Opposite Sides Read Free Page A

education of her older brothers.” The headmaster
paused. The hall remained quiet except for one muted cough
somewhere in the centre. A minute passed Then, the headmaster
continued. “Mister Resmel comes to us from overseas. His house will
be Coleridge in Block Two A. I hope both of them will enjoy their
time with us and work diligently at their studies, helping to keep
up the good name of this wonderful college. Veneratio est nostrum rector. I hope
everyone will help them realise our school motto: Honour is our Guide so I
ask you all to do the honourable thing and
demonstrate your loyalty to this school by making them feel that
this is their school, too; a school in which each one of you needs
to show how proud you are to be a pupil. Thank you.”
    “ Everybody
stand for the headmaster!”
    Mr Bowes-Heath walked
down the centre steps leading away from the stage and began making
his way down the isle between the rows of students in the assembly
hall.
    Miss Turner
picked up her black folder, swished her dress fan-like around
herself and quickly followed her headmaster out of the hall. As the
last of the staff left and the assembly had come under the control
of the prefects, the students, now seated again, turned and craned
their necks to gawk at the two ‘new-comers’ who were seated at the back.
    Miss Anne Sutherland was
a slim, good-looking girl of sixteen years, five months and
twenty-three days. Her light auburn hair which had been cut in a
modern bob-style, cupped each side of her oval face as though it
was a precious jewel. Even in her unflattering school box-pleated
black uniform she was a stunner of a girl and the admiring looks
from the boys in the hall showed that each one of them was already
trying to work out how he might be the first to gain her attention.
She smiled at two senior boys who were sitting opposite to her and
then dropped her eyes and remained looking down in the direction of
the floor.
    Attention was now moved
to the young man sitting beside her for many of the students wanted
very much to see for themselves what someone from overseas might
look like. Mister Hans Resmel looked directly back at the waving
sea of faces and craning necks which waved before him like a flock
of flamingoes he had seen when his mother took her boys to the
Berlin Zoo. The similarity almost made him smile so he quickly had
to push that image from his mind.
    He must have passed the
inspection in a favourable light for the younger girls began
whispering among themselves as they noted every detail from his
thick light-brown hair which he got that from his grandmother, to
his large bright blue eyes and finally to a strong, determined chin
which he had inherited from his grandfather on his father’s side.
Several of the girls actually smiled quite sweetly at him from the
other side of the hall.
    Like many boys of his age
his body was still thin and gangly. It needed time to fill out and
muscle up after the spurt of growth that had taken place. He
appeared to be several inches taller than the girl next to him him
but it was difficult to be exact as they had remained
sitting.
    As the whispering grew,
the school prefects took up their places around the perimeter of
the hall.
    “ Everybody,
turn around!”
    The loud voice of one of
the masters brought the students back into order. All the heads
faced forwards once more.
    The senior prefect took
his cue from the master.
    “ Now, the
notices for the day . . . ”
    Hans turned and smiled
faintly at Anne as he noticed the relief on her face. He seemed to
convey some understanding that he knew how she felt. Anyway, he was
having a lot of trouble trying to focus on what was being said and
found that he was not understanding much of it at all. He began to
wonder how he was going to survive the next few months.
    The assembly hall
emptied, boys to the left and girls to the right, never to come
together again until the next main assembly. The chatter outside
began to subside. One of the