By V. –
I was 17. It was another hot and humid summer evening and as usual my friends I were “partying”. Nothing that regular teenagers didn’t do at that time in the early 80’s. We always partied at the neighbors house because her mom worked the night shift and let’s be honest the rest of the parents would have never allowed that many teenagers in one house at one time.
There was an older boy there – we’ll call him “Tommy”. I knew from school and he was 2 grades ahead of me – which meant he was 19. He was visiting the hood and came to the party. I always thought he was okay and he was always nice to me.
He came and sat next to me and asked me, I felt like a grown up; he said some things to make me feel pretty. (Never felt that way about myself at all – I was a jock) then asked if I wanted to go talk privately in the other room. I was tipsy from the beer and said yes. We started to kiss/make out. I started to get uncomfortable and I said STOP. He stopped. I said maybe this isn’t a good idea. He said why not – i said because we aren’t dating and your 19 – i’m only 17 and I’m scared. He said…c’mon..i won’t hurt you…well…he started kissing me again and I again asked him to STOP, and said NO, he refused this time. He was much taller and of course stronger than I was. He proceeded to become very angry and then ripped off my shirt, then grabbed me by the arm, I screamed for help – but no one could hear me because the music was so loud from the party. He threw me on the bed, got on top of me, ripped off my shirt and grabbed me by the throat. I managed to hit his arm long enough for me to let out another scream for help. I kept kicking and screaming but he was so strong and so big. I kept yelling HELP, STOP as much as I could and he grabbed my jeans and started to tear the snap/button and unzip them and just as he was about to rip them off to rape me his best friend (who was just as big as he was) busted the door open pulled “Tommy” off of me and threw him against the wall and told him to leave me alone – he did. Then his friend, for whom I will forever be grateful, covered me with a sheet and walked me home.
It was very late when I got back home and my parents were asleep so they didn’t hear or see me but I still did not tell my parents, friends or anyone that this happened until many years later. I wish I had. I wish I had not felt so ashamed and that it was my fault. I didn’t realize that it was HIS fault and HE was wrong.
Remember NO means NO.