Date: Sun, 8 Oct 2006 14:08:45 -0400 From: J T Subject: A Teacher of Boys -- chapter 1 Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, dialogues, settings, and businesses portrayed in it are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. This story is an attempt at envisioning what might have happened if one of my dear friends had decided to remain in the teaching profession (which, to his credit and likely good fortune, he did not). "Jay, Cobey, Nat... Wow, it's great to see you guys!" Seeing them so unexpectedly appear at the door to my classroom surprised and thrilled me -- although, I have to admit, it suddenly also took my attention away from the task at hand: managing the dismissal of my current fourth grade class. Jay, Cobey, and Nat were students I had the previous year, before they left the Lower School campus in uptown to attend the Main Campus in midtown. Jay and Cobey were both blond-haired, blue-eyed angels, athletic and slender. Jay was about 4'9" and Cobey maybe two inches shorter. Nat (formerly Nathaniel) was their more portly friend, standing 4'8" with red hair and a round face full of freckles. "Heya, Mr. Kastan," they offered in response, more or less speaking in unison. Immediately they let themselves in and began exploring the classroom. "Man, it's no fair. This is better than last year. You've got more plants and books and new beanbag chairs," complained Cobey. "Yeah, and that baseball clock. That's awesome!" added Jay. I smirked at their typical boyishness and only half listened to them as I admired how handsome and mature they looked. At the Middle School, many things changed. Our Lower School was a fairly nurturing, progressive place. Unfortunately, our friends over at the Middle and Upper Schools were by far much more traditional. The dress code changed, too. Starting in fifth grade, all the boys had to wear a coat and tie. Apparently, the three boys had found someplace to shed their coats before they arrived at my room, but they all still had their ties. Cobey and Nat had theirs loosened around their neck, but Jay was wearing his backwards around a moderate-length mop of slightly mussed blond hair. They all looked so comfortable in their new skins and moved gracefully around the classroom, examining everything. At least they hadn't lost their boyish curiosity. "So, how're you guys liking things this year?" "It's pretty cool," answered Jay immediately. Jay was always one to enjoy chatting (but also often one to need further prompting when asked a serious question, especially by an adult). "Pretty cool because..." "Uh, because we don't have to line up in straight lines, and they don't treat us like babies in sports class, and things like that." "Yeah, we get tons of freedom, Mr. Kastan," Cobey added, "But there is a lot of work." Cobey was always one to be a balanced and deep thinker. He was such a sweet boy, and he rarely ever let himself get worked up about anything. "But we had to think harder in your class, I think!" He added with a smile. He was also one of the sweetest, kindest hearted boys I knew. "Yeah, Middle School is sooooo hard, Mr. Kastan!" Nat piped in too. His voice almost broke (not because of any nearness to puberty but simply because of his extremely high-pitched voice and the exuberance when speaking that he almost always seemed to possess). Nat was always prone to over-dramatization. He never really complained about things per se, but he certainly let people know when he was struggling with something. "Well, I'm glad to hear that it's fun, but I'm just as glad to hear that it's hard. You guys need the challenge. You're too smart to be left bored." Jay laughed, "Whatever, Mr. Kastan. You just like the thought of us sitting at home doing hours of homework every night." Jay was the mischievous one, always liking to get in his gentle digs. I learned quickly to not take them personally. If anything, he usually intended for them to be expressions of his affection. I shrugged and said, "No, not really. But I do like the idea of you being challenged in class anyway. And I love the fact that you're getting grades. Maybe now you won't turn in crappy work that I have to keep handing back to you for revision." Jay snickered as Nat said, "We don't get things handed back to fix anymore, not usually. I got an F on a Spanish test. We got to make corrections, so I did, and I still got a D after I fixed everything." "I told you guys," I started, getting on my high-horse, "Why do you think I taught all those study skills?" All three of the guys looked slightly chastened but didn't say anything. Jay fell back into a comfortable chair in the class library. "So, Mr. K, when're we starting basketball? That rocks that you're coaching us again." "Probably in a few weeks, and thanks, I know. I thought last year would be my last since you guys were moving schools, but it was the dean's idea over at your school who wanted to keep me on, so be sure to thank Mr. Myer." For the previous two years I had coached a team of 10 boys, five of whom I had taught the previous year (including these three). I loved teaching them, but I especially loved coaching them, especially since the last season when we started playing shirts vs. skins scrimmages. I also coached track, but that was far less fun, mostly because of less interaction with the kids and the lack of sweaty, shirtless boys running around. I remembered what each of these three boys looked like shirtless. Cobey and Jay both had well-sculpted bodies, with Cobey having quite a bit of definition around his pecs for a boy his age, normal-sized nipples, a large innie-belly button, a washboard stomach, and skinny arms. Jay's chest was more flat and punctuated by tiny, pert nipples. His abs were more developed, though, and I figured that he'd have a six-pack within two or three years. His arms were normally developed for a boy his age, with a hint of lean musculature when he exerted himself by shooting or passing a ball. Nat was cute, but he was pretty chubby, not how I preferred my boys, so I didn't pay all that much attention to him on the court. I rarely had him on the shirtless side. Jay, Nat, Cobey, and I continued our conversation. As expected, Jay bounced from place to place, talking intermittently with me. Cobey mostly stayed near me and spent the most time talking directly and substantively with me. Nat was somewhere in between, vying for the attentions of all of us. He was one to never want to be ignored or left out by anyone. He loved being the center of attention. Right before the three of them were leaving, Nat nudged Cobey. "Hey, Cobey, tell Mr. K about the locker room thing." Cobey looked at him dumbly for a second before rolling his eyes and nearly shouting, "Nat!" Nat spread his hands before him and looked between us innocently. "Hey, I wasn't the one who did it." Jay snickered and blurted, "Will was trying to take pictures of Cobey changing in the locker room after swimming." Cobey blushed, but Jay continued, "He started to try to take them of me, too, but I grabbed his camera and tossed it across the floor. I think it broke." I blinked, thoughts and images swirling through my mind -- how I wish I had been there! Nevertheless, I feigned incredulity, "Will did? Oh my god." I furrowed a brow, "But how did he expect to take pictures without anyone noticing? That's so weird." Jay offered, "It was one of those little keychain camera things. Really tiny." I shook my head. "Oh, wow. That's too crazy. I had forgotten that you guys had to change starting in fifth grade. That has to suck, especially for swimming." (I actually certainly hadn't forgotten, but no reason to admit that. In fact, something I was looking forward to was having the boys have to change for basketball practice since they'd be leaving school in their coat and ties.) They all shrugged a bit. Jay murmured, "It's not too bad. Everyone's pretty cool." "Yeah, except Will," Nat joked. Cobey blushed. "Well, anyway, I'll be seeing you guys sometime soon. Stop by again." "Sure thing! See you!" They called back as they nearly bounced down the hall. They hadn't lost their enthusiasm either, that's for sure. I couldn't have been more excited after the boys left. I had spent the entire summer missing those guys; it felt so wonderful to see them again. I had especially missed Jay. Jay was a pretty active kid, ADD and all that. In some ways he was pretty savvy and precocious, but in others he was exceedingly naive and inobservant. I had tutored him for most of the year, once or twice a week after school, and we had formed an extremely strong relationship. He's only one of two boys whose penis I managed to see the previous year. The first time I saw it was after school one day when I was spinning him around in a circle as part of a "celebration" for finishing a big writing assignment. I had one arm under his arms and the other hand on the front of his athletic shorts' waistband. As I spun him, I pulled the shorts (and boxers) out, giving me a perfect view of his tiny, circumcised penis. It lay on top of a mound of marble (or maybe even smaller) size balls in a loose but closely held scrotum. The penis was barely longer than an inch with a relatively small head that was almost the same thickness as the shaft. The entirety of his genitals (with the exception of glands colored with the faintest shades of purplish pink) were the same extremely pale color of the rest of his skin and seemed nearly translucent. The second time I saw his penis was again after school when I was sitting next to him, reading a book. On reflection, it was probably quite a stupid idea, but I took a thin sewing needle and quickly poked him in the upper thigh with it without him realizing what had happened. He jumped up and shouted, "Ow! Something stabbed me." I blinked, putting on a mask of shock, and looked around. "Do you think it might've been some kind of bug? I saw one of those huge beetles crawling around here earlier." (I had, in fact, captured one, and had it in my pocket.) "Darn, yeah, it could've been." He rubbed his thigh. "Here, let me see." I pulled him closer to me and knelt down. He didn't resist at all, so I pushed the leg of his loose athletic shorts and boxers up, giving me a clear view of his wound -- and also a clear view of 90% of his penis, visible through the leg hole of his shorts. I studied it much more closely than I did his wound. As I gently fingered the wound, I watched as his short penis twitched from time to time. Eventually, I let the beetle I had in my pocket loose underneath Jay's shirt. A few seconds later his jumped a bit and shouted about something being in his shirt. I quickly helped him out of his shirt, but as I was doing so, I ever so slightly pulled the back of his pants out and pushed the beetle inside. He started jumping around and shouting again and slapping at his pants. "Ouch! Ack!" and then, "Die!" He killed it all right; the thing fell out the leg of his pants. "Do you think you got bit again?" I asked. He shrugged and said, "I dunno. Maybe." "Well, I think it's important that we figure it out. I think these kinds of beetles can be poisonous, and if you have any other bites, we need to check them for reactions." I gently pulled him to me and put my hands on his hips. "Here, I'll look." Jay struggled ever so slightly, "No, I'll do it. I can do it." "Jay, just relax. For one thing, I know you won't do a good job of looking, because you probably just want to get out of here as fast as you can so you can start playing." I started to hook my fingers in his waistband. "I can do it!" he reiterated. "Just relax," I murmured, "It'll just take a second." As I spoke, I gently lowered his shorts and boxers in one motion, leaving him standing there completely naked in front of me. I gently held his sides, my large hands encompassing both part of his abs and the small of his back. I grew instantly hard as I reveled at the smoothness and delicacy of his skin. I found that his penis' head was the same purplish pink as his nipples and that his balls and penis perfectly matched the pale fleshy color of the rest of his not normally exposed skin. Jay's ball sack was a bit looser than when I had last seen it, but I could tell that his actual testicles were pulled tight against him. His penis also seemed slightly fuller, perhaps as if he were just slightly aroused, and it half hung, half rested atop his scrotum. He was obviously very self-conscious and almost immediately hid his penis with only one hand (I was amused that he could fully accomplish that task with just one hand). I whispered to Jay that he didn't have to worry, that this would take just a minute, but I did certainly take my time as I inspected him. At one point, I brushed away his hand to inspect his penis and the area around it, and I found that he had become erect. His penis was jutting toward the sky, only about maybe 30 degrees from his stomach. It had grown to about two inches in length, but it wasn't much thicker, at absolute most a half-inch in width. His scrotum was now pulled tightly against his groin. I could tell by the color in Jay's cheeks that he was embarrassed, but he didn't say anything, and neither did I. I quickly looked away and gave his pants a tug to indicate that he should continue pulling them up, and that was it. "It looks like the beetle only got you once," I said with a smile. "There's a bit of swelling, I noticed, but nothing too bad. You should be all right." Such was my confidence, that I had no difficulty with releasing the boy to either his mother's or nanny's care once our appointment was over. I knew that Jay probably wouldn't give any details and that if he did, they wouldn't be too descriptive. His parents trusted and respected me, and they probably wouldn't question my motives, especially since there really was a beetle in his pants and it was big and possibly poisonous. Besides, I had decided to preempt Jay anyway by making sure I told whoever picked him up that he had been bitten by a beetle, that we had checked it out, and that there didn't seem to be any kind of serious reaction. After the day was over, I never heard of the issue again. Please let me know if you'd like to see this story continued. Also, feel free to send me any constructive feedback. It's always appreciated! -- J.T., jtauthor@gmail.com