Page 26 of Freestyle (Academy of Stardom 1)

“Would someone mind telling me what the hell is going on?”

Dax makes a kind of whooshing noise with his mouth, and sinks further down into the sofa like he wants it to swallow him up. Beside me, York is once again bright red.

“Sorry man, I gotta go. Shit to do,” York blurts out, rushing to his feet. Dax grunts, gives me a wave and mumbles under his breath something about helping York with the shit he’s got to do, leaving right behind him.

“Motherfuckers,” Zayn exclaims, swiping a hand through his hair.

I look at Zayn helplessly. “What did I say now?” I’m baffled.

Zayn puffs out his cheeks and looks up at me from beneath the flop of black hair. His night-time eyes sparkling with something I don’t understand. His cheeks flush pink a little, and he kind of winces.

“Zayn, I swear to God, if you don’t tell me what the big bloody deal is, I’m going to lose it.”

“Okay, okay,” he says, lifting off the couch he’s sitting on and plonking himself down next to me.

“So, erm, you’re seriously telling me you don’t know what a clit is?” He looks at me like I’ve grown a second head, and I immediately feel defensive.

“No, I don’t. I’m not a know-it-all like you. Just spit it out!”

“You do know how babies are made, right?” He asks me slowly, like I’m dense.

“Of course I do. I’m not a complete fucking idiot…”

“Thank fuck. I’m not doing that talk as well.”

“That talk… Wait, where’s this going?” I suddenly realise that perhaps this isn’t a conversation I should be having with Zayn, but curiosity has got the better of me now, and for better or worse I need to know what they’re going on about. It’s not as if I can talk to my mum or Lena about anything like this.

“You do have Biology lessons at school, right? And Sex Ed?”

“Well, yes, but Biology doesn’t really cover much more than cells and things like that. In Sex Ed I kind of switch-off.”

“Then from now on perhaps you should pay a bit more attention…”

“The clit, Zayn. Just tell me what the fuck it is so Xeno can come out of the bathroom and the guys can finish the‘shit they got to do’and come back,” I say, rolling my eyes.

Zayn squares me a look then grits his jaw. “You know guys have dicks…”

“Yes, I’m aware guys have dicks, Zayn.” For fuck’s sake.

“Well, girls have a pussy,” he coughs, then chokes a little, then shakes his head. “I mean they have a vagina.”

We both stare at each other for far too long. This isn’t good. Why in all that is fucking holy did I pursue this? “Yep,” I squeak, trying not to die a little.

“So, when York was referring to your ‘pickle’ it was his roundabout way of describing the clit…”

“I’m not sure I want to hear this…” My voice trails off when Zayn continues, determined to fucking embarrass me.

“And the clit is a part of the female genitalia. It sits at the top of your va-jay-jay, where the, erm, lips meet…”

Female genitalia? V-jay-jay?

He catches my gaze and I look down, wanting to be invisible right about now. I want to stick my fingers in my ears and say ‘la, la, la,’ like a five-year-old, but I can’t seem to do anything other than sit glued to the sofa. It’s horrifying. Zayn takes that as a cue to keep bloody talking.

I want to die.

“The clit is the Holy fucking Grail and is extremely sensitive. It gives pleasure to a woman when someone touches it. Wait,” he muses, “That’s not strictly true, the G-spot is actually the Holy Grail.”

G-Spot? Holy Grail? Oh my God, kill me now!“York wants to touch my clit?” I screech, wishing I’d just shut the hell up. Now I’m the one flushing a deep crimson. I feel heat spread out beneath my skin. Through the closed bathroom door, I can hear Xeno cursing loudly.

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