I Was Labeled a Slut in School. This is What Was Really Going On.
I needed compassion, not judgment
“Wait, so you’ve had sex?” asked my friend from across the aisle. We were on the school bus. The high school kids were about to be dropped off, and then we would be taken downtown to the middle school.
I nodded, nonchalant.
“Like, more than once?”
“Yeah,” I said, becoming incredulous. Hasn’t everyone?
“How many times?” she asked, eyes wide.
By the time we arrived at the high school, the entire bus was abuzz with news I didn’t even realize was news. I was a teenager, after all; I’d turned thirteen a few months earlier. What was the big deal?
A senior stood up as we parked — Mel, the sister of a friend of mine. She murmured something to the girl to her right, but she was looking directly at me.
“What, you’ve never had sex?” the other girl asked aloud.
“Not six times with three different guys,” Mel said, disdain coloring her face. I was surprised to see another emotion creeping in, though. Through the veil of the years, it looks something like…compassion.
That day on the bus was the first time I realized there was something really off in my life. The…
