100 reasons to love our lives

Education is key

Nico

The words flooded out of my mouth, rambling, blabbering useless words.

”... and I feel so disgusting for feeling that! Gods, I wished it would just stop. He doesn't deserve someone like me! Someone who can't even control himself when we're kissing. He deserves someone who isn't already...“ I paused for one beat. ”touched.“

Suzanne Edwards listened attentively, her fancy yellow glasses crooked on her nose. The grey hair, as if trying to compensate for the glasses, was strictly tied into a bun on the top of her head. But then again, she wore a pink blouse with pineapple pattern. Just like her father, she mixed styles seemingly random, but unlike her father, she managed to make it look good.

I immediately had trusted her; and she was the perfect therapist for me and my problems.

Now, she waited three seconds before she asked: ”Have you ever had sex education in your life?“

I stared at her flabbergasted, not able to hold back the most bizarre thoughts. ”Sex education?“, I repeated. ”Like, a school subject?“
Would they all have to get naked? Were there teachers giving commands on how to do...?

”I see, you weren't educated that way. That's not a problem.“ She sighed deeply and then mumbled: ”Chiron, you deeply conservative horseback.“
”He accepted me being gay“, I chimed in. ”He can't be that conservative.“

”It all matters on how conservative. He's the old greek version of conservative, with a few changes in his world view on child pregnancy. But he would never give sex education in camp.“

”How is that even supposed to work?“, I dared to ask. ”Like, getting taught...“ The word wouldn't come out of my mouth.
”You technically had to learn about the anatomy of the genitals of both genders, about contraceptives, about puberty and about pregnancy“, my therapist now said.
Suzanne seemed calm and collected as she told me: ”Also that masturbation is nothing bad, even healthy for the human body.“

My mouth hang open; I closed it fastly to not look completely stupid. Shouldn't I be used to the changes of one century by now? ”H-how?“, I stuttered, staring into her brown eyes.

”See it like that: You have basic needs to function. Nutrition, sleep, air...“
I nodded, keeping my mouth shut to keep all the questions from flooding out in one whole ramble.
”Another basic need is love, romantic love as well as sexual love. It is essential for your wellbeing, but you don't always have a partner available. That's why masturbating is healthy.“

My cheeks surely looked like the red stains on these porcelain dolls. ”Where can I find out more about this?“, I asked, because I figured I didn't have to get all these things told by my therapist wearing a pineapple blouse. The older woman tilted her head slightly and then meant: ”You could check on the internet, but it isn't that reliable. Well, books can be outdated either. If you check multiple internet sources, you should be on the safe side.“
My head rocked forward again in a slow nod.
”Do you know how to use incognito mode?“, she suddenly asked. ”Or do you not need it?“

~~~

The girls, Will and I planned to see a movie tonight. But the afternoon was free for me; free to look up on the internet what sex education meant. I switched the incognito mode on; even though Suzanne had told me that the states still were able to see my data and even sell it. She said that it just protected me from my friends seeing what I searched up and what I watched; and that was useful enough. After a while, I typed in: