Der Kommissar (1/2)

"Der Kommissar" - Falco

🎵 Na, es is nix dabei / Na, wenn ich euch erzähl' die G'schicht / Nichts desto trotz / Ich bin es schon gewohnt 🎵

If there was some sort of metaphor to relate to how I felt at the end of my first day of Gymnasium, I'd have to relate it to an overfilled cup. For example, when I was a child, I would frequently try to pour myself a cup of soda because I'd thought that I'd been old enough to do it myself. However, numerous times (much to Mom's annoyance), I'd over fill the cup to the point where the sweet liquid would fall to the counter and make a big mess.

I guess to save my breath, I could just say that I felt overwhelmed.

I'm fairly positive that going to a brand new school in the beginning of October would be stressful for any normal teenager. Yet, I was doing it in a different country where they spoke an entirely different language. Yes, English is widely spoken throughout Europe, especially Germany, but all of the teachers seemed to take some sort of sadistic satisfaction in interrupting whenever I spoke in English with, "Sag es auf Deutsch." That resulted in me usually being a silent mouse in all of my classes, wondering what was going on most of the time.

But none of that even comes close to the damn fact that Dominik had actually downloaded a fucking tracking app onto my phone. Oh, and it requires a password that only he knows to get rid of it. I don't think that's legal.

That's not all! The tracking app was just the thing that had occurred today! Over the past few days since I've arrived in Germany, my stepbrother, Dominik, has been extra cryptic. The douche had given me his used towel to use after my shower, he had scared off Erik at the Wasgau, he had held me while I slept, he'd rutted his hard monster dick against mine, and then he has the big balls to download a tracking app onto my phone.

What is his damage?! There must be some short circuit somewhere in his brain, because no normal human being would ever act this way!

I tried my hardest to deduce what was wrong with Dominik (a scientific mystery) while simultaneously trying to do my German homework. Since the window in my bedroom was still broken and since I wanted to put as much space between my stepbrother and me as possible (our ride home had been filled with awkward silence), I sat at the dining room table with my textbook open and my worksheet next to me.

Unfortunately, there were numerous grey scrub marks all over my paperwork as I struggled to gain the smallest understanding of the German language. I'd already ran my hands through my hair a million times as my frustration grew, and my poor father who was trying to help me was on the verge of an aneurism.

"That makes no sense, Dad!" I whined as I gestured wildly at the worksheet. "Why is the verb second in normal sentences, but first in questions?"

"Maxie," Dad groaned, rubbing at his temples in a sad attempt to soothe his headache that I was giving him, "I didn't create the language, so I don't know. Just keep the rule in mind." He then pointed at my third problem. "And you need to capitalize that noun."

"But it's not a proper noun."

"This isn't English, Maxie. All nouns are capitalized."

"...but why?"

"I don't know! They just are!"

Alaric walked up and placed a soothing hand on my father's shoulder, shooting him a sympathetic look as if he was the one who had to complete a whole ass worksheet after his first day of school.

I frowned as I realized that I might not be able to carry on my 4.0 status that I'd held back in Canada with me to Germany. This shit is hard. Why didn't my parents teach me their native languages back when I was a child, back when it is scientifically proven to be much easier for one pick up a second/third tongue?! I could be trilingual right now since I grew up speaking English, and Dad spoke German as a kid whereas Mom grew up with Spanish. Jeez, thanks a lot Mom and Dad...

Ugh, why can't everyone in the world just learn English for me?

Then Dad's stupid, big-foreheaded husband pointed at another one of my answers. "You should use 'Sie' in this one since you're supposed to be speaking to an elder," he commented.

I just glared up at him.

He held his hands up in surrender. "Maybe you can take a break?" he instead offered. "Tell us how your first day went."

There was a low rumble from upstairs where Dominik sulked. Maybe there was a wild bear up there and it was mauling him? That would kinda fix my headache.

Alaric visibly tensed up, but kept his smile on his face.

I tried not to roll my eyes at how corny of a distraction that was. Still, my first day at school was rather eventful, and my teenage brain still struggled to piece everything together. I'd honestly believed that I'd carry on my loner, nerdy status here with me at my brand new school. But instead (cue dreamlike flashback transition)...

1). Deutsch für Nicht-Muttersprachler [German for Non-Native Speakers]

My brain was still hyper focused on the horrible fact that Dominik had downloaded a damn tracking app onto my phone!

And for what reason?!

It made no sense! The guy must've known that I'd be at school during the day and then at home during the evening (I don't have a social life, sadly). Therefore, there was absolutely no reason why he'd have to go that far. I know that Dad had told me that he'd be in charge whenever him and Alaric were on their stupid cruise, but damn! I'd half-expected Dominik to disappear for the entire three weeks then just poke his head in to make sure I'm not dead, kinda like having a pet hamster! Dominik is taking this whole "I'm his" thingy way too far!

I tried to shake Dominik's cringe-inducing face out of my head. I snatched my notebook out of my backpack and got ready to start jotting down the notes that the teacher would inevitably start writing on the board, only slightly aware of the weirdo to my left who sniffed at the air around me before scooting his desk away from me, his yellow eyes filled with fear.

I smell checked myself to verify that I didn't stink. There was no B.O., but I could unfortunately pick up on the pine tones and car exhaust hints that seemed to radiate around Dominik. *Sigh. Now I smell like him.

The door swung open and the students all stood up out of their desks (expect for my confused ass) as a man entered into the classroom. He seemed to be in his mid to late twenties, still having that youthful look to his face which was complimented by some dark brown, trimmed beard on his chin that I could see was nice and squared. What I noticed the most, though, was the fact that this man had his shirt practically painted on! Seriously, I'd briefly feared that I was accidentally in PE class because this man had muscles for days!

"Guten Morgen, Herr Abin!" the students chanted in unison, like some eery TV cult.

"Guten Morgen, Klasse. Platz nehmen," the man replied in his deep, baritone-filled voice.

Again, acting as one fixture, the whole class took their seat in unison as if the big guy at the front of the classroom wasn't a teacher but was instead a circus trainer. They sat attentively at their desks, the ones wearing the yellow contacts seemingly paying extra attention since their postures were perfectly set at ninety degrees. No one had their phone out, and everyone was already taking out their notebooks and pens to learn. It seemed as if, unlike back home, people here actually respected teachers. Talk about culture shock!

Mr. Abin had his broad back turned to us, giving me a little sneak peek at how nice his firm butt looked in his khakis (yeah, I like teachers because I find the power dynamic hot— sue me). He grabbed a red dry erase marker and began to scribble on the whiteboard, writing down some phrases in both German and English.

I leaned over towards the person next to me to see that they were translating the phrases into the opposite language on their paper.

1). Der Herbst ist meine Lieblingsjahreszeit.

2). Nach der Schule mache ich meine Hausaufgaben.

3). Meine Mutter arbeitet im Krankenhaus.

4). Every weekend, I go to the Farmer's Market.

5). My dog is colored black and white.

I tried my best to translate the sentences up on the board, which I assume is meant to be a warm-up exercise; however, I had no clue how to do this at all. I know that "Meine" is a possessive noun which means that Sentence One and Three were talking about something that belongs to the speaker. Plus, "Liebling" denotes that something is someone's favorite thing when it's placed in front of the item in question. And "Dog" is "Hund". That's literally all the work I can manage.

Damn, I've been at school for, like, ten minutes and I've already failed!

Accidentally, I allowed a sigh of resignation exit my lips because I could see some of the other students tense up in my peripherals. One of them even shot me a look that told me to shut up.

It was too late because Mr. Abin straightened up his own posture, erecting his height to its full impressive and scary extent. He totally dwarfed everyone else in the room, and from his perch up top, his yellow eyes scanned the room.

"Someone having trouble?" he asked, his deep voice tainted with a hint of irritation over my interruption. "These sentences shouldn't be an issue... if you did your homework." He narrowed his eyes at the end of his sentence, sending a cold chill over the class.

I audibly gulped the second our eyes met. The below zero chill that tore up my spine made me wince as I was trapped under the disappointed glare of my new teacher— a phenomena I wasn't used to since back in Canada, I was a good noodle! I made a sad attempt to steel my nerves, readying my already devastated self-esteem for the impending lecture that would no doubt be hurled at my semi-decent face.

Mr. Abin's narrowed yellow eyes widened as the man jerked back, looking a little flushed. In the blink of an eye, the previously irritated face that was more akin to a drill sergeant's morphed into a visage that looked sort of stunned, especially when his lower jaw dropped. His awed expression let me gain an uninterrupted view of his shiny teeth, and of course, his canines seemed to be larger than most guys'. What the hell is in the water in Germany?

"Oh, uh, i-it looks like we have a new student," Mr. Abin stammered, all of that previous alpha male energy gone and replaced with what sounded like nervousness. What is going on? I'm so confused, but at this point, I'm kinda used to it. "Would you like to stand up and introduce yourself... to the class, I mean?" My new German teacher forced a smile onto his face, a red bush taking over his features.

"Aww," one of my classmates said, but was silenced by a heated glare from Mr. Abin.

In my confused haze, I just nodded and quietly stood up from my desk. I gave a small wave to the class as soon as all eyes were on me, and I could feel my own face starting to warm up from shyness. "Um, hi, I'm—"

"Sag es auf Deutsch," Mr. Abin interrupted, but with one look at my lost expression, he thankfully translated. "Say it in German, if you will."

Fuck!

All of the blood drained from my face as I prepared myself to be utterly humiliated in front of everyone here. Granted this is a German class for non-German speakers, but I'm here in the middle of the semester! Therefore, everyone is already chapters ahead of me and I'm about to display just how little German I've retained throughout the years. Second languages really are a use-it-or-lose-it skill!

Desperately, I searched the deep crevices of my memory for the littlest tidbits of the German language so that I could offer a little information all about me to my new peers. "Um, h-hallo, mein Name ist Max," I almost whispered in a shaky voice. "I, uh, soy de Canadá... wait."

The classroom erupted into laughter at my mistake, and I could feel myself sinking in on myself in a sad attempt to look smaller so that I could try to hide.

A low grumble, similar to that of an angry guard dog, rumbled out and the class was automatically dead quiet.

I quickly sat back down, my face still feeling as if it were on fire.

Mr. Abin cleared his throat and went ahead with the lesson for the day, which was verb conjugations for the past tense. Damn, it was hard! I could see some of the other students nailing the assignment like it was a piece of cake, but not me! I didn't even know how to conjugate in the present tense for most words, let alone the past tense!

I must've run my hands through my hair a billion times, always letting out a defeated sigh with each glance at the worksheets that had been passed out. My dramatics had reached such a peak that I even got shushed by some random girl when I sighed again.

Eventually class was over, and as we all began to pack up our things to head to second period, Mr. Abin stopped me.

"Max, a word?" he asked, gesturing at me to approach his desk where he sat.

Oh man, this is it. Mr. Abin is gonna give me a big, fat F on my very first day at a brand new school. I've already managed to tarnish my 4.0 record in just under an hour. Wow, I suck. But still, I didn't want to be on all of my new teachers' shit lists.

"Um, I don't want to be late to my next class..." I muttered, not budging a centimeter from the doorjamb of the exit.

"I'll write you a note," my German teacher huffed, waving his hand dismissively at my worry. "Take a seat." He pointed at the desk closest to his.

I guess I really don't have a say in this matter. Not used to be in trouble at school, my throat was desert dry and my fingers twitched with nerves as I started to head back inside the classroom.

"And close the door, if you would, bitte."

I nodded and closed the solid wood door that didn't have any windows for any eye witnesses to report my dead body to the authorities should they see me getting straight up murdered for defiling the German language so badly. I suppose I do kinda deserve it. And here I thought that the EU did away with the death penalty...

I sat down in the offered desk, feeling myself trembling while under the yellow stare of my teacher.

Yet, despite how horrendous I'd performed in class, Mr. Abin didn't look like he was about to rip my head off; which was odd, since he'd totally given off the aura of the strict, no-nonsense teacher. That, and the other students all had appeared to had experienced a soul-chilling shiver run through them the second he'd entered the classroom. However, he sat in front of me, a warm smile on his face. It was a crooked smile in which the left side of his mouth pulled up a little more than the right, allowing only one of his sharp canine teeth to poke out over his lip.

Dare I say, it was sort of cute, and I could gradually begin to feel my nerves subside by a minuscule percentage. Still, I practically held my breath as I waited for him to tell me whatever he needed to tell me.

Mr. Abin didn't beat around the bush, thankfully. "Look, Max, you would really benefit from some tutoring so that you can catch up to your peers," he said, his deep voice smooth. He scooted his chair away from his desk and closer to where I sat. "It's already October, so you're behind by over a month."

It's hard to argue with that. After all, I could barely translate a single problem that'd been on the board that my classmates seemed to have been able to figure out in snap. Meanwhile, I'd been left in the dust, desperately trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

"English is widely spoken here in Germany," Mr. Abin continued, "but you do need to learn German if you plan on staying here." He punctuated his sentence with an odd look as he knitted his eyebrows together and smiled a little more.

Yeah, I hadn't really thought too much about my future plans. After all, my life had pretty much just been just put down, flipped, and reversed when I'd been forced to move to a different continent; and the country where I'd spent about ninety percent of my developmental years seemed kind of unobtainable. As much as I didn't want to admit it, staying in Germany seemed to be the best course of action for me. It wasn't too much of a heart break, seeing as how I'd never really had enormous aspirations to attend UofT or settle down on the West Coast.

Come to think of it, most of my daydreams regarding my future were wild and colorful visions of me meeting some hot guy who looks killer in a leather jacket 'cause he's a bad boy with a heart of gold, who loves to manhandle me because he's hella bigger and stronger, and who worships the ground I walk on because he desperately needs me (and he thinks I'm hot too).

But where am I gonna find a guy like that?! I don't think it matters if I'm in Canada or Germany— that dude doesn't exist.

I looked back up at Mr. Abin who was eagerly waiting for my answer... and, um, did he undo another button on his shirt? I swear that his impressive pec cleft was more visible than it was earlier; emphasis on impressive.

I had to literally wipe the drool off my chin as I diverted my gaze, and I swear my teacher smirked. "Um, y-yeah," I finally said. "Tutoring sounds like a good idea."

Mr. Abin's beard-framed mouth broke out into a wide smile that was so infectious that I couldn't help but grin back. "Gr-great!" he beamed, actually sitting up straighter in his chair. "I have a meeting after school today, unfortunately... but, if you give me your phone number, then I can go ahead and give you a call. Oh! And we can schedule a tutoring session."

That makes sense. Wow, I'm so lucky to go to Gymnasium where the teachers are so involved in the students' education. Maybe I will be able to maintain my 4.0 GPA after all. It's about damn time things start to look up for me.

I pulled out my phone and put in his number before sending him a quick text with my name.

The man's nostrils flared and he made this weird throaty noise that sounded like one of my old neighbor's big dog whenever it'd guard their apartment. The older man cleared his throat real quick.

"So, I take it you're close with Leit— *cough, with Alaric Stubbe's son, Dominik?" he asked, the corners of his mouth pulling downward as he narrowed his gaze.

Huh? Why would Mr. Abin guess that of all things? I'm in school, in German as a Second Language class. There was absolutely no reason for Dominik to have been brought up. Plus he was still on my shit list for downloading a fuckin' tracker app onto my phone!

"Never heard of him," I curtly answered.

Mr. Abin shrugged and tapped away on his phone, saving my number. He paused for a second before he held up his phone.

"You know, it makes it easier for me to know who's calling if I put a photo ID with their info," Mr. Abin said, a little pink forming on his cheeks as he held up his phone. "May I?"

Oh, I guess he does lots of tutoring sessions to keep track of. "Sure," I shrugged before striking a bitchin' pose, which really just consisted of me giving a closed-mouth smile as I flashed a peace sign because I wanted to seem cool and adventurous.

"Cute..." I think I heard Mr. Abin breathe. I'm sure I misheard though.

"Well, I have to get to my next class," I huffed as I stood up. "But thank you for your help, Mr. Abin. I really do appreciate it."

"You can call me, 'Viktor'," Mr. Abin hurriedly added as he quickly stood up too. He clapped one of his large hands onto my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "And welcome to Deutschland." He removed his hand almost as quickly as he'd placed it.

How nice of him. Wow, this school really values quality teachers! "See you tomorrow then," I waved as I opened up the door, "...Viktor."

I swear his blush deepened, but I had to hurry so I couldn't verify.

As I walked down the crowded halls, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I took it out and immediately felt like I'd throw up as I read the text from none other than Dominik:

Just FYI, if you need help with Deutsch, I'm fluent...

Ugh, where did that come from? I just ignored it.

2). Infinitesimalrechnung [Calculus]

I know that everyone who's seen Mean Girls knows this is true: Math is the same in all languages. Therefore, I wasn't as annoyed as soon as I walked into Calculus class. I mean, sure, Calculus was a little more advanced than some of the other mathematics that people tend to take, so some English explanations would be much appreciated; but I can totally figure it out.

My point was proven as soon as class started, and I was actually able to keep up with my classmates. That, and I wasn't even part of the group that paled when the teacher had begun to write problems up on the board! Go me!

I continued to zoom through the problems and the first half of the worksheet that was passed out to us. It was a relief to finally feel some sort of confidence ever since moving here; yet, it started to disappear once I reached a portion of the worksheet that required a scientific calculator.

Oops, I didn't have one yet.

Come to think of it, I really didn't have a lot of school supplies. Sure, I had the usual notebooks and pens/pencils, but I didn't have any of the extras that classrooms usually required. I guess I'll have to ask Dad to take me the Wasgau before he leaves on his trip since there's no way in hell I'll ever go out in public with Dominik ever again. Seriously.

"Damn it," I muttered under my breath as I tried to think up a way I could try to continue my worksheet without a scientific calculator. I rubbed at my forehead in irritation, already starting to get a headache. Maybe I can just use it as an excuse to go to the school nurse?

"Brauchen Sie Hilfe?" a voice asked from behind me, followed by a light tap on my shoulder.

Turning around, I immediately had my "I don't speak German" phrase cocked and loaded. However, as soon as my eyes met the yellow ones of the guy sitting behind me, I heard him gasp out in surprise.

The student behind me was of course way taller than me (that's not really hard to do though), and he still had some discernible muscles on his slender frame. I inwardly cursed myself when I made a mental comparison between this student and Dominik, noting that my stepbrother was both taller and much more muscled than him. Why that's important, I have no clue. His dirty blond hair was neatly combed to the side giving him a nice guy appearance, but an actual one— not the Internet kind. His yellow eyes were magnified by his black-rimmed glasses that he wore, and they widened as he stared at me in awe.

"Aww," some random kid gushed in the background.

The student continued to stare at me, his breath hitching as if he'd just seen something spectacular. I glanced back around, seeing that it was just more problems being put on the board. He must have a real hard on for calculus. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

I turned back to him. "Um, are you okay?" I whispered so that the teacher wouldn't hear us.

The student jerked back and shook himself out of his daze, a pinkish color forming on his cheeks. "Oh, uh, y-yeah," he stammered, wearing a sheepish grin that showed off his sharp canines.

Okay, there is definitely something up here with a good chunk of the student body (and some staff) wearing yellow contacts and having big teeth. It must be a weird fashion statement. I mean, Berlin isn't too far away, so maybe some its otherworldliness trickled over here?

The student cleared his throat and took a deep breath real quick, as if he were nervous or something. "I was asking if you needed some help," he explained, his voice a little shaky. "You sighed earlier."

Oh. That.

It was my turn to blush as I nodded my head, not used to having to ask for help with schoolwork. It was a foreign feeling and it made me a little more sympathetic to my sister. "I forgot to bring a scientific calculator," I admitted, preparing myself for the onslaught of judgement that was sure to be flung my way.

Instead of berating me on being unprepared, the student held his up. "We can just share," he offered.

Relief crashed back down over me, and my heart started to finally relax by the smallest fraction. "Thank you," I breathed. "Seriously, I was starting to worry."

He mock frowned. "Well, we can't have that," he nervously laughed, his blush growing as he did so. "I'm Engel by the way."

"I'm Max," I replied, already starting to feel more at ease now that I know that I'll be able to complete my classwork on time and correctly. All thanks to Engel... man, talk about a coincidental name!

Engel's blush deepened even more (maybe the heater was too strong for him?) and he readjusted his thick glasses. "Max," he repeated quietly.

"Yeah, it's short for 'Maximilian'."

He jerked back, his face now resembling a tomato with glasses. He cleared his throat and scooted his desk closer to mine, earning a quick eye roll from the teacher. "W-well, here," he stammered, "we can complete this together." He whipped out his worksheet.

The second our desks were side by side and we started to work on the problems assigned to us, I could hear Engel's deep inhale that he took in through his nose, his nostrils flaring.

A low rumble echoed out from him, but he quickly cleared his throat again. "Oh, um, so I take it you're familiar with Mr. Stubbe's son?" he asked me, a deep frown etched onto his cute face. He was clean shaven and I could make out a little scab on his chin from where he must've nicked himself with his razor.

And also, what the hell?

Mr. Stubbe was obviously Alaric (I have no idea how common that surname is, honestly), so his son was obviously Dominik, a.k.a. The Bane of My Existence! Why on earth was that douchebag being brought up again?

"Do you mean, *sigh, Dominik Stubbe?" I winced, already dreading the answer.

My new classmate simply nodded, his frown ever present.

It was my turn to roll my eyes. There was no frickin' way I would admit to anyone unless I was under the threat of execution that Dominik had claimed that I was his and that the freak had downloaded a tracking app onto my phone. Therefore, I kept my response short and simple so as to quickly move onto the next topic. "He's my stepbrother," I curtly stated.

Engel bit down on his lower lip before nodding. "...ja..."

This is strange. I knew that Alaric held some sort of prestige in Bedburg, so I suppose that some of that could transmit over to Dominik too. However, that doesn't explain why people keep asking me about me and him! In two classes already, someone had had the nerve to ask my relation to Dominik! What the fuck does Dominik have to do with Calculus?!

My face is, unfortunately, super expressive so I'm positive my disdain was visible.

Engel gave me a playful nudge. "Hey, don't sweat it," he said. "Stepbrothers suck." He gave a light chuckle at the end of that statement, keeping his side flatly pressed against mine.

"Word."

We wound up splitting the worksheet in half so that we could finish it faster. As we worked, we continued to chat a little about this and that. I learned that Engel was the Class President, which totally explained his friendly and helpful demeanor. I'm sure he's this friendly with every new student— what a great school. He was a nerd just like me, too. He also had a 4.0 GPA, and he had aspirations to attend HTW Berlin to become a surgeon. Plus, he also likes Pokémon and he's seen all of the Toho Godzilla movies at least four times each! And, he didn't get all bent out of shape when I corrected a mistake he'd made on one of the problems.

We wound up finishing the worksheet earlier than the rest of the class; but even when finished, Engel didn't return his desk back to its spot, refusing to allow a millimeter of space to become between us.

Could he be... my future best friend?

Finally! Call me sad, but I didn't have any friends back in Canada. Therefore, the thought of not being some loner loser here in Germany was making me feel a little giddy. Plus, Engel and I actually had some shared interests and he was super sweet.

Good friend material, that guy.

The bell rang and a lot of the students breathed a sigh of relief as they bolted from their desks and out of the classroom. Engel, on the other hand, huffed out of annoyance and slowly stood up. Wow, he must really love math.

My new friend rubbed at the back of his neck, offering a small smile. "H-hey, Max," he stuttered as I began to gather my things.

"Hmm?" I looked up at him, noting how he scrunched his thick eyebrows together. His yellow eyes darted from left to right, looking huge behind his thick glasses.

"Hey, um, if you're not busy I got the Blu-Ray special edition of Godzilla Minus One... and, uh, i-if you'd like to I could, y'know, p-pick you up and we can watch it... at my place... together... just us...?" He offered me a shaky smile, his usual blush coming back to his face.

I had to fight back my triumphant smile. Never in my life (as short as it may have been) have I ever been invited to hang out at someone else's house after school! Holy shit! It's my first day at a new school, and already things are leagues better than they were back in Vancouver. Maybe moving to Germany wasn't such a horrendous idea after all.

I happily nodded, forcing myself not to look all over the moon at the simple, platonic invite to chill and watch movies. "Sure, that sounds fun," I grinned.

As if it were possible, Engel's smile grew even wider, totally dominating the lower half of his face. "G-great!" he beamed.

As we headed to our next classes, it was difficult to ignore the pep that the class president had in his step which made him look like he was practically floating on air.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I took it out, resisting the urge to throw it away as I saw that my most favorite douchebag in the world had messaged me again.

Don't forget that after school you have to do your homework. At home.

What the hell is Dominik's problem this time? And why does he insist on texting me today?

3). Mittelalterliche Literatur [Medieval Literature]

My stomach nearly fell out of my butt the second I stepped foot inside my next class, seeing that it was Medieval Literature based off of the old looking books on the desks and the posters depicting artwork from the time period all over the walls.

Holy shit, I don't even know Ye Olde English, let alone Medieval German!

Before I could jump out of the window, the teacher smiled warmly at me and with a wave of her wrinkled hand said, "Willkommen. Platz nehmen."

Gosh darn it, this class is going to be hard. I already know it.

My shoulders slumping, I took the only free seat that was in the back of the class. I know that I'll be at a tremendous disadvantage in this class since I don't speak German, and therefore, I won't grasp a lot of the literary devices. However, I really don't want to give up and admit defeat— I'm pretty stubborn.

Then again, maybe there's a German version of the GED...?

The teacher approached the podium that was at the front of the small room. "Schlagen Sie Seite drei­hundert­drei­und­zwanzig auf. Wir beginnen mit der Lektüre von Parzival des Ritters Wolfram von Eschenbach," she announced to the class.

My jaw dropped as I failed to pick up a single thing that lady just said.

Not wanting to look dumber than I felt, I quickly glanced around the room and saw that everyone else was taking out the large textbook that was in the carrier underneath their chairs. I followed suit and leaned in closer to my neighbor so that I could see what page he was turning to.

The guy sitting next to me noticed me invading his personal space a bit, and he tensed up.

The young man was a frickin' hulk of a student, and he stretched out his uniform to bursting. His squared jaw was clenching tightly and he lightly ground his teeth in what I hope wasn't irritation, especially with me. There was some light stubble on it; and when I'd gotten closer to him, I could see his upper lip starting to curl a little over his teeth like how a dog does when its defending its territory. His jet black hair was messy atop his head, looking like he'd just ran his fingers through it with some gel in the morning.

He turned to glare at me— his yellow eyes widening as soon as they landed on my face.

The dude looked shocked for some reason, and it totally clashed with the dark bags under his eyes which made him look like he'd been having trouble sleeping. His Adam's apple quivered slightly as his jaw lowered.

"Aww," someone in class gushed.

The guy knit his eyebrows and then seemed to notice that my dumbass was the only one in class who hadn't turned to the correct page... I mean, I hadn't even opened my book yet.

He reached over with a large arm and flipped to page three-hundred twenty-three where there was lot of print underneath the title Parzival.

"Thank you so much," I breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a little low for having to rely on so many people today just to make it around. However, it helped put my nerves at ease by the smallest fraction to know that there were some helpful men here at school. Thank God!

"Ja," the other guy muttered real quick before turning his face back to his own book. His jaw went back to being clenched, his eyes narrowed as he read.

I tried my best to follow along with the rest of the class as we went over the poem, but damn it, German is hard! Also, this wasn't regular German— this was Medieval German! Therefore, no one speaks it anymore! Maybe Alaric would be able to, seeing as how he has some greys already...

Every so often, the guy next to me would be nice and would point at a section of the page whenever I looked lost (which was often), or he would even reach over and turn the page for me when I hadn't realized that we'd just finished the passage on one.

And each and every time he did something, I made sure to thank him and he would always respond with a simple "Ja" in that deep baritone of his.

Still, even with his fantastic help, I knew that I was in way over my head being in this class. By my third sigh of resignation, I made a mental note to stop by the principal's office to ask to be swapped to a different class that didn't require me to know an advanced form of a language I didn't speak.

Unfortunately, my sighing must've gotten on my neighbor's nerves because he made his own huffing sound as he fished out his phone. After some tapping away on there, he slid it onto my desk.

I was confused at first, but once I looked down and saw that he'd downloaded an English translation of Parzival for me, I couldn't help but smile widely at him.

"Thanks," I repeated for the millionth time, "you literally just saved my life."

This time, the young man's face blushed slightly and I swear that the corner of his mouth lifted by, like, half a centimeter. He quickly went deadpan again and turned back to his own textbook. "...ja."

I was able to keep up the slightest bit by reading the translation given to me. I knew that I'd have to figure out a better solution when it was time to take the exams and when I'd eventually have to write an analysis on the German version of the epic poem, but I'll cross that bridge when it comes.

When class ended, I went to hand him back his phone but he held his hand up.

"Put in your number," he stated in his gruff voice, the tone to it leaving no room for compromise.

I perked up a little as I put in my phone number into his phone. Maybe he was willing to be my study buddy? Holy moly, I cannot believe my luck today! First Mr. Abin, then Engel, and now... um, this guy! Bedburg needs to stop advertising itself as the Wolf Town, because it's actually the Friendly Town (minus Dominik).

After handing him back his phone, I stood up and held out my hand to be polite. "I'm Max," I introduced myself.

The guy stood up too, completely dwarfing me. "Lars," he grunted, taking my tiny hand in his massive mitt. He squeezed tightly, but nowhere near enough to make it painful... and I swore he rubbed this thumb up and down my hand in soothing circles, but he let go before I could tell for certain.

Lars's nostrils flared a little and narrowed his yellow eyes at me. "Max... Stubbe?" he almost spat.

Eww! No, I do not have Alaric's eery last name. I quickly shook my head. "Estrada," I corrected. "I just moved here from Canada. I don't know a Stubbe."

Lars shrugged his broad shoulders and we began to head out of the classroom.

Like clockwork, my phone buzzed in my pocket and it didn't take rocket scientist to know that it was my good ol' stepbro, *gag.

A reminder to not talk to strangers, Mein Hase.

What the hell is his issue? Ten bucks says that he and his buddy, Sibylle, are laughing together as he sends me these cryptic messages. What a bunch of bitches!

4). Anatomie und Physiologie [Anatomy and Physiology]

I'd spent all of lunch hiding in the library, or Bibliothek, since it was where I'd always eaten my lunch back in Canada. Perhaps the smart thing to do would've been to join my new classmates in the cafeteria, but I have scars damn it! The idea of eating all by myself in front of others, especially those who didn't know me yet, had made me really nervous. Therefore, before I could be excluded, I'd grabbed my lunch from the cafeteria and had scurried away to a safe hole in the library.

Plus, I know that Dominik had ordered me to call him during my lunch, but I didn't. Sue me.

I think he's considering it, because the exact millisecond I stepped foot into my next class, he'd texted me: We're going over the rules tonight.

The dude's deranged, for real. And what rules?!

Instead of mulling over the mystery that is my annoying older stepbrother, I followed the teacher's instructions to take my seat at one of the lab tables that had a vacant spot. Most of the tables had three students assigned to them, yet there was one that was closest to the window that had a free seat.

Sitting at the table were two other students already. They both had the same exact yellow eyes (okay, this getting strange) that seemed to widen in tandem as I approached. Come to think of it, the two guys looked eerily similar to one another, as if they were twins. No... I think they are twins actually. They both had their platinum blond hair styled in the same exact manner in which it was slightly spiked up in the front, they were both the same super tall height, they had the same athletic build that made their uniform shirts look a little tight, and they both smiled the same grin as I walked up to them.

"Aww," someone in class gushed.

At the exact moment I reached the table, both of the guys stood up in sync. They'd initially been sitting side by side, but the one on the left moved over to offer up a free seat that was directly in between them.

I mean, I would've preferred the seat next to the window, but hey! That was really nice of them. Again, people in Bedburg are super sweet. I guess that's what people online mean whenever they talk about German Hospitality.

I could feel my own face starting to grow warm underneath the gaze of the two dudes who totally make me feel small because they're both taller and far more bulky than I could ever hope to be. It deepened as soon I took my seat; thanks to my new table mates' bulk, each one of them had their respective side pressed against me, totally sandwiching me between them.

Most people probably would've been put off by such a seating arrangement, but having two big boys squishing me in between their manly muscles... I think I found my favorite class.

The one on my left, who was closest to the window, spoke up first. "Hallo, are you new here?" he asked in his velvety smooth voice. "We have not seen you around."

The other guy shook his head, silently agreeing with whom I really assume is his twin brother; that, or they were doppelgängers. Eery, but also kinda hot.

"I just moved here," I explained, not used to being the center of attention, "from Canada."

Both of the guys actually nodded, which totally told me that they were legit listening to me and not just pretending to. Holy shit! This must be how other people feel all the time! I'm so used to being ignored and feeling like no one wants me around, that I'd feared I'd carry on that lonely curse with me here in Germany. Yet, all of those fears were stomped down into the dirt because I've had all these fine men taking valuable time out of their busy schedules to talk to me.

Me of all people!

"Well, I'm Jakob," the one on the left introduced himself.

"I'm Anton," the guy on the right said, his deep voice an exact replica of his brother's.

It was hard to ignore just how teeny tiny I looked as I sat in between the hunky twins (whoa, I never thought I'd ever get the chance to say that). For real, both their height and weight completely dwarfed me, and one could totally bet that one of them could fit me into his back pocket with ease!

But because I must be a budding masochist or something, my stupid brain couldn't help but mentally blurt out the annoying and pointless fact that Dominik was taller and bigger than the both of them.

I shook the thought of my migraine-inducing stepbrother out of my mind. I don't want to waste any time nor energy on that douche. In fact, the smartest thing to do would be to report him for downloading a damn tracking app onto my phone! I swear as soon as school gets out, I'm going to avoid him like he has herpes... or at least until after he drives me back home. I may be proud, but that doesn't mean I want to walk home from school.

"I'm Max," I told the twins, making sure to smile so that I seemed friendly and not like I was inwardly cursing out the name of a certain man.

My ploy definitely worked because Anton's and Jakob's smiles both grew at the same time in response.

The teacher cleared his throat, and in a monotone voice that was void of any light (poor guy) announced, "Klasse, heute setzen wir unsere Lektion über Muskeln fort."

Damn, Dominik should've downloaded Google Translate onto my phone instead of whatever the hell YAN-Tracker is. *Sigh.

I'm positive my confusion was painfully etched all over my clear face because while Anton slid his textbook over closer to me, Jakob leaned in close to whisper, "We're going over the muscular system."

Oh, thank God! I actually know about the human muscular system and all about myosin and its role in contractions. Literally, my body perked up as confidence glacially trickled into my veins at the thought of not being one-hundred percent lost in this class. I mean, sure, it sucks to not understand the language, but I know the curriculum. All I have to do is just take an extra step.

Anton gave a small chuckle. "You know about muscles?" he coyly asked, leaning forward in a way that accidentally made his bicep flex a little bigger.

I nodded. "Yeah, I went over some of this back in Canada."

Anton's smile fell.

Jakob narrowed his yellow eyes at his brother before giving me a slight nudge. "Well, me and Anton haven't gone over the muscular system too much," he innocently hummed, even putting on a playful frown.

Anton's smile returned full force as he nodded in agreement. "Ja, and since it's clear you're really bright, would you be willing to tutor us?"

"We don't mind being your models for the muscular system," Jakob added.

Of course I'll tutor the twin brothers!

Jakob's smirk faltered as he deeply inhaled through his nostrils and there was a low rumble from him and his brother simultaneously. "But maybe we should hold the tutoring session at our place," he huffed. "We wouldn't want to anger your brother."

I jerked back in surprise. First of all, Dominik is my STEPbrother; and second of all, who the hell cares if he gets mad? He's mad all the time!

"He'll live," I muttered.

After all, back in Vancouver, I would try to tutor my fellow classmates. Sure, most of them declined and called me a nerd behind my back and to my face, but it was still the polite thing to do. Therefore, I won't let my past pupils' actions discourage me from being a good person. Anton and Jakob need my help with Anatomy and Physiology, so I will help them.

"I can totally tutor you two," I told them.

The way both guys looked like they'd just won the lottery was a real ego boost. I may sound like a broken record, but I am so grateful that my loner status back home didn't follow me across the ocean to Germany.

Class progressed rather nicely. The twins were kind enough to translate whatever the teacher said for me, and when it was time to break off into groups to fill out an assignment, they both latched onto me like velcro.

During the last few minutes of class, we filled out a worksheet that had a blank picture of a skinned human so that we could label each muscle group. Jakob and Anton tried to help, but they really needed some more practice on their muscle groups. I actually wound up doing most of the work while the two of them would ask me questions.

"And, Max, which muscle is this one?" Jakob smirked, pointing at his muscled chest. He even flexed a little bit, the buttons on his shirt straining to contain his bulk.

"That's your pectoralis major," I answered, making sure to jot it down on the worksheet too.

"'Major' you say?" he grinned, leaning in closer.

"Yeah, it's because there's two of them. The pectoralis minor is smaller," I clarified.

Jakob's smirk melted slightly before he flexed a massive arm, making the muscles in it pump up with power. "And this one?" he pressed.

Looking up from the worksheet, I watched as the guy flexed his massive arm, the large muscle in it forming a distinct mound. "That's the biceps brachii." I even made sure to mark it down on the paper, wanting to make sure that I prove to the twins that I can be a good study buddy.

"Are you sure?" Anton asked this time, flexing his own bicep that was the same exact large size as his brother's. "Why don't you feel to make sure?"

Of course I know I'm sure... but also, I suppose a simple touch wouldn't kill anyone.

After taking a quick look around the classroom to verify that no one would see me feeling up one of the twins, I reached out my hand so that I could graze the built man's toned muscle that would no doubt be rock hard—

My phone buzzed in my pocket. Damn it!

Out of instinct, I immediately reached down to grab it and see what it was; and of course, it was Dominik.

I'll come pick you up early if you want

Ugh, this dude is not gonna ruin my chance to feel manly muscles!

The bell rang.

DAMN IT!

Jakob, Anton, and I all frowned at the same time, but we got up and gathered up our stuff to head to our next class.

Still wanting to leave a good first impression with my new table mates, I added a quick, "Let me know if you guys still want some tutoring."

Jakob and Anton smiled for the hundredth time as they eagerly nodded. They both looked over the moon by my offer to help tutor them in Anatomy and Physiology. They must really care about their grades, or maybe they'd even been struggling and then I come along to help them out. Wow, this could be the beginning of a really nice friendship! And it's like a two-in-one friendship because they're twins!

5). Chemie [Chemistry]

"Max!" I heard a vaguely familiar deep voice call out as soon as I stepped foot inside the classroom.

In the far corner of the room sitting at a lab table was Erik from the Wasgau. His handsome face was stretched out into a wide smile as he gleefully waved a buff arm to signal me over...