The joyful mood Edward brought into sex ed dissipated as soon as he cleared the doorway. Usually, everyone was talking and laughing, and Mr. Nichols would come out and do this thing as quick as possible. But today, the teacher was standing in front of the bleachers glaring at everyone, his breathing coming heavy, his cheeks flushed with anger. Ed immediately sobered up and scooted into his seat next to Envy as quietly as possible. He was dying to ask if the other boy knew why Mr. Nichols was so mad…but even a whisper would be too loud in the pressing silence of the gym.

The bell rang, and as soon as its echoes faded Mr. Nichols was speaking, his voice booming. "I have never been so disappointed in a practical sexual education class in all my years of teaching it. A shockingly high number of you don't have the decency to respect your partners, and that…that is beyond discouraging. I got the tests results back and…well, let's just see, shall we?"

The man stalked off to the side, grabbing a stack of papers off of a small table. "Abigail!" he barked suddenly. "Clear. You may stay seated. Jack! Clear. Stacy! Clear. Anna! Clear. Travis!" Here Mr. Nichols paused, his expression darkening so much that it sent a shiver of fear down Edward's spine. "Not so clear. Why don't you come on up here?"

Travis, a dark haired boy who was scowling heavily, walked down from the top of the bleachers to stand next to Mr. Nichols, who continued to fire off results. "John F.! Clear. Josh! Clear. Katie! Get your ass up here. Envy! Clear."

It had never even occurred to Ed that Envy might have had some infection, but he still relaxed upon the announcement. "Cassie! Clear. Jay! Up with me. Edward!" Even though Ed knew he was fine, he still almost had a heart attack when Mr. Nichols shouted his name. "Clear."

On and on it went, the teacher reading off each and every name, until a shocking total of sixteen people were standing up next to him. Sure, the class was large, but still, that many…it was surprising.

"This is why we don't allow for below the waist contact before the test results come in," Mr. Nichols seethed. "Fifteen of you! Fifteen! The highest number I had ever had before this year was seven. This…this is a disgrace."

He paused, huffing for breath. Now that he knew he was out of the firing line, Edward was much calmer, though it was crazy to think that so many people would put their partners at risk… "Now I'm sure some of you think it's horrible of me to call you out instead of speaking with you privately. However, it's not as though you could keep it a secret, because even if I wasn't doing this, you would all have to leave the class, and people would know anyway. So I might as well turn it into a lesson before you're dismissed."

Hmm. It made sense to have to drop the people who had infections, but Ed had to wonder what their partners were supposed to do now. At the very least, it was good that there was an even number of people with problems, that way everyone who now had no partner could at least match up with someone else in the same predicament.

"I would like to note that there are straight individuals here, and gay students of both genders, just to remind you that STDs or STIs or whatever you want to call them nowadays, they don't discriminate. They are infectious and attack everyone equally. Which means each of the people up here was putting their partner at risk."

Dead silence in the gym. Mr. Nichols turned to Travis, the first boy he had called up. "Who's Travis's partner?" he asked, staring the boy in the eye as he addressed those still seated.

"Me…Sam," a quiet voice responded. Ed twisted around and, to his surprise, recognized him as a boy he often partnered up with for labs in science.

"And did you know Travis had an infection? Did he ever tell you?"

"No," Sam replied, his voice strained. "No, he told me he was—he was clean."

A vein popped out in M. Nichols's head. "So, not only did you not tell your partner, you lied to him. You want to tell Sam what he would have caught, if we didn't do tests?"

Travis, to his credit, didn't back down from the fierce teacher, shooting back a glare of his own. "Herpes," he finally spat.

Edward's eyes widened. That wasn't just something that had to be taken care of and could be fixed up, that was a serious disease…he hadn't realized anyone in Central High had that… Another glance behind him revealed a shaken Sam biting his lip.

"Excellent. Really upstanding student, you are," Mr. Nichols growled sarcastically. He turned to address the class at large. "When you signed up for this course, you had to sign off saying you were alright with becoming physical with another student, and that you would not do anything that would infringe on their rights and desires. You also signed off saying that you were STD free. Now, I know a lot can change from when you sign up to when you're tested, so that's fine. But to not tell your partner that you have a highly infectious, incurable disease? That is infringing on their safety. That is despicable. Anyone who has a partner up here—did any of them tell you? Did any of you know your bodies were being put at risk by other people who cared too much about their pleasure to worry about you?"

No one said a word. Gratitude suddenly washed over Ed like a flood, thankfulness that he had been paired up with Envy. Yes, he liked the green haired boy, but more than that he could trust him, and the importance of that fact had never been clearer.

"Shameful," Mr. Nichols muttered, shaking his head. "Alright, you lot," he went on, turning once more to the students assembled next to him. "Your parents are all waiting for you in the office. You'll be meeting with them, and the principal. Depending on what STD you've been diagnosed with and what you knew beforehand and all that information, there might be punishment for your hiding it, considering you broke a school contract. None of you will be allowed to return to class. Go on, get out."

The group was a strange mix, half of them looking ashamed and even scared, the other half looking irritated and swaggering along to get their bags before exiting the gym, like they didn't really care. Mr. Nichols waited until they were all gone before speaking again. "To everyone else here, I'm sorry we couldn't get on to the fun stuff today, but that was an important lesson. That's the perfect example of why one night stands or hooking up with people you just met is dangerous. Because you don't know about them, and even if you ask…they obviously might not be telling the truth. Very few people will admit to having an STD if what they want is to get laid. Now, everyone whose partner has left, first off, I'm very sorry. Second, if you all could come down here, we'll talk in private about whether you want to be paired up with someone else or if you would like to go ahead and drop the class."

There was another shuffling of feet, this time more cautious and disappointed in tone. Edward leaned into Envy, murmuring, "That's just awful. I can't believe so many people would keep a secret like that…"

"I'm no saint—hell, I'm a bit of a bitch—but even I can't imagine hiding something like that from someone. Especially something permanent, like, herpes? Really? That's something Sam would have had to deal with his whole life, all because some dick in high school couldn't keep it in his pants…" Envy agreed, shaking his head with disappointment. "Lucky I've got you."

"Yeah," Ed sighed, nudging Envy's cheek gently with his head. The other boy brought up a hand to play in his hair, and Edward smiled despite the scene that had just occurred.

"Hey, look on the bright side. Tomorrow we get to have some real fun."

Heart suddenly stuck in his throat, it was all Ed could do to nod. The anticipation was killing him.