Stefan's War

Chapter Eight – Dates, A Day Out and Mondain Finds Out

Morhange struggled to deal with the fact that his new friend was, in actual fact, a girl. He now understood what was behind her strange behaviour and was pleased she'd trusted him enough to tell him. Though, as she'd said, Mondain would no doubt tell everyone once he learned that Stefan/Stefanie was there. At the old boarding school, Mondain had bullied 'Stefanie' whose hair had been a lot longer, and who had been much smaller and skinnier. Now, she was 'Stefan' and was determined for it to stay this way. Stefan decided to be a boy to fit in better or, rather, to simply blend in. Of course, all the teachers knew – the school had needed to plan suitable arrangements for having a girl, like preparing her own room. Rachin hadn't been happy but the school needed a supervisor and only Mathieu had applied so Rachin agreed to let the girl into the school, as long as she caused no trouble and didn't distract the boys. The boy disguise was necessary.

But as shocked as Morhange was, he was also pleased and excited. He was now in on a secret that nobody else knew (except the teachers, of course). No other boy knew the truth and it pleased him for some strange reason. The fact that he was now aware of a girl in the school also pleased him. It was exciting to have a girl there. The closet the school ever came to girls was the principal's daughters and they never came into the school building – they were certainly never near the boys. His three daughters could often be seen through the class windows, going about their day, not knowing the boys could see them and barely knowing they existed at all. They knew about Pepinot as he often wandered off to the gate and they either heard him being talked about or found him themselves.

But now there was an actual girl there. He – or she, rather – wasn't bad looking, either. Stefan rarely smiled but her whole face lit up when she did and she looked a lot kinder and sweeter. Sweeter? thought Morhange. What am I thinking? But Stefan could be quite sweet and seemed to be getting fond of Morhange. Morhange liked the girl a great deal and liked how she'd started calling him by his first name. Pierre…it sounded nice when she said it. The only other person who used this name was his mother, who he did care for despite rarely seeing her. Yes, Morhange was becoming increasingly fond of Stefan and had started looking back over all their talks and visits as 'dates'. Oh, don't be stupid, he told himself. They were just friends.

The truth about Mondain was also something to deal with. The blond realised what Stefan had meant when, one day, Morhange had to do the laundry. He was singing as he did – the new song the choir was learning – when he heard a noise. He stopped, wondering who else could be there, when Mondain leapt out at him. After trying to run, Mondain wouldn't let him leave and taunted him about his mother, claiming Mrs Morhange was a whore. Morhange grabbed him by the throat and the two fell over, taking some of the newly cleaned sheets and towels with them. The cleaning lady came in and interrupted them.

Mondain was put in the dungeon while Morhange went into detention again, cleaning. The difference between them was that 'detention' was a part of the school sealed off by iron bars. There were more boys and more room but you were still locked up…

Morhange managed to escape when let out of detention and ran into town, where he found the café his mother worked in. It was pouring rain and he was completely soaked but he didn't care. He watched her cleaning tables and serving customers, hiding behind a car across the street, before walking away. He was just going by a small shop when a small, dark-haired someone came out of the doorway and bumped right into him.

"Stefan?"

"Morhange?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I…asked you first."

Stefan smiled and held up a small bag. "I was buying a charm for my bracelet. It's almost Hanna's birthday and there are only certain days Mathieu can let me out without Rachin finding out."

"Mathieu lets you out?"

"Yes, because he knows I'll come back. And what about you?"

"…Mondain said something about my mother. I wanted to see her."

"Oh," whispered Stefan. "I did warn you about him. Erm, are you coming back to school?"

Morhange looked at him. "You aren't gonna drag me back?"

"As if I could," argued Stefan. "No, it's your choice. I can't force you to come back. But I think it'd be better if you did. I'd like to walk back with you. Your choice."

Stefan walked off and went down the street, putting the small bag in her pocket. She was pleased to find a certain blond someone walking along beside her a couple minutes later.

The two walked back to the school, sometimes talking to pass the time but mainly kept up a comfortable silence. Having the other one there for company was enough. Mathieu was surprised to open the door and find them but was pleased that Morhange, who'd suddenly disappeared, had chosen to come back. Nobody knew where he'd been and Stefan refused to say.

"I'm glad you came back," Stefan later told Morhange when they were alone. "I'd have missed you if you'd left. It's nice having someone to talk to."

"Maybe you could talk to some of the other boys, too?" Morhange suggested, hoping to break through Stefan's 'shell' and get her to join in more and make friends.

"Yeah, I guess so. It couldn't hurt to talk to a few more," Stefan reasoned. "Mondain still hasn't recognised me so I'm safe for a little while, though I'm worried about him going for you. You won't tell anyone the truth, will you? For now?"

"Of course not. I said I wouldn't betray your trust. Just make sure you don't tell anyone about my singing." Stefan laughed. "You know, you should laugh more. You look good when you laugh."

She looked at him. "Really?"

"Er, yeah," he confirmed, feeling slightly embarrassed now he'd said that.

"Speaking of singing," Stefan continued. "You're really good, you know? I used to love singing but I don't anymore."

"You can sing?" Morhange asked, surprised.

"Yes, not that Mathieu knows. It's just a hobby. I don't want it to be a career. I'm not that great. But Mathieu would still try and I don't want that. I want to be an artist."

"You like drawing?"

"I love it," smiled Stefan. "Often when Mathieu lets me out of the building, I spend my time drawing the nearby landscape. And I sometimes copy things out of books. I draw in my diary and those drawings are part of my life. For example, when I came here, I drew the school, the classrooms and my room. There are also drawings of my old boarding school."

"Can I see them?"

"No!" cried Stefan. "Sorry, no. I'm not…ready to show them."

"Well, I'd like to hear you sing at least. Here's an idea! Meet me in the classroom tonight and we'll practise that song the choir's doing. You know the song and your father was a music teacher so you can help me if I'm doing something wrong."

"Okay, then," smiled Stefan. "It's a date!"

Morhange smiled awkwardly as a curious feeling entered his stomach. It felt like butterflies…

Morhange had blushed at this statement, which rather confused Stefan but she ignored it. She was happier than she had been in a long time and was pretty much skipping when she left Morhange. She was heading for the library, using a short-cut through one of the lesser used corridors, when a hand grabbed her shoulder and forced her against the wall. "Mondain!" she cried out.

"Hello, Stefanie," he smiled, making him look like a shark. "Long time no see."

Stefan watched him warily. "Yes, it is."

"I didn't recognise you at first. You have changed. You're a lot taller and not as skinny as before and your hair is so much shorter! Why, you could pass for a boy! But that's what you have been doing, isn't it? I don't think any of your classmates seem to be aware that they're living with a girl. I wonder how they'd react?"

"You can't tell them!"

"Or what?"

"…Mathieu will find a way of throwing you out."

"Ah, yes. Mathieu. The supervisor. I've heard some strange things from the boys here. They seem to be under the impression that he's your father and that you arrived here with him."

"I did arrive here with Mathieu."

"But he's not your father! The boys have been wondering why you call him 'Mathieu', not 'Dad'. But we know why, don't we? He's not your daddy, is he?"

"He has been, these last few years. After the boarding school – that hell-hole where I met you-" Mondain smirked, "I went to an orphanage. That's where Mathieu found me. He adopted me and I've been travelling with him for the last three years."

"Oh, that's lovely," smiled Mondain, still smiling like a shark. "I also notice you seem quite close to one boy in particular – Morhange?" Stefan's eyes widened in fear. "Yes, I thought so. Are you falling for him? Does he know that his friend is actually a girl and has a crush on him?"

"I don't," growled Stefan.

"Really? Yeah, right! Well, I'm sure we'll find out your feelings when I have a little meeting with him."

Stefan gasped. "You can't hurt him. You won't hurt anybody!"

"You can't stop me! I think I'll start with that little boy you and Mathieu seem very fond of. Pepinot, is it?"

Mondain suddenly let out a cry of pain as Stefan kicked him in the groin. "Don't you dare go near Pepinot!" she screamed. "You killed my friend, Thomas! I won't let you hurt Pepinot!"

"Ah, yes, Thomas!" Mondain managed to laugh while bent over in pain. "How is your scar doing?"

"I still have it."

"Of course. When you nearly cut someone's arm off, that's bound to leave a scar. And if that stupid kid hadn't gotten in the way, it would have been your heart that had the scar. I'm surprised you didn't bleed to death – that cut was pretty deep." He suddenly lunged for Stefan and pulled the sleeve high up her left arm. There, from elbow to shoulder, the entire upper-arm was covered in bandages. "Oh, it's covered up!" He squeezed her upper-arm and Stefan winced. "Still hurts?"

"Yes," Stefan growled through gritted teeth. She shoved at Mondain but the bully was much bigger and didn't move an inch.

"Well. It seems like you've been lucky since you left that boarding school. A nice orphanage, travelling with Mathieu, being here. All so nice… Time for change! I swore you'd pay for killing my friend and I will – starting with your friends."

"I didn't kill him! Look, please, don't hurt these boys!" Mondain smirked and walked off, knowing Stefan would be too scared to follow. "Wait! I'll…make you a deal." Mondain turned, curious.

Stefan looked like she was about to throw up but continued. "I don't want you to hurt my frien-hear me out! They've been lucky, relatively, and are somewhat happy. This isn't the best of places and life used to be hell in the war but things are better. You've already ruined me. I'll never forget you or what you've done – to me and my friends."

She paused, thinking about what she should say. "But these boys have the chance to survive here without you making their lives hell. So here's the deal. You want to make me pay and I don't want you to hurt my friends. So, if they do anything to upset you, I'll take the beating. I'm not that close with these guys so if they left, it wouldn't bother me like it did when Mrs Bonnaire or Thomas did, but I would feel sorry for them if you were beating them up. They don't deserve it. So I'll take any beatings for them."

"You can't hurt me by hurting them – I'm just trying to get by in this place and that means talking to the odd person. I don't really have any close friends." At this point, Stefan was lying through her teeth but she didn't show this to Mondain. She was good with words and lying, having plenty of experience in the past. "I like these guys, they're okay, and I feel sorry for them but that's all. I'm already broken but they still have a chance. Beat me up and leave them alone!"

Mondain stared at her. "You're asking me to beat you up?"

"I'm asking you to spare these boys."

The red-head walked towards her and she tensed. "Well, Stefanie, this is an offer I can't pass up. The idea of you taking a beating and not fighting back, just letting me hurt you…it's like a dream come true. All to save the people in here? You always were a martyr, looking out to save others and sacrifice yourself. Still, I'm not complaining. You have a deal! I'll still be horrible to them, of course – I can't help that – but any physical abuse, I'm coming right to you."

He swaggered off, whistling, while Stefan turned a funny green colour and sank to the floor. What had she done? No, she was doing this for the boys because they were her friends. Though she didn't show it, she was very fond of all these boys (especially Morhange and Pepinot) and she would miss them like hell if they left or were hurt by Mondain. But this wasn't about her. It was about protecting these guys from a monster. And they could never know how much she really cared about people. Caring was foolish but she couldn't help it. Stefan was a very deep and intense person, quietly caring – you would never know how much she cared and might even believe that she didn't care at all. But then a crisis would turn up and she would step up and sacrifice herself, proving just how much she did care. These boys had no idea but she had grown fond of all of them – certain ones more than others.

This was for them…