One of my best friends just had a s***** assault experience with this boy she was talking to. She is completely freaking out, as she should be, and turning to me and our other best friend, as she should be. She wanted to take it to court but decided against it. She keeps going on and on about it, how she can’t believe this happened. What he did was wrong, he wouldn’t stop even when she said no, and for a very short period of time he forced himself in her, although there was no struggle or anything. I am very blessed in my life- my parents are together and still love each other, I am healthy, we are well off & stable financially, and I have everything I need. Both of my best friends’ parents are divorced and have relatively rough family situations, have both experienced loss of a friend/family member just this year, and genuinely believe that their lives are much rougher than mine and that I don’t even ‘deserve to have problems’ since my life is so ‘perfect.’ From the outside looking in, it does look perfect. And don’t get me wrong, I am extremely grateful and thankful for the life, family, parents, etc. that I have. I have it much better than many, many people. However, just because my parents are wealthy and married and that we don’t have any type of family crisis doesn’t mean that my problems are any less than theirs or that my problems should automatically be discredited or minimized just because they have it ‘so much worse.’ 3 years ago, I had a boyfriend who was a year older than me. I’m only 17 now, so being 14 and having a boyfriend a year older was a bit of an age gap at that point. We were together for just over a year. For 8 months of the relationship, I was s******* and emotionally abused. Being just 14, and of course being a normal, very insecure, young teenager, I believed everything he told me. He reinforced all the doubts I had about myself. I was ugly, chubby, didn’t have a life outside of him and never would, I needed him, he needed me, he did this because he loved me…I believed all of that and more. He broke me down. Every time we would see each other, he would force himself on me, not all the way, but he would physically intimidate and force me to do things I really didn’t want to do and that I’m not comfortable admitting. What he did was considered, by law, s***** assault & r***, as well as s***** and psychological abuse. I lived like that for 8 months, and nobody knew. No one even now knows the full extent of his actions, even my 2 best friends. I have dealt with the issues myself (in healthy ways) and gotten much stronger and better. I still get flashbacks sometimes and other things I deal with from time to time. Occasionally he still tries to contact me. I have never even confronted him about it. I have not gone to the law, or gone to anyone. I don’t understand what my friend wants by going to the law, or spreading the information about her circumstance to everyone around us. I understand she is angry, I understand she wants revenge. I don’t understand the drama. I love her very much, but I just don’t understand.