A/N: Well, what do you know? My first FanFic, ladies and gents. Hope you like it. =D

Chapter 1

It was a beautiful morning in 1941. I woke up, ate breakfast, brushed my teeth, got dressed, said goodbye to Snowy, and then set off for school, like a good little boy. I would catch up with the rest of the group of boys I walked to school with. Then we would normally talk about trading cards, marble challenges, that sort of thing. But that particular day, they were unusually quiet. I asked Lucien, the eldest of us, what was wrong. He replied that nothing was wrong. There was just a new girl coming to school. In the small suburb of Etterbeek, in Brussels, new residents were rather uncommon. It was often hard to try and get along with them, and that just made it awkward. We only found out about the girl the day before the new term started again. Nobody had said anything about anyone new coming to our school, and we wondered why. But when we all saw her, we knew exactly why.

Her name was Rainer. Rainer Haddock. And she was an Afropean girl, the product of a mixed marriage. Her mother was a Congolese and her father was a Scotsman, so I was told. I'm pretty sure the class was thinking 'Wow, there's an African girl in our school!' And I don't blame them. 1941 was the second year into World War II, and the first year into our German occupation. All my Jewish friends and students in the school had disappeared. Africans were also not allowed in Etterbeek, and either lived separately from us or were in concentration camps, as Hitler wanted all Jews and Africans killed. Congo also happened to be a Belgian colony at the time...maybe that's why they accepted Rainer into our school. But anyway, back to the girl.

Rainer Haddock arrived in class last in line. I still clearly remember what happened. It was very lucky for her that our teacher, Mr. Talbot, was neither racist nor anti-Semetic. He once told our class that all people are equal, no matter what they looked like. We strongly believed it, too. Therefore, Rainer Haddock wasn't separate from the class and was forced to sit next to a European boy.

Me.

If I didn't know any better, I would have said she blushed when I smiled at her as Mr. Talbot gently pushed Rainer Haddock towards my desk. I slid further up my desk to make space for her to sit down. So she sat down, took off her bag, and unpacked her stationery.

"Hello," she whispered quietly.

"Hi," I whispered back.

There was a long silence between us. I studied her carefully, and don't take that the wrong way- everyone in the class was looking at her. She was very little, and must have been at least a year younger than me. Her little cheeks were ablaze with redness, and her hair was braided and tied back. She turned around and I pretended not to look at her. But I couldn't take my eyes off her. Even for a twelve-year-old like me that time, I would have said she was adorable. Rainer Haddock was so tiny, she could have passed for being an eight-year-old. After a while, everyone was back in their own work, absorbing history notes and practising maths exercises, when suddenly Mr. Talbot's voice boomed:

"Martin Remi! I know your new classmate is pretty, but would you carry on with your work, if you please?"

At that, everyone burst out laughing, while Rainer Haddock just looked at me out of the corner of her eye and smiled, her cheeks still red.

And so began the most memorable year of my schooling.

Sorry for the shortness. This was kind of supposed to be a prologue, but then it was decided that this should rather be a chapter because of its length.

'^ ^

Again, sorry. Oh yeah, R&R only if you want to!

LightsRemi