"Guys, there's a New Years party tonight," Jeff said excitedly, sitting down at lunch with the others.
"Like a ring-in-the-new-year-with-games New Years party or a get-wasted-and-hook-up-in-some-rich-kid's-house New Years party?" Thad asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The second one. But you don't have to hook up with someone. Or drink," Jeff said reasonably.
"I'd go," Nick said.
"I'd totally go, but right now my vision is just fuzzy blobs of color," Kurt chuckled.
Wes and David shared a look. "Ah, what the hell. We'll go."
"I'll definitely go," Sebastian added.
Matt knocked his shoulder into Sebastian's. "I'll go to make sure Mr. High Blood Pressure over here doesn't drink."
Sebastian pouted but didn't object.
"So? Thad?" Jeff asked hopefully.
Thad bit his lip. "I don't know... It's just risky. I mean, if I go with three couples, I'm going to be left alone at some point. And everyone's drunk, they never notice anything going on around them."
There was a pause.
"Thad, are you worried about getting raped?" Jeff asked, confused.
"You act like it's ridiculous."
"You haven't been to a party before, have you? It's just that things like that don't happen to guys," Jeff said.
"You mean don't happen to guys as often. They do happen," Kurt corrected.
"Yeah, that."
Thad looked at them in disbelief. "Wait, so, never a day in your lives have you worried about that?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Jeff said.
Kurt shrugged. "Give or take a few months."
Feeling everyone's eyes on him, Kurt immediately wanted to pull his head into his scarf like a turtle. "Long story, okay? But I'm fine."
"But that's just not that much of a problem for you guys?" Thad couldn't wrap his head around the concept. It had been one of the most important things he had learned, that adults kept saying. How to avoid it, red flags, just anything about it.
"Is it for you? Like, have you been...?"
"Almost. But–"
"Almost?" Nick repeated, worried.
Thad shrugged. "My brother got there in time. But–"
"How do you talk about it so casually?"
"It happened or almost happened to one out of six people at my last school. It could be worse. But–"
"What school did you go to?"
He paused before clearing his throat. "Anyway, since it's not that much of a worry I'll go. I haven't been to a party in a while."
"But what school did you go to?"
Thad looked down at the tabletop uncomfortably. He couldn't tell them, they'd know it was an all-girls school. His parents just had to put him in an all-girls school, and Dalton's sister school nonetheless.
"Guys, leave him alone. You didn't bug me about my last school," Blaine pointed out.
"That's because your school didn't have that statistic."
"How do you know?"
That shut them up.
YOU ARE READING
Back To Our Roots, Book One
FanfictionThad hasn't had the easiest life. It doesn't help that he's been called a 'she' for most of it. After attempting to end it, he enrolls in Dalton Academy. Meeting an old friend whose life he saved without knowing it, his old friend's boyfriend who i...
