Read Geography Club for Free Online

face in embarrassment. “And I love it!”
    I laughed, then stared out at the darkening road in front of us. The days were getting longer, but they weren’t very long yet.
    “I guess I do like Kevin,” I said at last. It was a relief to finally say it out loud. But kind of scary too.
    Min just smiled. She liked to win, but at least she didn’t rub it in when she did.
    “But it’s stupid,” I said. “Kevin Land? I mean, what’s the point?” I wasn’t fishing for compliments. This is really what I thought. In an infinite number of possible universes, I couldn’t imagine even one universe where Kevin and I got together.
    That’s why I almost fell out of the car when Min just smiled again and said, very casually, “Yeah, I think he likes you too.”
     
     
    The next morning, on my way to third period P.E., I happened to walk by the office of Mr. Rall, the school principal. The door was open, and I heard heated voices coming from inside.
    “I will not be censored in my own classroom!” said a voice. It was Ms. Toles, the health teacher, and she had that little quiver of indignation in her voice that people get when they’re absolutely convinced they’re right, and they can’t believe that anyone would even suggest otherwise.
    “Corrine, please,” Mr. Rall said. “Let’s all try to stay calm.”
    “I’m sorry, David, but what you’re saying is just not acceptable!”
    “Not acceptable? ” came a second male voice, with exactly the same quiver of indignation that Ms. Toles had. “I’ll tell you what’s not acceptable! Making obscene gestures to a classroom full of teenagers!”
    I skidded to a stop in the hallway. Adults arguing about sex? Suddenly, this was getting good. And for a few seconds at least, I was the only student within earshot.
    I edged sideways in the hall, trying to get a view of the action inside the office.
    “What’s obscene, Reverend Bowd,” Ms. Toles said evenly, “is the notion that teenagers should be kept purposely ignorant about the functioning of their own bodies!”
    So it was Reverend Bowd who was getting Ms. Toles all bent out of shape. Frankly, I wasn’t surprised. He was always raising a stink about something or other in town, and it usually involved sex. A year or so earlier, he’d organized this big protest when he’d learned that one of the local video stores carried X-rated movies.
    “Corrine,” Mr. Rall was saying, “I think Reverend Bowd may have a point about the cucumber. Maybe that was a tad graphic.”
    Suddenly, I knew what this little discussion was all about. A couple of weeks earlier, Ms. Toles had been telling her health classes how to use condoms, and she’d rolled one onto a cucumber (a big cucumber, or so I heard). It had been the talk of the school for a week or so, and now it seemed obvious that it had only been a matter of time until Reverend Blowhard got himself involved.
    Ever so slowly, I’d inched myself to a point where I could actually see someone inside the office. It was Ms. Toles, all bony and freckled and pale. But she looked anything but frail. On the contrary, with her frizzy red hair and proud stance, she reminded me of a lion.
    “It’s well documented that the primary cause of condom failure among teenagers,” Ms. Toles was saying, “is the fact that many kids don’t know how to use them properly!”
    I couldn’t wait to hear what Reverend Blowhard would have to say to that ! But then Mr. Rall appeared in the doorway, rumpled and sweaty and flushed. He was already closing the door when he happened to glance out into the hallway and see me.
    He quickly jerked the door the rest of the way closed, but not before I saw the expression on his face. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an adult look quite that scared before.
     
     
    I knew I should’ve been excited later that day when Min and I sat down for lunch. After all, Kevin, Terese, and Ike were meeting us, just like we’d agreed at the pizza parlor the day before. But