A Separate Peace

by John Knowles

It was partly his doing. The Devon faculty had never before experienced a student who combined a calm ignorance of the rules with a winning urge to be good, who seemed to love the school truly and deeply, and never more than when he was breaking the regulations, a model boy who was most comfortable in the truant’s corner. The faculty threw up its hands over Phineas, and so loosened its grip on all of us.

They noticed our games tolerantly. We reminded them of what peace was like, of lives which were not bound up with destruction.

When you are sixteen, adults are slightly impressed and almost intimidated by you.