Brad looked at them sardonically. "I'll be asking you soon. You better know something worth knowing." He turned and walked away.

The two watched Brad disappear out the door, then Doug turned to Angie. "I didn't know you knew so much about sex."

She flared back defensively, "I didn't know you knew so much either."

As soon as all the students were gone, Mrs. Hildebrande tapped for attention again. "Because there are only a few of you left in the study hall, you may study, read, or talk, if you keep your voices low." She smiled at them graciously and then turned her attention to grading papers.

Doug felt that same old sinking feeling in his stomach that he'd felt so often lately. The harder he tried to live a peaceful, logical existence, the quicker he found himself entangled in an impossible situation. Why had he taken offense to Brad's childish words? He knew what a silly ass Brad was. He thought he had inured himself to the stigma of being left out of the sex education classes long ago, but here he was – upset again. He guessed he wasn't missing much anyway. Probably the same old anatomical diagrams his father had showed him on the sly. And the School Board members didn't allow the teachers to talk about anything really interesting or exciting anyway. So why was he annoyed? Mainly because he wanted to know, he admitted to himself. Really know what sex was all about. For the past year he had been merely curious, but lately he had gotten obsessed with the idea of knowing about it. Probably had something to do with all those wet dreams he'd had lately. He knew he shouldn't care what the other kids thought of him. But he did. He couldn't stand the thought of Brad's face smiling triumphantly when he found out Doug didn't know anything about sex. Telling all the other kids.

Angie's mind was working overtime. It wasn't her fault she didn't know about sex, it was her mother's fault. Any time the subject came up her mother reacted violently against it.