Over a decade ago, TikToker Ri (@the.spooky.shelf) was a freshman in high school, looking forward to her first homecoming dance. Her date was on the football team, but he didn’t actually want to be her date.
For some reason, there was a rule that required all football players to have a date to the dance. However, he was the last football player who didn’t have a date, so his coach made him ask Ri.
Still, Ri was excited about the dance. She picked out her dress and planned out what she was going to do with her friends. Around 10 girls from her grade were getting their hair done, and Ri was part of the crew. But when the hairdresser started working on her hair, she loudly announced that Ri had lice.
It turned out that she had gotten lice from her little cousin, who was in preschool. Everyone heard what the hairdresser had said and proceeded to stare at Ri.
With tears in her eyes, Ri asked her mom to take her home. Her mom went to great lengths to remedy the situation. She hired a professional to do a full lice treatment within three hours.
Ri sobbed the whole time. Finally, the hair situation was fixed, and she no longer had lice. However, her hair was still sopping wet, so she would be late to the dinner that was reserved before the dance.
Ri’s mom called her date’s mom to explain what had happened. Her date’s mom told him, and he told everyone.
So, Ri was 30 minutes late for dinner. She had to do her makeup in five minutes, and her hair was straight and damp. After dinner, they all got on a bus and headed to their school for the homecoming dance. At the dance, she hung out with her friends. At one point, she went over to the cafeteria to put her purse away.
That was when a kid in her grade came up to her and offered her some water because she looked really tired. Ri was ecstatic that someone was being nice to her and that a guy was giving her attention. She drank half of his water bottle and handed it back to him.
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When she returned to the dance floor, she started feeling dizzy. Then, her vision went red, and she began fading in and out of consciousness.
She started freaking out and hyperventilating, thinking she was having a panic attack, when in reality, that boy with the water bottle had roofied her.
The principal came to check on her and decided to call her parents. He told her parents that she was doing drugs in the bathroom. So, her parents had to come to the school to collect her. By then, she had only been at the dance for 45 minutes.
Once she got home, she blacked out, still wearing her dress and heels. For the rest of the weekend, she locked herself in her room and cried her eyes out.
She learned very valuable lessons: don’t share hairbrushes, don’t drink out of random water bottles, and don’t trust boys or men.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
