Hearts Academy Ch. 03

"Monsieur, I do not know what game you are playing here. I teach Gender and Sexuality here. I have never met you before this moment and you are not giving the best first impression."

"Dana." Marie gave him a gentle nudge. "Are you okay?"

"Yes! I'm fine! Why are you all going along with this?" He stood from his chair as he spun quickly to look at them all. "What is going on?"

"Monsieur!" She stomped her foot down. "Sit down! You are disrupting my class."

"Sherri-"

"Enough!" She raised her voice. "Monsieur what is your name?"

"Dana Morgan but you knew-"

"Dana, your antics while interesting are disrupting my class. If you wish to continue to be a part of this group, I will require you to sit down and drop this ridiculous act."

"It's not an act!" He hissed. "I will not be played with like this. I'm out." He stood from his chair when she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes with a scowl.

"Monsieur Morgan, your attendance to my lessons are not only expected but mandatory for your continued education. If you leave this room, I will have to recommend your immediate expulsion to Madame Beaulieu. Now sit down."

"Dana please." Amorette spoke from above. "There's no student named Sherri. You're scaring everyone. Please."

"I," He swallowed hard as he flopped down into his chair. "Fine."

"Excellent. See me after class for a discussion on your behavior." He scoffed at her request as she tapped her marker on the board.

"How are you Mademoiselle Leblanc today?" Natalie called with a smile.

"I'm very good! Aside from that strange outburst I'm so happy to see you all again."

"I'm glad." Natalie beamed. He could've sworn he saw her cheeks turn red as the Mademoiselle met her eyes. H even swore further that he saw her tremble and her hand go to her lap.

"Are you familiar with my class, Dana?" Mademoiselle Leblanc spoke turning her back to the class to write something on the black board. As he observed her movements, he couldn't help but to notice that when she wrote she kept her left hand behind her back.

"Familiar how?"

"With my students."

"Dana knows us." Marie piped up. "We've introduced him to everyone."

"Very good, Marie!" Mademoiselle Leblanc turned back to face them with a warm disarming smile. "That was so kind of you."

"I try, Mademoiselle."

"It is my hope for you Dana that my class provides illuminating and stimulating enough that you will lower your defenses and try a few new things. Here, I teach the beauty and terror that is sex. The physical act of it I'm sure you are aware, but this is not about that. Well, maybe a little." She smirked and the class laughed at that.

"Sexuality is a mysterious beast and in order to tame it, we must look towards our most rigid principles. That of our gender identity." She tapped her marker on the board once more as she moved aside to show the words in purple text, "Who is Dana Morgan?"

"Who am I?" He cocked an eyebrow at that.

"Yes!" She nodded. "Who are you? How did you come to my classroom? How did you feel when you were told about my class? About the requirements for joining my lessons."

"Weird." He shrugged. "I felt weird."

"Elaborate."

"There's nothing more to say. I felt weird." He crossed his arms on his chest leaning back fully in the chair.

"That is what it is on the surface but I want you to look deeper. Does anyone here know anything about Dana Morgan?"

"He's scared of intimacy." Jess chimed in with a smile. "Scared of being with anything but his thoughts."

"Hey!-"

"Thank you, Jess." Mademoiselle Leblanc spoke over him.

"That's not true. Dana Morgan is a sweet soul who's just scared. He's been more than open with me." Amorette butted in quickly.

"Yeah but he hasn't opened his legs for you, Amorette." Cosette scoffed.

"Hey!" He felt his cheeks burned as he objected to their comments once again.

"Oh, like you know better than me, O Princess of Hearts."

"Is that even in question? I always do." She scoffed.

"Excuse me!" He shouted. "What the fuck does that have anything to do with this?"

"He's quiet but peaceful." Marie ignored his outburst. "He's a gentle boy."

"Dana's rough but he's accepting and willing to learn. He doesn't judge easily or necessarily on purpose and he is very quick to apologize." Charlotte added.

"Thank you, girls." Mademoiselle Leblanc nodded adding all of their comments to a list on the board. "And Dana how do you feel about those words?"

"Which ones?" He glared. "Do you mean the ones that accuse me of being distant? Or the ones about fucking me?"

"Both are fine." She smiled.

"This is wildly inappropriate for a class. It's absolutely insane for you to sit here and ask me these questions not only as my instructor but as a representative of this school. These questions are personal and loaded and I object to them."

"Well if you object so strongly then why don't you tell me about yourself? Let's hear your own words. But so far these are the judgements of your peers. This is who they think when asked that question." She turned back to the board quickly as he groaned loudly.

"You want my opinion? Fine. If it'll stop this idiocy, my name is Dana Morgan. I was born and raised in a little country called the United States of America where we have classes like math, science, history, and English. I may not be the most outgoing man but I'm certainly not some shy wallflower and just because I don't want to have sex with literally everyone that asks that doesn't make me some sort of prude. I came here to study art. I came here to not be bothered. I came here to escape the monotony of small-town America. Is this enough information, Mademoiselle? Or should I keep going?" He nearly yelled at the room. His frustrations had long since reached the point of boiling over and his fury had begun to leak out with every word.

She did not answer. Instead, she was too occupied with jotting down notes upon the board. He couldn't read any of them, but her right hand was a blur as she moved across the surface.

"Very well." She sighed. "It is important to note the difference between your perception of yourself and what other may make of you. From you words and actions I see you as stubborn, resistant, and angry. I see you draped in the fabric of common masculinity. These are not bad things. But I think you judge yourself to an unfair standard and I think you carry a cloud of negativity over you wherever you step. Our study requires you to be true to oneself. To keep an open mind and heart. But I can tell that you will do none of these things today. To you, Dana Morgan, I ask you to leave my classroom and clear your mind. When you return, be ready to participate fully and openly. Now go."

He didn't need her orders to stand quickly from his chair and march towards the door with anger in his heart and fury in his eyes. Mademoiselle Leblanc did not even wait for him to leave before she began to erase her notes with a heavy sigh.

"Don't mind him, Mademoiselle." Jess spoke suddenly. "Dana's just tightly-wound. If we wait a week, I'm sure we'll find him getting gang-banged in the library by Cosette, Charlotte, and Amorette."

His ears burned at the sound of the room's uproarious laughter at her comment and as he left the room, he slammed the door closed as hard as he could before continuing his march away.

His footsteps were heavy and his heart beat to the rhythm of his anger. How dare they speak about him like that. He had half a mind to march back in there and strangle Jess for even making those stupid comments. He wasn't tightly would. He wasn't scared of intimacy. He wasn't any of those fucking things! He was just frustrated with their total lack of respect for his boundaries. Angry that they could never just leave him alone as he asked. The girls of Hearts had to always interrupt him and stick their noses in his business. And now? Even the teachers were doing the same. He slammed into something suddenly. He couldn't even understand what it was and his first thoughts were simply to demand why the hell there was a wall in the middle of the hallway but as he stumbled back and focused his sight ahead he found the source of his disturbance.

"What are you doing?" Mademoiselle Brunelle demanded. The bear of the woman narrowed her eyes and a hand on her hip as she looked down at him with a scowl.

"I'm sorry." He fixed his balance as he met her gaze with his own.

"How didn't you see me? Are you blind, Dana Morgan?"

"No." He shook his head; his voice was quiet and low. "I was just deep in thought."

"So deep that you couldn't even see straight?"

"Yes." He nodded sadly. "I'm sorry Mademoiselle."

"You are sorry. Why aren't you in class?"

"What class?"

"The gender study class. The one that Madame asked you to go to last night. The one you agreed to go to. What sort of game are you playing, Morgan?"

"Oh. I was just there."

"So why aren't you now?" She hissed.

"I was kicked out."

"Kicked out?"

"Yes. Mademoiselle Leblanc told me to leave."

"I see." She sighed. "Follow me, Dana."

"Where are we going?"

"My classroom." She shook her head turning around and exiting the corridor. He knew he had no choice but to follow.

~~~

Mademoiselle Brunelle was a woman of few words. She didn't say anything as they trekked across the entire campus to the gymnasium. He didn't get a good look at her when he first encountered her in Madame Beaulieu's office. She was tall, muscular, and towered over him with a scowl on her face and a glare in her chestnut brown eyes. Her hair was cut short in an almost masculine manner, but it suited her just fine. As he glanced at her plain features, he couldn't imagine her with long hair in the same feminine manner as Miss Woods or the others. All of her was packed tightly into a black suit that both simultaneously was tailored for her but also looked like if she moved just right, she could rip right out of it. She was intimidating but, in a way, that most strong individuals were to him. A way that was more of a primal reaction than a conscious one.

Hearts Academy's gym was almost barren containing nothing, but the hardwood floor and a few pieces of gymnastics equipment left out from previous use. It was certainly not something used often despite it being clean and well-maintained.

"Dana, run a few laps for me."

"In these heels?"

"You can take them off if that would help." She nodded. "But if you aren't going to be in Mademoiselle Leblanc's class then you can expect to be in mine."

"Fine." He sighed as he walked over the nearest wall began to jog around the permiter of the gymnasium. He watched as Mademoiselle Brunelle eyed him with razor sharp focus.

"Is this a joke? Faster, Morgan!"

"Fine!" He yelled back as he picked up the pace. It was hard to run in this uniform and even harder to keep his balance in his heels. He could feel his heart begin to race with each step and he focused on his breath as he picked up speed even more.

"Faster!"

"Fine!" He sped up more his heels clacking on the hardwood floor and he thanked every deity in existence that the heels on his shoes were so non-existent. As he rounded a corner, he felt his weight shift and his right heel turn sideways. Pain spread through his body as he fell to the ground the remaining momentum sending him sliding a few inches before coming to a halt.

"Why are you stopping!"

"I think I twisted my ankle." He grabbed hold of his leg as he winced in pain.

"Get back on your feet and keep on running."

"No!" He winced again as he moved his right leg as he tore off the heels. "I'm hurt!"

"Morgan!" She barked with another baleful glare. "Get up!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He screamed as he struggled to stand. As he put more pressure on his right foot, he felt sharp stabs of pain wrack his entire body until he fell back to the floor once again.

"You are not leaving my gym until you satisfy my expectations. Do you think athletes stop just because their ankles hurt a little bit?" She mocked him mercilessly as he felt his right leg shake. "You will keep running or you can stay in this room forever."

"I'm hurt!"

"GET UP!"

"FUCK YOU!" He shouted as he sprung off his left heel and broke out into a sprint. Each time his right foot came into contact with the hard ground he could feel tears begin to flow.

"Faster." Was all she said as he felt his breath become ragged and unsteady. His mind was completely blanking on anything besides the searing hot pain.

"Fuck!" He screamed as he picked up the pace and felt his entire body grow hot with discomfort and exhaustion.

"Faster!" His throat began to burn with each breath and his chest grew even tighter.

"Please." His words didn't even reach her ears. He couldn't even see straight as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"FASTER!" His vision blurred as droplets of sweat were tossed from his body. Eventually, he could take no more and fell back to the ground with heavy thud.

"Please." He begged again.

"Get UP!" She screamed. He shakily returned to his feet and watched as one Brunelle became two, then three, then four. He broke out into another sprint but this one was short lived. Exhaustion and pain had a vice grip over his own body and he could feel the nausea in his core begin to build. His brain was going haywire trying to ignore both the calls from his body to stop and the waves of pain that emanated from his leg.

Not even a minute later, his run crawled to a halt and he doubled over on to all fours. Droplets of tears and sweet dripped from his face and on to the hardwood floor. Then he felt it. The burning acidic bile on the back of his throat.

He expelled the contents of his stomach in front of him violently as his arms quivered under his weight. He couldn't feel anything and with his last thoughts of self-preservation, he pushed himself away from his sick and prone to the floor.

The only sound left in the gymnasium was his ragged breath and quiet sobs.

"How do you feel?"

"LIKE SHIT!" He roared with the last of his strength spitting in her direction futily.

"How do you feel?" She asked again.

"Sick, tired, and in pain." He panted for breath.

"Well if you feel up to it, you can try to return to your scheduled class or you can give me some squats."

"Fuck off." He gasped. "I'll go back to class."

"If that is what you want. Don't worry about the mess, someone will come by to clean it up." She shrugged as she cracked her knuckles and then began to walk away.

"Why?" He called out to her.

"I find that my head is always clear after a good run. I assume now yours is too."

He didn't answer. He just lay face down on the cold floor while he caught his breath. Dana watched through blurry eyes as she left him alone in the gymnasium. Then he waited. He waited for minutes for her to return, for anyone, absolutely anyone to offer him assistance but it never came. He slowly stood back to his feet and pulled at the collar of his blouse now inundated with his sweat. He'd need several showers after this. Maybe a bath if he could find one. Dana's shoes lay discarded across the gym and in an effort of pure defiance, he left them where they lay as he limped back over to the door.

He had nothing but hatred in his heart. Nothing but anger and fury for what he had just gone through. Why had Brunelle done that? To make him run until he almost fell unconscious from pure exhaustion. It was horrible. It was terrifying the callous attitude that she had regarded him with. Yet, his mind was indeed clear. The gymnasium was located in the far back of campus and he had quite the distance to cover.

Dana stepped out of the gymnasium with a heavy groan as he continued his expedition back to the classroom in that accursed corridor. He could barely put any pressure down on his foot in fear of pain but as he walked, he found his mind far more preoccupied with the idea of returning to that humiliating scene.

What questions would Mademoiselle Leblanc and the others ask him next? What invasive and disgusting queries did they have into his own personal affairs and business. He steeled himself for the incoming volley and crossed the garden. The end of summer was fast approaching, and the world readied itself for autumn. Yet it did not stop the birds from singing, the bees from flying past on their daily routine, or the plants to stop growing. From a window, he could see the inside of the classroom. Mademoiselle Leblanc was standing in front of the board with a smile on her face. The room was smiling, laughing, and generally having fun with each other. Charlotte whispered something into Marie's ear and her entire face turned red. He rolled his eyes as he could only guess how they were talking about violating him or even each other.

He ascended the steps and entered back into the main building. As he limped ever closer to the door, he couldn't help but feel the dread building in his chest. Eventually, he entered the corridor and he found Mademoiselle Leblanc standing there waiting for him with her arms crossed against her chest.

"Hello, Dana Morgan." She called to him.

"Mademoiselle Leblanc." He called back.

"I take it your ready to return to my class?"

"Yes." He nodded as he used the wall to brace himself. "I am."

"What happened to you? Are you injured?"

"I twisted my ankle. I'll be fine."

"Oh, I'm sorry." She frowned. "Do you need assistance?"

"I'm fine." He lied. "I just need a few moments to get over there."

"Alright." She nodded. "I'll leave the door open."

He didn't bother to respond to her. He just continued to limp futilely towards the door and eventually after a few more labored steps, he made it. As he stepped inside, there was no laughter. There was no conversation. Instead, all eyes were locked on him and Mademoiselle Leblanc continued to smile as she motioned him to sit.

"Sit, Dana Morgan."

"Of course, Mademoiselle." He limped over to the seat when he heard someone gasp.

"Dana!" Charlotte cried out. "What's wrong?"

"Are you injured?" Cosette chimed in.

"Now, girls." Mademoiselle interrupted as she shook her head. "Dana has made it clear to me that he requires no assistance so please let's just let him return to his seat."

"Thank you." He sighed.

"Now, Dana, we were on the topic of sexuality now. Amorette was regaling us with how she came to terms with hers. Now, I'd like to ask you the same."

"Fine." He grumbled as he took a seat far away from the others. "Go ahead."

"You are straight correct? Interested in women."

"I am." He nodded.

"And when did you confirm that? Have you ever known anyone who was not heterosexual?"

"I mean, I see them on TV. But no, in my town we didn't really have a gay presence."

"I see. Is that why you are so surprised by the actions of the girls in this room?"

"No. I refuse to judge people on things out of their control. Their sexualities mean nothing to me. But they sometimes push my boundaries."

"And what are those boundaries?"

"I don't want to have sex with anyone. I don't care for it." He sighed. "I still don't understand these questions."

"You will." She smiled. "Did you have a bad sexual experience? Is that why you are so averse to new ones?"

"No! I mean, I didn't really ever have a first one."

The smile vanished instantly on her face and he could swear her jaw nearly fell to the floor.

"You're a virgin, are you?"

"I prefer sexually unsavvy."

"So why not explore such options here?"

"I don't want to. I don't care for it. I just want to be left alone." He crossed his arms as he rolled his eyes at her continued barrage.

"Hearts is a place of freedom. Surely, if there was any place that you could feel open to letting down your walls it would be here."