A/N: Oh my god, guys. I feel kind of awful about how I didn't update for a whole year. That whole 'chapter per month' idea didn't work out very well and my summer turned out to be—oh, who am I kidding. I'm just horrible at this whole 'regularly updating' shindig. I'm sorry! Please don't stone me.

CHAPTER SIX

With Thea and Wendla's voices still in his ears, Moritz continued walking. He realized as he passed his old house that he could very well just sneak in and put the gun back, but then he began to think about how it would appear to have a missing gun show up out of the blue, covered in mud and grass. After a long enough while, he decided that the river seemed like a good place to dispose of the gun. It would get swept away and he'd lose track of it.

He was drawn out of his thoughts when he saw Martha down the road. When they passed each other, they exchanged a quiet greeting and Moritz tried to not look at the taller girl's split lip. He wasn't sure where his confidence had gone, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to hug the girl like he had the other day.

Martha, Wendla, Thea... they all seemed to be so open about things with each other. They seemed so much easier to get along with than boys. Moritz thought back to the essay Melchior had written him, letting himself really think about how the other boy had portrayed girls. While Melchior certainly knew that there was more to them than just legs and breasts, he talked about them as if they had to be treated much differently than boys. Moritz was beginning to think that maybe he knew more about girls than Melchior, a concept that was nipped in the bud when he remembered how he had awkwardly confronted Ilse.

Still, he had gotten a hug from Martha Bessel while she cried, hadn't he? That was something.

He could hear the quiet rush of the river now. He walked around a few more trees and looked down to see the water drifting past. The current was relatively slow and calm, and Moritz almost wanted to just sit down and listen to it instead of throw a gun into it. With impressively still hands, he pulled the little gun from his pocket and dangled it over the water as if he was threatening it. Pressing his lips together into a flat line and closing his eyes, he let go and listened to the plop of it hitting the water.

When he reopened his eyes, he was displeased to find that he could still see the gun. It had only drifted to the bottom of the river and was glinting up at him in the sunlight. He had been hoping to feel a wonderful freedom when he got rid of the gun, but he felt relatively the same.

Shoving his hands as deep as he could into his pockets, Moritz headed back to town. He had to get his mind to a better place, he thought, and maybe he would be able to catch Melchior early if he hung around the school. Assuming Melchior would even want to see him, that was. It was just as likely that his friend would disappear in a mysterious way and not show up until a few hours before daylight.

His afternoon was soured when he spotted his father from a distance. Despite how he had been treated, Moritz still felt like he should apologize to the man. Maybe his father had just needed time to sort out his feelings. Maybe he would understand now. It was a fifty-fifty chance, so Moritz decided to approach him.

"Father," he said with his best mask of confidence.

"What are you doing here?" was the quick response.

"I wanted to talk to you, father, about school. And about wh—," Moritz continued before being interrupted.

"There's nothing to say. Now leave before someone sees me talking to a vagrant."

Moritz wanted to say something to defend himself but he stayed mum. He couldn't talk back to his father, especially not right now. Instead, he nodded rapidly, tucking his chin down to hide his face the best he could, and walked over to the schoolhouse.

A vagrant? No- he wasn't a vagrant. Was he? Not at the moment, no, but in the future? It was too easy to imagine himself as a beggar. He was on his way to that life. His education had ended. There weren't many jobs in town to take. The adults had put such importance on school and education that he had never thought about what he would do when he was out of it.

The more he thought about it, the more panicked he became. He ran a hand through his hair and crouched under a tree, drawing his knees to his chin and lacing his fingers together. What would he do? If it was easier, he would get back into school. But as it was, he had been expelled for his marks. Usually, he would have considered having Melchior help him, but now that seemed like a foreign idea.

He needed to get back into school. He needed to find a tutor.

His next pick, after Melchior, was Hanschen. The boy intimidated him but he was brighter than the other boys. In fact, Moritz was fairly sure that the reason Ernst hadn't failed in his place was because Hanschen tutored him.

He sat there, under the tree, in that position for another hour or so. After what seemed like forever, Georg and Otto rushed out of the school, loosening their ties as they chuckled to each other. Hanschen and Ernst walked out next. This was Moritz's chance to ask about tutoring, but he wanted to wait for Melchior to come out as well. Keeping an eye on Hanschen and Ernst while still watching for Melchior, Moritz got to his feet and started towards the two boys.

"Hanschen," Moritz started, somewhat out of breath from the short run he'd done to catch up with them.

"Yes, Moritz?" the blond asked, stopping in his tracks and facing him.

"I was wondering if you would be able to tutor me. I want to get back into school."

There was a confusing trade of expressions between Hanschen and Ernst, and then Hanschen pulled Moritz to the side and lowered his voice.

"I would, Moritz, but your absence from the class means that Ernst is in the class. Ernst is my friend. You are my acquaintance."

"Please, Hanschen! I could pay you," Moritz begged. Maybe he was closer to being a vagrant than he had thought.

Hanschen shook his head after a brief hesitation. "You're living with the Gabors and you have no job. I doubt you have enough money to pay my constantly, and even if you could, you should use that money for other things to benefit yourself. I hate to think that you steal food from the Gabors every day."

"I…"

"No," the other boy said firmly. There was a look in his eyes that solidified the word, and he turned back to Ernst. "Alright, let's be on our way."

Feeling like a shadow had fallen over him, Moritz took a deep breath and watched the two boys turn into specks on the horizon. He would never get a tutor. He would never get back into school. He would become a vagrant and be a burden on Frau Gabor for the rest of his life.

Just then, he heard a tinkling laugh that was unmistakably Thea's and a few sighs that probably belonged to Wendla and Anna. The shadow over him lifted and Moritz felt his mouth fall open as he had an epiphany.

He would ask the girls to tutor him.

A/N: Again, I'm so sorry about the writing gap. I can't promise regular updates, but I do assure you that I have no plans of abandoning this story. I quite like it. Perhaps I ought to give a sort of special thanks to theatergirl95, who recently reviewed my story and reminded me that people were still reading. Of course, plenty of other lovelies like her reviewed and made me want to write, but her review came right as I was finishing up my final exams and entering winter break. Having said that, this author's note is really too long and I'm going to end it now. Thank you so much for reading and bearing with me.