Mom, I have to tell you something. “Sure, what is it?” Something happened last night when I was at Alexandra’s party. “OK… what happened? Are you OK?” I don’t know… “OK, let’s sit down here for a second. Can you tell me what happened? Just take your time.” I was hanging out downstairs and everybody was drinking a lot, and I was too, even though you told me I shouldn’t… I’m sorry. “It’s OK, sweetie. Was that what happened?” No… well, yes, but there’s more. “OK. It’s going to be OK, you can tell me.” I was drinking, and there was this guy there. And he kept looking at me and finally he came over to talk to me. I don’t remember what he was saying, but then all of a sudden we were going upstairs and into one of the rooms up there. And I remember thinking that he was nice, but everything was moving really fast and I wasn’t sure what was happening… and then I realized what he was doing… “OK, it’s OK. It’s OK. If you can, can you tell me what happened?” Yeah. He was touching me, and then… I don’t know how to say this to you, you’re my mom, I don’t know how you’re going to react. “It’s OK. I’m just going to listen. Take it slow.” He was touching me and then he took off my clothes and he was…I think we had sex. “OK. It’s going to be OK. Did you want to do that?” No… I don’t think so. I don’t know. I didn’t know what was happening and then it was all going so fast. I didn’t say anything, I never told him to stop. I just sort of… let it happen. I should’ve said something. “No, it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong here.” But I was drinking, too. And so was he. And I went upstairs with him, it’s not like I said I didn’t want to, so he probably just assumed I was OK with it… “It doesn’t matter that either of you were drinking, or that you went upstairs willingly. You didn’t do anything to make this happen. No part of this is your fault, OK? I promise.” I don’t know what to do now… I wasn’t even sure if I should tell you. I feel so embarrassed and just… wrong. “You were so brave to tell me. That was the right thing to do. Of course you’re feeling upset—I am too. An awful thing happened to you and I’m so sorry that you had to go through it.” Yeah. But now… I don’t know. What do I do now? “If you’re ready to, we can talk about that now.” OK. I think I am. “The first thing we could do is take you to the doctor’s to make sure you’re OK, physically.” Why? What would be wrong with me? “I think the doctor would make sure he didn’t permanently hurt your body, or give you any infections. We can do some more research to see exactly what would happen, if you want. I could come into the office with you, too. But I’m going to leave it up to you if you want to do that.” I don’t know… I’m not sure. What do you think I should do? “I think it would be a good idea to go to the doctor. They can talk to you and help you understand what’s happening. But they would have to examine you and it might not feel very good. I don’t want to make you go through any more pain.” I think I should do that. I want to make sure I’m OK, too. “Alright. I can call them right away if you want me to.” OK. Yeah, you can do that. “OK. I think the doctor will also ask you if you want to talk to any counselors about what happened. They’ll be able to help you through it more than I could. But again, it’s your choice. I’ll be there with you no matter what.” OK. I’ll try to think about it. “I love you so much, sweetie. This wasn’t your fault and it’s OK not to feel good right now. Something terrible happened to you but I’m incredibly proud of you for telling me.”