✅ A Dose of Humiliation

24. A Mistake

"We can stay a few minutes more," Garth said. I'd stood up and panicked when I heard the school bell, letting us know that we had five minutes to get to our form groups before afternoon classes. I was surprised that lunch was over already, but also surprised to learn that I'd been leaning against a rusted AC intake for more than half an hour, when it felt like I'd been there for only a few minutes.

"Yeah. Just the afternoon noticed," Josh agreed. "You really need to listen to teachers repeating the stuff they told us this morning?" I nodded. I knew that wasn't what we were supposed to do, and I was sure on some level there was a reasoning I couldn't do that, but I could see his point. There was never anything important between morning and afternoon. Another ten minutes wouldn't hurt anyone.

"I guess," I admitted. And then as Josh offered me a new flask, to replace the one we had just emptied, I realised that I was probably drunk enough for a school lunch break. I'd felt a little shaky when I stood up, so I needed to be careful so nobody would notice. "No thanks. I think I had enough."

"Want one of these instead?" one of the other guys asked. Alvin, I think his name might have been, but I wasn't sure. One of the others had called him Sloane, and I wasn't quite sure if it was some kind of in-joke. He was holding up a little plastic bottle, something that looked like it might have been a kid's toy, or maybe one of the tiny bottles that they'd started selling fruit juice in. It was bright pink plastic, and had a built-in spiral straw at the top of the bottle, with a cap that looked like it needed to be broken off.

"Yeah, sure," I shrugged. If it kept me sober for the next five minutes, that was all I could ask for. The juice inside was incredibly sweet, but a little spicy too. I was sure it wasn't alcoholic this time, even though I knew I probably wasn't in a good position to judge, but I was pretty sure. The others kept on passing the flask around, so I was sure that there must be some difference between the two. And a little disposable plastic bottle like this, that had to be for kids, didn't it? I kept on sipping my safe drink, while a handful of cute boys passed a flask around. I could tell that some of them were getting less inhibited; a little bit drunk, but probably less than I was. And by the time they'd finished the second flask, I was pretty sure that they weren't in any kind of state where they could get away with going back to their classes. They must be planning to stay up here all afternoon, and that sounded like such a great plan. I'd never skipped class before, just like I'd never been at a drunken party before this week, and I wondered if I was going to have any other first times today. A little voice in the back of my mind told me that I needed to be in class, but the world swayed and spun when I tried to stand up, so I knew that wasn't going to be the best idea in the world. Better to stay up here with my new best friends, and see what they were going to show me.

"Hey, you spilled some," Josh pointed at the bottle, and I knew he was right. I'd squeezed too hard, and I could feel the little droplets of sweet juice running down my chin. "Let me get that for you." He leaned closer, and licked the drips off my neck. I giggled, not sure how else I was supposed to react to something weird like that. And then he was licking a little line up the edge of my jaw, and I knew that was something I wasn't supposed to allow, but it didn't feel bad. Finally he reached my mouth, and his tongue gently touched my lips. Then before I could say anything, he pressed his face closer and that tongue was in my mouth. Tasting sweet and floral, just like the juice. I was overwhelmed by the sudden sensation, and I didn't know what I could say. But I knew that we were crossing some kind of line now.

I hadn't meant to do this. I told myself that I hadn't invited him to do this, and that I'd given him no signs to imply it was what I wanted. But his tongue was in my mouth, probing around and inviting mine to dance, and I couldn't have stopped him. What was I doing? The demon on my shoulder looked on in dismay as I accepted the attention of this boy that I'd only spoken to for a couple of hours.