Chapter One: The Sex School
Jasper Coleman, who was still adjusting to consciousness, stood with an absent stare just a few feet from the front door of his apartment. His surroundings were dark, only the light of the outside city illuminated the dull setting; and even then, a minuscule amount reached where he stood. The clock that hung behind him ticked at an unsettling pace, violating the silence of the early morning. Each tick pinged against his brain, which was currently fragile with ache.
If someone were to observe Jasper at that moment, with his slouched stature and catatonic gaze, one would think him to be brain dead. However, this was far from true. In his head, Jasper was checking off each thing needed for the day. He did so meticulously and thoroughly, for today was the most important day of his life.
Jasper gently licked his lips and a spark of awareness was resurrected in his eyes. He perked up and checked himself one last time. He was an extremely attractive boy; while his body was moderately impressive, his facial features were what stood out. He had dark hair that paired nicely with his perfect eyebrows, and his carved jawline accented his menacing gaze. His eyes were the signature characteristic that everyone first notices upon meeting him, they were dark brown, almost black, and sharply enigmatic. While he himself was a kind and gentle person, his look was overpowering.
Jasper had just turned 18, and today, was his first day at The Academy.
The Academy of Artistic and Talented Youth is a special school, to say the least. For a long time, the school was, in fact, normal. It was a prestigious boarding school that taught talented students going into arts such as acting, directing, writing, painting, etc. However, this normal but prestigious school changed forever about a decade ago, when they introduced a new branch of study to their curriculum.
The Academy began to admit students to study the art of intercourse.
This is exactly what it sounds like, the students study how to become pornographers, escorts, etc. The first class of students are thought of as pioneers, the greatest in the world at sex. Of course, the students do not have sex in the classroom until they reach legal age. Before then, they simply sit in a classroom and learn how to prefect the art in the form of notes and teachings. But when the students turn 18, then the classes begin to get fun.
Jasper had just gotten admitted, joining the famed first class of sex students. It was time for school.
Jasper inhaled a deep breath of not-so-fresh air as he stood on an unsanitary and dim street corner. Chicago. The city he grew up in and never planned to leave. He loved every aspect of city life, it was what he was accustomed to, and he desired nothing else. It was this city, his city, that was the first to introduce this concept of schools teaching sex, he remembered it happening only nine years ago, when The Academy opened its intercourse branch of the school. He never dreamed that he would attend, but applying was a last-ditch effort. His mother died in a car accident last year, and he never had a father, leaving the bills to be his sole responsibility. He would be forced to quit school and find a job if he wasn’t admitted (The Academy provides a place of residence for its students). He was astonished that he was accepted, considering the astronomically low acceptance rate. His future was now set for him, he knew that, anyone who attends The Academy is automatically guaranteed a job somewhere in the lucrative sex industry.
The bus arrived and snapped him of his trance.
Jasper plopped ungracefully onto the second to last seat with a groan. No conversation existed on this bus, and a depressing silence held the air. The vehicle was empty aside from a few passengers.
Jasper looked forward and awaited arrival.
Not very long after Jasper got settled, he noticed something. A pair of eyes looked back at him from about five seats up.
She was a girl. He couldn't see much of her because of the morning darkness, but he did see a brunette ponytail protruding up from the seat. Her arm, which was covered with a baggy sweatshirt sleeve, rested on the top of the seat, on which she laid her mouth and half of her face so only her eyes and nose were visible. He couldn't see much, but he could tell she was cute.
He then realized he had been unintentionally making eye contact with this girl for a solid thirty seconds. He didn't feel right simply looking away at this point, for the staring had lasted uncomfortably long. So, Jasper responded to her with a friendly smirk that he knew fitted him. He still couldn't see her mouth, but he could see her eyes form the condensed result of a smile and her nose scrunch up.
The mysterious girl then got up and walked to the seat across from him. Which Jasper wished she didn't do. Despite being incredibly charismatic when he wanted to be, Jasper was not a people person, and usually preferred being left alone. She sat across from him with her hands in her lap and an upright posture. She didn't say anything, only looked at him.
She was still grinning, never stopped in the first place, and she tilted her head a bit. Now that she was closer, Jasper got a look at her. She was absolutely gorgeous. She had the slightest bit of brown freckles on her face that was rounded perfectly with a nice smile. The girl was a perfect size, not too skinny and not too fat. Athletic, he could tell. But her eyes. Holy shit, her eyes were captivating. They were brown like his, and seemed to hold a special aspect that was incredibly alluring. They seemed to sparkle every time the bus passed a streetlight, which illuminated her face for a brief second. And when they weren't under a street light, the eyes were mysteriously sexy.
Jasper was going to say hello, but the attempt was unsuccessful, he was too enveloped in her beauty.
"You're going to The Academy, aren't you?" She spoke with an inviting voice, but without whispering, which bothered Jasper, considering the whole bus was completely silent.
He took an internal second to situate himself, to prepare for a conversation with the most gorgeous girl he has ever seen. He employed his most nonchalant smile and turned towards her, "How'd you know?"
She made a noise, an abrupt snort followed by a few chuckles, "Well, you're an attractive boy my age who is on a bus at five in the morning, and the students for the normal school don't come until six thirty. What's your major?"
This girl radiated a carefree aura, a lack of regard for judgement with a welcoming kindness. "Oh," Jasper responded, stopping for a moment before lowering his voice, "I'm taking classes in the intercourse branch of the school."
The girl yipped. "You're a sex major, too?!" She exclaimed loudly, "How exciting!"
A woman two rows up, who was elderly and carrying a purple purse to match her ugly cardigan, looked back in obvious disapproval, perhaps even disgust.
"You know," she nimbly jumped over to his seat, pressing up against him, which surprised him, "I was one of the original thirteen."
"No way," the original thirteen students to attend The Academy were famed across the country. Jasper was genuinely surprised, and even more so intimidated.
"Yes sir," she said with confidence, "Risked my butt to do what I love every day... which is fuck things."
The woman two rows up moved seats.
Back when the launch of the Academy was big news, the stories of the original thirteen students were told on repeat on the television. Jasper, who possessed elevated intelligence and therefore an excellent memory, knew most of the names of the thirteen, he tried to recall them, "What's your name?"
"Sasha," she smiled, her teeth were perfectly straight.
The name was familiar, Bishop..? Banks..?
"Brinkman," she answered his question for him, "Sasha Brinkman."
"Yeah, wow, I know your name," he said surprised, she was from the suburbs. Her story was interesting, he remembered her mother disowned her, and she became one of the head honchos for the anti-sex school movement. "It's so strange to meet you in person."
"Star-struck already fresh meat? Well, you're on the same level as me now, you got in for a reason, you know," She smirked caustically and took a bite of the granola bar that she had brought out of her backpack.
Her odd, erratic personality made him laugh again, "So, your name is gonna be in history books?"
"I guess so," she shrugged.
"How's that feel?"
"Couldn't tell you. I don't think about it all that much," she said, "Well, most of the time it doesn't feel like a good thing that I'm so known, the shit we go through... We are making a difference, though. Ushering in a new way of thinking. After I graduate, I'm going to be an icon for girls everywhere."
Jasper couldn't help not smiling.
"We sure as hell need one right now," she muttered, thinking of the woman a few seats ahead of them.
"Do all thirteen still go here?" Jasper asked after a short silence.
"Simi, Jia, Jordan, Miles, Rayne, Frankie and Izzy, Flint, Camila, Josh, Devon, Bri and me." She spit out in rapid succession.
Jasper raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. We all still go here. We're like family."
"I can't wait to have sex," Sasha spit out before Jasper could respond. Jasper realized that she had done this to purposely aggravate the woman a few rows up.
Sasha said the phrase proudly, and the woman, now 10 seats in front of them, said with a disgusted tone, "Dear Jesus, bless them."
Sasha stuck out her tongue at the lady. Jasper felt embarrassed, but seeing Sasha's attitude towards it helped.
"Do we have classes together, you think?" Jasper would like someone so friendly in his class, and for other, obvious reasons as well.
"Awe. Someone wants to fuck me," she laughed, the way she said it with smile and such a comedic tone... it was so foreign to Jasper... This must be what academy life is like.
"Yes we do," she continued, "It's a small major, we all have classes together pretty much if you're the same age."
Thank god, Jasper thought.
The bus came to a stop with a jolt.
Sasha got up, "Come on, hot stuff." She said to Jasper, who was following her.
The atmosphere of the school was the same of any other. Students were talking in groups, lockers were lined up next to classrooms, the regular stuff. It was odd, to think of all the news stories that were hammered into his head about this place. All the liberal stations praising it, all the conservative ones demonizing it. What he found was that the school didn't fit either of these narratives, the students were there to learn and live normal lives, doing what they wanted to do.
"There are four different wings of the school, two downstairs and two upstairs. The wings are divided between film and theatre, art and photography, writing and screenplay, and, of course, the music wing," Sasha said, Jasper was in his own world, a place where he resides often, he almost forgot he was walking with her.
"Well," he paused, "which wing is our wing?"
"Uhhhh, it's not so much a wing as a basement," she responded hesitantly.
Jasper raised an eyebrow, "Basement?"
"Get used to it Jasper," Sasha's tone was suddenly serious, "You chose a certain life, and that was brave of you and now you can do what you want with your life. But if you think people won't treat you like dirt, you're wrong. Including the staff here."
He didn't respond for a moment.
"Sorry," she shrugged, "I just want to be real with you. You'll figure that out either way, I thought it'd be better to just tell you."
"So..." he said, "basement?"
"It's not as bad as it sounds."
"SIMI!" Sasha interrupted herself with a yell, she waved her hands in the air, signaling to a girl across the hall.
The girl responded with a smile and a wave back. She was a foreign girl, Jasper couldn't tell what exactly. He could tell she had a bit of Indian in her, mixed with something else. She was extremely skinny(not Jasper's type) but insanely gorgeous.