A/N: Thanks so much for the lovely and positive feedback, guys!

CHAPTER TWO

It had been perhaps five weeks now since Moritz had failed.

He discovered life without school, no matter how troublesome and frustrating his classes were, was incredibly boring. Moritz felt he had nothing to do now while Melchior was at school, and then there was nothing to do for a while longer as his friend began to visit more and more with Wendla Bergmann. He had considered reading one of Melchior's books but they were a little too intense for him at the moment.

"Moritz, would you like to help me bake some pies?" Frau Gabor asked him after watching him stare at the wall for a half an hour.

"I'm so sorry… invading your house like this. I should be on my way and you can go back to your normal life without worrying about me or needing to care for me!" Moritz said quickly, standing up from the chair and facing his friend's mother. She had a strange, slightly concerned smile on her face.

"Moritz," she laughed, "it's our pleasure to allow you to stay with us as long as you need to. "We would be more worried about you if you had nowhere to stay."

Though Frau Gabor seemed very kind about it, Mortiz had noticed the way Herr Gabor had been impatiently eying him during dinner and a part of him worried that the show of kindness was not completely true.

Nevertheless, he accepted the pie-baking opportunity.

"Melchior seems to be coming home later these days. Have you noticed as well?" Frau Gabor asked casually as she slid a pie into the oven.

Moritz, now with an apron that made him feel rather unmasculine, nodded and uttered a simple, 'mmhmm' to agree. He couldn't help but feel replaced. Melchior was his best friend. What did Wendla Bergmann have that he didn't? The thought made a blush come to his cheeks as he remembered the essay and he quickly changed his thought process to a more decent topic.

"Thank you for helping me with the pies, Moritz," Frau Gabor said, untying her apron. Moritz slipped his over his head and nodded.

"I think I'm going to take a walk before it gets dark," he said. He wanted to see Ilse but he pushed that thought to the back of his head.

"If you see Melchior, would you tell him to come home?" Frau Gabor requested, dusting her hands off.

Moritz nodded his head.

He passed his house.

The lights were still on and he had a strong urge to peek into one of the windows just to see how his father was dealing with his son failing. He managed to pass by without doing any such thing. He didn't want to see his father. He wanted to see Ilse. Maybe he could stay with her… although her stories of Priapia were not especially safe sounding. It didn't seem like a place he could fit in so well. He had tried to meet Ilse there the week before and nothing good had come from it. He had seen Ilse passed out against a tree and an artist from across the road had yelled at him when he'd attempted to wake her up.

No, he wouldn't go there right now. Not when it was getting dark. He continued to wander about the town, seeing it as if with new eyes. He passed Georg's house and could hear the piano from inside as the windows were open just a crack. It sounded better than the last time he'd heard Georg play and he decided to lean against the side of the house for a while before he realized it was suspicious to stand outside someone's house for too long.

He walked by Hanschen and Ernst doing their homework under a large oak. A strange look was on Ernst's face as they greeted him and Moritz was a little confused about it at first.

"Moritz," Hanschen acknowledged him, "How have you been?"

"Fine, thanks," Moritz replied. It was a lie but he didn't want to give Hanschen any reason to think he was weak. "What are you working on?"

"Mathematics," Ernst said. "My formulas are all wrong and we've an exam tomorrow." Oh! Right. That explained the boy's behavior. He thinks I hate him because if he hadn't passed, I would've.

"Interesting."

"Yes."

"Mmhmm."

The conversation quickly slowed to a halt and Moritz decided to move along. He waved at them and left them to their formulas.

Anna, Thea, and Martha were picking tulips, gossiping amongst themselves quietly. As he got closer, he realized Martha was not really there and it was in fact Wendla. Wait. If Wendla was there, who was Melchior with?

"Have you seen Melchior Gabor?" he asked. While Thea jumped at the sound and Anna smiled, laughing silently at the reaction, Wendla kept a solemn expression that contrasted greatly. It was unsettling to Moritz and he had trouble looking her in the eye.

"I might know," she said. She walked over to him and explained a location that he recognized as soon as she finished describing it- a spot near the stream that he and Melchior had discovered when they were a bit younger. He remembered it having very good climbing trees but assumed that Melchior was doing something other than that.

"I was just curious. Thank you," he said and started to walk back to the Gabor's house. He turned around to see that Wendla was still watching him even as Thea pushed a tulip behind the girl's ear.

"Melchior will be home soon," Moritz said to Frau Gabor as she set a pie on the table. They had cooled while he was walking and smelled delicious.

As he and Frau Gabor ate some of the pie, waiting for Melchior to come home, Moritz let his thoughts stray from those of his own future.

He thought about Wendla Bergmann and her haunting stare instead.

A/N: So, I've got tech and performances for a musical this coming week and I thought I should write a chapter before I find myself with no time to do so. Here it is! Also, just as a note… Hanschen and Ernst have not had any "vineyard incident" yet. I think that is something that Moritz's death fueled (not the love necessarily but I think they realized that people really can die that quickly, y'know? And they're like, "what if I died and this person never knew how I felt?" or maybe "what if I died and hadn't ever experienced this?" if you think Hanschen has no soul. Maybe I'm just crazy...). Thought I'd clear that up because I don't want their relationship to be confusing in future chapters. Anyways, thanks for reading! I'll update as soon as I recover from post-show-sleep-deprivation.