Date Started: June 16, 2006
Sex Ed 101
Introduction-Perspective
So, you're probably wondering about the title, right? Well, I wonder that too. No, I don't think the author is psychotic, heck, that author just happens to be me. But, back to the point: Yes, Sex Ed 101; probably one of the scariest classes you could ever step foot in or, for some, one of the best chances for some missed sleep. I'm categorized into the first description. Once school gets out, I heard that you can already hear those relieved voices from the graduating classes. Sadly, that's a category I'm not in...yet. The only thing I can look forward to is the end of the school year when I don't have to put up with the 'magic' of that classroom to the left of the hallway. The thing is, no matter what, it's required to take it every year.
Rule number one in my book: don't be stupid. That's why I try not to overreact...but, moving from Twilight Town Middle School to Twilight Town High is a different story. You're probably thinking 'it doesn't sound different'. Oh, right, probably 'cause I forgot to mention: it's an all boy's high school. Things will definitely take a turn for the worst once summer vacation leaves and classroom number thirteen takes over.
Chapter One: "Since when do you read the newspaper?"
I never, not once in my life, took a single day of summer for granted. Who in their right mind would? Hayner always told me it was all about the blue skies and the sea salt ice cream. Olette said it's all about the travel while Pence lazily said it's all about sleeping in. I agree with all of them, actually. No school, no homework, no curfews, absolute paradise. It's like summer's a different world for teens! Yeah...a whole different world. A completely different...
"ROXAS!"
Hastily, I bolted up from my pillow, feeling the heat of summer brush against my face. I turned to my window which was left wide open and figured I must have left it that way by accident. Scratching my head, I yawned and flopped back on my bed, wishing that summer would never come to a close.
"Roxas! Get up and get dressed!"
Remembering that someone had woke me up with their voice, I turned on my pillow to face mom: fuming with her arms crossed in the center of my doorway. Great...now I'm in for it. Bashfully, I smiled and sat up, nonchalantly ruffling the back of my spiky blonde hair. "Oh, morning, mom!"
"Don't you 'good morning, mom' me, Roxas! I told you to go to bed early last night so you could wake up early to meet with your brother," she lectured, tapping her foot against the floor. Mom was just one of those people that lived to lecture their kids. Actually, I found it pretty amusing to watch her point her finger at my brother when he did something wrong. She sort of took the role as father in the family ever since dad passed away when I was only two years old. My older brother was three at the time but he barely remembers anything about dad. Mom always told us that we looked a lot like dad. Besides that, it was really all she ever told us about him. I didn't want to believe her though. Looking in the mirror at my own reflection didn't look like a father to me.
"Did he wake up early?" I asked, putting emphasis to the word 'he'.
Mom sighed disappointedly and shook her head, her long, low pony tail wagging at the back of her head. "Does he ever?"
I laughed and walked to the door, feeling her push roughly at my shoulder as I approached the hallway. Mom left my side when we passed the stairway, reminding me to comb my hair as she descended the steps. Letting the information go through one ear and slip out the other, I shut the bathroom door behind me. Now that I think about it, in a way, I wished summer would be over quicker.
"Did you comb your hair, Roxas?" Mom yelled from the living room, hearing me slip into the dining room.
I pulled my arm through my backpack strap and turned toward the table, my eyes falling upon a newspaper being held up at the end of it. I shook my head and scoffed, pulling up a chair beside the strange newspaper wielder. "Since when do you read the newspaper?" I asked suspiciously, peering around an article based on weight loss.
There was a light laugh and the papers suddenly fell to the surface of the table. "Since this happened just last night," Sora, my older brother, replied while thrusting a finger somewhere to the left of the page he held smack down on the table.
I eyed him awkwardly then turned my attention to where he was pointing, beginning to read out loud. "'Unknown gang of 4 attempts to burn down abandoned mansion beyond Twilight Town woods: Story by Olette," I paused and blinked in surprise. "I didn't know Olette wrote for the paper!"
Sora sighed and grabbed the back of my head, forcing it back in the direction of the article. "Keep reading!" He demanded.
"Ok, ok, alright! Geez..." Rubbing the back of my head, I found my place in the article and read again, "'Last night, at approximately 8:30 pm, two residents of Twilight Town were casually taking a stroll through the woods when the couple spotted unknown shadows running amongst the trees. Worried that the shadows belonged to the mystery gang of Twilight Town, the couple notified officers to apprehend the suspected trouble makers," I paused again and laughed to myself, imagining Olette spending all night to write a third grade style of report. "'Before officers could catch the mischievous shadows, they were able to make a run for it just before setting an abandoned mansion in flames. This is what the police suspect considering the fact that there was a tank of gasoline and a packet of matches left behind. Police suspect that this gang is the very one that was nearly caught painting graffiti on the north wall of Twilight Town Middle School."
I averted my eyes from the black print and turned toward Sora who was shaking his head. Sora was always one of the more trustworthy guys when he was in middle school. He scored some of the highest grades in a few classes but wasn't exactly Mr. Genius when it came to math. His spiky brunette hair matched mine almost exactly that if he were blonde, people said we would appear as twins. Since mom was blonde, Sora said he must have gotten the trait from dad and called me a mommy's boy because I looked more like her. As if he would know what dad looked like anyway! How could he be so sure? Regardless of how much I despised him at times, I have to always keep in mind that we're stuck together no matter what.
"Can you believe those guys?" He asked, pushing away from the table before standing.
"They're a gang. It's what they do," I replied, folding up the sheets of dirty paper that lay scattered on the countertop.
"No, gang or not, it's still pretty stupid what they're doing to the town. Didn't you hear?" He turned toward me, his hands slamming against the table.
I jerked my head up at him and placed the newspaper to the side. "What?"
"I heard Seifer's thinking about packing up and leaving," He stated, crossing his arms over his chest.
"W-What!" I blurted out, nearly falling backward in my seat. Seifer? Leaving? I could recall shuddering at the very mentioning of his name when I was in the first grade. Seifer was always the big shot in Twilight Town. Always showing off to the world that he was the best of best. On occasion, I found him beating a kid up for their lunch money in the back of the school cafeteria and blaming someone else for it. When I was in first grade, he and his little group of pals were in the second grade. Right when I entered the hallways, Seifer dubbed me his official 'first grade buddy'. I didn't know what caused him to be so angry with me or why he chose me to be his 'buddy' out of all my other classmates. Maybe if I had arrived to school on time that day, I wouldn't have met him.
"What?" I repeated, kneeling forward with my stunned eyes glued to Sora's face.
Sora laughed playfully and grabbed at his green backpack that had been hanging loosely around the arm of the chair next to me and swung it on his back. "Yeah. I think you should be pretty relieved to hear that news," He added, ruffling up the hair at the back of my head, messing it up even more.
I let off a low growl but let it slide, thinking that if I started something mom would come barging in with her finger out and ready. "Where'd you hear that?" I asked, pushing away from the table before standing.
"Hmm? Oh, Riku told me. He did some eavesdropping on the latest gossip after that news about the graffiti incident happened," He paused, fumbling around in his backpack before pulling out a small red apple that I assumed had been there since last month. "He called me up yesterday and told me to let you know. He really looks out for you I guess," He paused again, taking a bite out of the apple to which I nearly gagged.
"Oh sure. All he ever did was baby-sit me, literally." I could recall the time when I was seven when Riku was watching me while mom and Sora went to parent teacher conferences. Riku probably didn't see that I was snoozing on the living room couch and sat on me by mistake.
Sora swallowed and laughed again, probably thinking of the same thing I was. "I've been calling him fat-ass ever since!"
"Sora!"
Instantly, both Sora and I straightened. I shot my deep blue eyes in the direction of the dining room doorway while Sora kept his back away from it. I didn't realize he was nervous until I saw his nails nearly digging into the surface of his unfinished apple. I couldn't help but let out a stifled laugh. Sora glared at me and mouthed something I couldn't understand although I had a feeling it was a cuss.
"Roxas!"
My laughing ceased and I looked up, clearing my throat once. "Mom?" I asked casually.
"Oh, now you're in for it," Sora mouthed, a sly grin curling his lips.
"Shut up!" I mouthed back, trying to be as illegible as I could so mom couldn't read my lips.
"What're you two still doing here? You should have left a long time ago!" Mom began folding a piece of yellow paper in her hand and walked toward Sora's turned back, eying him awkwardly. "Sora, turn around," She muttered, heaving a fatigued sigh.
Sora did, slowly, while I stepped forward to join him, staring blankly at the yellow paper in mom's slender hand.
"We...were?" Sora asked, glancing over at me once for an answer but I shook my head, not knowing anything.
"What am I supposed to do with you two?" Mom muttered, shaking her head at the floor then turning back toward our shamed faces. "Tomorrow's the first day of school and you two haven't gone out for supplies yet."
Suddenly I felt my face heat up and felt a light turn on in my head. "Damn it! How could I forget!" Slapping my forehead, I groaned and cursed in my head.
Sora slumped forward and sighed, his eyes filled with disappointment. "Tomorrow? Already? Man, this summer's gone by too fast."
I watched mom tap her foot against the carpet and stared at the paper again, wishing I could grab it from her and throw it in a fire. Then again, being alive would've be better so I kept quiet, resisting the temptation to swear.
"Here. Sora, you and Roxas have the same supplies so I'm just going to hand you Roxas' list," She said, thrusting the piece in Sora's hands before crossing her arms. "You've got all day today to get the things you need but, seeing as it's the last day of summer vacation, your curfew is eight tonight. Got it?" She lectured, switching her bright sapphire eyes from me to Sora then back again.
I nodded and Sora did the same. I walked ahead of him with my head slightly lowered, thinking about what tomorrow would be like. I didn't love the fact that I was moving on to High School and wished I could have repeated eight grade over and over until they would have to kick me out. Then I wouldn't have to put up with the stress of High School. Sometimes I wished that school never existed and that summer would always be around. I could spend as much time as I wanted at the beach, skateboarding, or even lounging on my roof. There's more to life...I knew that there was.
Stepping into the sunset drenched streets, I held on tightly to my backpack strap, thinking back to the newspaper article. Maybe being in a gang wouldn't be so bad. You would be able to do so many things without playing by the rules. How lucky were those guys? Maybe I was just being a dreamer. Another hopeless dreamer.
Taking a few more steps forward, I heard mom's same hotheaded voice from behind, "And, Sora, I'd advise you to watch your language too."