Pretty much everyone twists in their seats, checking each other out. Jesse Elton and Allie Fitzpatrick stand immediately. Allie has the most beautiful eyes, a deep turquoise blue the color of a calm Lake Ontario on a sunny day. In the front row, last seat on the left, Heather Jameson hesitates, but with everyone’s attention on her, she slides out of her chair and stands. She smooths back strands that escaped from her ponytail, then crosses her arms over her chest. Like Kerrianne, I’ve known Heather since kindergarten. She’s tiny, barely five feet, and looks more like a sixth grader than a senior. Like Logan, she loves to read. Heather always has a novel open, even in class. I think books are her way of avoiding people—armor—especially after her older sister was arrested in Riviere’s biggest drug bust. It happened during our freshman year. Heather’s sister ended up in juvie. Unlike Logan, who has a singing voice that makes dogs howl, Heather has a voice that could make angels weep.

With all this attention on her, she looks like she could weep now.

Mr. Bartley does another quick scan of our class, then addresses Jesse, Heather, and Allie. “Again, this is strictly a demonstration. If you feel uncomfortable, you do not need to remain standing.”

Speaking to all of us, he says, “Under Nazi Germany, blond-haired, blue-eyed characteristics were considered ideal for their Aryan race of superior human beings. Jesse, if you lived under Hitler’s rule, by appearance alone, you would have been considered a potential candidate for the SS.” He faces the rest of the class. “Other requirements included being at least five foot eleven, physically fit, and in excellent health. However, candidates needed to provide proof that their lineage had no Jewish blood going as far back as one hundred fifty years.”

“I’m pure.” Jesse grins and flexes his muscles, getting a sprinkle of laughter. Mr. Bartley ignores him. Logan’s disgust mirrors my own.

A photo labeled “Heinrich Himmler, the commander of the SS, with his daughter” fills the Smart Board. She, of course, has blond hair, blue eyes.

“Heinrich Himmler started a program called Lebensborn, or ‘Spring of Life,’ in order to accelerate their Master Race. It is believed that over a twelve-year time period, up to twenty thousand children were born under this program. That doesn’t include the two hundred thousand or so blue-eyed, blond-haired children who were reportedly removed from their parents in captured countries to be raised in German homes. Take a look at the screen. I need a volunteer to read out loud part of this October 4, 1943, speech that Himmler gave to SS officers.” A few hands go up. Mr. Bartley calls on Kerrianne.

“One principle must be absolute for the SS man; we must be honest, decent, loyal, friendly to members of our blood and to no one else.