For Kristen, the first few weeks of class at Manhattan College were splendid. She thrived in classes in English, history, and art history, and she felt that her mind was almost literally expanding with all the new information and new perspectives she was taking in. She wasn't all that pleased with the fact that all her schoolmates were girls (
well, technically we're women, aren't we?âsince we're all over eighteen
), but she couldn't help observing that some of her male teachers were kind of cute. But of course they were off limits. Weren't they?
The one course that was giving her trouble was Introductory Physics.
Manhattan had a science requirement: you needed to take (and, of course, pass) a full year of science in order to graduate. Kristen figured she'd best get that taken care of right away; she didn't want to be worrying about that during junior or senior year. Her high school hadn't been very strong on scienceâor, rather, Kristen hadn't been very enthusiastic about the subject during her years there, and now she came to regret it.
The class was a bear, and she was struggling.
She had thought that it would be a frivolous little course all about protons, neutrons, and electrons. But instead, she was bombarded with weird, incomprehensible entities like positrons, quarks, black holes, quasars, photons, and all manner of other oddities. And the textbook was written in such a way that it seemed to assume a lot of background knowledge of the subjectâknowledge that Kristen simply didn't have. The teacher wasn't all that helpful, either: she got the sense that he felt it beneath his dignity to be teaching such a low-level course.
She noticed that some of the other girls were similarly floundering, so maybe it would all work out in the course of time. Sometimes she would even laugh at her predicament (
the only black hole I know about is in my rear end!
), but in her more serious moments she slowly began to realize that she was in danger of failing the class.
She needed help badlyâand right away. So she turned to Adele Whitman.
Adele was a big girlâfive foot ten at least. She wasn't fatâfar from it; just big-boned. And she had plenty of nice curves in all the right places, especially at bust and posterior. She also had an achingly beautiful face: bright green eyes, slender nose, Cupid's-bow lips, and a delicate jawline, all framed by wavy, strawberry-blond hair that hung in bangs and ringlets all around that lovely face.
But she was smartâat least in physics.
It became clear that she was the teacher's pet almost from the start, and he would call on her several times during class to be a kind of informal teaching assistant to help the dolts and slowpokes (with whom Kristen gloomily lumped herself) to keep pace. So after one class, Kristen almost rushed to catch up with Adele as the girl was walking with surprising speed out of the room.
"Say, Adele!" Kristen called. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
Adele turned around with a somewhat startled look on her face. Kristen had observed that not a lot of the other girls were talking to her, even though some of them needed her help a lot more than Kristen did. Maybe they were envious or resentful of Adele's mastery of the subject and were determined (futile hope!) to catch up on their own. But Kristen had no such excessive pride: she was no dope, as her excellence in other subjects testified; but she knew her limitations.
Catching up to her, Kristen went on, "This stuff is really hard! I wonder if you could help me."
A warm smileâalmost one of gratitudeâbroke out on Adele's face, and Kristen felt something strange that she couldn't identify. (
Man, this girl is going to make a man really happy somedayâif she isn't already.
) Kristen reached out to touch Adele's strong forearm. She had heard that the girl was one of the stars of the college lacrosse team, and she didn't wonder why.
"You want my help?" Adele said in a high-pitched but musical voice.
"God, yes!" Kristen cried. "I'm, like, just floundering here."
And that's how it began. The two girls began having lengthy late afternoon sessions in the library and elsewhere, and Adele patiently instructed Kristen about some of the stuff she needed to know that the textbook had neglected to explain. In the course of time, enlightenment began to dawn, and Kristen was more thankful than she could have said.
Adele also proved to be sweet, kind-hearted, and tolerant, and the two became fast friends. They made somewhat of an odd couple: Kristen, of medium height but slender; Adele, of imposing physique, but with that delicate face and blond hair giving her a strange air of vulnerability. Kristen noticed that, as the pair of them walked all over campus together, some of their fellow-students were giving them knowing smirks. Were they jealous of their friendship? But then another thought occurred to her:
Omigod, they don't think we're . . .?
But Adele made her orientation quite clear in an unexpected way.
Their physics class was, dreadfully enough, at ten in the morning, and Kristen became aware that Adele sometimes barely made it on time, and on occasion she looked a little worn out. She chuckled at that, given that there were times when Magnus's demands on her body the previous night made her look a little droopy in the mornings too. But one day in late October Kristen brought up the subject after class, as they made their way to the cafeteria for some much-needed caffeine.
As they sat down with their tall lattes, Kristen said: "Man, you're looking a little the worse for wear today."
Adele gave Kristen a sour look. "I'm pretty tired, that's a fact."
"Rough night?" Kristen teased.
"I wish," Adele said.
"Your roommate being a bother?" Kristen said. All the girls who were staying in dorms had to have roommates during freshman year.
"No, she's fine. She's not even there very much."
"Then what gives?"
Adele gazed at her friend, but fell into a deep silence. Kristen simply waited for her to say something. Finally, after swallowing hard, Adele said in a desperate whisper:
"Oh, God, I want a guy!"
Kristen almost spit out the coffee she had just sipped. It took immense restraint not to burst out laughing.
"What do you mean, you want a guy? You meanâfor . . .?" She made some obscene gestures with her hands.
"Of course! What else?" Adele snapped.
Suddenly a wave of empathy washed over Adele. Here was a big, beautiful girl yearning for intimacy with a manâand they were stuck in this women's college where the male of the species was a pretty rare specimen.
I have a guyâsomeone named Magnusâto tend to my needs in that direction, but what's Adele going to do? She can't take up with a professor or a janitor or anyone like that. And yet, there must be guys somewhere who would be delighted to wrap this Amazon in their arms.
"Adele, it's not that hard to find a man," Kristen said.
"Oh, yeah?" Adele said hotly. "And where am I to find one in this big nunnery?"
Kristen did laugh at that. "It's not as bad as that. But I guess you'll have to leave campus to find someone."
"Well, I don't know my way around very well yet. So"âshe turned away as she said thisâ"I have to do the next best thing."
"You mean . . .?" Kristen said, although she knew exactly what Adele meant.
"That's right," Adele said lugubriously, making rubbing motions in the direction of her groin.
Kristen slapped a hand over her mouth. "You really have the urge that bad?"
"I can't help it!"
Adele cried out, not caring who heard her. Then, returning to her tense whisper, "I do it every day!"
"Every day?" Kristen said, aghast. "Oh, come onâonly guys do that. Girls don'tâ"
"Well, I do. And I have to do it in the morning. My roommate has a
nine
o'clock class, so she leaves the room even earlier than I do. So that gives me just enough time to, um, take care of my needs before I have to trudge on over to class. Do you wonder that I look a little fatigued sometimes?"
"I guess not," Kristen said, grinning.
"And for God's sake, sometimes I have to do it at night too! I'm not even sure my roommate is asleep. I try to do myself as quietly as I canâwhich I hate to doâbut even so, I think she knows what I'm doing. She gives me funny looks sometimes."
When Kristen, stupefied, said nothing, Adele went on, "You must think I'm some sort of sex maniac."