Life was tough in the 40's. Media propaganda all told people how to live and think, Nazis were on the rise, and war broke out with many people looking up to Hitler.

Anna was not one of those people.

She never said it aloud for fear of incurring the wrath of her fellow peers, or worse, the HJ, but she despised Hitler. She felt like he was blaming everything going wrong on one religious group. Sadly, she never defended Jews because of her fears, but she would never, ever hurt one either.

Her brother had fallen in love with a Jewish woman some years ago. She had been so kind and so beautiful and their love was a rare but true one. Then one day, he was found out and was taken away from them. She could still hear her mother's screams as his ashes were delivered to them in a box. Her mother had gone into depression and stopped eating and later died from malnutrition.

After losing both her brother and mother, Anna rarely left her home, afraid that she would end with a similar fate.

That all changed when her friend, Elaine, went to her house and told her to get dressed because they were going to the Bismarck. Anna tried to get out of it, but Elaine was persistent. She wanted to cheer Anna up and told her she understood what she was going through because she had lost her father to the Nazis. At that, Anna relented and Elaine helped her choose a dress to wear.

Thomas Berger was your average teenager. He had his group of close friends, he loved to swing dance, he desperately needed a haircut, he loved talking about and flirting with girls, and his personality was…well, indescribable to say the least.

As often as he could, he and his friends Peter, Arvid, and Otto would go out swing dancing at the Bismarck and try to pick up girls along the way.

Currently, all the boys were sitting at their table taking a break from dancing. Most of them were pouring sweat from the intensity of their dances, but so was everyone else in the place so it didn't really matter.

Thomas's eyes fell to the door and he caught sight of a girl. A gorgeous girl at that. As he watched her, it seemed like she was walking through the door in slow motion. Her brown hair was half tied up while the rest of it was nearly flat reaching to the middle of her back. As she turned, it glided over her shoulder in one smooth perfect motion. She was smiling, but her smile was clearly not a completely real one. It was still so beautiful that he could only imagine what a real smile looked like.

"Hey, Thomas," Peter said, trying to keep in his laughter. "Put your eyes back in your head, why don't you?"

Thomas didn't respond, still keeping his eye on the girl. She and her friend sat down at a table not too far from theirs. They talked for a little while as the girl looked around her in awe. It must've been her first time.

Without thinking about it, he went over to the table and extended his hand to her. "Care to dance?"

She looked at him with a bashful smile. "I don't know how to do all of those moves," she said gesturing to the dance floor where couples were swing dancing wildly.

"It's easy. I'll show you."

She looked at her friend, who nodded back at her. Then she timidly took Thomas's awaiting hand and he led her to the dance floor.

Thomas took both of her hands in his. "Just follow my lead," he told her. He began to lead her in a very simple swing dance, and she picked it up pretty fast. There was a problem, though. She was holding back. "Let it go," Thomas said in her ear. "No one cares what you do." Anna looked at the boy she had just met. She had to admit that he was really attractive, besides the whole long hair situation he had going on. At his words, she slowly began to pick up her step.

"There ya go!" Thomas praised. Anna gave him another shy smile as he continued to help her through the dance. "Give it a little more!" She obeyed his request and before she knew it, she was dancing just as wildly as the other couples. And for the first time in who knows how long, Anna was laughing. Her smile, her real smile, was a thousand times better than Thomas had imagined, and it took years off her young face.

Before long, Anna found herself yearning for sleep. She had danced for hours and was absolutely exhausted.

"Thank you for an amazing night," Anna said to the boy she had danced with all night. "I guess I should be getting back home."

"I'll walk you," Thomas said.

"Oh, no, that's okay. My friend Elaine and I are walking back together."

"If I saw correctly, your friend Elaine left earlier with Vincent."

Sure enough, when Anna looked around, Elaine was not in sight. "I'll kill her," she mumbled.

Thomas laughed. "No worries. She asked me earlier if I would take you home."

Anna shook her head and allowed Thomas to escort her back to her house.

"So, uh, you come to the Bismarck often?" Thomas asked, making conversation.

"No, that was my first time. Elaine forced me to go tonight. I haven't been exactly…open to company as of late."

"Oh? How come?"

"It's…complicated," was all Anna said.

"Well, you're certainly a fast learner. I've never seen someone pick up something as difficult as swing so fast. If you keep dancing like that, you'll be a natural in no time."

Anna giggled as she felt a blush crawl up to her face. "Thanks. I had a good teacher."

"Aw, shucks!"

Anna laughed harder at his words. By that time, they reached Anna's front door. "Thanks for walking me."

"Anything to help such a fine lady like yourself," Thomas said with a small bow.

Anna giggled again. "I didn't catch your name."

"Thomas. Thomas Berger."

"Lovely to meet you, Thomas Berger. I'm Anna Hensley."

"Pleasure, Miss Hensley."

While Anna walked through school the next day, Thomas came up to her and fell into step beside her.

"Hey, Anna. You, me, Bismarck tomorrow night."

"Nice to see you too," Anna laughed. "I don't know if my father will let me."

"He let you last night."

"He wasn't exactly…up for not letting me go. And besides it was Elaine who convinced me and ever since she met Vincent, I can't get three words out of her."

"I'll pick you up at your house at 6:30."

Thomas walked away from her despite her protests echoing behind him.

Sure enough, the next night at almost exactly 6:30, Thomas showed up at Anna's front door. She had decided to don a slimming turquoise dress that she could dance in.

"My lady," Thomas said offering her his arm.

She giggled as she gingerly took it and they walked to the Bismarck together. Once there, Thomas found his usual crew and walked her over to them.

"Hey, fellas! There's someone I want you to meet!" All the boys at the table looked at her and she felt quite small under their gazes. "Anna, this is Otto and Arvid. They make some of the best music in the country. And this here is my partner in crime, Peter Müller," he introduced as he slung his arm around Peter's shoulders. "And gents, this here is Miss Anna Hensley."

"Nice to meet you," Anna said shyly. Anna was never really good at meeting people. Her brother had been the one to help her get acquainted with friends and ever since his death, she found it harder and harder to make new ones.

"So you're the girl who caught his eye," Peter laughed.

Anna's face turned a very beet red at his words and Thomas proceeded to hit his friend on the back of the head.

"It takes a lot for Thomas to actually like like a girl," Arvid added. "You must really be something else."

"He certainly picked a winner! You're gorgeous!" Otto exclaimed.

Anna blushed again at all of their words, and let out a small laugh.

"Come on, Anna," Thomas said. "Let's dance."

Anna giggled again as he led her once more out onto the dance floor. He showed her some new steps and once again, she picked them up fairly easily. It was even better than the first time she had gone dancing.

"Hey, Peter!" Thomas called. "Let's show her what we got!"

Peter and Thomas went out to the middle of the floor and started doing a dance together that they must have rehearsed several times over. Anna couldn't help but smile at their obvious friendship. It reminded her a lot of what she used to have with her brother. Thomas broke off the dance and grabbed Anna and began to dance with her again while Peter grabbed a girl from the audience. All four of them began swing dancing wildly, and Anna completely forgot that she was supposed to be shy.