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Back The First and The Last Save as PDF
Chapters (25)
  1. The First and The Last
  2. 1. One
  3. 2. Two
  4. 3. Three
  5. 4. Four
  6. 5. Five
  7. 6. Six
  8. 7. Seven
  9. AFTERWARD
  10. 9. Nine
  11. 10. Ten
  12. 11. Eleven
  13. 12. Twelve
  14. 13. Thirteen
  15. 14. Fourteen
  16. 15. Fifteen
  17. 16. Sixteen
  18. 17. Seventeen
  19. 18. Eighteen
  20. 19. Nineteen
  21. 20. Twenty
  22. 21. Twenty One
  23. AFTERWORD
  24. ABOUT THE FIRST AND THE LAST
  25. A LITTLE ABOUT ME

“I’m confused, Mrs. Beauford. You said vulva, but did you mean vagina when you talked about the passage the sperm travels up to meet the egg?”

“Sit down, Julius.” Mrs. Beauford was pink from her neck to her hairline, and she had a fine sheen of sweat on her forehead.

Jules’s hand shot up again. He didn’t wait for her to call on him. “I don’t understand how the sperm gets into the vagina. You glossed over that, but it seems like it might be important.”

Muffled laughter erupted from the back of the class. Mrs. Beauford turned a worrying shade of red. She pursed her lips and her eyes hardened.

“Julius, flee from sexual immorality. First Corinthians 6:18.” She said it like a person who was confident she had the full weight of the Bible and, quite possibly, the whole of the Vatican behind her.

Jules didn’t skip a beat. He rose to his feet and stiffened his top lip, adopting the same holier-than-thou posture as she had. “Be Chrool to Your Scuel. Twisted Sister, 1985.”

I looked at Jules in amazement. He was on his feet. Shoulders back. His jaw was set. He looked down at me and all hint of seriousness vanished from his eyes. His crazy eyebrows were both pulled down into a ridiculous scowl. I had never been prouder of anyone in my whole life.

“OUT!” spat Mrs. Beauford.

I was on my feet in an instant.

“Where do you think you’re going, Sullivan Cleary?”

I shrugged. “Standing in The Way of Control. Gossip, 2006.”

In seconds, the entire class was on their feet, jeering and shouting out song titles and words of protest. When she finally got us settled down, Mrs. Beauford took a seat too. She waved at us dismissively and then swiped the back of her hand across her forehead weakly. “You can read the rest of the chapter to yourselves. It’s self-explanatory, really.”

I was in such a great mood I didn’t even bother adding that to my list of complaints for the Board.

Being in class with Jules wasn’t the only big change that year. People treated me differently. Guys moved out of my way as I walked down the hall, and girls watched me, too. They watched me, but not the way they watched Jules. They didn’t smile or giggle when they saw me. They turned their heads away from me, casting their eyes down and then flicking them up at the last second, as I entered their space. They seemed to breathe slowly, or not at all, when I was close. Some of them held eye contact longer than I considered polite. A lot of the time, if I turned and looked back, they were still looking at me, lips and jaws parted slightly. It made me uncomfortable, but that didn’t mean I didn’t like it.

5. Five

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