Class Part 3

Sam thought his heart was going to explode. He set his shirt down and Victoria quickly came and picked it up for him.

“Uh yeah, this is my chest.” Already he saw four hands going up. He decided to start with those.

“Professor, what are the purpose of male nipples?”

“There’s no purpose. They’re vestigial.” Sam said quickly.

“That’s stupid.” The girl said.

“Yeah.” Sam said. Honestly he was quite happy his nipples didn’t do anything, seeing as he had heard his older sisters complain about the things theirs did all the time.

Next question.

“Could you flex for us?”

“I don’t know if that-“ he got out before catching Victoria’s look. She had a very serious expression that read “Oh yes you will.”

Sam cleared his throat. “Y-Yeah. I’ll flex. I don’t exactly have abs but...” he stopped talking and flexed his stomach, chest, and arm muscles. The girls were vocalizing appreciation and at least one girl, it seemed, was sketching. Sam was surprised at how flattered he felt. Still, his stomach turned when he thought about where the lesson would go from here.

“So I heard male nipples were very sensitive to pain.”

Sam thought about it. “I mean, in the sense that they’re a thin bit of skin without any protection, I guess so. I imagine they’re not much different from female nipples before birth. But I wouldn’t know.”

“Could you turn around for us?”

“Yeah, sure.” Sam said, and he did. A few more catcalls came from the crowd. When he couldn’t see who was doing them, they felt a bit different. He was starting to feel a bit of understanding of why women didn’t like that. He thought about saying something, but before he could, Victoria butted in.

“Guys. Mr. Winters is being very gracious to come out here and do this for us. Let’s keep it classy, okay?”

A few sheepish agreements followed. Sam turned back around and mouthed ‘thank you’ to Victoria, which she shrugged off.

“I...I guess that’s all there is to say about my torso area, so we’ll...we’ll go on t-to uh...my-“ Sam was cut off when a bell rang. It was a clear, beautiful crisp bell, signifying the class’s ten minute break. Several students got up and left, others stayed and retrieved snacks from their bags, cracking open water bottles.

Victoria motioned for Sam to sit next to her in the now-vacant seat. To his surprise and appreciation, she handed him a small water bottle and an apple. “How are you feeling?” She asked.

“I’m good, mostly. Why are you being so nice to me?”

She thought about it. “I can’t help but empathize with you. Imagine how I’d feel to be doing what you’re doing. That, and I feel a bit bad.”

“Why do you feel bad?”

“I uh...I was planning out this whole thing for a while.” She tucked her hair behind her ear, looking away.

Sam nearly choked on his apple. “What? Since when?”

Victoria blushed. “S-Since I saw you at a swim meet last month. I may have, uh, kinda looked up your social media and figured out your secret identity along the way...”

“You stalked me!” He said, smiling. “Victoria, you have a crush on me, don’t you?”

“Shhh!” She said, trying to cover his mouth. The girls around were grinning.

“Don’t mind us.” One of them said.

“Yeah, just act like we’re not here.” Another added.