When The Only Way To Protect My Reputation Was Getting Married

In 1969 a boy came to my school. He was strange. He rode the same bus as me. He got off before I did, so I knew which house he lived in. We were in the 8th grade so it was curiosity.

When my parents heard of the new boy they told me not to talk to him. My Dad taught History and was the football coach at the high school. My Mom was the Pastor's secretary at our church. We were well known kids in school.

One afternoon in the 9th grade the bus had broken down and we had to wait for another bus. He came over to talk to me. I didn't know what to do. He sat beside me. I tried not to answer but he didn't stop talking. When the bus came he sat beside me and kept pestering me with questions. When his stop came he said he was going to ride with me to see where I lived.

At my house I said he had to leave, I didn't have permission for a boy in the house. He said we should go walk in the park, which was behind our house. I knew I was already in trouble and I was sure Mrs. Gracey had already seen him. I told him only fifteen minutes I had homework and had to start dinner.

In the park, we went to this wooded section. On the ground there he had sex with me. When I got home my mother was there, I had leaves and sticks in my hair and sweater, dirt on my shoes and skirt bottom. I was forced to confess.

My mother hated him, my father wanted him expelled from school, my grandmother reminded my mother why she had to get married. Girls look for a boy just like a boy looks for a girl. Nature, my grandma said, nature has it way. She then sent me to my room to change and clean up.

Whether my parents wanted me to be the new boy's girlfriend, he was my boyfriend and I went with him to the football game. Our Pastor hearing of him taking me into the woods and 'mating' me, he insisted that we get married. I was the only married girl in the 9th grade and the high school for that matter.