Disclaimer: I own nothing. No infringement intended. All characters with the exception of Ms. Jones belong to the Disney Channel.
A.N. Any italicized sentences or words are either characters thoughts or done so to make a point.
Chapter Nine: First taste of class
Monday morning classes flew by, and before they knew it, it was time for Human Studies/Sexuality class. As they entered the auditorium, Mr. Corelli told everyone to leave their surveys on the desk. Class today was basically for getting their textbooks. Being that there were 325 people in class, it would take the whole period.
"So how was your weekend guys?" Oliver asked quietly, twirling a pen between his fingers. He hadn't seen the girls since school ended Friday which was unusual. Miley and Lilly shared a look, silently asking permission to tell Oliver their latest news. Lilly nodded her head and they turned to him.
"It was good" Lilly said, looking around to make sure no one was listening. "Hannah totally rocked Friday night, hell, she blew me away." Lilly said, grinning. She was certain that her true meaning wouldn't go over Miley's head. Miley blushed.
"That's awesome. What did you guys do the rest of the weekend?" He asked.
"Um, what did you do Ollie?" Miley asked, quickly flipping the question to him.
"Worked at Rico's, I had to train the new guy. I miss Jackson, but don't tell him, Rico paid me overtime." Miley and Lilly raised their eyebrows.
"Well, Jackson's home for the week, he didn't get a chance to call you yet cause he spent last night watching the game with my dad." Miley said.
"Oh, really? Cool. Hey, you never told me what-"Oliver stopped. He noticed that Miley and Lilly were holding hands. 'Weird.' He thought. Wait, were they blushing? "Um, what you did this weekend." He finished lowly. He's known them to always be close; they held hands before, but never like this.
"Oh, um, we just hung around. Went to that Hannah signing Saturday night, and um were surprised by Jackson and then we just hung at my house yesterday." Lilly said as she looked at Miley. The brunette noticed Oliver had been looking at their joint hands the whole time, but she didn't remove hers from Lilly's.
"That's cool I guess." Oliver said, but something in his tone told Miley he could tell that something was up.
"Hey Oliver we have some news, but here isn't, I mean, we'll tell you… after class." Miley said and Lilly squeezed her hand for reassurance. Looking between their eyes and their joint hands, Oliver slowly put two and two together. He sighed.
"I think I know what you're going to tell me. I'm not blind ya know." He said, smiling. Miley and Lilly tensed momentarily, and then sighed with relief. "Are you together yet?" He asked, so low he was afraid they didn't hear him. But they sure did. Not trusting their own voices, and certainly not in the middle of class, they both wordlessly nodded their heads.
"I think it's great, really. It's about time if you ask me." The shaggy haired boy said.
"H-how did you know?" Miley asked quietly.
"Um… hang on." Oliver ripped a page out of his notebook and started writing. 'I think I've always known… the way you are with each other; you're extremely affectionate, you hold hands, you hug. You get insanely jealous when the other one has a boyfriend, I think we all know how that's gone and ended in the past. You finish each other's sentences, you cuddle during movie nights. I read some of my mother's magazines and I pieced it together a long time ago. I just never said anything for obvious reasons. I know you guys think I'm just a doughnut. I'm completely ok with this; I just want you to be happy. Plus, it's insanely hot.' Oliver folded the paper and handed it to Miley. She opened it and silently read it along with Lilly. Not wanting to draw attention to themselves, Lilly folded the paper and threw it in her bag to be shredded later. They looked at Oliver with smiles on their faces. He really was the best guy friend a couple of girls could have.
"Thank you Oliver, knowing that you're ok with us-"Lilly started.
"Makes us beyond happy, and relieved." Miley finshed. It was their turn to get up and get their books. Grabbing them, class was over for the day. Walking to the parking lot now, Oliver walked the girls to Miley's car.
"Are you going to tell anyone?" He asked.
"We're not going to hide the fact that we're together, if people figure it out then good for them. We're just like every other couple and we want to be treated the same. Miley said.
"Yeah, we know that we'll probably get some shit, but like we already do, so whatever." Lilly said, grabbing their bags and throwing them in the back of the car.
"Good for you, really I'm happy for you guys. So, can I watch?" Oliver asked, laughing and knowing that would earn him a hard smack from the two of them. As if on cue, the both smacked his arms.
"Oliver!" They scream laughed.
"Oh come on, I'm a guy with two insanely hot girl buds who are together, you can't expect me not to find it hot!" He reasoned.
"Yeah but what happens between me and my lover stays between us. This two girl show isn't for your eyes." Lilly said and Miley felt a blush rise to her cheeks.
"Did you just say lover?" Oliver asked, dumbfounded. "You've-"He started but stopped, not wanting to earn another smack.
"You heard right." Miley said now, smirking. "Come on lover, let's get home." Miley grabbed her keys from her bag and got in the car.
"The look on his face, god ha ha." Lilly laughed as they drove out of the lot, leaving Oliver behind with an amused yet unreadable expression on his face.
~*~
Before they knew it, four days passed and today was Friday. Miley and Lilly alternated their sleeping arrangements between houses, though neither parent minded. They helped and did chores equally at both, and both Robbie Ray and Heather were surprised but happy at how easy it was for the girls to ease into domesticity. No one seemed to catch onto their relationship yet, and that was fine. They were not into gross public displays of affection; certain things were meant to be private, but at the same time, they did hold hands and link arms more so than before. Taking their usual seats in the auditorium now, they waited for class to begin.
"Ok class, today we're going to have an open discussion. I know that you have your psych books today but I don't think you'll need them. Now, you surveys have been polled for percentages, but we'll get to that a little later." Mr. Corelli said, turning to the projector behind him, hitting a button so the first slide lit up the white board in front of it. The projected image was of an infant. Just then, Ms. Jones walked in.
"Sorry I'm late; I got held up." With that, she dropped her bag on the desk and took out some note cards. Looking at them for a minute, she turned to see the first image on the board. "So, what you see here is a baby. Now, looking past the image of the baby, can you tell me what else you see?" she asked.
"It's just a baby." A random girl shouted out.
"Yes, it is a baby; but what Ms. Jones means is, when you look at or think of a baby, what thoughts cross your mind?" Mr. Corelli said.
"Life?" Joanie Palumbo said.
"Ok, but what about life?" Mr. Corelli asked her.
"The start of life? The beginning?" Joanie added. Ms. Jones smirked.
"That's good; ok you're getting the idea. An infant is at the start of life, the beginning of the life process. Now think, what does a baby need?" Ms. Jones asked.
"Food"
"Love"
"Care"
"Comfort"
"Cuddling"
"Good, ok, moving on." Mr. Corelli said as he pushed the button again and the picture changed to that of a small child, looking to be no more than 2 or 3. "Looking now at this picture of a toddler, what can you tell me?" He asked.
"It's bigger?" Sarah questioned.
"Let's try something different." Ms. Jones suggested. "Mr. Corelli, can you go to the next slide please?" Hitting the button, the image changed from a toddler to a child that looked to be 5 to 7 years old. After a minute, it changed once again to show an adolescent, then to one that showed a grown man and woman holding an infant with two kids at their side, all at varying states of life.
"Can anyone tell us what the difference is between infancy and adulthood?" Ms. Jones asked. The room was filled with quiet chatter. "Anyone?" She questioned, yet no one volunteered.
"People please don't be shy." Mr. Corelli implored. Lilly raised her hand. "Yes, Ms. Truscott?"
"A baby is completely dependent on others to survive, and an adult can fend for themselves?" Lilly said in a questioning tone.
"Very good. But now, let's expand on that slightly. Society states that an adult is a person eighteen and older. Some of you in this room may already be eighteen, some of you seventeen. Some people say that even at eighteen, or someone in their early twenties aren't adults. Why?" Mr. Corelli asked. The room was met in silence. Miley raised her hand.
"Yes, you, stand up and say your name please and then feel free to speak." Ms. Jones said. Swallowing hard, Miley glanced at Lilly before standing.
"My name is Miley Stewart and um, well I don't think it's far to measure adulthood by someone's age. I think it has to do with maturity." Still standing, Miley watched as both Mr. Corelli and Ms. Jones glanced at each other and raised their eyebrows.
"Interesting, Ms. Stewart, care to elaborate?" Corelli asked.
"Um, well, I think that our life and life experiences and situations help shape who we are and help determine the rate at which we mature and emotionally grow. A seventeen year old could have dealt with more and had a few curveballs thrown at them, and a twenty-seven year old could just as easily have had everything handed to them and never had to work for it, so is it fair to say that that twenty-seven year old is an adult and the seventeen year old is just a child?" Miley said, looking around the room noticing that all eyes were on her. As Hannah, drawing attention from people didn't bother her, but as Miley, she was feeling scrutinized.
"That is an excellent observation Ms. Stewart." Ms. Jones said. Miley smiled and sat down, glad to have all eyes off of her. "Now, I'm going to go over your surveys. I know you might think that we're jumping topics quickly but I assure you it all links together. Mr. Corelli, can you switch to the next slide please?" She asked and the next slide to appear on the screen was a split screen. On the left was a lesbian couple and on the right, a gay couple. A few gasps could be heard from the room. "This question shocked and saddened me a little. 'How do you feel about homosexual relationships', well to that, 85%, that's 260 of you felt it was wrong." Miley and Lilly looked at each other and paled. Oliver noticed this and gave them a warm smile as if to say everything's ok and not to worry. "I'd like to talk about the bible a little. According to your surveys, 65% of you are either Catholic or Christian, 15% are Jewish and the remaining 20% are Agnostic. I was raised a Catholic, although my family is not religious. I was allowed to have an open mind. I did however, attend religious instruction in order to fulfill my sacraments. During those classes, I learned of the seven deadly sins; pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed and sloth. Hell, while I'm at it, let's also talk about the Ten Commandments. Thou shall not take the name of the Lord in vain, by a show of hands, how many of you have ever cursed?" Ms. Jones asked as she raised her hand. Every single person in the room raised their hand. "Look around you." Ms. Jones said and as everyone looked, they put their hands down. "Thou shall not kill; thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife. Raise your hands again if you ever had a malicious thought towards someone else, be it out of anger, frustration, jealousy, envy, anything." Looking around nervously, once again every hand in the room went up. "Premarital sex is also a no-no; we're told its wrong, it's a sin. Now, I personally don't believe that. I believe that god judges what's in your heart, I think he made us all to be ourselves and to not be afraid to be who we are; that is just my opinion. Well, according to your surveys, 75%, that's 243 of you, have already had sexual relations, of that, 80%, 194 of you have had an orgasm. 50%of you admitted to having a same sex crush, 20% were caught fooling around, 90% of you consider yourselves to not be a virgin, and 85% admitted to being in love at some point in your lives." The class broke out in a loud chatter.
"This is kind of embarrassing" Miley whispered to Lilly and Oliver.
"Settle down!!" Corelli yelled. It took about two minutes, but the chatter died down. Ms. Jones looked around the room and sighed.
"Jumping back to before, an infant, like Ms. Truscott said has to depend on others to survive. They need to be nurtured, loved and cared for. A toddler will start to walk and be vocal in the form of a tantrum but they still need to depend completely on others. They can't cook, or go anywhere themselves. It's the same with a child and preadolescent. Teenagers become more independent; they can reason logically, get things for themselves, eventually they can drive and so on, grow up and have families. But there is one thing we all want, and we realize this as soon as we're old enough to understand it. No matter what age, we all want to be loved and accepted for who we are; we don't want to have to hide in fear because we won't be accepted if we're different. We're venerable. Our emotional growth will never stop. So, while the lines may blur at when one becomes an adult, I ask you to consider this; are we really any different than the infant?" Ms. Jones said and she grabbed her water bottle and took a long drink. The room was filled with quiet whispers. "I also want you to think back to your surveys. To those 85% who don't agree with or think homosexuality is wrong, while it's somewhat in the bible as a sin, I believe that god created us to be who we are and to be happy. That, once again is just my opinion. We can't help who we love or are attracted to; it's something we have no control over. How can you say that it's wrong or immoral, when we are all guilty of something else in one way or another?" The room was silent. "Class dismissed."
The bell rang a moment later and Miley, Lilly and Oliver grabbed their things and ran out.
"Man that was intense." Lilly said, taking Miley's free hand in her own.
"Yeah, but it really makes you think, and it's not boring." Oliver said.
"I never thought I'd say this, but I'm looking forward to this class on Monday." Miley said and both Lilly and Oliver agreed. Oliver said goodbye to the girls and told them he'd be over Miley's house at 7. They were having a movie night. Starting the car now, Miley drove to the store so she and Lilly could get some junk food for later. Twenty minutes later, they walked into Miley's house to find it empty. "Come on Lil, let's take a nap before Ollie comes." Miley said and dragged Lilly up the stairs. The girls stripped naked, got under the covers and cuddled together.
"I like this Miley. Even when we're not fooling around, I like the feel of your skin against mine." Lilly said.
"Mmm me too Lilly, me too." With that, Miley yawned and she and Lilly fell into a peaceful sleep.
Wow that ended differently than I thought it would, hope you like it. I just want to say that I'm terrible at math so if the percentages are off, I'm sorry. This chapter deals with religion, the bible and sex to name a few. I hope nobody was offended, that is not my intention.
P.S.- I'm thinking the next class subject will be on virginity, and it will probably raise some questions for Miley and Lilly ;o) Thank you for the reviews, and thanks for reading! ~*~TheBoredOne85~*~
