Ennis Del Mar woke up bright and early on Monday morning. It was a school day, but a day he was excited for nonetheless. Today was his seventeenth birthday. A day where he was free to do what he wanted, within reason. Today was his day. He could probably get away with calling in sick, but he actually wanted to go to school today.

A new teacher was arriving today. All the way from Texas. In this small Wyoming town, a big shot from Texas was intriguing. Not to mention starting an entirely new class and subject. Ennis wasn't about to call in sick and then hear tomorrow of how exciting the new teacher was. Ennis wanted to experience it for himself.

Wearing only sweatpants, Ennis jumped out of bed and hurried downstairs. The sun was just now coming up and Ennis could see his dad outside tending the farm. Living outside of town wasn't the greatest, but Ennis enjoyed the peace and quiet. Something he got from his mom, who was the reason they had moved all the way out here. If his dad hadn't decided to build a farm, they would've had to commute back and forth to town to make a living. This way, dad went into town once or twice a week to sell what they grew. Carrots and potatoes were the most popular. They had some animals, but their crops always sold better.

"You're gonna end up catchin' a cold if ya keep goin' 'round like that, half naked," his mom said as Ennis came into the kitchen. She was standing at the stove, cooking breakfast. Ennis gave her a quick peck on the cheek as he passed her on his way to the fridge. "What're you doin' up so early anyhow? Ya don't hafta leave for school for another couple hours."

"I couldn't sleep," Ennis said, getting himself a glass of orange juice. "We're gettin' a new teacher today."

She immediately looked unhappy. "I heard," she said, putting her attention back on the stove. "And it ain't right. Hot shot from Texas comin' in ta teach our kids the ways of life?" She shook her head. "That should be done by the parents when the time is right. All he's gonna do is tarnish their innocent minds and maybe scar of few of y'all for life!"

"Momma, it ain't a big deal." Ennis didn't look at her as he sat down at the table. When he learned that a sex education class would be starting, he was surprised at first. The town was small enough, and strict enough, that anything different would be instantly banned. Not to mention they all went to the same church, who thought sex at any time other than to make babies was a sin. "Ya gave me that talk last year, remember? Ain't tarnishin' this innocent mind."

"But you're a male," she said. "Everyone already expects you to know those things. But what about the girls? The poor dears."

Ennis rolled his eyes while she wasn't looking and finished his juice. "Is dad still thinkin' 'bout buyin' that horse from the Beers'?" She looked grateful for the change in subject as she looked at him.

"Carl Beers said he'd give that horse to your daddy if you took Alma out," she reminded him, setting a plate of eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast in front of him. "She keeps callin' and askin' about you. Why don't you talk to her?"

"I talk to her," Ennis said, staring down into his empty glass.

"Saying hi while passing her in the hall ain't talking to her," she said. "I know you're outgoing when ya wanna be. Show her ya ain't as shy as people think ya are."

Ennis nodded but said nothing more about it. If he did, she would just get onto him about something. He ate his breakfast in silence, remaining quiet as his dad came in and sat down.

His dad eyed Ennis for a moment then shook his head. "You know better than to come out here like that," he said. "A woman don't need to see that."

"Jake…" his mom started to defend Ennis, but quieted when her husband gave her a look.

Jacob Del Mar looked back at his son. "Now ya either go and get ready for school or go outside right like that and get ya some sun," he said. "You're too pale to be a farmer. Ya need to get out more. I don't want folks thinkin' I'm raisin' a shut-in."

Ennis got up without a word and headed back to his room to get ready for school. He knew his father was only trying to raise him right. Ennis tried not to let it get to him that much, but it was difficult considering the fact that Jacob Del Mar treated Ennis like a child. Another reason Ennis didn't want to call in sick and miss school. He stepped into his bedroom and closed the door behind him then walked over to his closet.

When Ennis arrived at school, he wasn't surprised to see Alma Beers waiting for him in the hall. It was a daily routine for her. Unfortunately, she didn't see it as "going out" or else his dad would have a free horse by now. Neither of them said anything as they headed for class. Another daily routine. She seemed satisfied to just be in his presence so he didn't have to worry about speaking.

Until she stopped him at the door to his first class. "Is everything okay?" She asked. "Ya seem tense… Well, tenser than usual."

He never understood how she knew exactly what he was feeling at any given moment yet not pick up on the fact that he wasn't interested. Unless she could and promptly ignored it. Women. "It's nothin'," he said with a shrug then started for the door but stopped when she laid her hand on his arm.

"Could you give me a ride home after school?" Alma asked, obviously content with the answer he had given her. "I could call my daddy, but he's busy on the farm and it's right on your way…?" She trailed off, giving him a pleading look, with the pouting lips and everything.

"Fine," Ennis said with a slight nod. Alma seemed ecstatic about that answer. She thanked him then hurried off to her own class. Shaking his head, he pushed the door open and stepped inside the classroom.

The new class wasn't scheduled until after lunch. It was the last class for the day. The day dredged on, Ennis having to thank whoever wished him a happy birthday. Everyone knowing wasn't a big deal. The town was small enough for everyone to know almost everything that went on. You had to be clever or live outside of town to have some sort of privacy. For Ennis, being a private person, it was disconcerting to have everyone know what day it was. He found it a relief when he walked into his last class and no one was saying anything.

Ennis moved to his newly assigned desk and sat down. The new teacher hadn't arrived yet and it was already a few minutes after the scheduled time for this class to start. Ennis glanced around him, recognizing some of the other students and noticing that they were all boys. That made a certain amount of sense, at least to him. He was already a bit embarrassed by the subject and if girls were present he would feel even more awkward. But, maybe it was just the fact that there were more boys than girls in this school and he just happened to get the timeframe of this class that didn't have the girls in it.

A few minutes later the door opened and the new teacher walked in. He wasn't anything like Ennis had expected since the rest of the teachers here were over the age of forty. This man didn't seem too much younger than his parents, who were in their thirties. He was at least six feet tall, five of take an inch or two, and was wearing jeans and a plain blue shirt. He wore a cowboy hat that covered dark hair. His features were average, but the blue eyes that looked out over the class were captivating.

"Hi, y'all," the new teacher greeted with a smile and wave. "Welcome to your new class. My name's Jack Twist and if any of y'all start callin' me Mr. Twist, you're outta here." The smile still on his face assured the students that he was just joking. "Call me Jack. Now before we get into things, I just wanna have some quality time here, get to know ya. By the end of this year, I can assure you that we'll be well acquainted." There was something about the way he said that that went a chill down Ennis' spine. Whether a good or bad chill, he didn't know. There was just something different about this teacher other than the subject he was teaching and his age.

Jack Twist perched on the edge of his desk, taking off his hat and dropping it on the desk's surface behind him. He looked around at each one of the students in turn. Ennis found himself looking down to avoid eye contact. He enjoyed new teachers, but this was the worst part of it all. Why did new teachers always have to have 'quality time' like this? It was nonsense. The students all knew each other's names and Mr. Twist-Jack-should have already known as well since he had probably looked at each of their files because they would be in his class.

Ennis found himself spacing out while each of the students got up and introduced themselves, telling a little bit about their hobbies and what not. Ennis found a speck on his desk much more fascinating to stare at than to listen to what was going on around him. Which was obviously a bad idea since he jumped when something hit his desk to get his attention.

He looked up and saw Jack standing there, staring down at him. That friendly smile was still on his face, but that didn't erase the embarrassment Ennis felt by now being the center of attention.

"You interested in sharing with the class?" Jack asked before he turned and walked back over to his desk. This time, he sat down in the chair behind it. He gestured for Ennis to stand. "Tell us a bit about yourself."

Feeling his mouth go dry, Ennis swallowed then got to his feet, feeling everyone's stares on him. "My name's Ennis," he said.

"Your folks just stop at Ennis?" Jack asked, a smirk playing across his lips.

Ennis suddenly felt more subconscious than he had a moment ago. "Del Mar," he finished, his fingers fidgeting in front of him.

Jack nodded his head. "Nice to know ya, Ennis Del Mar," he said. "Have any hobbies? Other than starin' off into space in your own little world?" The way he said it, he wasn't making fun of Ennis. It almost sounded like he thought it was an endearing trait, but that was probably all in Ennis' head.

Ennis shrugged his shoulders, realizing now that he didn't do much. "Ain't got time for hobbies," he said. "I'm either workin' at the farm or at school."

"Farmboy, huh?" Jack said, looking Ennis up and down once. He leaned forward in his seat. "Young kid like you deserves some hobbies. Hopefully you'll find some free time before you become an adult. Ya can sit down now."

Breathing a silent sigh of relief, Ennis sat down, even more relieved when everyone stopped staring at him. He wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans then shifted in his seat and looked forward as Jack started speaking again.

"As all of y'all should know, this is a sex education class," Jack said, falling into teacher mode more. "I'll only be here for the next couple months, so I'll try to teach ya all that I can. You don't have to worry about homework or tests. It won't count toward your final grade so ya don't need this class to graduate. No one's makin' ya take this class, so if you'd rather…" He gestured toward the door. "You can leave now and you won't get in trouble for is y'all's last class of the day, so if ya don't take this class you can go home early."

There was silence for a few minutes as Jack waited to see if anyone would get up and walk out. Ennis was almost tempted to do so, but the thought of going back home right now wasn't appealing so he stayed put. His dad would probably fuss at him for not taking the class since his dad thought it was something he needed. To help break out of his shell, as his dad had put it. It wasn't surprising that no one got up and left. These were all teenage boys with one thing on their mind anyway. They would want to learn what they could about it.

Ennis was only taking the class to delay going home. He had gotten the talk from his mom last year. The last thing he wanted to do was find out more about something he wanted to avoid doing for the rest of his life. From the way his mom talked about it, the man did most of the work. It was too much pressure to put on someone.

"Today we'll be talkin' about emotional impulses," Jack said. "And three major emotions: desire, lust, and arousal. They might seem like the same thing, but trust me, there's a lot of things different about each one."

Jack stood up to walk around to the front of his desk again. Standing there made the class seem more personal. Jack was now just one of the guys talking to them instead of a strict teacher sitting behind the desk. He lifted one finger. "First: Desire," he said then lowered his hand. "Desire is defined as a strong feeling of wanting to have something or someone. Something that ya wish it could happen. In this case, a sexual partner.

"Now, sometimes it ain't wrong to have this desire," Jack went on. "We're all human beings. But there are boundaries ya just can't cross. A few of them being: without permission, incest, and beastiality. Let's cover each of these in turn."

Jack walked over to the blackboard and wrote down the three categories. He drew a line under 'without permission.' "Now what do ya think this means?" he asked, turning to the class. He pointed to someone who raised their hand.

"When a girl tells ya no," came one of the answers. A few more students gave their opinions and Jack wrote each of them down under the category. He did the same with the other two categories as well. Ennis didn't speak up during any of it and was glad he wasn't chosen to speak. He did his best to write it all down as fast as he could. His mom hadn't covered any of this during her talk, so he suddenly found himself interested in learning what he could.

"Next up: Lust," Jack said, turning to face the class once again. "Similar to desire, but unlike desire, lust mainly focuses on sexual desires. For instance, you can desire something someone else owns, but depending on what that something is, you can't lust for it. Do y'all get my meaning?" There were a few nods, but it seemed like no one really cared to begin with. Ennis was still writing things down.

"When ya lust for someone, you're thinking about them all the time," Jack said. "Which brings us to the third subject: arousal. Now the word aroused or arousal could be defined as something totally innocent, but that ain't what I'm teachin'. Arousal is the feeling you get after a certain time of lusting after someone. Now it can be a lot of other things, but our main focus is the erection. Now I'm sure you boys have dealt with morning wood, so I don't have to go into much detail about what an erection is."

Ennis wrote down the word erection, spacing out into his own little world as he tried to think of what that meant without looking like an idiot by asking. He couldn't remember his mom ever using the word, but he did know what morning wood was. When a penis got long and hard. It hadn't personally happened to Ennis yet and he wasn't about to mention this to the class.

He looked up from his notebook when the bell rang. Ennis had missed the rest of the lesson. He gathered his things and got up, following the rest of the students out. And as he walked out, he was partly aware of the fact that Jack Twist followed him with his eyes the entire walk out.

To be continued...