Back to the Beginning

It all began about 20 years ago, on the other side of the country. They were 16, still in high school obviously. They'd been casual friends for almost 2 years. Their mutual friend set them up. They spent most days together, but still had a rocky start. He wasn't always where he said he was and he hadn't actually broke up with his girlfriend (although it would literally be years before he admitted that).

He had long reddish hair, a golden tan, and a slightly above average build. He was also a "bad boy". He was rarely at school and when he was, he went to the program for the fuck ups. The last stop before they got sent to the continuation school. He had no job,no license, and no car. But hey it was high school, so it wasn't necessarily expected and you know he was cute.

She had a job, a car, and a license. She took a couple classes at night to make up for missing credits. They hung around with the same crowd, the stoners.

She was relatively new to the party scene, had only got stoned and drunk for first time in the last year and a half.

His dad got him high for the first time when he was 5. He collected roaches (basically it's the butt of a joint) from around the house and saved them to give to his parents as presents, when he was young.

They partied a lot. Got high almost every day, got drunk a couple times a week at least. It was fun, it was high school. They were together about 3 months before they slept together. He told her she was his first (and even though he had a pregnancy scare with one of his girlfriends - that she knew - and that everyone knew about), he managed to convince her that he had been a virgin before this. She told the truth, he wasn't the first. And he used this to his advantage, to make her feel guilty, and to call her a slut, when they would fight.

Maybe if she'd been older the red flags would've been more obvious to her. But this was the first relationship to last more than 3 months.

Six months into the relationship, she started her senior year alone. Her best friend was pregnant, most of her friends had been older or took different paths in high school, and he went to the continuation school across town. Overall being at school her senior year sucked. She still worked, went to school during the day and took 3 night classes so she could graduate. Still it was only because of an amazing teacher she T.A.'d. that she was able to graduate.

He went to school until noon and then went home, swam in the pool, partied and hung out with friends. He didn't last long in the continuation school, so he was enrolled in the adult school. He only had to show up one hour a week and the rest he was supposed to do at home.

She graduated at the end of that school year, it was the early nineties. He had already dropped out.