“Looks like we’re almost all accounted for, so we’re going to get started," Mrs. Helens transitioned. "We spent the last couple of days talking about fems and pregnancy, so now it’s our turn to shift the focus to melles.” The projector showed a photo of a naked man—or melle, as they were apparently called here—and the fems could barely stifle their laughter. There were a couple of cat calls in the back row.
“He’s a bombshell,” one of them piped up in the back, unprompted.
“Now now class, I know he’s naked, but we have to look at him to understand what makes a melle tick. After all, this is a biology class.” After a couple of students sighed, the teacher went back to work. “The most prominent sex differences are the lack of breasts and the reproductive organ. The pena is to the melle what the vaginis is to the fem,” Mrs. Helens explained. “Except melles don’t get pregnant.” The next slide showed a larger photo of the pena and testicles. “Sperm is produced here and, during sex, is transferred into the fem’s body. That starts the entire pregnancy process we went into detail on last week,” he added. “The pena is also used for urination, and it plays a key role in that most annoying time in melles’ lives.” Some of the boyelles groaned. “That’s right, menstruation.” Another slide appeared on screen with a few bullet points. “Every 24 to 25 days, a melle discharges blood and sperm, and it’s painful. Us melles know all about the pain, the cramps, the moodiness.” Seems like men really do have it as hard as women did, Karin thought. “And don’t even ask what it’s like to get hit between the legs.” A couple of melles flinched.
After a few more minutes of droning on about the pena and comparing it with the vaginis, Mrs. Helens broke up the lesson. “So we are going to pair up and take a look at these worksheets.” Karin looked to her left, but the fem who sat there had already paired up with the person to her left, so she looked to Tara at the other side. “Wanna work with me?”
“Sure,” he replied in his British accent. “You know, back in the United Queendom they’re not quite as...squeamish in talking about this.”
Karin paused for a second, still stuck on the word Queendom.
“You get what I mean?”
“Uh, yeah,” Karin hastily replied, moving her desk over to his and looking over the worksheet. It was a diagram of the functions of the pena, pointing out its links to the production of sperm, the connection to the urinary tract, and the period cycle in which sperm and blood were discharged. “Gosh, it’s gotta be a little weird having this hanging between your legs all the time.”
“Tell me about it,” Tara scoffed. “Especially when you’re sitting on the loo. You have it easier, not having to deal with aiming and whatnot.”
The worksheet was easy—and the topic a little awkward—so it was natural that Tara and Karin got to talking about life in general.
“So, what’s life like over there across the pond?” Karin asked. She’d never really had a chance to talk with him before in her own reality.
“Well, it’s pretty similar, but at our schools, we wear uniforms. I remember going to school in a tartan skirt with a green blazer and tie!”
“Sounds ugly.”
“Yeah, but… There are a few things I miss from home. I was in the school choir, so I sang God Save the King before all the home fems’ football matches. King Elijah II has been on the throne since the 1950s!”
“So you find things here are… Looser?”
“A little bit, though Americans definitely don’t like talking about this stuff openly,” he gestured to the worksheet hesitantly.
“You play soccer, right?”
“Yeah, I do. I kinda got used to people not caring, but after the Melles’ World Cup, the Americans did so well it’s kind of giving us maybe a bit too much attention. At least we start playing in a week or two.”
“What do you think of the NFL?”
“Well, they’ve had some games in London in the last few years. It’s not like we’ve never heard of it. But gosh, it’s so… Different to what I’m used to. I’ve seen a couple rugby matches, I don’t care for it, but that’s not even the greatest way to describe it. Especially the fans.”
The conversation was cut short when the bell rang, sparking a shuffle of backpacks and desks. Karin consulted her schedule again. Third period gym. Oh great. As if everything wasn’t awkward enough.
