Author's Note: Concerning the time period, I wanna keep it as close to the original as I possibly can. But since I'm not planning on directly stating which year it is, you can put it in any time period that you want.

Ennis didn't look back until he was inside his house. He heard his parents in the kitchen as he made his way upstairs to the bathroom. He shut the door and washed his hands, wanting to be free of the feeling and memory of what Alma had done. He couldn't go to his parents about it because he knew they would blame him over her. It would be better for him to just forget it ever happened. And try not to be alone with Alma ever again.

A knock came at the door. "Ennis? You okay?" his mom asked. "Did Alma go on home?"

Ennis looked down at his hand then pushed the memory away as he turned and opened the door. "Yeah, she had to go," he mumbled, stepping past her. "I got homework to do."

"What about your supper?"

"I'll eat later," Ennis said, closing himself off in his bedroom. He remained standing at the door until he heard his mom's footsteps retreating down the stairs. He let out a long breath when he heard muffled voices coming from downstairs. He stepped away from the door and over to his desk.

The paper for Jack's class had fallen behind his desk. He grabbed it then sat down, feeling like so much had changed in his life between the time he wrote the paper and now. And it was all because of Alma. Jack may have been teaching them some things, but something actually happening was quite different than talking about something that may happen.

Though he was trying his hardest to forget, Alma's question came back to him: Have you ever touched yourself? You know? Down there?

Jack had taught on masturbation and Ennis had written down all the he could. But that didn't mean he had been paying attention at the time. He set the paper down then grabbed his notebook, flipping through the pages to find his notes on masturbation. Since there were no girls in the class Ennis attended, masturbation of the opposite sex never came up. He was only curious about that because of what had just happened with Alma. And though he wanted to forget, he found himself becoming curious.

But not about Alma.

Ennis got up and moved over to his door, opening it a crack before slipping out and ducking back into the bathroom. He locked the bathroom door then faced the full-length mirror. He unfastened his jeans then pushed them down past his knees, along with his boxers. He then straightened up, lifting his shirt just slightly to expose his cock and balls more. He felt like he was committing the worst sin ever, standing there staring at his nakedness. He glanced fearfully at the door then back at the mirror.

Slowly he moved his hand, cupping his balls and getting a feel for it before he wrapped his hand around his cock. He was still feeling fear, but there was another feeling building inside him. Something he had never felt before. It felt similar to the feeling he felt when his hand had been between Alma's legs. That feeling started to grow as Ennis moved his hand up and down the length of his cock, as Jack's lesson had described. What happened next surprised him, but he couldn't stop because it was starting to feel good.

His cock grew harder and longer in length. He kept up the pace, his hips aching to move with the rhythm of his hand. His breathing started getting heavy, stroking himself faster. A choked groan came from him after a moment, fighting to keep quiet as the feeling exploded inside him and he shot a load onto the mirror.

"Fuck," he muttered, quickly pulling his jeans back on. He wet a towel and cleaned up the mess then quickly left the bathroom.

Closing himself off back in his room, he had another paper to write.

Jack walked into the classroom the next morning, checking his schedule to remember which students he had at which times. He held three classes every day, one in the morning, one during lunch, and one right before the last bell. He taught the same lessons to all three classes, so remembering that wasn't the hard part. It was remembering who he had in class so he didn't accidentally call a student by the wrong name. He wanted the students to feel like they had some sort of personal connection with him so the class wouldn't be too awkward, learning from a stranger.

A knock came at his door. Jack turned to see Ennis standing in the doorway, a paper in hand. The paper he promised to hand in. Jack lifted his hand and gestured for Ennis to come in.

Ennis walked in, a bit nervously, Jack noticed. "You coulda waited til this afternoon to hand it in," Jack said, holding his hand out for the paper.

"I had to do a rewrite," Ennis said. He looked down at the paper. "I, uh, didn't want anyone to see me hand it in." He handed it over to Jack. Jack thought about asking why Ennis felt that way, but everyone was free to feel the way they wanted to about something. "That's all." He turned to go.

"I'll be givin' the class another assignment," Jack said, enjoying the view of Ennis walking away too much. His eyes were looking where they were supposed to when Ennis turned back, of course. "A detailed description of the birds and bees talk your parents gave ya. It'll be my lesson tomorrow."

"Why're you tellin' me now?" Ennis asked. From the first moment he laid eyes on Ennis, Jack knew there was something about him that was special. And that wasn't just because Jack was attracted to him. It was wrong, but it being wrong was what made it so much more exciting to Jack. He had been up late last night, jerking off in bed to thoughts of Ennis. The way those jeans hugged his tight little ass...

"You seem like the type that needs a warning before something's sprung on him," Jack said. "Seein' as how you're turnin' this paper in late. I won't hold it against ya, don't worry. My class don't affect your grade, remember?"

Ennis just nodded. He obviously wasn't a big talker, but Jack didn't mind that. He liked the quiet type. "You better get to class or you'll be late," Jack said. Ennis gave another nod then turned and left.

Jack still had a few minutes before his own class started. He sat down at his desk and looked at Ennis's paper. It started out with Ennis explaining that he hadn't really thought about his sexuality. Not until Alma Beers. Jack remembered the name. She was in his lunch hour class. She pretended to be the sweet, innocent type, but Jack knew she knew more than she let on about everything he taught.

And that was proven even more as Ennis described what had happened when Alma came over to his house. The way Alma opened herself to him, guiding his hand to between her legs. Ennis couldn't explain how that made him feel, but he knew that it had scared the shit out of him. Alma had put curiosity in Ennis. So much so that Ennis had closed himself off in his bathroom to masturbate for the first time.

Jack didn't get to the end of the paper. He started to imagine Ennis in his bathroom, stroking himself. In his mind's eye, it was such a beautiful image and he didn't even know what Ennis looked like naked. He reached under the desk, palming himself, trying to talk himself out of those thoughts. It didn't help. He was growing hard. He unzipped his jeans, pulling his cock out to quickly jerk off. He started cumming as students started filing in. None of them paid attention to him so he finished, tucking himself back into his jeans.

He would worry about the mess later.

When Ennis walked into Jack's class later that afternoon, the look he got from Jack said that Jack had read his paper. Ennis quickly looked away and sat down at his desk. He already felt embarrassed enough for what he had revealed in that paper. But, part of him felt comfortable with doing it. He couldn't talk to his parents about this and he knew Jack wouldn't say anything to anyone. Jack's class was a safe space.

And maybe Jack could make sense of the feeling Ennis had when he had touched Alma and then himself.

The class went by fairly quickly, with Jack announcing the assignment he wanted for tomorrow. Ennis hung back as the other students left. He didn't walk forward until he was the only one there, besides Jack. He stopped in front of Jack's desk.

"Y'know, if what ya went through is traumatizing, you can seek help," Jack said. "Tellin' your folks is the first place to start."

Ennis shook his head. "Can't do that," he said. "That's why I put it in that paper." He didn't want to go into how his parents, namely his dad, saw things. He was raised to be oldfashioned. So if anything happened to a woman that wasn't appropriate, it was always the man's fault. He didn't want to make things worse with his dad by telling him what had happened with Alma. Or what that meeting with Alma had led to. Ennis knew he would be doing a lot of confessing at church on Sunday.

Jack didn't look like he needed an explanation. "You know you can tell me anything, Ennis," he said. "Do your folks -"

"My family life is good," Ennis said. "I'll have that assignment in on time tomorrow." He turned and left.