Don't be pressurised into having sex

“Don’t be pressurised into having sex”

I was 13 and I’d been going out with a guy for over a year. I felt important being around him because he was so popular and everyone fancied him. Then, on my 13th birthday, after already getting me hooked on cigarettes, my boyfriend said he had a surprise for me. His parents were away and he was holding a party at his house. When I got there, it was packed with people I didn’t know, kissing and doing other stuff. At the centre of the room, a group of people with red, glazed eyes were sitting in front of a tall glass thing on the floor. It smelt awful! Then I saw my boyfriend. He was the worst. He was just sitting there like a rag doll.

A girl came up to me and told me they had all taken drugs and just to chill with them. I sat beside my boyfriend and he handed me a large cigarette, with cannabis in it. Stupidly I smoked it. At first I felt calm but then I started to panic. It was the worst experience of my life. Later, when I was feeling sick from smoking and drinking loads, my boyfriend took me to his room and I slept with him.

On Monday when we were back at school everyone was looking and laughing at me. They were shouting things like, ‘mug’ and ‘slut’. I looked to my boyfriend for support as he usually sticks up for me but he was sitting with another girl from my class. She was on his lap and he had his hands up her skirt. She was the biggest slag in our school. He had obviously told people everything and I was so embarrassed. He had used me for sex and then gone off with another girl.

I’m writing this story for anyone who feels pressured by their boyfriend or girlfriend. Don’t make the same mistake I did. People make you feel special at the time but sometimes it all gets chucked back in your face and you’ll only end up humiliated, no matter how much you don’t believe it now. Trust me, I should know!

Name withheld, 15, Carlisle