Max sat in the backseat of Brian’s car as it lurched forward and continued in the direction of their school. He was immediately assaulted by the strong scent of BO. He started blushing when he realized that his erection, which had started to die down again, rose to full attention at the scent. He was also embarrassed when he realized that he was definitely contributing to the scent in the car as well.
Seth looked over from the seat next to him. “Are you all right, bae?”
Max shook his head. It was hard to think with the intoxicating smell all around him. “I dunno, man. I feel like my brain can’t make sense of anything…” His mind was constantly returning to the idea of sex, and his dick responded by remaining hard. “FUCK!” he yelled out, startling Brian in the front seat.
“Whoa there, Bro! Chill out! You’re safe here,” Brian said, regaining his composure as they pulled into the school parking lot.
“I can’t stay here,” Max replied. It was too hard to think in this car, this close to Seth. His raging hormones were barely able to be maintained next to this guy who he was clearly very sexually attracted to, which conflicted all the more with his memories of being both asexual and aromantic. “I gotta get outta here!” As soon as Brian pulled into a parking spot, Max jumped out of the car, his new body finding it easy to jog as fast as he could away from the car and towards the front doors of the school. He could vaguely here Seth calling out to him, but he ignored it and made his way through the crowd of students entering the building.
As he got away from Seth, his hormones started to abate, and the presence of school seemed to reinforce the nerdy side of Max that he felt was right, even though there were definitely competing memories in his mind. He stopped by his locker and opened it up, seeing his textbooks and mostly everything the way that he had left it, albeit a little messier. Or maybe he had just been in a rush the day before and didn’t organize it as nice as he normally did. Nevertheless, his eyes focused on his Advanced Biology textbook, and he found his mind finding comfort in the fact that he could still recall his knowledge and understanding of the subject. He grabbed the textbook and closed his locker. He didn’t see Seth in the crowd yet, and while a part of him felt saddened for the way that he run out on his boyfriend (NO, not boyfriend, a weakening part of his mind told him), he was also excited about getting to his science class.
He made his way to the classroom and settled down in his seat. He got out his notebook and found his notes, written mostly how he remembered it. If he had been thinking a little more clearly, he would have seen several words misspelled throughout, but they seemed right in his head, so he didn’t think anything of it.
As class started, though, he found his mind drifting again to thoughts about Seth. While he normally really enjoyed listening to the lecture, he realized that he had never gotten any relief from the hard-on that he had earlier by the park, and that was causing him to have a strong case of blue balls. The hormones in his body began rising again, and he found himself wanting to slip his hand into his pants and start masturbating in the middle of class, but he realized that would be widely inappropriate regardless of his mindset.
He was so focused on his libido that he didn’t realize that several people were turning around and staring at him, and the teacher was looking right at him. “Do you know the answer, Mr. Warner?” the teacher asked. He realized that she had asked him a question, and he had no idea what it was.
“Uhhhh…SEX!” he said, his dick speaking before his brain. The whole class burst into laughter at his response.
His teacher, Mrs. Watley, was less than impressed with his answer, but responded, “A crude response but ultimately an accurate answer. Sex is the catalyst for what leads to genetic inheritance, the process in which genetic material is passed on from parent to offspring. We will be beginning a lab studying fruit flies. I don’t suppose you’d like to enlighten us with the actual scientific name of the fruit fly, would you, Mr. Warner?”
The nerd part of Max’s brain, although greatly diminished to the effects of the Jock Jacket, linked onto this question and instantly brought the answer to his head. “Drosophila melanogaster,” he responded quickly.
Mrs. Watley paused for a moment. She clearly had NOT been expecting this answer. She walked over to her notes and looked down at them briefly. “Well, Mr. Warner, you are correct! I’m very impressed!” The rest of the class looked at Max with bewildered looks. Before anyone could say anything, Mrs. Watley’s desk phone rang, and she answered it. “Yes, I’ll be right there,” she said, hanging up.
“Students, I have to step away to the main office for a moment due to an emergency situation. Please read the section on genetic inheritance starting on page 225. If you finish before I return, you can start answering the study questions on page 250.” She quickly walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Lyle Redding, who Max recalled in some distant memory as one time being one of his best friends, sat next to him in class and looked at him confused. “How did you know the answer to that question, Moron Max?” Lyle asked.
Max was taken aback and a bit hurt by Max’s comment. “I love studying bugs. I have a huge bug collection at home,” he responded, although he realized that he had no idea where that bug collection was at the current moment.
“Uh-huh,” Lyle replied, shaking his head with a look of disbelief. “And next thing you’re going to say is that you actually know how to read more than 3 letter words.” Lyle pulled out his phone and started typing into it. “Okay Mr. ‘Smart Guy.’ If you know so much about insects, what is this?” He pulled up a picture of a black and white insect with large antennae.
Max instantly recognized the creature. “That’s an Asian Longhorned Beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis, found mainly in eastern Asia.”
Lyle’s eyes widened, looking around at the rest of the class. While a few people were following the teacher’s instructions, most of the class was clearly paying attention to their conversation. He looked up a few other insects, but Max was able to correctly answer every single one of them. Ben Williams, a friend of Lyle’s (and at one time, Max as well) leaned over and whispered something into Lyle’s ear. Lyle grinned in response. “Okay, Mr. Big Shot. What’s the technical name of the Monarch butterfly?” he asked, showing a picture of an orange, black, and white butterfly.
Max looked down at the image and strong childhood memories burst into his mind. “That’s not a Monarch. It’s a Viceroy. And its scientific name is LimenitiTH archippuTH!” he cried out, blushing when he heard his childhood lisp slip out at the name of the butterfly.
The class paused for a moment and started laughing at his response. “Aw,” Lyle said with a smirk. “Looks like his faggy side is coming out!”
Max felt an anger rising up in him. While he had enjoyed the challenge of the bug guessing game, the slur was causing his temper to rise exponentially. “I’M NOT GAY!” he shouted.
“Well, your boyfriend sure is!” Lyle responded coolly. The rest of the class “oohed” in response to Lyle’s comment.
Max stood up, knocking his desk over in anger and balling his fist up to punch Lyle. Right at that moment, Mrs. Watley returned to the room. “Mr. Warner! What are you doing!”
Max looked up at the teacher, his anger still boiling against Lyle. “This asshole called me gay, and I was going to fucking show him who’s boss!”
“I never said he was gay,” Lyle responded truthfully.
“You fucking called me a faggot!” Max screamed, raising his fist towards Lyle again.
“Mr. Warner! That behavior, language, and attitude are all unacceptable in my classroom,” Mrs. Watley responded with a glare. “You will report to the school counselor’s office to give you some time to cool down and discuss what happened. I’m going to page her and let her know that I’m sending you her way. Do NOT stray on your way to her office.”
Max glared down at Lyle, who seemed to be unfazed by the jock’s threatening presence. Grumbling profanities under his breath, he stuffed his books in his bag and sulked out of the classroom. As he made his way to the counselor’s office, he started to question himself…Was he angry because he was called gay even though he wasn’t? Or was he more angry that he was gay and that he found Lyle’s slur offensive against his orientation? He hoped the day would start to improve…