The Forbidden Six

January 9th, 1936

The geography classroom was deathly silent when Otto walked in. When he slowly opened the heavy wooden door behind him, the class turned to look at him. He awkwardly waved before fixating his gaze on Liese, his only friend in the class. He waved and she smiled at him.

"What's going on?" he whispered as he sat down next to Liese. His voice carried throughout the silence. "I thought the test was next week."

"The teacher was about to make an announcement and he made everyone quiet before he said anything. Then you walked in as he was starting to talk," she explained. "It's something about Hitler, like usual."

"As I was saying before Herr Bauer so rudely interrupted us, after school each one of you has to attend Hitler Youth. It is mandatory. It is a law. If you don't attend, you will be punished. Children in Germany will go to Hitler Youth until they are eighteen. There they will teach you the things that you need to know to be able to function in life. That is all. Today we are going to learn about the...." the teacher's voice faded into the background as Liese frantically scribbled on a piece of paper. She passed it to Otto who read it when she poked his shoulder.

She had written that she didn't want to go to Hitler Youth. Otto replied that they had to because it was the law.

"I don't care that it's the law," Liese hissed under her breath. "They're teaching sexist things. You get to light fires and go hiking and throw grenades but I have to learn how to become a mother. The Nazis just want me in the kitchen and taking care of my children. 'Kinder, Küche, Kirche', they say. Seeing the way things are nowadays, I'm not sure I even want to have children."

A terrible thought crossed Otto's mind. He smirked and started to speak. "Werner will be heartbroken to hear that."

Liese covered her mouth with her hands and almost fell out of her chair. She gawked at Otto who was trying to suppress laughter. She cleared her throat before speaking.

"Who raised you?" she asked. "For your information, I don't want children. Germs and all."

"If you don't—" Otto started to say.

"Shh. I don't care. Anyway, volcanoes," Liese interrupted him. "Volcanoes will help Germany take over the world."

"Your—"

"Drive it in the hanger, honey."

During lunch, the six met up outside of the music classroom. They sat at a few tables which were in front of the room. Liese plopped down into a seat and sighed. Otto looked at her, curious, a sandwich halfway to his mouth.

"Hitler Youth is going to kill me, I swear," she said. "I'm not going to know anybody there."

"Don't say that," Werner told her. "I'm going to keep us upbeat and I don't want any more of the dying talk. Thank you." He bowed as he sat on the wooden floor of the school.

"Who are you?" Mena brought her fork close to one eye and squinted. She chuckled; it looked like Werner was behind bars.

"Someone who wants to be more upbeat because Germany is depressing." He nodded as a smile played on his lips.

"Mena," Otto said, "aren't you going to Hitler Youth?" She shook her head in response. "Why?"

"Because I'm only half German. Does my skin look paper white to you?" She pointed to her tan face with a tilt of her head.

Everyone was quiet for a few minutes.

"What will I do while you're all gone?" Leyna asked. She turned to a Pieter. "I can spend time with Pieter." She winked.

Liese and Mena exchanged a look as Liese opened a notebook and began to write a chapter for a story she'd been writing for a few months. After a few moments, she set her pencil down and laid her head on her notebook, groaning.