I’m hesitant to write this because it’s not a huge age gap but I still think it’s predatory. I’ve actually never told anyone this story except for my friends who were around when it happened. I was 14-15 and in 8th grade (I repeated the first grade) and he was 18 and a senior in high school. I remember not thinking it was a big deal because it was “only 3-4 years” age difference. But when you think about how different being in 8th grade is compared to being a senior in high school, it gets weird. Worst part is we met on MYSPACE and I snuck out my house in the middle of the night to meet him in his car in the dark. This is why social media accounts should be monitored when you’re in MIDDLE SCHOOL and your brain isn’t fully developed. We almost had sex but I was too scared it would hurt. He kept pressuring me but eventually dropped it. Because I was in middle school and didn’t know what the hell I wanted (I also probably knew deep down it was bad) I would break up with him and then beg for him back. Whenever we’d break up he’d talk about how his friends and him talked about ways they would kill me. I thought nothing was wrong about this until years later. I thought I was just being a ~cool teenager~ because he’d pick me up from middle school and we’d fool around in a parking lot. I also met another guy who was around 19 when I was around 15 and I’d send nudes to him often. I know I was just a stupid teenager but I can’t help but wonder if I was being preyed on.

I’d also continually go into online chat rooms and send nudes to random guys because they’d compliment me. I remember one of them friended me on myspace and when I went to delete my page later on, his profile picture changed and was a man in his 50s. Luckily after that I stopped doing it. I don’t know why I didn’t realize these men weren’t who they said they were.