fandomhigh | Sex Ed, Monday [3-2] Third Period

"Welcome back," Steve said. "I hope you all enjoyed your break, and that everyone is minus any new regrets and not too horribly sunburnt. Today I'd like to talk about peer pressure. Peer pressure is a terrible thing. You're sitting there, minding your own business, and then your so-called 'friends' tell you 'everyone else is doing it' or 'you'll be a loser if you don't,' and the next thing you know you're wearing a suit that cost more than should ever be spent on clothes and fighting a Nazi made out of bees in the middle of a Las Vegas casino. So it's bad, is what I'm saying. Don't do it. And when people try it on you, whether they're trying to get you to have sex or get a tattoo or buy stupidly expensive clothes or register with the government, tell them to get lost.

"Your assignment for today is to resist peer pressure. You can get into pairs or groups, whatever works well for you, and one of you will resist peer pressure applied by the others, who are trying to convince you to eat a bacon cookie. Have fun."

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"And they are surprisingly good cookies," Helen admitted, eating another.

"I've never wanted one, actually," she admitted.

Helen shrugged. "I've eaten much worse. And gone hungry more times than I like to remember. I figure everything is worth a try."

She blinked. "Why have you gone hungry, may I ask?"

"When you're Walking the Bounds you never know where you'll end up or if the people will be friendly," Helen said matter-of-factly. "Often it is hard to get food when you first arrive."

"Where are you from?" Because that would explain a lot right here.

"The world of Uquar," Helen explained. "Until I was exiled and sent to Walk the Bounds."

"I'm very unfamiliar with the world of Uquar," she said, apologetically. Exiled was something she did understand, however, and tilted her head curiously at Helen. "Why were you exiled? That is, if it is not uncomfortable for you to talk about."

"I have not met anyone here who is," Helen admitted and then her face darkened. "I saw one of Them and the priests told me I had to leave. I became a Homeward Bounder until Jamie and I found a way to destroy Them."

Well, it hadn't just been the two of them, but there was no point in getting into all the details.

"I was able to return home then, but they didn't know what to do with me since I had fulfilled my destiny, so they sent me here."

Bitter? Oh yes.

"A Them?"

"A race of... alien beings. Like demons," Helen explained. "They were using the worlds as their own playground. As if the people's lives were a game."

"Oh my goodness," she said on a small gasp.

Helen's face was still angry. "We could not allow them to do that so we stopped them."

"You killed them?" she nearly whispered.

"Many of them." Helen looked away her face becoming sad. "Some remained. Which is why Jamie Walks the Bounds permanently, never able to find a home. As long as he does They can never return."

Penelope felt for her. Such a drastic difference in how she herself was raised. "Is Jamie a friend?"

Helen nodded, feeling surprisingly emotional. "He is."

"I'm very sorry for your friend," she said softly.

"As am I," Helen said.

Sex Ed, Monday [3-2] Third Period

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