This chapter contains slight sexual themes due to the discussion of sex education.
Chapter 6 - Sex Ed
Today was the day Clara had been dreading for an entire year. For her first year of teaching, she wasn't put in the spotlight to teach Sex Ed to the class, but now that she was a veteran of Coal Hill, the time had finally come. Luckily for her, the boys in her class were sent to a male teacher for the day. She got all the girls in the grade, a fold-out table in front of the chalk board with various items scattered on it. An exemplar box of feminine products- tampons, pads, and an issued set of birth control pills for educational purposes.
Clara cleared her throat, causing the room of giggling and gossiping girls to quiet down. "As you could tell by the permission slips signed by all your parents, this is a change from your normal classes to teach all of you both sexual and reproductive system education. If by chance any of your parents did not sign the form or declined your participation on said form, please head to the gymnasium at this time." To her surprise, no one budged. Even the conservative helicopter-parents had signed on to their kids being given sex ed. Now Clara got to embarrass herself in front of all of the girls in the grade.
She sighed to herself, bringing up the chart on the tripod showing an anatomical drawing of the female reproductive system. "Does anyone know what this is? Don't feel like you need to say it if you're uncomfortable, just raise your hand." She said awkwardly. To her internal joy it seemed like every girl was aware of what she was showing them. "Good. So this will be a lot less painful" she sighed in relief to the girls, pointing at the bottom of the drawing. "First thing's first- let's start from the outside in: the labia." She said, looking at the darting eyes of the girls surrounding her in the room. "Trust me, guys." She sighed, losing her stern teacher-voice "I want to do this as much as you want to."
A few minutes went by. Then an hour. Then two hours. Then she finally let out a sigh of relief, smiling at her students. "Okay, now that we've finished, does anyone have any questions". With a sly smirk as she finalized her plan of attack in her head, Courtney Smith raised her hand. "Miss Oswald?" She asked innocently, her voice sugary sweet. With a minuscule sigh, Clara prepared to tackle whatever she had to ask. "Yes, Courtney?" She asked, returning the smile. "Can an older man and a younger woman have sex?" She said, seeing Clara's pupils dilate as she spoke, knowing that she had caught on. "My...Uncle...and his new wife are about thirty years apart." She explained, sounding awkward to ease her suspicions. Clara nodded, giving their benefit of the doubt. "Of course. Intercourse can technically occur at any age between two people of any age- but remember that the age of consent is very real". Then, out of the corner of her eye, another hand popped up- Ella Winster. "Yes- Ella?" She asked, missing the sly look the blonde girl gave Courtney before asking "I know that teens can have kids and almost any adults can, but women get menopause- but some women don't go through it. If that's the case, how does sex work with older people? And like Courtney's question, how does it work with an older man and younger woman- and vice-versa?"
"Sex works exactly the same. If the woman is older, pregnancy isn't possible after menopause. There's a rare possibility for pregnancy if the woman by chance never had menopause." She explained, "-if it's an older man, however, sexual performance pills such as Viagra help him still be sexually active. Unlike women, male reproductive systems never shut down- they simply just become slightly more difficult to function." Clara smiled, looking into the crowd of kids. "No more questions then, yeah?" To her luck, the 5th period bell rang, allowing her to sigh and shut her classroom door after the students dispersed, and pulling out her emergency flask of whiskey and chugging it before sprawling out in her chair and taking a well-earned nap.