I wouldn't describe myself as square exactly, but I was not the most world-wise 19 year old. I lived at home with my Dad and spent more time studying than getting up to regular sorts of teenage mischief.
I was still a virgin. I'd had some limited experience of sexual practices but never more than a series of fumbles with girls who were as shy and inexperienced as me.
When I started hanging out with Rebecca and Todd however, all that started to change. My name is Henry, by the way.
You know how it is at high school. There is always a group of 'cool' kids in the year who form a group. They tend to be the best looking, wear the trendiest clothes, have their own cars before everyone else and have a reputation for the wildest parties.
Well, Rebecca Ashton was one of this group at my school, Beaumont High. She was absolutely gorgeous which helped make her a magnet to girls and boys alike, but she was also a rebel which gave her the reputation of being cool too. She would come in to class late, openly challenge the authority of teachers and was one of the first girls in the year to be reputed to have "gone all the way" with her boyfriend Todd Bateman.
Todd can perhaps best be described as the male equivalent of Rebecca -good looking, popular, physically more mature than most of his friends and with a reputation for being a party animal. To be friends with Todd (if you were a guy) meant you were elevated to elite status by your fellow students. If you were a girl and you were lucky enough to date him, you would be the envy of the class.
Given their status as the rebel king and queen of the year, it was perhaps inevitable that Todd and Rebecca would end up an item. Their relationship was a pretty volatile one - they would just as likely be seen having a blazing row in the hall as they would making out in the schoolyard. But this was characteristic of their obsessive personalities and the fact that they were crazy about each other.
I couldn't believe my luck when I first started to hang around with Todd and Rebecca and the rest of their group. I felt like I had been plucked from anonymous obscurity and finally given an identity. All of a sudden people knew my name and would greet me in the hallway; they would show me respect and laugh at my jokes.
I only became friends with Todd and his group by accident and to be honest, I never really felt I belonged. I tended to be the quiet one whenever we sat around our regular table at the diner, or the one who hovered nervously in the background while Todd and the other guys carried out some wild act or another.
They let me into their group only after I got my Dad to fix Todd's car one afternoon (my Dad is a mechanic). He didn't charge Todd anything for the repair and this was enough for me to start being invited to sit at their table in the canteen, and hang out with them on the weekends.
I never felt truly comfortable with them as a group of friends - they always seemed to be bitching about someone or other, or carrying out some action that undermined another kid in the year - but if truth be told, I did feel a lot 'cooler' than I ever had done before.
And I certainly had my eyes opened by them to a few things when it came to sex. There was one time in particular, which is what I want to tell you about here.
It was a Friday night and Todd and his gang would often spend Fridays at a bar called Mitzy's. Mitzy's is a dark, sleazy place where they played live music on the weekends. Todd and his gang had a favorite table against the back wall with a couple of benches on either side. At a tight squeeze you could get about eight people around this table. On this night there were only five of us - Todd and Rebecca, Russell (Todd's best buddy), Clare (who was a new friend of Rebecca's) and myself. At 19 years old, I was the youngest. Todd was oldest at 23.
The bar was packed out but we found the band pretty lousy - it was some folk trio of Irish fiddlers - and none of us were really listening. Instead we were laughing and chatting and drinking Coke by the bucketload, having consumed a few cans of beer in the parking lot before going inside.
After a while, the conversation inevitably got around to sex. This was Todd and Rebecca's doing - partly because they initiated every topic of conversation, and partly because the two of them were so horny for each other that when they weren't actually making out in front of us, they would be talking and showing off about it.
As ringleader of the conversation, and following a whispered private conference with Todd, Rebecca announced we were going to play a game of Truth or Dare. I can't recall if anyone objected but they would have been unlikely to once Rebecca had decreed it.
The first person picked on for the game on was myself. Like I said before, I was still the runt of the group and clearly the one who commanded the least respect from within, even if outsiders generally now considered me to be royalty.
Rebecca asked me if I wanted truth or a dare. In an attempt to be as cool as I sincerely believed they were at that time, I casually answered "Dare". I would have given anything to prove myself and gain standing in the group.
My dare was (without asking) to drink the half-glass of beer belonging to some tough looking guy at a nearby table. It was easier to achieve than I thought as he was engrossed in watching the band. I casually passed by and surreptitiously swiped the beer, draining it in one gulp and just as casually and surreptitiously placing it back on the table beside him.
Returning to my seat we all waited a good minute or two before the guy brought the glass back up to his mouth and seemed puzzled that it was emptier than when he last took a sip. This was met with hoots of laughter from the gang at my table and won me back-patting and accolades. I was pretty pleased with myself.
Next up was Clare, who was sitting on the bench next to me, with our backs to the wall. It was not the first point in the evening that I sensed Clare was a bit of a kindred spirit. She seemed every bit as out of her depth and yet eager to please as I was.
I could tell immediately she wasn't as comfortable with the game as the others around the table but that like me, she was also desperate to remain a part of the group, which had no doubt improved her popularity as much as it had mine. She opted for "truth" instead of dare and Rebecca seemed delighted by this.
Rebecca had a pretty sadistic streak in her. Everyone wanted to be her friend but I wondered if anyone ever really got close to her. She took great delight in thinking up a really tricky question for Clare to answer truthfully. I think she would have done so whoever's turn it was to answer, but seeing as she didn't know Clare all that well yet, she was probably deliberately harsh.
"Ok my question is this...", she said, grinning in advance at what she perceived to be her own cunning in thinking it up. "You went on the school camping trip last semester and shared a tent with Annabel Knight, right?" (Annabel Knight had a reputation for being a bit of a slut).
"Yes", said Clare, following carefully, clearly eager to answer whatever question might be coming.
"And Annabel told us that her and Philip Crowe fucked in their sleeping bag while you were in the tent, right?".
"Yes". Clare was happy to confirm the story. She seemed relieved this was all she was being required to answer, but Rebecca went on.
"So my question is this. Did you get turned on by listening to them fucking?"
This was a clever question because Clare was definitely taken aback and went a little red. "No", she said, "I just fell asleep and didn't think about it.".
She said it in a believable enough way but I suppose it did seem a little unlikely.
Todd and Russell expressed disbelief. I stayed typically silent.
"Liar!", Rebecca snapped. She still had a smirk on her face, but I sensed she was a bit pissed with Clare for not playing ball.
Clare seemed immediately anxious that she had disappointed.
