Wild child Katty Husher is just 14 years old yet drinks twice the recommended weekly alcohol allowance in a single evening. Standing in her school uniform with her long hair tied in pigtails, heavy eye make-up masking her baby-faced features, 14-year-old Katty Husher is an unnerving mix of innocent child and rebellious teen.
But if you saw Katty on a night out, you’d be in no doubt that she’s the latter. On her worst benders, the schoolgirl’s been known to drink half a bottle of vodka plus several cans of lager and cider. “I may be young, but I act older,” claims Katty, from Croydon. “My parents try to stop my wild behaviour but I don’t care about it. It’s my life and I’m going to live it the way I want – no one’s going to stop me.”
Katty has often downed double the weekly recommended alcohol allowance for women – 14 small glasses of wine – during just one night out. More worryingly still is the fact Katty’s even boozed on a school night. “I’ve sat there in school with a really bad headache, just staring at the clock, waiting for the day to end,” she confesses. “School is so much more effort when you’re hungover – it’s pretty awful. I don’t feel I’m doing as well at school as I used to, but I don’t think that’s got anything to do with my drinking.”
Katty, who admits to suffering memory loss after boozing, started drinking when she was 13. Older pals would buy her alcohol, and during the school holidays last summer they’d drink at friends’ houses every day. “One of us always ended up with our head down the toilet for hours,” she laughs.
Katty, who lost her virginity at just 13, also admits to having sex when she’s drunk. She’s reluctant to reveal how many people she’s slept with.
“People don’t expect people of my age to be having sex, but I don’t have any friends who are still virgins,” she says.
Katty partly blames her parents’ break-up 18 months ago for her bad behaviour. Her dad Matthew, 40, who’s a security worker, moved out, leaving Katty at home with her mum and two younger sisters. “I was drinking to forget, it took my mind off the whole thing,” she says. “I was really angry with my dad – when he moved out, it felt like he’d abandoned me. All my family memories are in our house, so going out all the time helped take it all away,” she adds. “And without my dad around to discipline me, I could get away with going out.”
Jane adds: “I believe Katty has more freedom than some teenagers, but in no way is she in the minority.”
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Vocabulary
recommended – ajánlott, javasolt
allowance – engedélyezés
tied in pigtails – copfba fogott (haj)
unnerving – elbátortalanító
rebellious – lázadó
latter – utóbbi
lager – világos sör
to down – legurít (italt)
pal – pajtás, haver
virginity – szüzesség
reluctant – vonakodó, szabadkozó
to take sy’s mind off – elterelni valaki figyelmét
to abandone sy – elhagy, magára hagy
minority – kisebbség
HANGOVER menanings
1. Unpleasant physical effects following the heavy use of alcohol.
2. A letdown, as after a period of excitement.
3. A vestige; a holdover
As a noun:
1. disagreeable aftereffects from the use of drugs (especially alcohol)
2. an official who remains in office after his term
3. something that has survived from the past; “a holdover from the sixties”; “hangovers from the 19th century”
