Tom Kaulitz

He arrived at our school in September, a breath of fresh air after a sweltering August. Among the usual teachers—tired women in knitted sweaters and grumpy old men—Tom Kaulitz seemed like an alien. Tall, muscular, with a piercing gaze and a permanent light stubble. He was 27, had just graduated from teacher training, and seemed a little afraid of us, the screaming ninth-graders.

I fell in love. In a stupid, childish way, right away. When he called me to the board, my knees were shaking, and I confused hydrogen with oxygen. He looked at me with a slight smile, shook his head, and gave me a C. “Sit down, Nelly, you need to study, not look out the window,” he said.

I didn't even try to hide it. My friends giggled, I drew hearts in my chemistry notebook, and hung around the lab technician's office during breaks. Tom pretended not to notice. He was serious, keeping his distance. But sometimes he let himself go.

One day, I stayed after school to "return my assignments." We talked for two hours. Not about chemistry. About music, about movies, about how he hated school bureaucracy. And then he suggested we go for a walk. "I don't care which way," he said, hiding his eyes. We walked until evening, and he laughed at my stupid jokes.

And so it went. Sometimes after school we'd meet in the schoolyard and go somewhere, just chatting. I knew it was wrong. He knew it even better. But we couldn't stop.

And then Tuesday morning happened.

Tom picked me up in his old car. He said he was just passing by and I was running late, so he decided to give me a lift. It was ridiculous, stupid, and so risky. I got in. We drove up to the school, and I got out, laughing at something he said. And at that moment, Kevin, the class's biggest gossip, came around the corner. He'd seen everything. And he'd interpreted it all differently.

By the third lesson the school was buzzing.

"Nelka, they say you study chemistry at night?" the boys laughed in the hallway. “Look, your Thomas has come, he’s even wiped the board clean, he’s trying hard,” the girls whispered behind my back.