Pippa’s story
Pippa was lead on and used for sex by someone who she thought she could trust. Louise alienated Pippa from her family and friends to make sure she felts hopeless and alone, and didn’t have anyone to turn too. But Pippa isn’t alone – there’s always someone she could speak to, whether that be turning back to her family, her friends or by calling a helpline.
“I just wanted to make friends before term started – She planned everything, she tricked me and there was no one I could turn too.”
01. I’m pretty normal as a person. I like pizza, watching films and being with my mates. I’ve got a normal family, pet dog and a big sister, and live in a nice-ish house in the middle of nowhere. I’m trying to make new friends at the moment ‘cos I’ve decided go to college in the city nearby, it looks way more fun but most of my friends are sticking with the same school for 6th
02. I met Louise at the open day, but I didn’t know she lived so close till I saw her in the corner shop near to my house. We were buying the same sweets and we just got chatting about college, movies and life in general. We got on really well so we decided to hang out.
03. Lou was dead nice. We went into town and she’d bought me the earrings that my mum wouldn’t get for me, she said they were too ‘gothy’ which is complete bull anyway Louise liked them so she treated me. She said I could get her some sweets in return. We hung out more over the summer, I’d lost touch with my old friends since they were all staying behind at school. Lou said I didn’t need them anyway, and that they’d all ditch me at some point anyway.
04. We were drinking a lot at the park and Lou had bought me a few packs of cigs. My parents started mouthing off about her, they didn’t like me being out all the time, they hit the roof when they saw me pissed one night. It was only a few weeks until college started, Lou told me we should enjoy our freedom while we could.
05. Lou told me about a massive party going on in the next village so we agreed we should stay out. When we got there the music was rubbish and the party seemed lame, there were loads of older guys there, it was dead boring. She was flirting with a few of them but I felt kind weird about it, I swear some of them were older than my sister. She kept pointing at me when she spoke to one guy, he was creepy and kept smiling at me. Later she told me it was his house so I had to be polite to him.
06. Lou kept getting us drinks, trying to make it more fun I guess. After a few hours she ditched me and followed two of the men upstairs. I was fuming, she’d left me on my own, I was so drunk and bored! The creepy guy came up to me and put his hand down the back of my jeans, I froze, I didn’t know what to do!
07. He stood behind me and whispered in my ear that I came to his house, and I drank his booze, so I had to do what he said! I prayed Lou would come back quickly and we could leave but she didn’t, his hands where everywhere. I was wasted and trapped, I was such a fool how did I get into this mess.
08. Then he took me by the hand and led me upstairs. I didn’t fight back but I was pretty sure what was happening. He asked if I had had sex before, I didn’t say anything but I went bright red and he laughed at me. He pushed me into a bedroom and locked the door. I panicked and screamed, that seemed to piss him off, he slapped me and held me down till he was done. I cried the whole time.
09. He left me a wreck on the bed, Louise to came in later. She told me to suck it up. She told
me this was my life now, that it is what girls do. She’d used me but I was alone, I’d pushed everyone else away and she was all I had.
10. It happened every weekend after that. There was always another party. I stopped caring, I started taking drugs and Louise and the guys just did what they wanted. I barely went to college and I knew it wasn’t right, but I didn’t know what it was.
11. I saw Louise talking to one of the girls at college, I’d seen them hanging out a bit, eating sweets and chatting, I knew what would happen next but I didn’t know what to do.
Do not ignore the warning signs if you or a friend are at risk of sexual exploitation. See http://notinourcommunity.org/get-help/ to understand the options for help.
