A Texas boy may find himself branded a sex offender aged just 14 because he slept with his 12-year-old "girlfriend".
The boy's mom told Chron that "he loved her" and that the sex was consensual. He has been charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child.
"And because he turned 14, they want to make him a sex offender, put him on the registry with paedophiles and child molesters - really sick and dangerous people," she said.
The Harris County children - who are not being identified - slept together when he was in ninth grade, after he turned 14, the Daily Mail reports.
In some states their two-year age gap would have seen them protected by the "Romeo and Juliet" law, which covers sexual relations between parties that have an age gap of three years or less.