Mickey’s POV:

I was busy trying to get my life in order a little more than I had ever thought I would be doing. Not only was I trying my best to show up to my classes (which still didn’t happen all the time. Everybody slept in sometimes), but I had also spent time working on a resume. For once, I hadn’t procrastinated until it was no longer significant. I wrote the whole thing, had my mom proofread it, and brought it in to Rita’s Italian ice because Jack was still so adamant about me working with him. The only problem was that everybody always wanted to know about my criminal record. We all knew that I probably wasn’t so good at that part… However, it was actually quite surprising. Apparently, I had been caught less often than I had done illegal things. Still, it wasn’t exactly a good image.

Now all I had to do was wait.

I felt like my interview had gone quite well. They asked me what motivated me to work there, which I thought was a very super weird question. Why the hell would I need a specific motivation to work at an ice cream parlor? Did anybody ever really always dream of working in a place like this? No. So, I just mentioned how I was trying to turn my life around. They seemed pretty happy with that response.

The only thing left was to somehow make up for all the lack of work I had done. It was literally nonexistent. We all already knew my GPA was never going to be saved, so what was the point of even trying? Honestly, I didn’t have an answer for that. I was screwed either way. It was at least worth giving it a try.

I was at Alex’s locker with him just before the bell went, waiting for him to collect all the stuff he needed for his next classes. For once, I actually did have the material I needed. That was the first step to take before I even tried to go to all my classes. As much as I enjoyed my little breaks I got so that I could retrieve my textbooks, I had to show I was at least trying just by being prepared.

“You do realize that Jack’s going to be annoying you every second if you happen to get the same shifts as him, right?” Alex laughed as he sloppily dropped one book on the shelf in his locker and grabbed another, which he stuffed into his bag like it was nothing.

“You’re going to make me regret this,” I warned him, leaning against the door of some stranger’s locker.

“Okay, okay,” Alex finally clicked his lock back in place, going through the entire combination except for the last number. “I’m sure he will be the only thing making it bearable.”

“Not helping!” I shook my head and pushed myself back up so that we could walk to our next class together.

However, before we could actually start our way there, Principal Adkins came walking down the hallway. He wasn’t coming from the direction of his office, either meaning he was out looking for someone or had just spoken with somebody. I was about to feel sorry for the kid that got into deep shit this time, when he suddenly changed his course slightly to come up to us.

“Mickey! You’re exactly the person I was looking for,” he greeted warmly… a little too warmly… The only thing going through my mind was ‘oh, fuck’. I had never been approached or gone to the principal for a good reason. I was never praised for my behavior. There was no reason to believe it was going to be any different this time.

“I swear to god, I do not have any drugs on me. Those kids were just pissed because they thought I was a drug dealer, which I obviously am not,” I told him. It was my first reaction. It was true, for some reason all these sophomore kids thought I was some drug dealer that would hook them up with something. I, however, would never have considered that job.

“That’s not what I’m here for.” He shook his head. “I haven’t even heard anything about that. But now I am going to have to search your locker.”

I groaned, scolding myself for just blurting out my first assumption. “You really don’t want to do that, I’m pretty sure there’s some half-eaten sandwich in there from two weeks ago.”

“I’m just going to let it slide this time,” he shrugged it off, straightening out his rectangular glasses, “just because I don’t feel like dealing with it right now. I was, however, going to ask you whether you were willing to help me out for some extra credit.”

“Sounds like a sketchy deal,” I squinted my eyes at him as if it acted like a lie detector, “I’m out.”

“You didn’t even ask what the offer was,” Alex pointed out, giving me a look that told me I at least had to listen to whatever Principal Adkins wanted.

“I’ve been pulled into sketchy shit before, I’m not going to let that happen again!”

“Mickey,” Principal Adkins interrupted before I could say a definite no, “I’m the head of the school, do you really think I would do something that isn’t fully legal and morally acceptable?”

“You’ve obviously never been to a lower class school.” I had been to so many different schools, I had seen my fair share of messed up things. One principal was even the drug dealer of the school while another had committed murder before. Honestly, the way I used to be was considered weak in those areas.

“I promise you it’s school related and not ‘sketchy’,” he put quotation marks around the last word.

“Ok, fine, what do you want me to do?” I crossed my arms. After all, I was trying to be more submissive to school rules and opportunities.

“It will be easier if you come with me and let me explain it all.”

“Yeah… I’ll miss English if I do that… so, no can do.”

“You’ll be dismissed from your classes for the rest of the day,” he used as the last argument to try and convince me.

“Dude, if you had said that at the beginning we wouldn’t even be here anymore!” I exclaimed, no longer caring if there was something wrong behind all of this. For all I cared, he could make me take part in an anti-drug or anti-alcohol campaign. Not only would I get extra credit, but I could skip classes without consequences!

“I’ll be the message-man,” Alex rolled his eyes at my statement as the bell went, “and tell Miss Harper that Mickey’s been excused.”

That was how I followed Principal Adkins into his office for the first time for a reason that actually wasn’t bad. For once, somebody hadn’t sent me there because I was ‘being disruptive’ or ‘wandering around the halls’. It felt weird not having to prepare myself for somebody trying to talk to me and scold me. This was a strange life.

“Ok, so, the health teacher unfortunately fell ill and won’t be back for another few weeks,” he started explaining to me as he picked up a pile of paper.

I couldn’t help but snort, making him look at me disapprovingly. “What?” I defended. “I just think it’s a little ironic that the health teacher ‘fell ill’. Don’t you?”

The look continued for a few seconds longer before he tapped the paper against the table to straighten it out. “As I was saying, the health teacher won’t be here for another few weeks, but we do need to teach sex-ed to our Freshmen. So, I was hoping you’d be willing to take that over. It will only be a few lessons, you’ll be able to miss your lessons that happen at the same time, and you’ll get extra credit.”

“Ok, so you want me to teach them how all the sperm-egg thing goes down. It’s been awhile since I’ve been taught that… I don’t actually remember ever having been taught that… but that might have been my fault,” I replied getting a glimpse at the documents he was holding. There were diagrams on there, alright. It was an entire lesson plan.

“Yeah, that and some more practical questions they might have.”

“That’s assuming I can answer those questions,” I pointed out, knowing exactly what he had just implied. “You do realize that the only reason why I’ve been acting out is because of my crushing insecurity since I’m still a virgin, right?”

“Oh, um…” He froze up and slowly put the papers back down, clearing his throat. “I’m sorry. I shouldn't have just assumed that you… it’s just that… um…”

“Ha, I’m just messing with you,” I laughed in amusement. Something about making people flustered like that was just so hilarious to me. “Just one question, why the hell would you trust me with that. I don’t even trust me with that. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Because I have faith in you, Mickey.” He smiled and handed me the paper.

My task was to read through everything, understand what it all meant, and in half an hour I already had to stand in front of all these fifteen-year-old kids. I knew it was going to be horrible to even be in their presence, but it felt a lot more interesting than sitting in English class and trying my best not to fall asleep. I still had no idea what book we were reading despite the fact that we were supposed to have read it completely. So, just drawing some freaky-ass diagrams seemed way easier.

All the kids stared at me with wide eyes when they saw me walk into their classroom with nobody else in tow. They were even more surprised when they saw me taking the place of a teacher, and all their whispering started. I never considered myself somebody who everybody knew at school; I wasn’t some popular jock or cheerleader. However, my actions might have quickly pushed me up that list. Everybody here knew who I was.

“What’s up, little shits?” I grinned, sitting down on the swivel-chair with wheels and putting my feet up on the desk.

They all just stared at me until one boy in the back slowly raised his hand and started speaking, “um, why are you here? We’re supposed to have class now.”

“Exactly,” I put my feet back down and leaned onto my elbows, “it’s why I’m here.”

“But… we … have health class now?”

“Once again, exactly,” I nodded and picked up the whiteboard marker, turning my body slightly to the board itself after I had gotten up, “I’m here to teach you how to draw a penis-- sorry, male reproductive system.”

The entire class burst out into giggles. Of course, they were still young teens, it was to be expected. I had long gone past that whole phase, but I knew for a fact that if I said the word around Alex or Jack (maybe even Rian), they wouldn’t be able to control their laughter either. But those kids were just immature, even the one I was dating.

“It’s no laughing matter,” I shook my head and picked up the specific piece of paper that had the labeled diagram that I needed to copy on the board, “you need to know what horrors you’re getting yourself into. It’s super important to know where the vas deferens is when you’re having sex.”

I thought it was pretty funny, but since they didn’t know what I was talking about, they didn’t get it. Of course there was no other reason to know exactly how all that stuff worked except for school. All that really mattered was the actual physical part. It wasn’t like every time I had sex, I went and thought about all the things that actually happened in our bodies. It didn’t matter one bit.

Oh well, it wasn’t hurting me. At least I was trying to do something good for the community.

I really thought I'd never ever say that.

Notes

This chapter's all over the place, I'm sorry. I just needed some character development before I could continue.