Trang Pak Takashi walked toward the newspaper office hoping to run into Ms. Knight. The new advisor just had to be more open to accepting student ideas than Mr. Jameson had been. Trang really wanted to make a name for herself as Faberian editor. Berkeley was her dream school, but the only way to afford that would be scholarships. Without them she’d likely be stuck going to Adams College like her dad.

Luckily, the lights were on.

“Hi Ms. Knight, welcome back. I just finished up my interview with Coach Carr.”

“Oh, hi Trang Pak. How was it?”

“OK I guess. How did he ever become the sex-ed teacher?”

“What do you mean?

Trang Pak chuckled. “It turns out he can’t even say the word ‘sex’.”

Ms. Knight joined the laughter. “I guess that didn’t matter much before. Boy, will things be different for him this year.”

“Yep. After my last question he just stuttered, turned bright red, and rushed out of the

classroom.”

“Trang Pak! I hope you didn’t upset him. You know how popular he is. You don’t need another teacher angry with you. You almost didn’t make editor this year. I mean really, publishing a cartoon that says ‘J. Jonah Jameson is illiterate.’ Not very respectful of your advisor.”

“I know, I know. Well, no reason to go over that again. Just be careful.” Michael doubted the ‘accident’ explanation, but knew Jameson tended to yell at the reporters and hadn’t been well liked.

“Careful is exactly what I don’t want to be. I promise to not make any mistakes like that, but I really want to make this paper something to be proud of. To make it relevant. I have some ideas I’d like to talk about.”

“We’ll have to talk later. I need to get ready for the staff meeting this morning. And you should take off and enjoy your last few days of summer.”

“OK Ms. Knight, see you next week!”

“Afraid not Todd, like I said all the coaching slots are filled.”

“You sure? That sure was a cute girl that just walked out of your class.”

“You mean Trang Pak? She’s editor of the Faberian. She was interviewing me about the new curriculum I’ll be teaching this year.”

“Interview. Is that what you call it?” Todd asked, punctuating the first word with air quotes.

This guy is such a creep, Coach Carr thought. “Get your mind out of the gutter Todd. I hope you don’t always jump to conclusions. It pays to have all the facts before making judgements.”

“Sure coach, I’ll remember that.” Inside Todd was seething. He’d heard that line about ‘facts’ too many times and was tired of it.

“So what’s the new curriculum?”

Coach Carr sighed. He’d dreaded this year since the state eliminated the abstinence-only policy. Now he was actually going to have to teach something other than “hold an aspirin between your knees”.

“It’s not abstinence only any longer. This year I have to talk about sex.” Coach turned crimson.

“What do you mean? What kind of things will you be teaching?”

“Ugh, I really don’t feel comfortable. But topics about sexuality, gender identity, contraception. And even more.”

“That should be left to parents. Mama told me about sex. The night before I get married, Jesus will tell me everything I need to know about being a proper husband. Why would schools teach more than that?”

Coach chuckled.

“What’s funny?”

“There’s just a bit more to it than that Todd.”

“Of course there is. I was curious just like any other teenager. But Mama bought me a Barbie doll. We took her clothes off so I could see what a lady body looks like. I don’t know what the big deal is.”

“OK” thought Coach. “This is definitely a joke.” Even so Todd creeped him out. He looked at his watch.

“Look at the time. I’ve gotta get ready for the staff meeting now. See you later Todd.”

“Sure Coach, see you soon”