“Go on,” he urged softly.
“Well, a little while later, Eric called everyone into this big room in the basement. There must have been a hundred kids in there, all the popular ones, and Eric walks in front of all of them and stands before this big TV. He called me up there beside him and has them start this video…” I choked off, unable to go on for a moment. “I don’t know what I thought was going to happen, but when I realized it was of him and me on prom night…I just stood there as they laughed. I was frozen. I couldn’t move.”
“Oh god, CJ,” Devin whispered, pulling me into his arms. “I’m so sorry that happened to you.”
As he held me, I thought back to what Eric had said, the hateful words that had dripped over me like acid. “The cheerleaders, and some of the girls from my volleyball team, who I’d thought were my friends, had begun a slide show of photos of Eric and me. At first, I was stupid enough to believe he was trying to do something romantic for me, but then he started talking.
“Some of you may be wondering what the class president and quarterback of the winning football team is doing with the cheerleaders and the volleyball team—okay so maybe there are a few reasons I’d fraternize with them—” he said, and I knew what he was suggesting. “Well, they were here to support me and finish a project that they helped start. And believe me, I’ve already begun to pay them back, if you know what I mean.” Several of his teammates started hooting and hollering. I was shocked into stillness. I couldn’t move or speak to ask him for the truth or even tell him to stop what I knew was about to happen.
“And believe me, after the night I had at prom, this payback is welcomed.” Several people laughed. “Let me just say I couldn’t have asked for a more awesome ending to this thing. Okay, maybe not awesome because that night was, in a word, awful and uncomfortable. But for my social experiment and story of humiliation, it worked out perfectly.
“Ladies, for those who haven’t figured it out, after an exhausting few months, I’m back on the market! Not that Christy stopped me from getting it on with some of you, but now you can openly vie for my attention. Come and get me, girls!” he shouted and that’s when I realized that this had all been some kind of sick, twisted joke played on me by Eric, his buddies, the cheerleaders and even some of my own team. “But now for the real entertainment. I put together a short video, but to catch the full thing and several other clips, go to my website. Put it up, girls!”
“The movie flashed on the screen and people began to laugh at the images with commentary. Eric was narrating his own creation and outlining the basic facts of his ‘experiment’. His painful joke that ruined my life. Images flashed from volleyball practice where the girls had asked me about my time with Eric. The whole school was laughing at my expense and I was mortified and betrayed. My teammates, the ones I was supposed to trust, had pulled a ‘Brutus’ on me by stabbing me in the back. They had been in on the joke the whole time, they had probably slept with him—them and half the school.
“When the images finally stopped, Eric came back with the microphone. “Now, I can’t forget to tell Christy thanks for affording me the opportunity to try this out. You were obviously too oblivious to what was going on while we were together. You never even suspected I was sleeping around behind your back or filming some of the things we did or realize I was lying when I told you I loved you back. How could I love someone like you? You can’t even give a man what he needs in the bedroom. Even if we were the last people on Earth, I still wouldn’t want to have sex with you. The only thing I can enjoy is the fact that now you’re no longer a virgin and that was my doing.” Tears stung my eyes as he addressed the crowd. “If you want more details on the worst sex partner ever, just look up my website.”
“That’s when I got up and ran out of the house, hearing the jeers and laughter behind me. Needless to say, the following days of school were filled with laughter, pointing and name-calling as I walked through the halls. I couldn’t get over the fact that I had been the source of a school-wide practical joke.”
I could tell Devin was upset by what I’d told him. He wanted to find Eric and kill him, but instead he stayed there and made me drink the glass of water he had the waiter bring.
“Can we go home now?” I asked him.
“Yeah, sure, CJ. Let’s go home. It’s late anyway, and you’re probably not going to want to go to work tomorrow with the headache you’ll have.”