Sexual Education
15 Years Old

Gerald groaned a little as he reached forward to push open the door to Classroom 5B, his best friend Arnold following closely behind with a similarly unimpressed look on his face.

"I cannot believe we have to do this." Gerald whined, for what seemed like possibly the thousandth time since the announcement that morning, "I do not need sexual education."

Arnold chuckled a little at his best friend, the self-proclaimed 'lady killer' of their grade, "I'm surprised they didn't ask you to teach the class." he joked.

"Dude." Gerald said, a very serious look now coming to his features, "Not funny."

Arnold shrugged and laid his books down on a nearby table, Gerald quickly took the one to his left hand side, and they settled down into their seats. Gerald peered around the room, taking in the surrounding students, his eyes coming to rest on the person who had taken the seat on Arnold's right hand side.

"Hey Arnold..." Gerald said in a hushed tone, leaning closer to his friend and pointing over toward Rhonda Wellington Lloyd, "I bet she knows all about this stuff."

Arnold frowned at his friend, "Gerald, I don't think you should be speculating about our classmates..." he warned.

"Oh, come on Arnold!" Gerald scoffed, rolling his eyes, "It's a fun game to play."

"What?" Arnold raised an eyebrow at him, "The 'guess who's had sex' game?"

Gerald nodded, "Seriously man, it's fun, just play the game with me!" he encouraged, his sighs now set on another familiar face across the classroom, "For example, look over there Harold Berman, I bet he hasn't."

Arnold shrugged, "Why do you say that?"

"Come on, he's the size of a house... chicks don't dig fat dudes!" Gerald explained.

Arnold stifled a laugh, "Okay, I suppose you're right..."

Turning his attention back to the room of their, slightly awkward looking peers, his eyes rested on Sid Gifaldi, "I'm going to go with a yes for Sid, he's lookin pretty relaxed in here..."

Arnold shifted a little in his seat to look at their childhood friend, who did seem rather nonchalant as he twiddled a pencil in his hands at his desk, "Yeah, I think you could be right." he decided.

"Oh!" Gerald said, his eyes lighting up a little, "What about Lila?"

Arnold rolled his eyes at Gerald, "Yeah right." he scoffed.

Gerald shook his head a little, "I don't know man, it's always the quiet ones..." he mused, now looking at Lila with great interest, as though he was trying to read her mind.

Arnold chuckled a little and tapped Gerald on the shoulder, pointing toward the doorway, "Quiet ones like that?" he teased, motioning in the direction of Phoebe Heyerdahl who had just entered the room.

Gerald's eyes bugged wide open for a minute, his usually calm demeanour faltering as he watched the petite Japanese girl walk through the doorway, "Uh... I hope so?" he said with a nervous smile.

"So, what do you think? Phoebe yes or no?" Arnold pushed, seeing his chance for a little revenge on Gerald for making him play this ridiculous game in the first place.

"No!" Gerald cried out, a little loudly, attracting some attention, "No way Arnold, she would not have done it."

Arnold grinned a little, "You know, you could just ask her out already?"

Gerald gave him a playful punch in the arm, and averted his eyes, "Leave it alone man, besides, we're playing a guessing game here and there's one person we haven't got to yet." he continued, pointing to the tall blonde girl standing at Phoebe's side, "Helga Pataki, I'm torn on this one... On one hand she's grown up to be damn hot... but on the other hand I think she'd sock anybody who even tried."

Arnold shifted uncomfortably in his seat and twiddled his thumbs, "Uh, so what one do you pick then?"

"Hmmm..." Gerald thought, "I say she hasn't."

Arnold saw out the corner of his eye that the school nurse was about to enter the room to begin their lesson, so with only a moments hesitation, he turned to Gerald with a smile and said, "I say she has."

Gerald rolled his eyes, "Yeah right, and what do you base that on?"

Arnold shrugged casually, "I was there."

Gerald stared at his friend, his face unmoving, trying to process the comment, "You were there? Where? Why would you have been... Wait, are you saying tha-"

"Good morning class, and welcome to Sexual Education, my name is Nurse Parker and I will be your guide down the path of self-discovery." their strange, and slightly creepy, teacher began... effectively cutting Gerald off from his all important question.

Gerald simply looked from his friend, to Helga Pataki, and back again and didn't fail to notice the tell-tale look on his best friends face. 'Oh', Gerald thought as he tried to come to terms with reality - he had so many questions to ask Arnold at lunch.