment blinking, his hand still extended.

He listened as the others greet her "I would've waited if I'd known you were having trouble with your bag…" and then turned to leave.

___

"Nate!"

Ben caught up to him, just as he reached the middle of campus.

"Jesus Nate, what in heck are you doing?"

"Just helping, is all." Nathan shrugged.

"People are talking. You walked with one of the colored students?"

"She needed help."

Ben sighed. "Look. All I'm saying is you've got a rep to maintain…I've already had somebody ask me if you were a nigger-lover."

Nathan stopped at that, an incredulous look on his face.

"My rep? Nobody cared about what I did before. That they do now says more about them than it does about me."

"Well, you've singled yourself out this year, buddy." Ben said, as he clapped him on the back.

He shook his head, sighing, "I'm just worried for you is all."

"All I did was help her with her bag. It's not a big deal." He said, calmly. "Since when is helping somebody wrong?"

"Since you helped one of the colored kids."

___

"I don't know about this…" Anita said as she looked around the dusty house.

Janine walked around… "Oh come on, we can spruce it up." A mouse squeaked by, causing her to yelp.

"With what, Janine? We ain't exactly rich." Fred said.

Jasmine shyly supplied, "Well, my daddy might help."

Jasmine had an upper-class family with a large home, in the colored section of The Hamptons. They were among the wealthiest colored families in the country.

"Maybe that white boy'll help her…" Fred said.

Anita gave him a hard look that made him drop his eyes.

"I don't know him and I don't care to."

Thomas came jogging down the steps. "You guys! You won't believe the view from the attic!

I bet we can see every constellation from up there, with the right telescope."

"And where are we going to get a telescope?" Fred asked.

Anita sighed. "Look, we just need to keep our noses in the books and stay out of trouble."

"-Says the one who brought a white boy here." Fred said sarcastically.

"He came on his own. I didn't bring him." She said, her voice hard and low.

"We all are going to get it bad from these white folks. I don't need it from you too, Fred."

"All's, I'm saying, 'Nita.-"

Anita put up a hand. "'All', you're saying, Fredrick. We need to watch our grammar. You know they think we're a bunch of dumb niggers. Let's not prove them right."

"I don't care what these crackers, think!"

"Then leave, Fred!" She said, her eyes flashing with anger.

"We have an opportunity to make history here, to be an example of the best of our race. Inspire others…You are a fool, Fredrick, if you don't take it."

He frowned like he was going to say something else, but he sighed instead. "You're right."

"We got to stick together… Help each other." He added.

The next day, the campus seemed quieter. They'd learned that about ten percent of the student population had simply packed their bags and left.

"Great!" Thomas said "The less there are, the fewer we have to face trouble from."

"That means we have to be that much better." Anita said. "So, they'll realize it was worth it, allowing other colored students to follow."

___

The next morning was the first day of classes. Their schedules were arranged so at least two of them were in every course they had. Kensington had wanted to do as much as she could to prevent them from feeling alienated because of their color.

Anita and Jasmine walked to their first class together with a campus policeman following closely behind.

No one spit this time, but they heard slurs as students walked by. Jasmine got it especially bad…They seemed to really fear her white features, because she looked so much like them.

She understood that it was because it made them question their own blood. So, "-white nigger bitch!-", became a familiar refrain to her.

Their first subject was a freshman college course, AP History 101, though they both were only fifteen. It had been a grueling experience. The professor spent the whole class talking about various studies and writings throughout history, dissecting the innate inferiority of the negro race.

Of course, they both offered counterpoints at every turn, but they were shouted down and even marked down for their efforts. The students who had done the shouting, went unpunished.

____

Anita moved on to her next class, AP Literature 101, with Thomas.

As she sat down at her desk, the two students on either side of her got up and moved to other desks.

Thomas sat next to her on her left, sighing heavily…On her right side, a familiar boy wearing glasses, took his seat. The immediate whispering that ensued, reverberated throughout the room.

Anita shook her head at the irony.

She turned and gave the white boy a warning look, but he stubbornly remained. He even greeted her.

"Hello, Anita…?" He leaned over so she could hear him. "I was rude when we met. I forgot to introduce myself."

"I'm Nathan." He held out his hand, again.

Thomas peeked around, staring at them both, his eyes wide.

She looked conflicted. Her well-instilled manners clashed with her desire to protect him.

So, she compromised. As quietly, as she could, she said… "You know my name. Thank you.", indicating with a flit of her eyes, that she would not be shaking his hand.

Still, it felt like the whole room was watching them.

A gorgeous woman strode into the classroom, her head held high, her hair full of wild dirty blond curls. She had a distinctive long nose that suited her face, light brown eyes, and a heart-shaped pout. A pencil was planted firmly behind her ear. She wore all black, from head-to-toe.

Two of the male students said "-hubba-hubba-" eliciting a smattering of giggles.

She held up her hand.

The classroom immediately quieted. Anita had never been so relieved to see an instructor.

"Good Morning."

She took the pencil from behind her ear and placed it on the podium. Then she walked to the chalkboard and wrote down three names.

Trudy Bronstein

Anita Scott

Thomas Elton

"What do these names have in common?" She asked.

The classroom remained silent, as the students poured over the names.

A student raised her hand. "Is there a kind of code in the lettering?"

"Good guess, Rebecca, but no."

She stood for five minutes, in complete silence, waiting.

"Shall I supply the answer?"

Anita raised her hand. Everyone turned to look at her.

"Thomas and I are colored, Professor…'"

She cleared her throat and spoke clearer. "The first name has a Jewish surname. I believe the answer is this: All of the names belong to people who would face bigotry."

Trudy smiled.

"Correct."

"I am Professor Trudy Bronstein.", she said. The two boys who had ogled her when she came in, were now beet red.

"I am a Jewish woman. My eldest aunt and cousins were rescued from a concentration camp in Poland…Twenty of my relatives, from infant niece to grand-uncle were systematically executed during the German occupation."

She let that sink in.

"I will not tolerate the same thought processes that endorsed their murders to be perpetuated in this class. Am I clear?"

She never raised her voice, but what she had said created an impact as though she had..

"When I ask question, I expect a response."

A student got up, looked at her significantly and left. It had been one of the boys who had ogled her.

"Anyone else?"

Five other students followed. She waited.

"No one else?…Are you sure?" She said this last with a smile. "Good. This means you have heard my primary condition for gaining knowledge, in my class and you will abide by it. We have an agreement."

There were many, Anita knew, who were quietly seething at their desks. Rebecca was one of them.

"We are all human beings. I am sure many of you hold prejudices, -believe one or more of the races to be superior to others, but that has nothing, I repeat nothing to do with your decision to inflict hate on one another."

She shook out her thick hair and leaned on her podium.

"All I ask, is that you treat another human being as you would have them treat you."

"-Even your pets get that much." She said, coldly.

Many students looked down at this, squirming at their desks. Rebecca and a few others keep their eyes level.

"Now, -let us begin…"

____

As Professor Brunstein's class let out, both Anita and Thomas lingered. It had been an incredible class, the first they hadn't been bored in, in…forever. They wanted to thank the professor.

Nathan also lingered at the door, absently running a hair through his hair. As the students filed out, many followed Nathan's example and introduced themselves. A few even apologized.

Thomas, smiled happily. Anita, let out a breath but kept her guard up. They still weren't willing to shake hands.

"Professor?"

"Hmm?" She said as she stacked her papers.

"Thank you."

Trudy looked up, and smiled. "This is only the beginning. You know it will get harder."

Anita sighed and nodded.

She reached out and squeezed Thomas' shoulder, encouragingly. It was the first time a white woman had touched him. Sympathy passed through her eyes, as she imagined a twelve year-old having to deal with this.

"I hope you're prepared."

___

Nathan leaned against the wall beside the classroom door, waiting. As Thomas and Anita exited, he touched her arm gently.

"Wait."

She stopped and looked down, until he got the message and dropped his hand. He had no idea what he planned to say, just that he wanted to talk to her. …He should have thought this through.

She stood back, her arms crossed on her chest.

"I – I just wanted…That was a great class, wasn't it?"

Thomas pointed to his watch and walked backwards down the hall behind Nathan, doing a modified "You're Dead." pantomime at his neck. His variation was with a noose instead of the cutting motion.

"…I've been trying to get into her course for a year.-" Nathan continued. "You must extremely bright to have gotten in, your first year."

"I had to be bright to get this school."

"Right."he said, pushing up his glasses. "Of course. I knew that."

"-What do you have some kind of death wish or something?", she asked sharply, her brow furrowed.

"I – just want to get to know you. That's all."

"I'm sure…" She said, look in her eyes, indicating what she thought he was after.

"No, it's not like that.-"

"I'm not going to be your token, either, Nathan."

"Jesus, Anita, can't a person just want to get to get to know you?!"

"-Not if he's white." She snapped.

"…I see." He said, nodding.

"You want to fight bigotry by inflicting it? That makes sense."

She huffed, narrowing her eyes. "You just don't get it."

"Then help me, get it!"

She paused a moment, looking around. He had a moment's hope that she might bend.

Instead, she said… "That's not my responsibility." and left him standing in the hall.