Let me know what you like or don't like, people. I can't get better without comments. And naturally votes are always appreciated, too.
*
Justin Heityme knocked on his academic advisor's door, a resigned expression on his young face. Another older person was trying to manage his life, he presumed, just like all the others he had encountered in his short existence. Did they not understand that there was a planet to save and that he was just the man to do it? Why was there all this uproar about his need to be a 'whole person' and to have interests outside his Environmental Engineering major? Being well-rounded was for those useless people in Liberal Arts over on the other campus. Here, at the technical school of Horner Springs Institute they studied serious things.
"Come in. Ah, Mr. Heityme, just the young man I wanted to see." Dr. Sylvia Ellynrunch smiled warmly at the precocious and (according to the faculty) downright obsessive sophomore. "I've been looking over your transcript and I wanted to warn you that you are missing graduation requirements. You need to sign up for an additional class this semester."
"But I'm already carrying sixteen engineering units, Dr. Ellynrunch. I don't have time for another class."
"Justin, I think you weren't listening to me. I said that you are missing graduation requirements. Horner Springs Institute insists that every student have a minimum of twenty units in human sexuality before they graduate. We didn't mention this before because you were so young when you completed high school but now that you are of legal age, you need to catch up. If you wait for next semester you will find yourself short when you come to the end of your four years here. Now, it turns out that Ms. Beindre has room for one more male student in her section of Introduction to Bondage so I'm signing you up for BDSM 101. It meets on the Liberal Arts campus and if you leave right now you will be just in time. It's in room 305 of the Major Horner Building so grab your iPad and scoot."
"Dr. Ellynrunch, this is out . . . ."
"I said
scoot
!"
Stunned and cowed by the intensity of the professor's command, Justin hustled down the hall and out the front door. He pulled his fleece-lined leather coat tighter as he stood in the cold at the shuttle stop and stamped his feet irritably. 'They' had done it to him again; making him do something he saw no need for because 'they' had the power and he didn't. It never occurred to him to ask why he obeyed so readily or to wonder why he put up no resistance beyond a cut-short protest.
He arrived at the Major Horner building with his head down and a scowl on his face. Climbing the steps to the big double doors, he paid no heed to the excellent copies of tenth century Indian temple carvings that formed a frieze around each story nor did he notice the Art Deco murals that covered the walls. Instead he looked at his watch, cursed under his breath and ran up two flights of stairs and burst into room 305 to find there was only one remaining empty seat—in the front row.
Ms. Beindre tapped a key on her laptop at the lectern. "Ah, and Mr. Heityme in the nick of time. How appropriate. Well class, good afternoon. I am Ms. Beindre and as I'm sure you all know this is BDSM 101, Introduction to Bondage. The class consists of an hour of lecture once a week in this room and two hours of laboratory which will meet in the large—gymnasium, if you will, at the end of the corridor. Since you will naturally be working in couples, I'm going to give you a few minutes to get acquainted."
A compact brunette with a page boy haircut was seated next to Justin. She turned and looked him up and down appraisingly, then smiled.
"Mmm, you're cute! Hi, my name's Amanda Knott and my friends all call me Randy Mandy. What's yours?"
Justin blushed. "Uh, Justin—Justin Heityme. Uh, I'm majoring in Environmental Engineering. Um . . . ."
"Ooo," the girl's eyes widened, "that's one of the
hard
ones! I'm an art major, specializing in landscape design. So what brings you to Introduction to Bondage?"
Justin glowered. "My academic advisor said I needed graduation requirements and this one was open so she signed me up. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do here. It's not like I'll ever have any use for it. I've got important things to do and I need to get started. That's why I left high school at sixteen and came here. The planet is a mess and needs fixing before really terrible things start to happen! I don't have time for—," he stopped in mid rant, "uh, what is Introduction to Bondage all about, anyway?"
Amanda took off her glasses and laid them on the desk. She cocked her head to one side and peered at Justin with one raised eyebrow. Then she shook her head, as if to clear it of some impossible concept.
"You really don't know, do you? That's amazing! You graduated from high school at sixteen? When did you turn eighteen?"
"Last week. Dr. Ellynrunch said now that I'm legal I need to make up for lost time; otherwise I won't graduate on schedule. Obviously, this has something to do with sex, right?"
Amanda reached out and laid a gentle hand on Justin's shoulder. "Honey, it certainly does. And it looks like it's a good thing Ms. Beindre sat me next to you. I don't claim to be an expert, that's why I'm in this class but at least I've had some experience with being a tie toy. Uh, have you
ever
been with a woman, Justin?"
Justin opened and closed his mouth in confusion, his eyes goggled. Finally he took a deep breath and said primly, "My high school Sex Ed classes were very complete. I'm quite aware of how people have sex."
Amanda pursed her lips mischievously. "From a theoretical/academic standpoint then? I meant personally, Justin, but you don't have to answer. I can already tell the answer is 'no'. Don't worry, sweetie, Mandy will fix."
Before she could go any further, Ms. Beindre tapped the bell on her lectern. "Alright, everyone, let's get started. Ms. Knott, if you will help me hand out the syllabi and Mr. Kough, if you will make sure everyone has one of the reading compendia? Tonight's homework is on the board. Make sure you write it down. Today we will begin with safety cautions and an introduction to cuffs. This is all testable and I expect you to be taking very good notes. If you want to record instead, that's fine, but of all the lessons, today's maybe the most important."
*****
Two days later a very confused and reluctant Mr. Heityme shuffled down the hall to what Ms. Beindre had leeringly called the gymnasium. The lecture on the proper use and placement of padded cuffs, the insistence on safety words, the warning about the hazards of suspension had been intimidating. Then he had read his homework and the descriptions of what people did and felt and experienced had figuratively set his ears back. And now he was supposed to practice some of this? With Amanda? An icy Arctic owl seemed to have taken up residence in his stomach and was extending its talons.
He opened the door, glad to not be the last one in, to find Amanda waiting for him.
"Justin!" She threw her arms around his neck for a gigantic hug, pressing her body hard against his. Then, leaning back she looked him over. "My goodness, Justin. You're so preppy looking. Checked shirt, Argyle sweater, tweed coat—are you trying to set a masterful tone here?"
Justin blushed. It was beginning to get annoying. Every time Amanda spoke to him his face would flare up bright red making all his freckles stand out even worse than usual. "I—I thought I ought to—to treat this like a date? So I dressed up? Is—is it all right?"
She reached up and took an ear in each hand and pulled his face down to hers. "Justin," she whispered, "we're going to be lovers for the next month, maybe longer. Of course it's all right. In fact, I'm flattered that you would take the trouble for what is, after all, a class project. Now, come on in. We've been assigned to booth eleven."
She took his hand and like two middle school students just starting to figure out their strange, adolescent feelings she led him around the central block of booths and into number eleven. Justin gulped. The booth was a bedroom, carpeted and decorated in subtle tones of rich colors. In the center was a king-size four poster bed with turnings at the head and foot. A clothes rack ran along one wall and on each side of the bed were large, multi-drawer nightstands. As he stood there, confused, Amanda locked the door and took his coat by the collar and pulled it off him. As she hung it on a hanger she spoke soothingly over her shoulder.
"Now honey, I know this is all new to you so for these first few labs I'll lead. You'll catch on fast, I know, and then you'll be pinning me down and using me relentlessly but for now—well, just start by taking off your clothes!"
Hesitantly, Justin pulled his sweater off over his head and unbuttoned his shirt. Amanda watched with a predatory gleam in her eye. As he started unbuckling his belt and unbuttoning his 501's her lips spread in a toothy smile and she stepped out of her boots and did a slow, seductive strip that stopped Justin in mid-disrobe. Once she was naked she sat on the bed, and slid under the covers. Justin gulped and finished taking his clothes off trying to hide behind his hands.