People Share Their Most Awkward High School Moments

For some, high school is a golden haze of happy times, wonderful memories, and treasured moments. But for others, it’s a collection of embarrassing events that are recalled and retold (and often embellished) all during the high school years and, yes, even at high school reunions years – or even decades – later.

For those who’ve experienced the awkward and unexpected, the discomfort and disgrace, of high school, know this: You are not alone. Here are some tales of high school incidents that may seem indelible, but when looked at through the lens of “we’re all human,” can seem simply, and innocently, incredibly funny…

Dampen The Fun

In freshman year, my class went to this outdoor museum on prehistoric history. One of my friends had been nagging all day that we had to go to the canoes if we had some time left over. (And we had, so we did.) Some other friends got in a canoe together, and the friend who had been nagging and I got in another canoe. It took about a minute for us to fall into the water. As we’re standing there, completely soaked, our teacher comes and tells us it’s time to go to the bus.

Only problem: the bus driver says he doesn’t want us in the bus with our wet clothes. So, we had to take our pants off; in-between two buses, with our classmates watching, while the teachers were laughing at us. When we got back to school, it only got worse, because we had to wait for our parents to come get us. And my friend got picked up first. Reddit user: [redacted]

Getting A Jump On Practice

During band camp, I was in a full band practice, with probably about 200 people or so, and I had to leave for a private lesson. So I packed up my trumpet and music, looked around, and realized that if I walked through the aisle, I’d have tons of music stands and chairs to maneuver around, so I decided to jump over my chair. 

I took a step up on it, put my trumpet case on the other side, and lifted my leg over the chair—which turned out to be much taller than I expected it would be. My back leg and crotch got stuck on the chair-back, and I flailed my arms and hit the bass drum – WHAM – so it made a loud noise.

Then, I fell to the ground with my back foot stuck on the chair-back. I startled another drummer, who pushed back on his chair to get out of my way, and flipped backward making another huge noise. Everyone in the band turned around, and the director cut the music and asked if I was okay. Reddit user: [redacted]

Sweet Moment

So I was courting this girl. Well, sort of – I was awkward, and just shy of my first growth spurt. I stood all of 5’2″ tall, and weighed in at a hefty 98 lbs. (I am male; I feel that I need to point that out.) Anyhow, Valentine’s Day rolls around, so I bought her a box of chocolates. Unfortunately, I was terrified of giving it to her. I kept losing my nerve every time I saw her.

At the end of the day bell rings, and everyone is stashing their stuff in their lockers, grabbing their coats, all that good stuff. I make my way through the crowd until I find her at her locker, finally resolved to give them to her, and wish her a happy Valentine’s Day. I walk up to her and discover that I’ve developed a stutter in the last minute and a half. I’m completely terrified, but I manage.

She gives me an equally awkward “thanks,” and a coy smile. I’m totally in. It’s great. I rub my neck. Just then, someone running down the hall collides with me – hard. My arm, currently cocked back to rub my neck, launches forward. I punch her directly in the eye, and send her sprawling into her own locker. Awkwardness immediately takes over. I bail like I’d just walked into a murder scene in my own house. She’s never spoken to me since. Reddit user: [redacted]

Embarrassing By Any Stretch

Last year (junior year of high school) I was in my weightlifting class and hadn’t dressed properly. I had on jeans, when I was supposed to be wearing shorts. Anyway, we went outside like every day, to do our stretches and warm ups, and I attempted to do a lunge (a really big step forward, then a dip).

My pants split right down the middle – all the way from my knee to the top of my zipper. This type of thing could easily be shrugged off, seeing as how it was my own fault for not dressing up. The only thing that makes this embarrassing was the lack of underwear – which I didn’t have on at the time. Reddit user: [redacted]

Heading For A Fall

One day in my junior year of high school, I smoked weed with some friends during lunch period. I came back to watch a documentary about the playwright Eugene O’Neill, who I believe was addicted to morphine, and had a seriously depressing life story. I started to feel lightheaded. I couldn’t take it anymore, and HAD to get out of the classroom. 

I asked the teacher if I could leave, and he says I have to write him a pass first (for him to sign). On my way back to my desk, I start to get spotty vision – as one does when feeling extremely lightheaded. Just write the pass, I thought. I did, and he signs it. I start walking toward the door, which is in the front corner of the class.

I’m in plain view of all 30 or so students, and my vision is getting worse. I try to reach for the doorknob, but can’t seem to find it. I repeatedly grab for it, but end up stroking the door a few inches above the knob. My vision is gone at this point; there was nothing but stars and specs in my head. I fall straight back, and pass out.

My teacher takes me down to the nurse. I lie and say I didn’t eat anything all day, which is why I fainted. They gave me saltines to eat. Still having cotton mouth, I chew them but I have no saliva. I end up drinking out of the sink to moisturize the crumbs in my mouth. At least I got to lie down in the nurse’s office for the rest of the day. Reddit user: [redacted]

Tooting Your Own Horn

I was a clarinet player. We’d had the official performance the night before, and were scheduled to play for the entire school the next day. Too bad I left my clarinet at home. The band was formed in a ‘C’ shape, with the ends of the ‘C’ facing down. I was never a good player, so I was like eighth chair.

This landed me in the second row at the very end of the ‘C.’ I couldn’t go anywhere, so I whipped out my #2 pencil, and rocked out with it, pretending that it was a clarinet – IN FRONT OF 500+ people. I thought I could convince everyone my PENCIL was a musical instrument – talk about embarrassing. Reddit user: [redacted]

Crushed

I had a crush on this girl when I was in high school. It was my first crush. She was a cheerleader; very cute, smart, and funny. I really thought I was in love. Sadly, it wasn’t reciprocated. I used to write her love letters, and then secretly slip them into her locker.

One day this kid (who was pretty much my nemesis) saw me put a note in her locker and, after I walked away, he fished it out with a paper clip. Later he proceeded to read it to most of the class, before an assembly, which the girl was at. I was absolutely humiliated. Reddit user: [redacted]

Not Ending On A Good Note

My most embarrassing moment was definitely the time I accidentally texted my choir teacher ‘I love you, babe’ instead of my boyfriend. But it gets worse. Upon not receiving an answer, I continued to text my teacher all weekend, asking if he was mad at me, if he was busy over the weekend, not to mention all kinds of mushy, lovey-dovey teenager stuff.

Finally, when Monday morning came around, I realized who I’d actually been texting. I walked into the classroom, my face burning with embarrassment, and my teacher told me – with a big smile on her face – that she wasn’t mad at me, and that she ‘loved me too, babe.’ UGH – how absolutely humiliating that was. Reddit user: [redacted]

Don’t Let It Go To Your Head

I played football in high school. I wasn’t wildly popular, but I knew a lot of people. One year during the pep rally, I decided that my ‘grand entrance’ – when the announcer called my name – would be to run in and throw my helmet into the audience for them to catch.

Needless to say that it didn’t go the way I thought that it would. The helmet sailed through the air, and the entire gym full of people watched as my helmet landed between two girls, who scooted out of the way. I looked like a complete idiot. Reddit user: [redacted]

Ink-redible

All of the girls would use those gel pens to decorate their agendas in high school. This one girl had a bunch of them, and when the ink ran out she would take the stopper thing on the top of the pen off and suck on the ink cartridge a bit, which for whatever reason, caused the pens to write again. 

One day I tried this, and the gel pen pretty much exploded in my mouth. There was 20 or so minutes left until lunch, and because my mouth was full of bright pink ink, I couldn’t exactly ask to go to the bathroom, so I sat there debating what to do – with a mouth full of ink.

By the time lunch came, I grabbed a bunch of tissues and spit into them; some of the ink got onto a desk, but I booked it out of there, and tried to eat my lunch. Instead, I spent the rest of the day trying to wash the taste/color of ink out of my mouth. Reddit user: [redacted]

Fall Orientation

I’m on the track team at school, and my crush is on the football team. I always make sure to look cute for practice, just in case he sees me. When he came outside one afternoon, I was working on my hurdle-jumping, so I decided to go for the highest hurdle that we have.

I jumped over the first one, but when I went for the second, my foot got caught. I fell flat on my face – and broke my nose. Besides my crush seeing me totally bite it, I had to take senior yearbook pictures the next day with bandages and a swollen face. Not cute! Reddit user: [redacted]

Bug Off

While sitting in psychology class one day, I watched a cockroach crawl out of a girl’s pants, onto the floor. The roach proceeded to crawl around for what seemed like a minute, but was probably much less, before crawling back up the leg of the girl’s pants. I looked up in wide-eyed horror, only to lock eyes with the teacher, who shared my expression.

I had no idea how to even begin a conversation about what I’d just seen. That’s what made it so awkward. I couldn’t just walk up to the girl, and say, ‘I saw your roach, if you know what I mean.’ I couldn’t even approach the subject with anybody else, without ruining this girl’s life. All I could do was always keep my feet off the floor in that class. Reddit user: [redacted]

Not So Bright

I ran into a bright yellow pole, cut my head open, and bled everywhere in front of everyone in my class. Including my crush at the time; I bled on his shoes. I then walked up to the coach and asked for a Band-Aid. The nurse’s office was all the way across campus, so I had to do my bloody walk of shame in front of everyone the first week of freshman year.

I was taken to the ER, where my dad laughed at me. The doctor came in, heard my story, and laughed at me again. It then came out as a bit on the local news, in which they emphasized the BRIGHT YELLOW pole part. I wanted to curl up and die from embarrassment, and I had to go to school with stitches after that. Reddit user: [redacted]

Flash Of Brilliance

During my graduation I was wearing uncomfortable sandals, and I brought wedges in a separate bag to change into after we’d all walked across the stage. I thought it would be a good idea to change shoes while standing in line. When I was switching shoes, one of them fell out of my hand.

As I went down to pick it up, I slipped on my graduation gown, and flashed everyone in the line. All I could do was get up and not make eye contact with anyone. It didn’t help that my friend behind me muttered, “I don’t know you.” Reddit user: [redacted]

On The Fence

At my high school, we’ve had a lot of hilarious things happen, but one thing is particularly memorable to me, and everyone who saw it. I was leaning on this fence, and I was singing a song. At some point, I flipped backwards – literally flipped up and over the darned fence.

I landed with my head in the mud and grass, and my legs directly in the air. About three-quarters of my class stood there laughing, and no one helped me up for a minute, because they were laughing too hard. This includes three teachers. It was too funny, and people still tease me about it. Reddit user: [redacted]

On A Roll

When I went to my friend’s house for the first time, I had to take the bus home with her after school, since she lived in a different part of town. What I really cared about was that the cutest boy in school also rode her bus. We were late getting on and it was almost full, but we were able to sit in the third row, squeezing three to a seat. I was sitting on the edge, and my back was toward the aisle.

When the bus stopped suddenly, I lost my balance and fell backward out of the seat and onto the floor. It didn’t stop there; I proceeded to tumble twice toward the bus driver, and then I rolled down both of the steps, landing at the door. Yeah, the cute boy – and everyone else – noticed me. My response was to act naturally, as if nothing happened. Reddit user: [redacted]

The Stuff Of Dreams Gone Wrong

One year, I was the lead in the school musical. My costume was totally cute, but I have a really small bust, so I had to stuff the top with cotton balls so it would fit right. Before the show started I noticed my crush, and a lot of his super-hot friends, sitting in the front row.

Right before I went onstage, I decided to extra-stuff my costume, to make my bust larger. Later, when it was time for me to do my main dance number, I did a cartwheel across the stage, and all the cotton balls started tumbling out. Everyone was laughing so hard, including my crush. I was so embarrassed, I ran off the stage. Reddit user: [redacted]

Hung Up On Someone

I was wearing a hooded jacket one day, and while at my locker my friend told me my crush was coming. I quickly turned around and kicked the locker door closed with my foot so I could say “Hi” to him. He said, “Hey,” and leaned in to hug me. I tried to lean in too, but couldn’t go anywhere.

I felt a weird tug behind me. He gave me a quick, awkward hug, like the way you’d hug your grandmother. Then he looked behind me, and said, “You know your hood is caught in the locker, right?” And all I could do was laugh nervously, and try to get myself free. Reddit user: [redacted]

Orchestrating Embarrassment

It was my senior year high school orchestra awards banquet. I was excited about getting my letter, but dreading the superlatives. It was rumored that there was going to be a new award this year: Most Gullible. I just knew I’d win it, and sure enough, I did. I was halfway to the stage when the student orchestra president said, “Haha, just kidding. Go ahead and sit back down.”

So I turned around, and walked back to my seat. Everyone lost it. It was a real award, and I really did win it. I buried my face in my hands for a few seconds, and then got back up, walked to the front, accepted my plaque, and sat down again. My face was brighter than a tomato. Reddit user: [redacted]

Take A Bow

A very embarrassing, but kind of cool, thing happened right after a national orchestra competition. We were taken off into a room for an after-performance workshop. We were told that our performance was phenomenal, but that we should play the end with more enthusiasm. We all picked up our instruments and played our hearts out. On the very last note I played really loud and hard, causing my bow to come unstrung.

Everyone (including me) thought I’d broken it. I just sat there in a panic, wondering how I could play hard enough to actually break my $2,000 bow. Luckily I was able to get it fixed for a minimal fee, and it was a kind of cool thing that it happened on the last note of our piece in the post-performance workshop. Reddit user: [redacted]

Wrestling With The Memory Of It

In high school, I did stats for the wrestling team. On match days, we all had to dress up. One day, I wore a skirt and sweater with dress shoes, which I wasn’t used to wearing on slippery school floors. I also had to carry this big, bulky boxed kit of some sort.

As we were all walking down the hall, heading to the meet – with the entirety of the wrestling team behind me – I slipped and fell face first. The kit shot down the hallway floor, and my skirt flew up, exposing my underwear to every person on the team. Reddit user: [redacted]

Can’t Right A Wrong

One day in math class I embarrassed myself to the max. My teacher called on me, I didn’t know what the heck to say and, of course, every single person around me was waving their hands in the air because it was a really easy question. I just couldn’t think of the answer.

Then I had to do the whole problem, and the class sat, rustling and groaning, for about 10 minutes while I went, “Umm… wrong answer here; umm ok…umm another wrong answer here,” over and over again. The teacher couldn’t even hear what I was saying because I was mumbling. Reddit user: [redacted]

Sometimes You Just Don’t Have A Prayer

I was in my 11th year – 10th grade – and I was also head girl. One of my tasks was to lead our entire school assembly in a prayer – one that I, for the record, had been reciting since I was 11 years old. There were 2,000 people at the assembly, so I got a little anxious. The time came for me to lead the prayer, and the great hall was silent.

I said the beginning: “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…” And then – nothing. I couldn’t for the life of me remember the prayer as everyone waited for me to say it. Eventually, my head of year said the beginning of it, and I immediately took the lead and said the rest. But by the time she helped me, we’d already been in uncomfortable silence for at least three minutes. Reddit user: [redacted]

Wrong Direction

I was done lifting (for PE) on the first day of school, and I saw the boys from our gym class go in one side of the locker room. And without thinking my friend and I walked to the other side. We thought it was boys on one side, and girls on the other. But standing in front us were the senior boys from our class, shirtless.

For a solid five seconds, one of the senior football players and I had a stare down, right there in the locker room. For the rest of the year, I had to pass that senior in the hallway, and I’d usually turn my eyes downward. I always remembered that first day of school, and how embarrassed I was. Reddit user: [redacted]

Silence Is Golden

It was pi day, so we all had to speak out pi as far as we could go. I was extremely nervous, because I felt I was going to mess up near the start. The girl who went before me only made it to 3.141.

I thought to myself, ‘Even I can do better than that,” in an attempt to calm myself down. Turns out I said it out loud, the whole class heard me, and I made the girl cry. Worst feeling I’ve ever had in all my years of school. Reddit user: [redacted]

Not A Stroke Of Genius

At a swim meet, my boyfriend had just won his race, and broke his own personal record. 15 or 20 minutes after his race, I saw him from the back, and walked over. I hugged him from behind, and squealed about how well he did.

I remember wondering why he was talking to people from the other school, and not to any of his teammates. I let go and he turned around. It wasn’t my boyfriend – it was a complete stranger. Reddit user: [redacted]

Food For Thought: Slow Down

In high school, the lines would get pretty long for lunch. Even though there were plenty of lines for food, being at the end of the line sucked because that cut off time from sitting and eating. So, I would basically power walk to lunch.

This particular day, I came down the stairwell skipping steps, and must’ve been going too fast, because I fell when I reached the bottom. Everyone saw me and laughed. Not even my friends helped me up. Reddit user: [redacted]

Step In The Wrong Direction

In P.E., I was coaching someone on a treadmill. I wasn’t really paying attention and accidentally stepped on the treadmill, which was almost at the highest setting. I flew off very quickly, and landed on the floor with a loud thud.

The teacher didn’t notice at first, but everyone was laughing. My knees were bleeding, and there were red marks all over my leg where I fell on them. On that day, I learned to pay attention when I’m around treadmills. Reddit user: [redacted]

Chip, Chip Hooray!

One day, I ate a chocolate chip bagel on the way to school. Throughout the day, I hung out with my friends before class, and spoke to teachers in class. Finally, I went to the restroom and looked in the mirror.

There was a giant chocolate chip stuck to the middle of my cheek. Not a single person pointed it out throughout the whole day. What did they think, that I grew a giant, gnarly mole overnight? Reddit user: [redacted]

Hit The Gas

In science, we were studying the gasses on the periodic table. My friends and I were joking about how boring the topic was. I reached over the lab table to get my book, and accidentally let out an audible toot.

An annoying guy shouted out – as loudly as he could – “Which gas would you classify that as?” Everyone in the room started to laugh. I wanted to hit him and die! Reddit user: [redacted]

Fallen Hopes

I was the drum major for my high school marching band. At the end of a particular song, the band members on the field would do a small dance move. At one of the football game, I decided to join them in the dance.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t practiced this move on my conducting platform. Well, I did the first move of the dance, but I stepped too far and fell from my conducting platform, which was about four feet off the ground. Reddit user: [redacted]

Being A Drip

This happened this year (my senior). I’d left something in my previous classroom, so I went back and get it. The classroom was a portable, so I had to walk outside. Well, the moment I walked outside, the rain started to pour like crazy.

I spent at most 10 seconds in the rain, and I looked like I’d just come out of a swimming pool. I walked in that classroom, and the whole class (a class of freshman) stared at me and started to laugh. Reddit user: [redacted]

Don’t Have A Leg To Stand On

When I was in high school, I received an award that I had to accept in front of the entire school. I’d been sitting on the floor, cross-legged, when they called my name, and hadn’t realized that my leg had completely fallen asleep.

When I stood up, I took one step and then dropped like a sack of stones – in front of 1,000 high school kids. Everyone laughed, so I panicked and pretended I’d twisted my ankle pretty badly. I faked a limp for the rest of the day to sell the story. Reddit user: [redacted]

Buck The System

I skipped our senior awards ceremony. I didn’t think I was getting any awards, so I didn’t think anyone would miss me if I didn’t bother to attend.

Turns out I received a couple of scholarships, worth several thousand dollars. I was the only senior receiving an award to not show up. My mom wasn’t happy. Reddit user: [redacted]

Burst Your Bubble

I was sitting across from my crush in the middle of class, and I had a really bad cold. He told me something funny and as I started laughing, a huge bubble formed from my nose, and popped right in front of him!

I immediately covered my face and turned away, hoping he didn’t see it, but when I looked back, he gave me this totally disgusted look. VERY embarrassing. Reddit user: [redacted]

Picture Perfect

One day I had to present something in class on the projector, using my laptop. When you’re plugged into the projector, everyone in the class can see your computer desktop. I realized – after everyone had seen it – that I had a folder named Sexy Pics!

Everyone burst out laughing, and as I was trying to explain that they were just pictures of my friends that I had named as a joke, my teacher glared at me and told me to see her after class. I barely made it through the presentation. Reddit user: [redacted]

The Stuff Of Dreams

I was a REALLY late bloomer. For anyone who’s gone through this, they understand how stressful and demoralizing of an experience this can be. Anyway, after years of being teased, I decided I’d had enough, and that it was time to start stuffing tissues into my bra. This was me hoping that I’d get some relief from the teasing – but nope.

A tissue fell out of my shirt in front of a popular girl who saw it, grabbed it off the ground, and ran around the cafeteria yelling that I stuffed my bra. Suffice to say, that wasn’t one of my fondest memories of high school. Reddit user: [redacted]

Wanted To Slide Out Of The Room

I played trombone in the high school jazz band. We had to perform in front of the whole school. So the first song starts, and I go to play my first notes, and the slide slips out of my hand.

I’m still playing a loud, now descending, note as it runs all the way out and crashes to the ground. The entire school (students, and faculty) roar with laughter for the rest of the song. I didn’t participate in jazz band the following year. Reddit user: [redacted]

In A Class By Itself

I’m a little forgetful, and don’t remember people in a large classroom unless I engage with them. So one day I’m late to class, and frazzled, and I walk in and don’t recognize anyone.

I say I think I’m in the wrong classroom. My class laughs and says, “No you’re not, just sit down.” I was quite embarrassed. Reddit user: [redacted]

Free Throws

In gym class one day, we were shooting free throws, and I decided to ‘pants’ my friend, but her shorts’ string was tied so tight that they wouldn’t come down. Later on in the class, a bunch of the boys came in to watch us play.

Right about then I shot a three-pointer, and my friend came up behind me and pulled my shorts down while I was still the air! I was so happy I made the shot, but everybody (including my crush) saw everything. And I wasn’t even wearing cute panties. Reddit user: [redacted]