(A/N: Though I did my best to make sure all the information presented is accurate, this chapter should NOT BE USED AS A REPLACEMENT FOR ACTUAL SEX EDUCATION. I'm serious. Seek out a variety of sources outside of fan fiction for your education, okay?)
The music ended along with practice on one fateful Friday. Maka sighed, panting with exhaustion after practicing the same bit of the same routine for ten minutes straight. She wiped the sweat off her brow, her fingers now glistening. Maka wiped her fingers off on her skirt, which was going to be washed when she got home anyway, so a little extra sweat on it was fine.
"Great work, you guys!" Spirit chimed. "I'll see you all next week," he added, looking at the thirteen teenagers before him. Thirteen. There was still one of Spartoi's number away that day, and Maka dearly hoped they'd return soon with good news. She felt Liz tap her shoulder, and pivoted around to face her.
"Maka, you didn't see him at school today, did you?" Liz asked. She had a worried look on her face, especially in her eyes. Maka looked up to her eye level, her mouth slightly opening to say something, but she paused for a few seconds before she did.
"Who are you talking abou... oh," Maka replied, her stomach sinking with dread. Her fingers tensed up, and she balled them up into fists so deep that her nails dug into her palms. But that began to hurt, so she relaxed herself, taking a deep breath.
"You don't know today was his first day back?" Liz asked.
"No, I didn't see him," Maka replied. That's a relief, she thought, hearing the door get flung open.
Her relief was short-lived, as there stood the "him" in question, Ragnarok. This was the first time Maka had seen him in person since the party, and she quickly realized the way she saw him had changed completely. Instead of a big, stupid nuisance, he was now a big, terrifying nuisance. When she saw him again, she saw that night, and the reflections of her and Crona's bloodied faces in the mirror. Trying to get the images from that night out of her head, Maka could feel the adrenaline increase through her body. She balled up her fists again, not as hard this time. Liz immediately put herself in front of Maka to protect her incase Ragnarok tried anything.
"Oh, Crona's not back," Ragnarok said, looking at how everyone in the room was standing. They were standing like they were taking a stand, nearly every last Spartoi member present standing by Maka, ready for the worst. Except for Hiro, who was getting his phone off the charger plugged into the wall and hurriedly texting someone. Ragnarok's acting like nothing ever happened. Is that what he thinks of what he did? That it was just something that easily can be blown over?
"What? You guys think I'm just gonna kill one of you now? Funny how you never acted this way when I was only bullying Crona," Ragnarok added. "Well, the Albarn girl did, but the rest of you..." The Albarn girl. He's not even going to give me the satisfaction of first name basis. Good.
"You're barred from the club room, now leave!" Liz shouted.
"Yeah, get out!" Patty exclaimed, her voice cracking with rage.
"Don't make us send you to the hospital like you did to Maka and Crona!" Black Star added.
"Now Black Star, let's not stoop to his level," Tsubaki said. "We don't have to hospitalize him, we just have to get the message across," she added, rolling up her sleeves.
"Is it a fight you guys want?" Ragnarok asked, clenching his fists. "Because I'll gladly-" He was interrupted by Spirit's phone ringing in its defaultest tone. Half the room's eyes turned to Spirit, as he took his phone out of his jacket pocket and glanced at the Caller ID.
"God, why doesn't anyone under thirty set those things to vibrate?" Kim groaned, putting some money back in her bag. Was she taking bets on how this was going to play out?
"It's Stein, this might be important," Spirit said, picking up. "Hello? Wait, it's over? A verdict? You guys are pulling up to the school right now? Okay, we'll be right out," he said before hanging up. Spirit put his phone back into his jacket pocket, an expression that simultaneously captured both the positive and negative types of nervousness striking his face.
"What's this bullshit about?" Ragnarok asked. Spirit cleared his throat.
"Guys, instead of fighting, we're gonna go outside because Stein's got some very important news, okay?" he announced.
Maka immediately realized what this news meant, and she sprinted out the door with the others in tow. The thuds of her footsteps echoed across the tile floors until she stopped at the front door. She opened it to see Dr. Stein's familiar car, an old white minivan with large stitch decals, and a child services car. Wait, why are child services here unless... they're here too! Dr. Stein walked around the front of his car and gave a quick wave to Maka and the others.
"Hey, the trial's over!" Dr. Stein called out. "I'd tell you guys the verdict, but we agreed back at the courthouse that we're gonna be letting Crona tell you guys. It was their suggestion," he said. Maka saw Mifune come out of the child services car, and walk over to the drivers' side back door. He opened the door, and out came a trembling Crona. Wait, they're trembling, Maka thought. Crona glanced over to Maka, tears streaming down their face.
"Oh no," Maka whispered, clasping her hand over her mouth. She heard a few gasps come from Spartoi behind her.
"It can't be," Tsubaki said.
"Go to them," Kidd told Maka. "You're the one they're going to need most right now." Maka cautiously took a few steps forward as Mifune led Crona around to the other side of his car. Maka took a deep breath, expecting the worst. It's all over, we tried everything we could, but it's over. And in the worst way possible, too.
But to Maka's surprise, Crona was smiling through the tears.
"Maka, we won," they said. "Medusa was ruled guilty." She couldn't believe it. Those were tears of joy. Crona was free.
"Really?" Maka asked, unable to contain her newfound excitement.
"Really," Crona replied, throwing their arms around Maka. Maka wrapped her arms around their back, returning the embrace.
"I'm so glad," she said, closing her eyes. She was so happy for them, she wanted to hug them forever. "I'm so glad," she repeated, quieter this time. This day couldn't have come any sooner, no, she wanted it to come sooner. For their sake. She was so happy, for their sake.
"Oh thank goodness," Spirit said, running in and hugging both Maka and Crona.
"Hey, it's another group hug!" Black Star shouted, sprinting to join in. Then came Liz and Patty. Then Tsubaki, then Soul, then Kidd, then Kilik, then Jackie, then Kim, then Ox, then Harvar, then Hiro. Ragnarok tried to enter, but Dr. Stein physically blocked him away from the group.
"What's your problem?" Ragnarok asked. "You think I can't be happy for Crona for once? They've still got me to worry about, but at least Medusa's out of their hair."
"I know what happened at the party, and Spirit's told me how it affected Maka," Dr. Stein replied. "This is for the best." Papa told Dr. Stein about what? That was private. I'll talk with Papa next time I'm at his house, Maka thought, choosing now to just take in the moment.
"For the best?" Ragnarok asked. "Shut up, you graying-in-your-thirties asshole!" he snapped, pushing Dr. Stein away to try and get to Crona.
"Okay, that's enough," Crona said, noticing Ragnarok out of the corner of their eye. "I need to breathe, you guys," they added as people started to break off. There was still a slight smile on their face, and they had stopped crying. They started stretching their back a bit, taking a deep breath.
"How was the trial?" Soul asked.
"Awful," Crona replied. "I'm glad it's over."
"It was really close," Dr. Stein added. "The jury was divided up until the last day of the trial, where Medusa was finally ruled guilty of abuse and criminal neglect of her child and she's gonna be in prison now for a while."
"Hell yeah!" Black Star exclaimed, high-fiving Crona. They shook their hand off afterwards, indicating it stung.
"Since Medusa was forcing Crona to keep quiet about what was going on for much of their life, and was able to create alibis to convince acquaintances that she wasn't actually doing anything wrong as well as deliberately not talking to people about certain things, or at all, there wasn't too much evidence beyond Crona's appearance, and Medusa had a false explanation for that too."
"Hey, how long is he gonna talk for?" Black Star whispered to Maka. She shushed him.
"The trial basically came down to mother's word versus child's," Dr. Stein continued, ignoring Black Star. "In the end, it was just who the jury ended up believing, and lucky for Crona it was them."
"Did you punch her in the face as you were leaving?" Ragnarok asked Crona.
"Um, no, that would have just caused more problems," Crona replied. "I wanted to," they said, gritting their teeth. They then took another deep breath and relaxed themself. "I'm just glad it's all over."
Spartoi ended up going out to dinner to celebrate, Soul's treat. The weekend was spent mostly as usual for everyone, and Maka was sure she wasn't the only who felt relieved about it. Up until she looked at Monday on her calendar. Important Health class, it read. When did I write that? Maka thought, thinking to herself as to what exactly was so important about this specific Health class. And then it dawned on her.
"Oh right, Sex Ed," Maka groaned, picking up her still-unsigned permission slip. "I got so caught up this weekend because of the verdict," she said, walking out of her room and down the hall to her father's.
She knocked on his door.
"Anything you need?" Spirit asked, a smile on his face. He looked calm, which relieved Maka. At least he wasn't holed up hiding his stress or watching porn, she thought, holding out the permission slip.
"I still need your signature for this slip," Maka replied. Spirit's eyes widened.
"Oh no, I forgot about that," he said in an unconvincing tone. "Let me go get a pen," he added, going back in his room. He let out an annoyed scream.
"Need help finding the pen?" Maka asked, rolling her eyes.
"No, it's just," Spirit replied. He sighed. "Just give me the slip and I'll sign it."
That Monday, Health was held in the gym, with twice as many chairs as usual. Maka held the signed permission slip for the Sex Ed unit in her hand, as Jackie, Kidd, and Kilik signaled her, Soul, and Crona to a cluster of seats.
"Why's Jackie here?" Crona asked. "Isn't she a sophomore?" they added, as Hiro, Patty, and Black Star entered the gym.
"Spartoi over here!" Kilik called out, and the two lower grades of the team took their seats together in three rows of three. Soul, Maka, and Crona in the center row, Black Star, Kidd, and Kilik in front, and Patty, Jackie, and Hiro behind them.
"I thought this school seperated Health in single grades," Soul said.
"Yeah, but they're combining freshman and sophomore for Sex Ed this year due to a few too many teen pregnancies and impregnancies happening in ninth grade last year," Jackie said.
"One guy was in my class!" Black Star exclaimed. "He was dating a girl from the public school we went against at the preliminary, and he ended up transferring there to support her. I wonder if he dumped her like an asshole, or he's still staying true to his word. The baby's gotta be born by now, right?"
"Anyway, now they're teaching Sex Ed in freshman year, but just so our year doesn't end up not getting the class, we're being lumped with you guys," Hiro added. The last few students entered the gym and took their seats, soon before a familiar silver-haired substitute teacher entered on a swivel chair. Oh God. No wonder Papa was hesitant to sign my permission slip.
"Your usual teacher's got mono, so I'm filling in," Dr. Stein said. "I'm not gonna bother to take roll, because your names are all on your permission slips." Way to get to the point. Dr. Stein turned off the lights and set up a projector. "So first we're gonna watch an informational movie. It's a really basic one incase your parents still haven't talked to you about sex for some reason. Then we're gonna have a question and answer section and talk about safety. If you guys are gonna do it, do it right."
"Thank goodness he's not one of 'those people'," Black Star said, as Dr. Stein turned on the projector and a movie entitled "So You Want To Learn About The Birds And The Bees?" began to play. A quick black-and-white screen flashed, reading "Copyright MCMLIII" with the studio information.
"1953," Kidd muttered to himself. "This school has been using the same one since 1953," he said, burying his face in his hands for a second.
The movie began with a scene where a man in a suit with neatly-combed hair started narrating about adolescence being a strange and difficult time with many trials. And changes to bodies. The atmosphere in the room became very uncomfortable. Almost excruciatingly so. The movie being in black and white did not change this. The man in the movie began to narrate about body changes for if you were a boy versus a girl, and Maka could hear Black Star snort a bit through his nose at that part. Kidd elbowed him and whispered something. From what Maka could tell despite the darkened room, Kidd was already blushing. And the movie hadn't even really started talking about sex yet. Then the man in the video said the word "penis", and a disappointingly large amount of the class burst out laughing, including several of the Spartoi members. At least forty
percent of them were in a fit because of one five-letter word.
"Guys, be mature about this," Dr. Stein grumbled, as the movie continued by cutting to a diagram of two younger-looking humans in underwear. One was labeled "male"; the other "female".
"What a disappointing rack," Hiro muttered from the row behind. Maka rolled her eyes. The movie continued its narration about the changes brought upon by sexual maturity, and the images changed to show the man and woman in adulthood, complete with every conceivable post-pubescent characteristic but exaggerated. Then the shot changed to a closeup of their crotches, still clad in the underwear.
"Now let's take a closer look at what's inside and how it works," the narration stated, as anatomical diagrams of internal reproductive systems appeared on the projection. The narration continued about the names of the parts, before separating the scene to another view of the male and going into more detail about his parts. The shot changed to the external view of the female's system.
"So that's what a v... one of those looks like," Soul muttered to himself.
"You can say 'vagina', it's not a bad word," Maka replied with full confidence, before looking back at the projection. The scene changed again, back to the man in the suit. He began to describe intercourse in frank and technical terms, keeping a straight face unlike Patty, who Maka could hear struggling not to erupt into a gigglish fit.
"And when the sperm fertilizes the egg and the resulting zygote implants itself into the uterus, the woman becomes pregnant," the narration continued, the images changing to a few pictures of pregnancy in various stages. "And over the next nine months, the zygote's cells start multiplying and multiplying until they can be called an embryo, and then the embryo keeps growing and growing until it becomes a fetus, and the fetus keeps growing until the woman gives birth and an infant is born."
Then the narration continued on about another consequence to having unprotected sex, STDs. And their effects. In graphic detail, framed to be as disgusting as possible.
"Now, the only truly effective way to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases is absti-"
"No," Dr. Stein said, turning off the projector and turning the lights back on. "Jesus, that's bright. Okay, so while abstinence works in theory, it doesn't always work in practice," he continued, getting out a box containing a wrapped condom, a banana, and a package of hormonal birth control pills. "It's much better to be aware of various types of birth control and what to do incase you ever get pregnant than not to. There are more than two kinds of birth control out there, but these are the two kinds you're most likely to encounter, as well as the only ones I was able to procure for demonstration," Dr. Stein said, mumbling that last part to himself. "There's also at least one type of implant out there, and if you guys give your usual teacher a detailed explanation of what it is and how it works, she said she'll give you extra credit that could boost your grade for the whole class by ten percent, which is more than you think." Translation: He must have no idea how it works and didn't research it before class, Maka thought, as Dr. Stein held up the pills "Now, hormonal birth control pills work by using hormones to trick your body into thinking it's already pregnant, enabling you to have sex without worrying about getting pregnant. They do not prevent STDs, so if you're on the pill, you still are at risk for infection," Dr. Stein said, putting the pills back in the box and holding up the banana and the condom. "Now a condom prevents both pregnancy and STDs, and is much easier to obtain than the pills," he added, unwrapping the condom and beginning to put it on the banana, "You put it on like this, and then you're ready to go. And if your partner ever says they're too big for condoms, instead of having unprotected sex, just go to the store with them and buy a larger size." Dr. Stein then took another condom out of the box and put it on his rather large fist, pulling it up to the point where it stretched over a sizeable portion of his forearm as well.
"Oh, and this wasn't even the largest size in the store, and it can go over this much of my arm without getting too strained. This isn't very comfortable, but you get the idea of how stretchy these things are. Putting one of these on your genitals shouldn't be a problem, just don't buy them in the wrong size so they aren't uncomfortable. Safe sex shouldn't be uncomfortable," he said, emphasising the last point. "Any questions?"
"How likely would it be for one of those to break?" Kilik asked.
"They're designed to be pretty strong for what they are, so unlikely, but it's still possible," Dr. Stein replied. More hands went up all around the room.
"Would I still need to use a condom if I was doing it in the butt?" a boy in the back asked.
"To prevent STDs, yes," Dr. Stein replied. "This goes for all genders, use protection every time."
"What if both you and your partner have vaginas?" Jackie asked. Maka jumped a bit in her seat, hearing Crona inhale sharply. She felt a foot tap against the side of her own under the table. It came from the left, meaning it was Soul's, not Crona's. Soul shot Maka a smug look. Maka rolled her eyes at him, and looked back toward Dr. Stein.
"Okay, keep in mind I have no experience having this kind of sex," Dr. Stein said. "But from what I heard about it from a friend in college, there's multiple ways including: genital to genital, oral to genital, and penetration with fingers."
The pigtailed girl Maka recognized from the party put her hand down in her lap, her brunette friend then raising hers. The blonde was blushing feverishly, her long, princessy hair billowing to her face. Dr. Stein didn't call on the brunette at first, and she put her hand down, whispering something about not remembering her question anyway. Maka wondered whether she should put her hand up. She didn't have a question immediately at the front of her mind, so she dug through her head trying to find one. Think, think, there must be something I'm not too embarrassed to ask about. A few people's hands went up around them, as Dr. Stein tried to answer their questions as best he could, most being about terminology definitions. And by "terminology", the quizzical students mostly meant slang. Slang that most adults thought private high schoolers wouldn't know, or shouldn't. Maka felt Crona tug at her sleeve. Her eyes darted to their face. Their flustered, trembling face.
"You're nervous to ask a question too?" Crona whispered.
"Mhm, but I'm gonna do it anyway," Maka replied, putting her hand up. Crona struck an encouraging expression as Dr. Stein called on Maka. Maka took a deep breath. "How can someone tell when they're ready to have sex?" she asked.
"That is something you decide for yourself," Dr. Stein said, turning to the entire class. "Sex isn't just something just anyone can immediately dive into doing in a relationship straight away, especially at your age. Please, if any of you feel pressured by your partner or anyone else to do something you don't want to do, speak up about it. Let them know if you're not comfortable with what they're doing." Dr. Stein looked to see another raised hand, belonging to the brunette from earlier, who seemed to have remembered her question.
"What's the most important thing we have to do when it comes to sex?" she asked.
"Make sure everyone involved consents," Dr. Stein replied. "If you want to have sex with someone, and for some reason they don't consent, don't have sex with them, it's that simple. You'd be committing a felony if you did, and there's no real excuse for it. No excuse, whatsoever." Some hands went up, and then went right back down after Stein glared at their owners. "For consent to actually count, all parties must be sober, of age, and enthusiastically willing. If they say no even once, drop the subject and don't try to change their minds about it. Don't be a bad person, respect people's boundaries."
Stein looked around the room for anyone else that had their hand raised. Is he going to wrap up questions? Maka thought, glancing at the clock. There were still a few minutes left before the bell rang. Patty raised her hand, Hiro raised his as well.
"Is it morally okay to dump a girl if you get her pregnant because you don't want the baby?" Hiro asked, not even waiting for Dr. Stein to call on him.
"If she decides to keep it, it would be better to stay with her," Dr. Stein replied. "It would be your kid too, you know."
"What would happen if one of us got pregnant?" Patty asked.
"Well, there are three options most people take in the case of an accidental pregnancy," Dr. Stein began. "They either carry to term and keep it, carry it to term and put it up for adoption, or have an abortion. All of those options are up to the person who got pregnant to decide, and if it's not you, it's not really your business what they choose," he said."I actually know someone who went through a teen pregnancy. He and his then-prom date forgot protection and decided to chance it because it was prom night and they already were in the hotel room."
"Then what happened?" Black Star asked.
"He got her pregnant," Dr. Stein replied. "Since they were both eighteen at the time and they feared what their parents would say, they went to Vegas for a shotgun wedding officiated by an Elvis impersonator a month later. I was invited as a witness." By this point, a majority of the class was enthralled by Dr. Stein's story. "So they carried the pregnancy to term, and had a girl. My friend stayed home to raise her while his wife studied law," Dr. Stein continued on with. This somehow seems similar to my parents. Too similar, Maka thought. Was Dr. Stein talking about them, and by extension, her?
"But he regretted that he was never able to live the life of a bachelor, and while his wife was away, he started having affairs. For the longest time, the daughter was the only thing keeping the family together, until her mother couldn't take it anymore and divorced her husband when their daughter was about twelve." This is the exact story of my parents. "So moral of the story: use protection or you could very well ruin a shotgun marriage that was never meant to be in the first place."
Maka raised her hand. She knew the truth already, but she did not want her family used as an example story to warn the class.
"Yes, Maka?" Dr. Stein asked.
"Was that story my parents?" Maka asked. The bell rang.
"Well, look at the time, I gotta go," Dr. Stein replied, pushing off out the door on his swivel chair. Through the crack in the door, Maka could see Spirit standing in the hall with a dumbfounded expression on his face. He put a hand on the swivel chair, stopping Dr. Stein in his tracks.
"Stein!" Spirit exclaimed. "Why did you tell them that story?" he asked. Dr. Stein looked up from where he sat with a completely straight face. Before Maka could hear his reply, she was interrupted by a tap on her shoulder.
"Maka, was that story Dr. Stein told at the end about your family?" Jackie asked her in a low voice. Maka got up from her seat and slung her backpack around her shoulders.
"Yeah," Maka replied, clutching the straps of her backpack. "Don't worry, I already knew about the whole thing beforehand, Mama told me shortly after the divorce."
"Still, don't let it get you down," Jackie said. "I'm sure both your parents still love you despite it."
"I know," Maka replied. "Papa tells me every chance he gets, and even though Mama hasn't said it in a long time, she still shows it by working so hard every day to support me," she said.
"You sure?" Hiro asked. "There's already been one unloving mother this year, what if there's been two this whole time?"
"Don't compare Ms. Albarn to Ms. Gorgon," Kidd replied. "There's a difference between someone who doesn't say 'I love you' every day and an outright abuser," he said.
"Yeah, I'm sure Mama isn't a bad person," Maka added. "That's all I'm going to say on the subject." Maka looked down to where Crona was sitting, noticing a slight apprehension in their eyes. Probably because Hiro and Kidd were talking about their mother, she thought, watching them get up from their seat and pick up their bag. They gave Maka a doubtful look, but held back in saying what they were thinking.
"Okay," Hiro said. "We have practice next anyway, so we should get going before we're late."
"Not like Mr. Albarn's gonna get done talking with Dr. Stein anytime soon," Kilik argued, writing down a few things in his notebook. He closed it up before putting it back in his bag. Black Star put his arm around Kilik and grinned. "What's with that look?" Kilik asked, cracking a slight smile of his own.
"Wonder if he'd mind if we're late for practice?" Black Star asked, other kids from the class getting up and leaving around them all.
"Get a room, you two," Hiro groaned, walking off from the group.
"What's his problem?" Black Star asked.
"It's probably because he's still single, since he still gripes about it online," Patty guessed, pulling out her phone. "Wanna see the highlights?"
"Not particularly," Maka replied, reaching her left hand out to the side and brushing her fingertips against Crona's slender index finger. They tensed up a bit, before noticing that it was Maka's hand that brushed against theirs, at which point they no longer seemed to mind.
Crona then held on to Maka's hand, running their thumb across the back of her hand. Maka smiled, her expression amplified by the residual fluster from the class. Around her and Crona, Soul, Kidd, Jackie, and Patty started walking off out the door to practice. Maka and Crona soon followed to join them.