In 1960, Johannes Nikolaus Stern was born to WWII hero Nikolaus Stern and journalist Alexia Faust-Stern in West Berlin, Germany. Johannes was an above average student, not gifted, but above average. The thing he loved most though was soccer. His father had been one of the greatest soccer players on his school team. This inspired young Johannes to become a soccer player for his school. At first, he wasn't that great, but after a while, he was among the greatest in school. One day, the teacher came in with some news.

"Good morning, class." Said the teacher

"Good morning, Mr. Delmas." The class said

"Class, today we have a new student." Mr. Delmas said "Why don't you come up and introduce yourself?"

A tall, dirty blonde haired boy with blue eyes then rose from his seat and walked to the front of the class.

"My name is Anthony Schaeffer." He spoke "My family moved here from East Berlin to escape from the iron fist of the Soviet Union. That's all I really have to say."

"That's okay." Mr. Delmas said "Now, who would like to show Anthony around…?"

Everyone's hand shot up.

"…During lunch" Mr. Delmas finished

Everyone's hand shot down, except one. That hand belonged to Johannes.

"Very nice, Johannes." Mr. Delmas said.

"When class ended and everyone was heading off to lunch, Johannes caught up to Anthony, who was standing in front of the door.

"Hi, Anthony. I'm Johannes Stern. I hope we can be good friends." Johannes said

"Wait." Anthony said "As in Thaddeus Stern?"

"That's my grandfather's name, yes." Johannes said

"Forget it!" Anthony snapped "I'll find my own way around."

With that, Anthony left, and Johannes despondently walked to the cafeteria. As Johannes was eating his lunch, he heard a commotion from the other table. He noticed three older kids picking on Anthony.

"C'mon, new kid." One of them said pushing him "Give me your books."

Anthony didn't say anything, he just continued eating.

"No?" he said again "Suit yourself."

He then pushed Anthony to the ground and started to grab the books he had with him.

"Give them back." Anthony said

"Make me, new kid." The kid said

"He said give them back!" Johannes said as he walked up to them

"You know what, Stern?" he said "Take them if you want them so bad."

He then went up and tried to wrestle the books from the much taller boy, but he fought back, pinning Johannes to the ground. However, Johannes broke free and pinned the boy down and started punching his face until his nose started bleeding. This attracted the attention of one of the supervisors.

"Stern! What do you think you're doing?" he said as he grabbed both of Johannes's arms.

"Thank you, sir." The boy said wiping blood from his nose. "I was just enjoying my lunch when suddenly this crazy kid came and started attacking me."

"Oh really?" he said to Johannes

"What? No, I…" Johannes said

"Sir." Anthony said "That kid was harassing me and taking my stuff, and Johannes was just trying to help me."

"I wouldn't do that!" The boy said pretending to be shocked

"Anthony, lying is not an idea we promote on these premises." The supervisor said "However, you're new here, so I'll let you off with a warning. As for you, Johannes, you know better than to start fistfights. 4 hours detention and a one-week suspension from the soccer team."

"But…"

"And if you argue with me, I can make sure your punishment will be much more severe, do you understand?"

"Yessir." Johannes said was he walked out of the lunch room.

"Hey, Johannes." Anthony shouted

"Hmmm?" Johannes said as he turned his head

"Thanks. Maybe you're not as bad as your grandfather."

"What is it about my grandfather that you hate?"

"He tried to kill my parents 21 years ago." Anthony told him

"Why would he do that?" Johannes asked shocked

"I'll tell you after school."

When school ended, Johannes walked home with Anthony, Anthony, however, was taking him in a different direction.

"Where are we going?" Johannes asked "My house is that way."

"I know." He said "I want to introduce you to my family."

Anthony then took him to his house. The house was small, but ornate. As the walked inside Johannes noticed three people sitting at a large table: A catatonic, elderly man, an elderly woman sitting next to him, and a younger man with thick glasses.

"Mom, Dad, Waldo." Anthony said as the tree turned their heads "This is my new friend, Johannes. Johannes, these are my parents, Julius and Meredith, and my big brother, Waldo."

"It's nice to meet you all." Johannes said

"It's nice to meet you to." Mrs. Schaeffer said

"Pleasure to have you here." Waldo said "Dad!"

"Mr. Schaeffer then jumped out of his seat "Huh? What?"

"Dad, it's okay. Anthony just brought his friend over."

"Oh." He said trembling "Hi. You're Anthony's friend?"

"Yes." Johannes said

"Oh. Good. Good." He said walking away

"Is your dad alright?" Johannes said

"He hasn't been alright ever since The Holocaust." Anthony told him

"What's that?" Johannes asked

"That's something you'll know when you're older." Mrs. Schaeffer said

"Mom, I'm the same age and I know." Anthony said

"Very well." She said "You can tell him."

"The Holocaust was a period of time during the Second World War lasting from 1939-1945 when six million of our people, Jews, were exterminated because we were unfit in the eyes of our government. Five million others were killed in the same manner for the same reason."

"That's horrible." Johannes said

"My parents were taken to Auschwitz, the largest of the extermination camps, when Waldo was just six. They were of Jewish descent so they were among the first to be deported. For years, the Nazis, members of a party loyal to the fascist regime, beat and exhausted our parents to near death. Your grandfather was one of those Nazis, that's why I held such a grudge against you this morning. However, our parents pulled through and they were saved when the Allies freed Germany."

"And this was allowed to go on?" Johannes said "For six years?"

"Who was going to argue with someone who had the entire Western Europe in the palm of his hand?" Anthony said

"Well, I don't care what they all thought." Johannes said "You're still a person, no matter what type of group you belong in."

"Thanks." Anthony said "You should be getting home now."

"You're right." Johannes said "Thanks for having me over, Mrs. Schaeffer."

"No problem." She said "Come back anytime."

And with that started the beginning of a new friendship.

Four years later in 1974, they had both started middle school, Anthony was placed in Honors classes due to his exceptional performance in grade school, and Johannes was made captain of his school's soccer team. Anthony hadn't been himself at first because Waldo had left home on the same year to work on a government project, and lots of strange people came to his house and did a lot of work. But he still had his best friend and to him, that was more than enough. The teachers were also a lot nicer and actually listened to them whenever they got in a fight with another bully that would push them around, which meant they got into less trouble at school. One day, Johannes and Anthony were met with another new student: A young girl whose brown hair was wrapped in a ponytail.

"You're new around here, aren't you?" Johannes asked

"Yeah, my parents just moved here from Munich." The girl said "I'm Ilsa Vangard, and you?"

"My name is Johannes, and over there is Anthony."

"Hi, nice to meet you." She said as she walked to Anthony. Anthony didn't say anything

"He doesn't speak much." Johannes said "C'mon, we'll show you around. You know, it's funny, my dad comes from Munich."

After school, Johannes then took Ilsa to his place and introduced her to his father.

"Dad. This is Ilsa." Johannes said "My new friend."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." His dad said "I'm Nikolaus, but you can call me Mr. Stern."

"Thanks, Mr. Stern." Ilsa said

"You know, your girlfriend's a real polite person, Johannes."

"It's not like that." Johannes said blushing "We're just friends."

"I'm just teasing, I know that."

Just then the doorbell rang

"Now who could that be?" Nikolaus asked himself. He then went up to the door and answered it.

"Good afternoon and how may I…?" Nikolaus said but stopped when he saw who was at the door: The last person he ever wanted to see.

"Hello, son."