Oh my sweet suffering Jesus, This chapter took me so long to write. I've been working on it since I published Chapter 5!!!!

But I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter!!!! DRAMATIC CHAPTER AHEAD!

Since I haven't done this yet... DISCLAIMER!: I DO NOT OWN SPRING AWAKENING... if I did it would still be running!

Hanschen's POV

As midterms grew closer and closer the more stressed I became. I wanted to explode! Ever since Melchior Gabor got expelled, the teachers treated me like him. Expected me to be the best student! And sadly, since Moritz died, the teachers had found a new target, Ernst. Now trust me here, Ernst was never and would never be considered as low as that boy. I personally would not allow it. The difference between Ernst and Moritz was that Moritz would fall asleep during class from sleepless nights, haunted by dreams or something because he was confused. He never listened to what was going on around him. I noticed the small things. Thankfully for Ernst, he had me. I made sure that he would never sink that low. And Ernst, unlike Moritz, wasn't confused about what was going on with him. Of course there was some internal conflict, between what his body was telling him and what his beloved Bible was instructing him to do.

On the brighter side of life, if there was one at the time, was that Christmas break was drawing nearer and nearer. Though for many people in our little sleepy town, Christmas usually meant midnight mass. We all loved the break for different reasons. I loved it because it relieved me of my stress. Georg loved it because he was always asked to play the piano for mass, which meant longer lessons with his beloved teacher; I never understood what he saw in that woman. Otto loved it for simpler reasons, that simpler reason being the feast that his mother put together Christmas night. As you can probably guess, Ernst loved it because of mass. He was the only our age that actually enjoyed hearing the same story; year after year. Truth be told, I never did like Christmas mass, it bored me half to death. Stories can become repetitive and over time, lose their meaning. And yet it amazed me that Ernst could sit still for such a long period of time listening to the same story over and over and over. He was simple in that way, easily entertained by something he loved.

But before we could get to break we had to get passed the midterms. My father always said, "Studying is the best way to ensure your future life," but with all the studying it was hard to believe I'd actually make it to that future life. I needed to relax or there was no way I was going to pass the test. Being shut up in your room on a Saturday for six hour studying never helped in the slightest. Thankfully, my mother saw my suffering and decided to "add a more pleasant experience to my studying hours," that was by far the best idea she ever had, though she never knew what she was getting into.

She invited Ernst over to our house; to be my study partner. You see, Frau Robel and my mother were extremely close friends, they grew up together and practically had their weddings within a week of each other, so when Ernst and I became "good friends" study sessions at one of our houses were set up frequently; thankfully for the two of us.

Celeste's POV

While setting the table for dinner on a Friday evening Frau Rilow tapped me on the shoulder.

"Celeste, we don't need that many places tonight," Frau Rilow stood behind me wearing a black dress that made her blue eyes stand out even more; she was fixing one of her earrings.

"Are you going somewhere this evening, Frau?" She nodded.

"Herr Rilow and I are going to a dinner party at the Lammermeier's," She finally got her earring fixed, "So; you only need three places tonight."

"Three places? But if you and Herr Rilow are gone, that only leaves Amalie and Hanschen."

"And Hanschen's friend." She said. I was puzzled.

"Hanschen's friend?" I asked her, she nodded again.

"Yes, he's a boy from school, Ernst Robel," The boy from the vineyard was Hanschen's friend? "They have their middle terms coming up and need to study. Can you also make sure that Amalie gets to bed by eight please?"

She walked out of the room and I picked up one of the plates so there were only three places. I thought to myself tonight will certainly be interesting.

Hanschen's POV

Ernst and I walked back to my house slowly, as if to savor the time we had alone before my parents and Amalie hounded the boy with questions. For some reason Ernst became even more tense around my family than he was around teachers. I guess it was because he didn't like to keep secrets from them or something, but he knew we couldn't tell them.

I put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a smile. He gave me an unsure one back.

"Don't worry Ernst, you've been over many times before, nothing has changed."

"I know it's just," he stopped, "every time I come over, and every time they ask me questions it gets harder and harder." He turned his head down and sighed, poor boy had a conscience that was way to overactive.

I grabbed his hand and pulled him off the open road into the brush and crushed my lips against his, to reassure him that this secret was worth keeping. He pulled back for air and smiled at me. I put my hand on his cheek and rested my forehead against his.

"Do not worry Ernst, it's going to be fine." He grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze.

"I know, I know." He pulled me back to him and kissed me again

We walked in the door and were greeted by my parents who looked a little too dressed up to be joining us for dinner. My father dressed in his Sunday best suit and my mother dressed in her favorite black dress. Ernst and I looked at each other with a slightly confused look on our faces. I cleared my throat rather loudly, my mother looked up from her purse which she was organizing and smiled.

"Hanschen, Ernst, good to see you boys made it home on time. We were just heading over to the Lammermeier's for a dinner party," Her voice was rushed, she looked as though she was in a hurry, "I would have asked you boys to come along with us, but we know that you have studying to do," My father rushed passed her towards the door whispering to her that they needed to go. She nodded and followed in suit, "Dinner will be on the table at six, Amalie needs to be in bed by eight, and Ernst," Ernst looked up astonished, "your mother and father will be at the dinner party too so you may stay over if you wish." She kissed me on my head, "I love you and have a good night boys." She walked out the door and shut it behind her. Ernst looked at me, dumbfounded.

"What just happened?" he asked pointing to the door.

"What just happened is that my mother and my father are both out of the house for the night, and Amalie will be asleep by eight and the house is pretty much ours." I gave him a sly smile and winked at him. He blushed, but then that's what I expected.

"Only pretty much," I heard a thick French accent come from the door way behind me. It was Celeste; her shoulders wrapped in a black shall to shield them from the chilly night air. Our eyes met for a second but hers turned down first and stayed turned down, "Your mother asked me to look after Amalie while you two studied." She looked up at Ernst and gave him a warm smile which he returned, "Dinner will be ready in a couple hours, I will call you down when it is." She walked passed us towards the kitchen obviously to help, she was carrying a small brown leather journal with her, I didn't think too much about the journal at the time. As soon as she was out of sight, I grabbed Ernst's hand and dragged him up the stairs.

"H-Hanschen, where are we going?" He yanked his hand out of mine and looked at me confused.

"We are going up to my room," his face went red, "to study. What did you think we were going to do?"

"I- I don't know," He trailed off; I grabbed his hand again and dragged him toward my room.

Celeste's POV:

I was working alongside my mother and Mrs. Manlady in the kitchen, preparing dinner. My mother and I were peeling potatoes while Mrs. Manlady worked on some sort of stew in a pot. There was an unhealthy silence settled over us only disrupted by the noises we made shuffling from one part of the kitchen to the next. I broke the silence, something was bothering me.

"So what is the story between Ernst and Hanschen?" I asked the cook.

She sighed and began to talk, "no one is quite sure. All I know is that in my fourteen years of working for Herr and Frau Rilow, never have I seen a tighter pair of friends than Ernst and Hanschen. It must be in their genetics, I suppose."

"Genetics?"

"Why yes, Frau Rilow and Frau Robel have been the closest of friends since they were little. Now that they both have sons I believe it's natural that they are friends as well." With that she dismissed the topic and returned to… whatever it was she was cooking.

Hanschen's POV

We had been studying for about an hour and a half. I was sitting at my desk with my Latin book in my hand, occasionally glancing over the top to see if Ernst was still working. He was lying on my bed bent over trigonometry work. He never seemed to waver from his enthusiastic studying. His patience amazed me. Mine however wavered and finally broke; I was bored. Suddenly a wonderful idea popped into my head.

I put my book down on my lap and glared at Ernst, "Ernst, stop distracting me." He looked up at me and gave me a look as if to say, "What are you talking about?"

"But, I'm not doing anything to distract you."

"Aren't you?" I sauntered over towards my bed, talking as I went, "You are in my room, sitting on my bed; wearing, shall we say, very well fitting clothes." I sat down on me bed next to him and leaned to whisper in his ear, "and there is nothing I can do about it." He visibly reacted by shuttering.

"Oh can't you?" it was my turn to be confused. I attempted to ask him "what?" but he captured my lips with his own. Truth be told, in the beginning I had been the instigator of, well, everything that happened between us. But after thorough large amounts of coaxing and "lessons" Ernst was becoming a little more, how do I put this, abrasive. And I loved it.

We stayed in that position, me straddling his hips while he leaned against by head board, kissing for some time, till a knock at the door forced us to break apart so quickly that Ernst almost fell off the bed completely. I ran and opened the door to see little Celeste standing there.

"Dinner is ready." She said and went to go grab Amalie from her room. I shut the door and let out a sigh of relief. I then looked at Ernst whose eyes were practically popping out of his head.

"That was close," I said, giving him a seductive smile.

"Too close," He corrected and hopped off my bed walking towards the door. He got passed me, until I grabbed him around the waist and pulled him too me and kissed him on his neck. He nearly melted there in my hand, but he quickly came to reality and pulled away, "too close," he said again, and once again started walking down stairs. I smiled at his back, tonight would be so much fun.

Celeste's POV:

I sat by the door of the kitchen during dinner so I could see the dining room. The idea of these two polar opposites being friends both fascinated me and frightened me. But I was more fascinated than frightened.

On one hand there was Ernst, who had been kind to me from the moment I met him. Who didn't stop talking to me until I mentioned that I worked for Hanschen. And then on the other hand was Hanschen, who I didn't think was capable of not talking down to everyone he knew. Who got off on control and used his intelligence against people. It was an act of nature that I had only heard about in stories and yet this friendship was portrayed right in front of my face. It was truly remarkable.

I didn't eat that night, I was sitting by the door of the kitchen simply because I was working on a drawing, or portrait really. I was drawing Hanschen. He was an interesting person, and one face that I certainly didn't want to forget. I was adding the finishing touches with my red pastel to his eyes when he called, "Celeste, we are finished you may clear the plates." I shut my book and went to clear the table. And that's when I noticed something odd.

Hanschen and Ernst were walking out of the room when I saw Hanschen give Ernst a smile. Not a caring smile like I had seen him give Amalie. Or that creepy smug smile he often gave me when I didn't do something perfectly. But this smile was, seductive? It stunned me. Truly it did. Once again my mind was thrown into a frenzy and began asking questions; questions such as, "What was going on between these two that they aren't telling anyone?"

Hanschen's POV:

The hours ticked by ever so slowly after dinner. Once I put Amalie to bed, the fun began.

I walked back into the room to see Ernst where he was before we were so rudely interrupted, lying on my bed looking at work for the mid-finals. He looked so stressed, well at least that was my minds excuse to "relieve him" of said stress. I shut my door and he looked up as I walked over to him.

"Now, where were we?" I asked him, kissing him forcefully. He pulled back after realizing what was happening.

"No," he rested his hands on my chest, "We were almost caught last time."

"Almost being the operative word," I grabbed one of his hands and kissed it lightly, "Amalie is in bed, asleep. The servants are in their quarters, most likely asleep as well. My parents won't be home till at least midnight. So who's going to catch us?" and with that my hands dropped to his waist and my lips found his neck. And with that, he gladly stopped worrying and began to … relax.

Celeste's POV:

I couldn't believe my stupidity. I had forgotten my journal in the kitchen of the main house that night. I didn't want to leave it just lying there; should someone spill something on it or, God forbid, look at it! I wrapped my shall around my shoulders and quickly ran over to the house.

I was glad to see it was where I left it; sitting on the counter. I let out a sigh of relief and grabbed it. I was walking out the door when I heard an odd noise coming from upstairs. It was a moan. It was coming from the direction of Hanschen's room, which made it even more suspicious.

I walked slowly towards Hanschen's room. The door was ajar and a gas lamp was still lit. I peaked inside the door and saw something I never thought I would ever see.

There on sitting on the bed was Hanschen and Ernst. Hanschen was kissing Ernst's neck. Ernst was lying back against Hanschen's head board, eyes closed. Both of their shirts were littered to the floor. I gasped, a little louder than I probably should have. I clamped my hand over my mouth and rushed out of the house as quickly and quietly as possible.

Every thing was so clear now, Hanschen and Ernst were together. My world had been turned upsidedown

BUM BUM BUM! *plays dramatic music* WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT! only I know, but only you can review this... SO REVIEW!!!!! and let it be known that this was MOST CERTAINLY not written in one day, if it was my life would be so much easier. R&R!!!!