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Chris catches up with me by the benches outside the school entrance. He puts his arm around me, pulling me into a half-hug. His jacket smells weakly of weed and his cologne.
"How was your day?" he asks.
"Stressful. We had this weird extra life skills class where the school nurse came to talk about love and sex. Then, Vilde had a cry in the bathroom, so I spent most of my lunchtime in there, trying to convince her that her itchy eye wasn't chlamydia."
"Chlamydia in the eye?" Chris laughs, releasing me from the hug, and instead simply resting his arm over my shoulder. "We had that talk in our first year, too. The school nurse is really creepy, isn't she?"
"A little. Everyone was so uncomfortable through the whole thing."
"I went to ask her for condoms once last year, and she gave me this long speech about how proud she was that I was practising safe sex. She even gave me a cat sticker. A sticker!"
"A sticker?" I can't help but laugh.
"Did she tell you that most teens lose their virginity at seventeen?" Chris says.
"Surely that's not true. I would have guessed younger."
He grins at my statement. "Younger? Really? When did you–"
"That's none of your business."
He just nods his head. "Sorry. I didn't mean to be rude or anything. I'm just curious."
I pause. For a moment, we just walk quietly. "I was fourteen."
He glances over at me, his eyebrow slightly twitching downwards into a frown. "Really?"
"Yeah." I'm not sure if I should ask back. Do I want to know?
"I was seventeen."
I feel my face fall into disbelief. "No, you weren't?"
"Yeah, I was."
"So... last year? That's surprising."
"Because you think I'm sleeping around with anyone and anything?"
I shrug. "Don't you? I mean, I see those penetrator shirts everywhere."
"Hey, it's been like a month. Over a month, actually."
A dry laugh leaves my lips. I can't help it. "Wow. Congratulations. Is that a record?"
He ignores my sarcastic remark. "Do you want to get a shake from McDonald's while we wait for the bus?"
My eyes wander towards the bus stop, and my mind goes back to the group of girls from this morning. I relive the moment, the anxious feeling once again stirring at the pit of my stomach.
"Eva?"
I tear my eyes away, and they land on Chris' face. His eyebrows are raised as he's waiting for a response. "Uh, yeah? Sorry, what?"
