First day of junior year. I finally decided to take my little language fix to the next level. Somewhere between buying France and creating my own language. So I finally decided on somebody from another country to help and to be helped with my addiction in return. Maybe this would quench my thirst to know every word ever spoken and to be able to compare it to every other word.

As soon as I got to school that day, I marched determinedly up to the secretary's desk and asked. "Can I help one of the foreign exchange students?" nearly the same time as a boy standing next to me asked, in a thick German accent, "Can I find someone to help me to my classes?" We looked at each other and laughed, then at the lady, who nodded. C'mon I'll help you find your locker." I told him. He was rather good looking; dark hair, fair skin, and almond shaped brown puppy eyes. He was about my height, too, so rather short.

"Yeah, Its locker A030. Danke. Oops sorry, slipping back to German. Danke means…"

"Ooh, it means thank you." I said, and then blushed at my outburst. "Sorry, I get a little, um, eager around languages. Freakishly so if you ask my friends."

"That's cool. I can teach you some German if you want." I smiled as he continued. "What other languages are you interested in?"

"Ooh, you'll be sorry you asked that," I said with a slightly wicked grin. "Lets see, French, Spanish, German, Latin, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Ukraine, Italian, sign language, Braille, Greek, Hindi, Kanaden, and basically any other language on the face of the earth that I can get my hands on." He laughed again. "We'll, I can help you learn. I used to work for a circus and we occasionally visited other countries on our tours."

"That is so cool! I don't even think I've been to Canada. Oh, I don't even think I've told you my name. Its Beth."

"I'm Kurt, Kurt Wagner." We both seemed to realize at the same time that we'd stopped walking. "C'mon ill show you where your locker is. Ya know, I just realized its right next to mine. I hardly ever used my locker last year." I made a swipe for his hand to pull him along, but he pulled back. "Sorry" he said blushing "I'm not much one for physical contact."

"Know whacha mean. I usually never let guys get within 5 feet of me, but sometimes I forget when I'm having fun." We smiled at each other again. After I showed him the finer points of using an American made lock, which was 50% luck and 50% getting the dial exactly on the number, we realized that class would start in less than 3 minutes. We practically flew down the halls. "Where's your next class?" "S-003." "Hey, that's mine too."

We made it to our class just in time to find adjoining seats by my friends Jenn and Andy. All the classes Kurt and I had before lunch were the same. During lunch everyone sat outside to enjoy the fading summer and to ask Kurt what he liked best about America. After a few minutes of casual discussion of ho-hos and other hostess products, I noticed an ominous figure walking towards our table. I quickly pointed him out to everyone else. "Crud you guys! Do you see who that is?"

"Oh no! Its stalker Dan!"

"Was es stalker?"

"Its someone who follows you around and who wont take no for an answer." I tried to explain. "Kurt, pretend like we're a couple. That should scare him off. Drape your arm over my shoulder. " He gave me a quick hesitating look, but must have seen the pleading in my eyes because he did so." Stalker Dan walked over and eyed me suspiciously. "Hi, this is Kurt. He's new here from Germany," Kurt tilted his head slightly in a small nod and said "guten tag." Dan was continuing to eye us. He seemed to shake himself out of it for a second when he said; "Can I sit with you guys." *Somehow* there was no room. Andy was sitting with Good Dan, Liz with Jenn, and Staci had her backpack next to her. Of course I was next to Kurt. Dan threw one more suspicious look at me and walked away. The rest of us dissolved into laughter, even Kurt, who probably didn't have the slightest idea what was going on. I quickly explained that stalker Dan was, well, a stalker who could not figure out that I didn't reciprocate his feelings of deepest love. All too soon the bell rung and Kurt and I rushed off to our afternoon schedules, which also happened to be identical.

After school let out I took Kurt out to where the busses were. "I have no idea what bus I'm supposed to take or even how to get home once I do figure out what stop I'm supposed to get off at."

"You can follow me home, and then I can show you around all the cool places here. There's like two of them now." We stopped at my house and I shouted to my mom that I was going out to lunch with a friend and wouldn't be home till later. "One problem, Beth. I've never ridden a bike in my life. I don't even own one."

"You can have one of ours, no one will miss it. And I'm sure you'll be able to pick it up fast. Its not too hard, granted you can balance." I didn't even have to teach him anything, he was so good. I don't think he wobbled once. "Hey, this is easy!"

We decided to stop at burger king, one of the few places to eat in Warrenville. Kurt ordered what seemed to be half the menu. "American food is so delicious." We sat by a window, where Kurt pointed out where he lived. It was an apartment complex across the street. "My rooms on the upper right. It's a place for kids to live so they can go to school here and still live without their families. It's like a boarding house." "Hey, Kurt what time is it? We could see if we could catch a movie. I think there's a good one playing at 4."

I reached over and tilted his watch so I could see the face, bumping a couple of buttons in the process. "No, Don't!" Kurt flickered and I caught a glimpse of something blue and furry with very pointy ears and yellow eyes before it vanished in a puff of sulfuric smoke. Kurt was gone too. I couldn't see him anywhere, but he couldn't have just disappeared.

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First chapter done! Hehehehe, it gets MUCH more interesting, especially when some new discoveries are made. I can put up the next one whenever I please, so be nice! J