“No, no, no,” I hurried to assure her. “I’m a virgin, Ma. I am.” “No,” she wept, shaking her head. “You’re not.” What the fuck was I supposed to do now? Christ, where was my dad when I needed him? “You were only fourteen in first year,” she continued to wail. “Thirteen,” I muttered under my breath as I held her to my chest and patted her back. “Holy Mary, Mother of God.” She sobbed harder, clearly hearing me. Shit. Balls. “I am a virgin,” I continued to say over and over while my mother cried into my school jumper. “I’m saving myself for marriage, Ma.”
