People Share Their Most Awkward High School Reunion Stories

Whoever decided to create high school had no idea how crazy it would be having hundreds of personalities stuck in a building for more than six hours for five days out of the week. This social crash course isn’t for everybody, which is why people tend to have wildly different experiences with this time in their lives. As time passes though, some of us grow into ourselves and think about how it could be fun to reunite with the people we went to high school with…

But the thing about high school reunions is- well, they can be great, but more often than not, they can be a whole lot of weird. From quiet kids stealing all the reunion money to mysterious, missing classmates, nothing is off-limits at a reunion. The people of the internet were eager to share the funniest, weirdest, most cringe-worthy, and downright most awkward things that happened when they attended their high school reunions…

He Planned It All Out

This didn’t happen to me; it was at my brother-in-law’s high school reunion a few years ago. A guy that was severely bullied in high school started a Facebook group to get the ball rolling on planning their 10-year reunion. And he was really organized about everything too. He planned the venue, food, drinks, and asked everyone to pay a ticket price to cover it all….

He was even the one who handled the money since he was basically in charge of everything. To make things easy, everyone put the money into a provided bank account. He received 200+ people’s HS reunion dollars (which amounted to just about $20,000) and just vanished. He was never to be heard from again. I’ve never laughed so hard in my life. Reddit user: jacksake1

The Parent-Children Reunion

Our 10-year high school reunion was held at a bar owned by a former classmate of ours. Since we were all obviously adults, it started at 10 pm. Because of the time and nature of the event, the owner told people that only adults over 21 would be allowed in, which was understandable since all kinds of strong drinks were being served….

People said they needed to bring their kids and were told no. Several people brought their babies and toddlers anyway. Parents drank like teenagers, and the kids ran wild inside of the bar. The owner got fed up with it all and called the cops, who watched the parents be negligent. Parents were escorted out by some cops, and their kids were taken out by others. Reddit user: WeedleBeest

The Creepy Classmate

I went to my wife’s last reunion a few months ago since she had invited me; she just didn’t want to go alone and wanted to show that she really was happily married. On the day of the reunion, she got a call that it was canceled. Apparently, five years earlier, a classmate got creepy and stalker-y with another classmate of theirs….

The people organizing the reunion invited him not to show up. Then the guy posted on Facebook some vague threats. They did actually change the venue and have the reunion, but there were many people that couldn’t be contacted with the updated info. It was better that they cancel it for the sake of everyone’s safety. Weird, right? Reddit user: weedful_things

Social Popularity

I had an awkward 10-year reunion last year. Things were going well at this low-key local bar, and it all shut down about 1 am. However, everyone was having fun and didn’t want to shut it down. It turns out the old school captain (smart dude, not particularly socially intelligent though) said we should head back to his place to kick on….

He tells the whole grade (100-150 people) to drink what they want, including his dad’s blue label scotch (which he thought was the cheap stuff). It ended up costing him several thousand and apparently his dad (rather understandably) wasn’t stoked. I felt bad for him, but I have to laugh; I remember even trying to warn him that night, but he was riding the social popularity endorphin high. Reddit user: silentmassimo

The Reunion Revelation

My wife (at the time) and I had dated all through high school and college. We married and had a child. We still had a few close friends we graduated with that were going as well. We had a good time, and everyone got pretty tipsy. We all mingled, and my wife talked to a guy who she had cheated on me with right after high school….

They didn’t speak for more than three minutes. They hadn’t spoken since that day almost 10 years before. We had moved past it and had a family…at least that’s what I thought. Less than a month after the reunion, I could tell that something wasn’t right.

When I asked her about it, she told me she wasn’t happy and wanted a divorce….We had been together for a VERY long time, and I was devastated. After a week of feeling like I had failed and doing everything I could to win her back, I discovered she had been having an affair with that same guy. Reddit user: DrMonkey7

On The Green Side Of The Dirt

I graduated in 1962, but never went to any of the reunions. In fact, I didn’t even know about them until the 50th, which took place back in 2012. I had been in odd places all over the world during those fifty years, and I was curious to see how everyone was doing, and what happened since they left high school. But I was still on the fence about going….

I happened to encounter a classmate who gave me the updated 50-year roster. Most of the people who went had never left the small farm town. Of the people who could be tracked, over half the men had died; Vietnam, accidents, illness, and all the random stuff. I was a nobody in high school, but I still seem to be on the green side of the dirt. Reddit user:  BobT21

An Awkward Revelation

My mom’s 35th high school reunion was at a bar that I frequent quite a bit. Knowing this, she invited me to go with her; my dad went the last time, and he didn’t want to endure it again. I walked in with my mom and went up to a bartender that I know to order a drink for my mom and I….

He looked up at my mother and I and immediately got super shy and weird, then said, “YOU’RE THE DAUGHTER OF (my mom’s name)?” Apparently, he had a huge crush on my mom in high school, and my uncle beat the heck out of him because he creeped my mom out. Very awkward indeed. Reddit user: merkmill

Yes, Somebody Did Die

A guy from our class passed away from cancer shortly before our 20th reunion. It was really sad despite the fact that he was never super popular. But he was pretty well known across our class for being silly with the teachers and getting into a bit of trouble every now and then. And so it was decided, last minute, that a minute of silence would be given to him….

During the awards/speech section of the night, the lady (our class president, I think) was trying to get the crowd to settle down for a moment of silence. You could tell it meant a lot to her, as she started getting heated. The crowd started shushing one another, and it got just quiet enough to hear somebody say, “Geez, did somebody die or something?” Reddit user: badideas1

A Jumble Of Hands And Arms

I was there with a guy friend when he saw his ex. They approached each other, him going in for a hug and her extending her hand to shake. When they each realized what the other was doing, she put her arms out for a hug, and he extended his hand to shake. It was so awkward that I had to turn around quickly because I could feel my facial expression changing to one of pity….

By the time they touched, it was just a jumble of hands and arms weirdly touching each other. He started by saying, “Sooooo… how have you been?” I just said, “Uhhh, excuse me…” and got the heck away from them. When I was at a safe distance, I started howling with laughter; people looked at me like I was crazy. Reddit user: FakeNewsLiveUpdate

Coming Full Circle

At my 10th (year) high school reunion, a guy I hated and who hated me right back showed up and came directly toward me. The thing that bothered me was that he came up, not saying anything at all to me. He then engaged the person standing right next to me on my left. He proceeded to move around the room talking to literally everyone there….

For context, there were only thirty-three people in my class. He concluded his “tour” by stopping with the person on my right. He didn’t so much as acknowledge my existence the whole rest of the day. It was super weird at the time, but many years later, it was the most memorable thing that happened. I laugh about it now. Reddit user: otterdisaster

Whatever Happened To…

A kid in my class (1982) was hit by a car during our junior year and wound up in a permanent vegetative state. We had heard bits and pieces in the years after, but none of it sounded reliable. He was dead, he was still in a coma, he came out of it, he was normal, he became a born-again Christian, he lived at home and couldn’t do anything for himself; you name it, we had heard it….

Every reunion, there’s still misinformation being passed around about the guy. At our 10-year reunion program, he was on the In Memoriam page, then it was pointed out he wasn’t dead. Last fall, we had our 35th reunion and he was announced along with the “Let’s take a minute to remember our departed classmates.” Others said he was still alive and living in Florida now. I don’t think we’ll ever find out the truth. Reddit user: youseeit

I Have A Husband, Sorry…

Apparently, every year, my brother’s graduating class gets together at this one neighborhood bar over Thanksgiving. It’s not a formal thing, but anyone can come and they all have a few drinks and it’s totally normal. I literally had no idea about it, and apparently, my brother didn’t either; we just showed up to get a drink together alone and his entire graduating class of 50-ish people was there….

Now, my brother was super nerdy and kind of an awkward kid, but the Marines and college turned that around and now he’s an outgoing, sociable guy. Coming out of the closet once he hit 23 helped too, since he was comfortable in his own skin and it showed outwardly. Thing was, no one seemed to know he was gay….

And this is a small town in the Midwest, where there’s nothing else to do but gossip, and since no one leaves, everyone knows everyone else. I literally spent all night cringing while my brother dodged the advances of a bunch of girls aggressively hitting on him.

The dating pool is the same guys they went to high school with and he was fresh meat….They were all coming on super strong and it was bad. Then everything got even worse when he told them he was living on the east coast because he was gay and married, and his husband’s job was there. Reddit user: 2354PK

Lesson Learned

I once went with my wife to her reunion. I may have had one or three before arriving, and when I got there, I remembered hearing a story of a guy who was my wife’s 3rd-grade boyfriend. Later in life, he had a rough time of things: alcohol, run-ins with the law, etc. As a joke, I wrote his name on my name badge and went about my business….

Not long after, a rather strong and stocky woman turned around, looked at me, then at my name tag. When she saw the name, she looked up at me, screamed excitedly as loud as I’ve ever heard, bear-hugged me while lifting me off the ground, and bit my neck. No blood, but a decent bruise. That taught me a lesson. Reddit user: Doc-in-a-box

10 Years Of Not Knowing

At my 10-year high school reunion, one of the good looking but not very bright guys from my class argued with me that we hooked up in high school. I swear on my life I did not; I was a pretty smart kid who refused to fall for his shenanigans. After 10 mins of me trying to explain to him that we never hooked up, I realized that he was thinking of my friend’s sister, not me….

He then was like, “Well if we didn’t hook up then, we can certainly fix that now.” I declined and left. He went 10 years not knowing who he hooked up with. Which was a pretty good sign that he was just as promiscuous, if not more, than I thought. I’m not touching that with someone else’s hands, much less my own. Reddit user: mookat84

Wrong For So Many Reasons

It was a party with all old high school people at it. I’m not sure if people actually have reunions anymore, but it ended up having the same effect. I met up with an ex, and an ex-buddy of mine kept saying stuff about how we would be perfect back together. It was just stupid for a ton of reasons. And the dude kept pushing….

First off, I was married, but he didn’t care. Second, my ex was now a lesbian, so she had no feelings for me. I knew this already and she trusted telling me, even though I think she kept it private. But this guy pushed and pushed, and when she said she liked girls, he just told her to “bring her girlfriend along….”

I don’t even know what the guy’s end game was, but he looked like a total idiot, and I’m pretty sure that he made my ex feel extremely uncomfortable. Then I had to feel pretty awkward when I finally told him to go and screw off. Reddit user: billbapapa

Dork Turned Detective

2009 was our 10-year reunion. There was this dorky guy in high school who ran for class president one year and lost by a landslide. The reunion rolls around at a private venue downtown, and this guy shows up pregame wasted with a woman who was giving off pure call-girl vibes. The guy’s now a detective and proceeds to get even more inebriated at the reunion….

The night ends with him getting into a very loud argument with the woman in the parking lot. The owners of the venue come out and threaten to call the police. He shows his badge and tells them to screw off. He continues shouting at her and gets in his car, almost hitting her as he speeds off, leaving her there….

Everyone else shifted the party to a local bar (private venue closed). At the bar, I see the girl basically hitting on a guy looking for someone else to try and finish her night with. The 20-year reunion is coming up, and I can’t wait. Reddit user: ihadarowboat

The Wrong Look

I went to my high school reunion with my roommate. Everyone thought we were married or something (I’m male, she’s female). When we started dancing with other people, girls would look over my shoulder at my roommate and then slowly dance away from me. It wasn’t like I was getting all close or anything. It was quite funny to me how people just made these assumptions….

On the flip side, this one dude just stopped dancing with my roommate and left without a word.  When she came to tell me about what happened, we both turned to see that he was making a bee line for the exit. After telling this to a mutual friend, it was pointed out that we probably looked like we were into that sort of thing. We still laugh about it to this day. Reddit user: OblviousTrollAccount

No More Reunions… Ever

The 10-year high school reunion for my wife was strange.  I showed up carrying a full set of camera gear just in case, and they said it’d be great because the photographer they’d hired had bailed. There was absolutely no dancing, and of all the women there, over 3/4 were currently pregnant or had been pregnant within the past few months….

So, there wasn’t much drinking anyway. I was rather horrified to see one of my classmates downing about three glasses of wine while having that huge “baby bump,” as she apparently didn’t give a care about her current state. The organizers were so angry at the whole ordeal of organizing that they agreed to never host a reunion again. Reddit user: McRedditerFace

A Game Of Pretend

I was at my 10-year high school reunion with my husband having a great time when someone strange walked through the door. It was a guy with expensive sunglasses on the top of his head (at night and indoors) along with a sport coat and what really seemed to be a call girl at his side. I had him as a Facebook friend, so he came over to say hello….

I told him I moved to Kansas City and he said, “Oh yes, I have a couple of my businesses there.” Ok sure, but Facebook seemed to hint otherwise. The guy had parked a rented BMW (I saw the little rental sticker on the bumper of the car) in a spot in the parking lot where everyone would walk by it. Reddit user: Volt1968

It Was Bad

My 10-year high school reunion was last year (technically 11-year). Anyway, a bunch of us girls planned it, and I had the idea to dig through some old school stuff from middle school/high school. So I did, and I found some old yearbooks ranging from 5th grade up to senior year. I brought them with me, and we were all sitting around looking at them (probably about 40-50 people showed up)….

But then people started coming up to me pointing out things I had written in the yearbooks. I failed to look at these books before I brought them, and I apparently had written ALL OVER a ton of the people that I hated in middle school. It was horrible. All I could do was apologize and tell them I was apparently a raging teenager in middle school. It was bad. Reddit user: marafred13

The Realization

This happened at a friend’s reunion. The friend showed up in dressy casual wear and was greeted by the popular girls in full ball gowns at the door, doing name tags because they organized the whole thing. Throughout the night, they got more and more tipsy, lamenting how many people didn’t show up. About 60% of our classmates had bothered to come….

But it was like they were personally offended at the turnout and nervously commenting on how afraid they were to leave their hometown when my friend brought up their recent travels. By the end of the night, two ball gown gals were doing whiskey shots at the bar alone. It was then that my friend realized how unhappy they really were. Reddit user: nocontactnotpossible

Ewww And No Thanks

At my 10-year reunion, I was single, successful at my job, and looking pretty fly (which is easy to say now, many decades later, as those days are long gone). It’s needless to say that I was not popular. After the reunion, a group of us went dancing; many of the ladies were hanging around this one guy from our class who was just back from active duty….

Granted he was good looking, but small in stature and big on shallow, not-so-bright egotism. When we were leaving, he knocked on my car window. A few of the girls were still around, and they started cheering that I had caught the guy’s attention. I rolled it down and he said, “I choose you.” Um, ew. And no thanks. Reddit user: WholyFunny

My Wife At My Reunion

This was not totally awkward but not unexpected. My wife is three years younger than me, and we attended/graduated from the same high school. But she gets invited to MY 30th reunion; I do not. We show up and tons of people can’t wait to chit chat with her. People that I went all through school with from kindergarten to graduation stood within two feet of me and never acknowledged my existence all evening….

Not one person, except when forced to by my wife, said hi. Then it was the polite, “Oh, hi!” followed by, “Ummm, there’s TJ, haven’t seen him in years, gotta go.” I was invisible way back when we were in school, and I was apparently still invisible now. Yeah, high school reunions… I won’t be going to any more of them, that’s for sure. Reddit user: Old_Fat_White_Guy

Not Leaving It In The Past

A classmate did a “comedy act” at our reunion and began by slamming a specific teacher that was well-loved and respected by those who knew her (I didn’t know her but he was the only person I knew that had an issue with her). He was one of those kids that got away with everything, and this teacher didn’t let him….

They had one incident where he was caught trying to put something in the yearbook without her knowledge; he was kicked off the yearbook staff. Although he seemed to do okay for himself with school and his career, he apparently couldn’t let go of this teacher daring to do her job. So we were “privileged” to hear his drunken comedy act slamming her. It was sad that he couldn’t move on. Reddit user: NovaNerdMonica

Not Seeing The Irony

Here’s the backstory: I was in the welfare system growing up. So, the state gets to pick the school you go to. I lucked out and got to go to a very prestigious school. Think the equivalent of a prep school on American TV. Most kids don’t care, some take this as an opportunity for bullying, etc. Overall, all the “freebies” like me are viewed at a distance, because we don’t come from money….

So, on our reunion day, we have a get-together with actual friends from school. We have a few drinks with our friends and their spouses before we head off to this event. So, we get there, do the meet and greet, drinks, etc. There was no dinner yet when my best friend tapped me on the shoulder and whispered in my ear, “Your wife is sick in the parking lot….”

My tiny wife couldn’t handle all the drinks with no food. I ran out, and the old head boy started making comments about how this is “typical of that type of person” over the mic. Half of the room of 600+ burst out laughing at him. Why? He’s a divorced, semi-permanent drunk, recovering user still wearing his old rugby blazer. He didn’t see the irony. Reddit user: maxil_za

A Look Of Longing

My mother’s ex-boyfriend (who’s married) approached her with his wife and carried on to have a conversation with too much wistful longing in his eyes. I was only 13 or 14, but I didn’t get good vibes from that dude. I swear I saw the longing of being with my mother again instead of that woman he married in his eyes….

It was even more awkward when I was introduced to him and literally the only thing I could think of to greet him with was a cold glare and a “Hi, ex-boyfriend.” It was clear that I didn’t like him and that his wife was embarrassed by the entire encounter. I think I saw her making angry gestures to him in the corner shortly after. Reddit user: unoriginally_

Why Bother To Show Up?

It was our tenth high school anniversary when this incident happened. This guy no one really liked showed up and ended up grabbing a bunch of the decorations and breaking them and throwing them from the balcony and generally tried to ruin the night for everyone. No one knew why he bothered to show up if he was dead set on acting like an idiot….

He later got on the mic (not sure how that happened) and told everyone thanks for letting him ruin their night and that it was dumb for anyone to want to have this reunion in the first place. It’s safe to say that by this point everyone had had enough of him. Someone tried to punch him to stop him from talking. Reddit user: dontthinkdontthink

Poor Sandy Johnson

I was really excited to go to my high school reunion because I had managed to maintain fairly good relationships with everyone. I got there and was standing with a few of my friends at the 20-year reunion when one of them walked up and was like, “Sandy Johnson (fake name) is still just as big a B-word as she was in high school….”

There were a few scattered chuckles because some of us knew how horrible a person she actually was. But another guy in the group was like, “Yeah, she’s pretty good friends with my family and is actually not that bad.” Cue awkward silence until I just busted out laughing. I agree with the first guy though. She’s still a jerk. Reddit user: roenick99

What A Dull Reunion

I went with an ex-girlfriend to her 10th-year reunion a long time ago. Many people in her class didn’t even get invited, and of those who did, only a few showed up. She mainly went to visit with a cousin who graduated with her. The reunion was held at some dive of a reception hall, and it was a hot mess….

The live band was griping about not being paid. The food was okay, and at some point, a homeless dude found the buffet and was scarfing down food. Overall, most of her classmates seemed unhappy. We ate and ditched the reunion for a bar. I’ve never attended any of my reunions. In fact, I don’t even recall being invited to any of them. Reddit user: Smithme2g

The Golden God

My tenth anniversary high school reunion was something. This guy from my class tried to sleep with his friend’s wife and threw a massive tantrum when she rejected him. I mean, what was he expecting? It was followed by everyone hearing him scream about him “reigning supreme over the school” and being a “golden god” (literally everyone, the room turned dead silent)….

Then as an act of revenge, he did this bizarre “choreographed” dance number with his physically disabled twin sister, his dad (why he was there, I don’t know), his high school dealer, and this kid who I found out still huffs glue to this day. I, along with almost every other soul there, was confused. Thank goodness they were uninvited from the after-party. Reddit user: im_an_ok_lumberjack

Albert Davis

I haven’t had a high school reunion yet, but here’s a fun one from my mom’s third reunion.  She went with my dad back to her hometown for the reunion. My dad grew up in a different place, so he didn’t know anybody there. Bored out of his mind, he decided to have some fun and found a way to discreetly ask someone who the biggest juvenile delinquent or troublemaker was in their graduating class….

Let’s call him…Albert Davis. So, my dad went to the name tag table and found Albert Davis’ name tag. He put it on and went around saying hi to everyone just to watch their reactions, because most of them assumed that Albert Davis was in prison. My mom didn’t think it was funny. He eventually admitted that he wasn’t Albert. Reddit user: -greenleaf-

No, You Can’t Take My Dad

In mid-October, I attended my 50th high school reunion. Since my parents knew all of my classmates while I was in school, I decided to take my 92-year-old dad to the cocktail party on Friday night. I got him a drink and let him sit where all of my classmates could just stop by to visit with him and where I could keep an eye on him….

About an hour into the party, one of the guys asked me if I had checked on dad. I immediately thought something might be wrong, but when I looked over, he was with a cute 25- to 30-year-old bartender who was doing her best to flirt with him. I laughed and was glad to see he was having a good time!

When the party was winding down, I told dad that I was going to get the car and that I would meet him at the front door. When I pulled the car up to get him, the bartender was with him, hugging and kissing him! I shouted, “Hey, what’s the deal?” She turned to me and replied, “He’s so cute…can I take him home with me tonight?” As much as I was tempted, I had to say no. Sorry, Dad! Reddit user: [redacted]

The Meat Grinder

Here’s a high school reunion horror story for the ages, and there’s even a news report that corroborated the best parts of it! At our 5-year New Canaan (CT) high school reunion (class of ’04), which was November 28th, 2009, one of our classmates refused to pay his bar tab after the open bar part of the event had wrapped up a few hours earlier….

He apparently continued to order drinks for himself and a few other people, not realizing that they were being put on his personal tab, and was enraged when he was given the bill. Too tipsy to understand what was going on and what the mix-up was, he went on a rampage that can only be described as epic. Here’s exactly how it all went down….

There was a full fistfight with enormous bouncers, two separate direct-hit taser blasts from police as they tried to subdue the unyielding reunion-ite, and threats from bouncers, cops, and authority figures of all shapes and sizes, including something about going “through a meat grinder.” That’s how Tyler “The MeatGrinder” Moss was born. Reddit user: [redacted]

In Memoriam

At my 25th high school reunion, we had an “In Memoriam” table. All the students that had passed away over the last 25 years had a lovely framed photo of their senior picture displayed with a small votive candle lit in front of it. It was all very sweet and stuff, but I noticed something that didn’t look quite right in one of the pictures….

My suspicions were confirmed moments later. About an hour into the reunion, one of my classmates approached our senior class president to inform him that one of the students represented on the table of death was very much alive and lived in the next town over. And that student had just walked in and saw his picture on the table. Awkward. Reddit user: [redacted]

The Sisters-In-Law

My ten-year reunion was in 2010. I went to a large, pretty non-cliquey high school, so lots of us from that class attended (about 100 grads, plus dates) and had a pretty good time. The drama came later in the evening, when these two twin boys from our class showed up. I barely remembered them, but they both showed up with their wives. Fun!

So a literal fight broke out between their wives. And not just a slap fight, either; one wife ran up to the other and shoved the girl’s shoulder as hard as she could, and that girl took the shove and came back with a cocked fist. The cops had to be called, and they took statements from a bunch of the other guests who saw the whole thing….

The best part is that they didn’t even shut down the party after the incident. So imagine all these dressed-up people with wine glasses in hand, chatting away while cops wander around asking for witnesses to support the differing stories of the two drunk, brawling sisters-in-law sitting on the curb just outside the venue. All in all, a very memorable and enjoyable evening. Reddit user: [redacted]

Most Successful

I dropped out of school and earned my GED instead.  Ten years later, someone invited me to the reunion for the class I would have graduated with had I stayed and dropped out. They gave out trophies like most of the other reunions that folks have experienced; “most whatever” and “most likely to do that.” They even gave awards for predictions they had made that came true in the ten years since everyone had left….

I received an award for “most successful.” Me, the high school drop out. I guess getting a college degree (with honors) and holding down a really great job for more than a year is successful. It was super awkward going up on stage for that one. And no Karen, I will not build your husband’s weird website for certain favors. Reddit user: thewurstunicorn

The Whole Reunion Was Awkward

To be quite honest, I don’t know why they wanted to have a reunion in the first place, and I knew it would be weird for those who went. I didn’t attend, and neither did very many people. Everyone pretty much hated each other, and from what I heard, only one clique turned up with the odd person from one or two others making an appearance….

Even though I didn’t go, it was still awkward when a girl who severely bullied me at school tried adding me on Facebook to invite me to the reunion.  She still hates me to this day, so I don’t even know why she would’ve wanted me there, let alone directly contact me. I made a great call in not going. Reddit user: solace-in-misery

Reunion Wars

I didn’t go to my ten-year, but drama unfolded on Facebook in the planning stages. One guy decided the “official” reunion wasn’t good enough, so he planned a competing reunion and tried to siphon people off of the other.  When people started posting confusion to the event page, the argument between the two reunion leaders went something like 80 comments deep….

The best part is, the then-current principal (who’d been a popular teacher when we were students) actually had to step in and mediate. It was freaking hysterical. I had been on the fence about going since I stayed close to my good friends in high school and Facebook kept me informed about anyone else I cared to know about, but that whole thing sealed it for me. Reddit user: palookaboy

Wait, I Didn’t Die!

My 25-year high school reunion was last year. They (some people who had taken it upon themselves to organize the entire thing) did all the planning via a Facebook group. I didn’t join the group but could see the activity. There was a flurry of excitement, but it all seemed so phony to me, so I was on the fence about going….

I was scrolling through, and a few months prior, they had done a memorial post where they listed all the dead classmates. Someone I hadn’t seen or spoken to in 25 years (and didn’t know well anyway) reported me as dead. The kicker- someone I was currently friends with on Facebook (who could see all my activity) liked the post. I unfriended her. Reddit user: averagejanecitizen

We Won’t Be Going Anymore

I went with my (now) wife to her high school reunion a few years ago. It was a small class, and she had a pretty small group of friends who she still hung out with to this day. The tickets to the event were like 200 bucks each (open bar, food, DJ, etc). While it was on the more expensive side, we decided to go anyway….

The day before, she found out the two people she was really looking forward to seeing couldn’t make it; the day of, another friend got into an accident and couldn’t make it, and the last one just didn’t go. So we ended up sitting at a table basically by ourselves. She got a bit drunk and was the “person who dances by themselves all night” person. I’m pretty sure we won’t be going to any more of her reunions. Reddit user: dly

While these high school reunion stories probably left you speechless, you’ll never believe what kinds of awkward moments these people experienced while in high school. From being pantsed on the basketball court to embarrassing bodily functions in front of a crush, these people share their most humiliating high school memories…

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]

While some of these awkward high school moments probably made you roll on the floor with laughter, wait until you hear these juicy rumors. From a religious student who practiced witchcraft to a teacher who married a student, these people don’t hold anything back about the crazy rumors that ended up being true…

For some people, high school was the time of their life. For others, it’s an age they’d rather forget. From being bullied to flunking tests and even getting pranked, living through the drama of high school can be tough. Teachers have favorites, and sometimes even the principals aren’t any better. For an unlucky few, the way they act or the people who single them out can spawn some nasty rumors….  

Whether your high school was big or small, people probably started rumors about someone. Maybe it was something that happened at a party or who’s hooking up with who. Rumors are usually outrageous and totally bogus, but in some cases, rumors start because they’re actually true. From teachers having affairs to students faking test scores, juicy rumors can make a drab day in high school just a little more exciting. 

 Little Brother

There was a rumor that an around 30-year-old married teacher at my high school was sleeping with the only two black kids at the school, who were 18, so technically it wasn’t illegal. She was asked to resign after the school met with her and the boys and their parents and then she got divorced, so I’m going to go with yes, it was true….

After I graduated, my cheerleading coach told me that she had gone to a party with one of the guys whom she had supposedly slept with, and he told her that everything about the rumor was true. This teacher also had a little brother, who was also at that school, and the two boys she slept with definitely bullied him. Reddit user: hippiehoppy69

Chemical Warfare

In my high school shortly after the 9/11 attacks, people all of a sudden started passing out left and right, and some even had to be rushed to the hospital. You would think people would come together, but I think they were paranoid. The rumor was that it was another terrorist attack, only this time they were releasing some sort of noxious chemicals into the school’s ventilation system…. 

We were all evacuated and had to stay home from school for about three days while they investigated. The truth of the matter was, it was just moldy sandwiches and rotten fruit. Someone had been hiding their friend’s lunch in one of the vents for something like two weeks, and it had gone bad during the subsequent weeks. Reddit user: phoenixtaloh

Cool Teacher

I had a middle school teacher who was always really, uh, relaxed with female students in the class. That’s putting it nicely. It came off like to me like he was just trying too hard to seem “cool.” He wasn’t a bad looking guy and actually was charming, sort of, so I guess it probably went over pretty well usually….

But I also had a “hot mom,” and I remember after a school function, she mentioned this particular teacher was way too forward/flirtatious with her. She told me right then and there the guy was a creep, so watch out. By the time I graduated high school, he had been fired for dubious behavior involving female students, although he avoided any prison time. Reddit user: CIAFBINSALSD

Happily Married Couple

There was a rumor that my wife was a huge jerk. I didn’t know her at the time but knew OF her. The stories that went around about her were really crazy, but no one knew what was true and what wasn’t. There were stories of messing around with half the football team at once, sleeping with teachers (male and female), and everything else…. 

She ended up settling down more than a little bit in her 20s, we ended up getting together, and now we’re married and have kids. She tells me in great detail the stories of what really happened in high school and what actually didn’t. Let’s just say that at least 99% of the rumors were actually true. Reddit user: [redacted]

English Teacher

There was a rumor that the grade 8 English teacher was a criminal when it came to kids. There was a big investigation into her (actually in part started by my parents and me) into her favoritism towards female students (it turned out no male student had ever gotten higher than a C and no female student lower than a C+/B in her entire employment)…. 

But I guess a few female students that she had had “relations” with of varying degrees heard about the investigation but thought it was an investigation into her after hours activities, so they came forward and confessed because they didn’t want to get in trouble. They inadvertently outed her as being an offender, and she disappeared from the school. Reddit user: -retaliation-

Club

In my junior year, a group of 15 or so overly attractive and dolled-up rich girls formed a “group” whose sole purpose was to get with and sleep with as many of the senior athletes as possible. Yes, seriously. It got so bad our little private school called a mid-week service with the arch-bishop, and he gave a speech about it….

Once that was over, the dean and president both gave a talking to the whole school about appropriate behavior, making good life choices, and being smart with intercourse and your adulthood. None of the speakers broke eye contact with these 15 or so girls. It turns out it was all true, and a number of the athletes and the girls ended up with a curable STD. Reddit user: life_questions

Handsy

There was one high school teacher at my school who everyone thought was way, way too friendly with cute student girls: he’d help them out during tests, put his hands on their shoulders, that kind of stuff. So there was always a pretty big “creep” rumor that ended up circulating around him when I was in school, which is a pretty big deal….

Yeah. He got fired two years after I graduated because he had an inappropriate text conversation with one of his students. I don’t think it went any further than that. The man was really disgusting (fat, balding, smelly, and sweaty), and I don’t think there was any girl who would have gone that far with him for good grades under any circumstances. Reddit user: MrAkaziel

Catholic School

I went to an all-girl Catholic school, and the rumor was that the school priest was a perv and molester. His office looked like a 1970s adult movie den with velvet couches and dark wood paneling. My friends and I always took someone with us when we had to go in there. He was also too friendly with the sporty girls…. 

Later, I read an article and found he was moved to our school because of molestation charges at his previous school. He went after little boys involved in the sports program that he coached. The sporty girls, for the most part, used to go to his old school, so that explained why he was very friendly with them. Reddit user: ill_jay

Party

Three girls had messed around with ten plus guys at a house party. No one believed it happened, but crazy rumors kept coming out. Then a 2-hour tape showed up, which proved everything to be true. Everyone involved seemed to be totally willing and happy to be there, but that wasn’t the problem. The cops got involved. Charges were pressed by parents…. 

Both groups were a mix of under 18 and over 18. Lots of people involved in the tape changed schools. Digital copies got passed around the school via the internet. A lot of students got called in by the police to see if they received a copy of the tape or knew of other people who had gotten a copy of the tape. Reddit user: KingKasey

Martial Arts

A new kid came to high school. He had a funny accent because his parents were missionaries, traveling all over the world. He was actually kind of cool, I thought. He spoke at least four different languages including English, Spanish, Russian, and Mandarin. He was super polite, and everyone liked him. Of course, he had haters, mainly the so-called bullies….

A rumor began that he was well versed in many forms of martial arts. He never denied or admitted to them. One of the bullies decided to find out. He was much bigger than the new kid. The new kid did everything in his power to not escalate the fight and even took a punch from the said bully. Well, guess the rumor was true. The kid kicked his butt after that. Reddit user: BxRomeo8586

Perp Walk

My 6th-grade math teacher was super creepy. He would assign seats “randomly” but always placed the girls in the front of the classroom. Did the whole lingering stare thing, and was always trying to get people to “hang out” with him during lunch. I never did, but he was married and had a kid, so no one really suspected him of anything….

Fast forward about seven years. The teacher ended up being an offender. He had an ongoing relationship with a girl that began when she was 13. Based on what I could see from the various news articles, she was either in my year or the year before me. The police came to arrest him in the middle of his class. Reddit user: kcupsmama

Student Teacher

When I was in school, our math teacher in high school had a student-teacher she was helping train to take over for her when she went on maternity leave. The student-teacher was maybe 20-21 and a fairly attractive young woman. So naturally, all the guys in the class had a crush on her. One guy in particular, was a super senior and 18-19….

He flirted with her non-stop, and she would act super embarrassed and blush. I’m sure you see where this is going. Well, towards the end of the semester, he was bragging about going on a date with her and how they had slept together. Then one day she was just gone. We had substitute teachers for the rest of the semester. We all knew what happened. Reddit user: gandalf-greybeard

Confirmation

The music teacher in my high school was rumored to have been fired for sending naughty pictures to a female student. There had been subs taking his place for nearly a month. The principal said he was too ill to come into work, and eventually, another rumor that he had cancer started spreading around. He had been bald longer than anyone could remember…. 

One day in my physics class, everyone in the class pestered the teacher for the whole period until he finally gave in. One student asked the physics teacher, “Did he send pictures of himself to that girl?” and he finally said, “That thing that you think happened, it happened.” The student said, “So he did?” and the teacher simply nodded his head yes. Reddit user: xthatguy339x

Cigarettes

That there was a video of a girl in my year messing around with herself for a pack of cigarettes. The rumor went around for about a week before EVERYONE in my year had it on their phone. The school ended up having assemblies about it and said that if anyone was caught with it on their phones, they’d press charges for child video possession…. 

I think a couple of kids actually did get charged for it, though I think it got sealed once they turned 18. The poor girl in the video ended up changing schools more than once because the kids at the first school she changed to ended up getting hold of the video, and it went around that school too. Reddit user: [redacted]

Tragedy

Now, I’m aware that this has the making of a hilarious story, but it’s not. The vice principal at my school was the first man in his family to go to college. Black men in 1970s Texas didn’t have many options. He distinguished himself as an educator, and he helped a lot of underprivileged students get accepted into colleges all around the country…. 

Sadly, his entire family was killed by a drunk driver. Like many people facing a horrible and tragic dilemma, he turned to drugs. Fast forward to 1999, and there’s a major drug bust in my town. The dude that was running the dope house ratted on the VP and several other high placed individuals that ran my town. Reddit user: [redacted]

Favors

One teacher randomly picked students (also known as any of the pretty or cute girls) to see him after class to talk about how the lessons went, and if they had any feedback. He never forced himself on them but made it very clear that they could earn some extra points for certain favors. Apparently, it was a pretty well-known fact….

But no one ever managed to catch him red-handed, and no charges were ever brought up until the year after me where one girl did finally press charges and suddenly literally dozens of girls/women from the past two decades spoke up about what this teacher had been doing. He found himself getting fired pretty quickly after that. Reddit user: fear229

21 Jump Street

Freshman year, there was a rumor that there were undercover cops at my high school. A few weeks into the school year, we found out that it was true, and they arrested two kids for selling weed at lunch. The high school wasn’t happy about all of this and went and suspended everyone they thought had smoked weed, whether it was at school or not….

They did this with zero proof and zero reasoning for it, and it was over 60 kids (10% of our entire school). Also, in case anyone was wondering, the two kids just got probation because they’d only had a few joints. Undercover cops were working weeks and only for about six grams of weed between two high school kids. That’s so lame. Reddit user: [redacted]

Epidemiology 

That one girl started a gonorrhea outbreak. It was only a super big deal because my high school had ~500 students, and everyone knew EVERYONE. Huge rumors like that never really happened because the school was so small (in all of the high school’s history, from 1800 or whatever, there’s never been a girl who got pregnant). It is a super safe school….

But everyone eventually traced it back to the source just by having the inside knowledge of who was having relationships with who. It did end up being her in the end. She had given it to a couple of guys who gave it to other people and so on and so forth. I’m pretty sure she transferred soon after all of this came out. Reddit user: 1gayWhale

Surprise

I was an outcast at my high school and was shunned by the majority of the school. Because of this, my circle of friends included the outcasts from my school and the outcasts from several other schools in my city. My friend Sarah from my school and I were good friends with a very gay guy from another school named Rafael…. 

We were also friends with this punk girl from the same school as Rafael named Stephanie. Stephanie was hot and always dressed in a very attractive way. The “jocks” at our school thought Sarah and I were freaks until they saw us hanging out with Stephanie. Everyone wanted to go on a date with her, and most did. Stephanie and Rafael are the same person. Reddit user: imnotboo

Tragedy

We had two girls in our class that played a game to seduce a teacher. They did the usual staying after class to get him alone, wore inappropriate clothes that showed too much skin, etc. Girl A told Girl B she was tired of playing the game after about a month, so she wanted to stop, and they seemingly did….

But Girl A was actually sleeping with the guy since like the second week. Girl A told Girl B about the situation, and not knowing what to do, Girl B told her mom. When the time came around for the teacher to be confronted, Girl A vanished from town in the hope that the teacher wouldn’t be charged for anything. Reddit user: Blktoofpirate

Tests

There was a rumor that one of our teachers was an unsavory guy. It was mainly spurred on by people’s instincts about him. I busted him looking through government-issued confidential tests of girls at recess once. The vice principal wasn’t happy with me telling this teacher off, but I was a great student and well-liked by all teachers, so she just gave me detentions…. 

Anywho, a lot of people got suspended for calling him a pervert because there was no proof. He eventually ended up leaving our school. Four years later, we heard he’d been arrested for trying to groom a 14-year-old girl at another school. A whole lot of people subsequently asked for their lost suspension time back after hearing about that. Reddit user: SlappaDahBassMahn

Whodunit 

The math teacher was found assaulted, kidnapped, and dumped on the side of the road next to her husband’s burning truck. Her kids are tied up at home, and her husband is murdered. Twenty-four hours later or so, she’s committed suicide because her plan unraveled. Apparently, she murdered her husband, tied up her kids, pretended to kidnap herself, self-inflicted wounds, and lit the truck on fire….

A few hours later, she emerged from a prairie without clothes and claiming to need rescuing from a fictitious villain. All of this happened because she wanted to run away with the principal with whom she was having an affair. She needed to remove her husband from the picture. The high school of 2000 students was a circus for days. Reddit user: creaturefeature83

Karma

We had a band teacher everyone loved; he ended up getting a divorce, and during the custody battle, his wife said he had been in a relationship with a student. The teacher got sent on leave and ultimately blacklisted in our district, but he got custody of the kids seeing as there was no real proof he was ever messing around with a student….

So they bring in his replacement, and less than a year later, he’s busted for sleeping with the 16-year-old drum major. They took pictures in bed together that started to spread around, and the dude’s still in jail. A lot of us that were bitter about the blacklisted teacher found this to be the ultimate karma for the administration. Reddit user: Whatserekim

Personal Experience

There was this really cute, a solid 9.5/10 for me (both for the face and body) student-teacher when I was in 10th grade. She was popular with the boys for obvious reason, and one day there was this rumor that she was dating one of the boys. Of course, she denied it, and the other teachers thought it was a joke…. 

So the other teachers didn’t really pay much heed to what they thought was a joke. Except the rumor was true. I was dating her. We dated for almost a year without anyone knowing. I lost my virginity to her, and I think I have a kink for exhibitionism because of her. Still one of the best moments in my life. Reddit user: [redacted]

Rasputin

My middle school math teacher was a strange religious man. He always played really soft angelic choir music all class. He had these really messed up thumbs where they appeared to be permanently affixed so that it looked like his hand was always displaying four fingers. He kept the girls in my class near his desk and made weird remarks on how girls should act….

My classmates and I always joked about how creepy this guy was; he would always snap the bra strap of a girl if it was showing and stare at the girls. It wasn’t until my junior year of high school that I found out that he had been caught multiple times looking up girls’ skirts; he was fired and disappeared. Reddit user: TheFreudianSlip69

Cleaning Crew

My buddy told me the school used the Special Ed kids to clean the cafeteria after lunch during recess. It wasn’t a huge rumor, but I asked a few other people, and some said they heard that too. So one day, I asked to go to the bathroom in my class after lunch. But instead, I ran my butt to the cafeteria….

And lo and behold, when I got there I saw there were a few dozen kids happily cleaning away in the cafeteria. I wanted to get a closer look, but the school has a very strict “where you can go during class” policy, and I wasn’t about to get my butt taken out by the teachers over this. Reddit user: ShackMan1

26

There was this girl at our school whom we called “26.” Why? I’ll tell you. Well, she was on the volleyball team, and apparently one of the things the team members do when welcoming new members is they have a party at one of their homes, and they ask a series of 26 “have you ever” questions of a very intimate nature….

She answered yes to every single one, and they had to invent more questions just so they could find something she hadn’t done. She was 18 when I found out about this, but at the time she was asked the questions, she was only 14. She was very open and casual about discussing her exploits too; you could basically ask her anything. Reddit user: Fournote

Romantic History

Everyone knew the AP history teacher would mess around with his students the minute they became legal. The rumors went on for years. There was always talk of him taking his students out to eat and him staying alone with girls during tutoring. Fast forward to my junior year of high school, and screenshots of him texting his former students circulated….

I showed them to my friends at a party, and some kid overheard and reported it to the principal. The next day I was called into the principal’s office, and the principal basically tried to make me feel bad for not reporting it, even though students had come forward in the past and nothing was done about the situation. The teacher resigned, and an investigation occurred. Reddit user: [redacted]

Jr. NSA Agent

Nothing intimate-related, but juicy. At my old middle school, we got Chromebooks. We had them for grades 5-8. In 5th grade, the school said they had spyware on them. Next year, they said there was no spy software. A lot of kids rejoiced, but my tech-savvy friends and I believed this was BS (why would they not spy on kids when they used to?)….

Later, one of my good friends took his Chromebook apart and analyzed everything about the device. We found that the school had installed spyware without telling us. The school’s license was revoked because the EULA bans “misleading and unethical” uses. The rumor was that a student sent a complaint to the company to get the license revoked. A student did send a complaint: me. Reddit user: Bobjohndud

Junior High Memories

Junior high: my daughter tells the story of a rumor about two teachers caught on a desk in a study hall room after school hours. They were supposedly caught by a student. My daughter went to this school last year (2016-2017). I went to this school several years ago (1993-1994). They were my teachers: a band director and Spanish teacher….

I had a question for the director before I left for the day, so I went back inside. I was the student that caught them on the desk. They were both married to other significant others at the time. They’ve since divorced their spouses, proceeded to marry each other, and have a daughter the same age as my daughter. Reddit user: xcsdm

PrinciPAL

One of the teachers at my school was sleeping with this girl in middle school (7th grade), then he followed her to high school (as the principal) and got caught after the parents of the high school girl started asking how she could afford all sorts of expensive gifts, bags, and a new phone. The police went through their phones and found tapes and intimate conversations…. 

He was having a relationship with her for four years before he got caught. Fast forward a few years later, and I see him working at one of the elementary schools. He got fired once the parents realized that he was working there (same parents from the last girl) because she was going to school there. Some people. Reddit user: Ghosxt

Entrepreneurship 

There was a kid a few years older at the same high school. He was charged with copyright infringement. He used a DVD burner to duplicate the full seasons of Dragon Ball Z. He would then sell these on eBay or at a discounted price. The authentic versions of these easily run in the $300-$500 price range, and he sold them for around $200-$300….

It’s rumored he was able to sell around $400,000 worth of these bootleg DVDs before he was finally caught. The courts ordered him to pay $100,000 in penalties to the owner of the copyrights, and he served no time in jail. Basically, he effectively amassed a wealth of $300,000 before he graduated from high school, which is more than some people make in a lifetime. Reddit user: mosotaiyo

Predecessor

My teacher asked about his predecessor during class. Apparently, the previous teacher was doing it with a voluptuous student in the van at the teacher’s parking lot every lunch time in exchange for a good grade. A few kids saw the van rocking. So the teacher asked how voluptuous she was. Most of the guys pointed to a pretty cheerleader sitting to my front left….

My teacher then asked her to arch her back. She did so and smiled at the class when we all went absolutely wild with excitement at the sight. The class was pretty much like that for the rest of the whole year, and we all got great grades because all of the tests were an open book. Reddit user: DarthPikachoo

Rumors

I had a friend that lived down the street for most of my childhood. She would cycle through friends a lot, and she had the classic “daddy issues” attitude. We were always friends because we were neighbors. During senior year I got a text from a friend of mine saying, “Hey, did you know so and so is doing videos?”

I was a little annoyed because she was bullied a lot in school, and rumors were always starting about her and her home life, so I told him, “No, and I’m sure she isn’t. It’s just a rumor.” Minutes later I receive a link, I click on it, and lo and behold it’s her getting dirty on top of a four-wheeler. Reddit user: schnuckelchen

Marriage 

My senior class advisor, who was also the English teacher, was one that a lot of male students were attracted to, pretty liberal with boundaries with what could and couldn’t be discussed in class, etc., and as she talked about later, was a collegiate gymnast. There were rumors that she and her husband had an open marriage and were possibly swingers….

Well, the open marriage turned out to be true, as a couple of years after graduation, she was caught screwing around with someone who graduated the previous year. His fiancé had walked in on them mid-act, and it spread pretty quickly due to it being a small town. The husband pretty much admitted that they had decided to have their marriage open after they had kids. Reddit user: TheGentlemanLoser

Bathroom 

That somebody was selling favors in the toilets. It turns out it was true. The teacher saw a line of guys outside the boy’s toilets and figured something was up, continued walking past, and got another couple of teachers to back them up and cover themselves legally. They went into the toilets, empty apart from a cubical with a closed door…. 

They knocked on it only for somebody to tell them to “wait their turn.” It turns out a girl was giving out favors for $10 a time. She and the guy caught both got expelled; the ones in line didn’t, as they had legged it, plus there was no proof they had done anything. Our teacher did let us know who they were, though. Reddit user: AngloKiwi

The Room

The teacher was a complete psycho, and kids used to say he locked people in closets and left them there to kill them. I don’t know if he killed anyone, but he locked two science teachers in there with the full intention to leave them there. This was the final period of the day before winter break, and no one would have noticed them missing….

Luckily someone wound up looking for equipment down there and let them out. Apparently, one of the teachers had a mental breakdown and was absolutely terrified. The other teacher was just trying his best to be nice, but it went around the school that he had a major crush on her. Three years later and they’re married with a baby. Reddit user: [redacted]

Theater Kids

The theater kids were a fairly insular group. They stuck to their own group of friends, messed around like rabbits, and were snotty little brats. All the girls wanted this one dude, and he slept with pretty much anything. All of a sudden, this rumor started going around about the theater kids and that they had all caught all sorts of diseases and stuff….

A lot of us discounted it because who would think 14- to 18-year-olds would have STDs…except for that dude. That dude had all sorts of messed up things none of us knew about, and it turned out that he really did pass around gonorrhea and herpes. He died a few years back due to complications after AIDS. Reddit user: RCrumbDeviant

Witchcraft

For years I heard whispers from my (very conservative Christian) classmates that the family of a girl in my grade were “practicing witchcraft” and they held secret ceremonies in the woods behind their house where they would dance around a bonfire totally without clothes. I knew this girl, so I always rolled my eyes at these stories and called people out for spreading idiocy…. 

Years later, I reconnected with that girl online. She now makes joking references to the fact that her mom is or was a devout Wiccan. Yep, there was nude dancing in the backyard. Knowing that (and the fact that she stayed in that community, which is a very religiously conservative community) just makes me like her even more. Reddit user: PushTheButton_FranK

Casting Couch    

I went to an all-girls school. Fourth-year students got to put on a play every year. The stage director that had been working with my school for 22 years finally retired. Prior to this, it was common for rehearsals to go on for a while after school, sometimes with only the main cast remaining. The guy who replaced her found out about this….

And he started keeping small groups of the cast after school and ‘helping’ them. Like, “You need to get her to sit on your lap…here, sit on my lap and I’ll show you.” Apparently, it started to get more and more inappropriate until eventually, the music teacher found out about it, and that guy suddenly wasn’t directing anymore. Reddit user: rodery

Teacher’s Kid

There was a rumor at my school that the woodwork teacher and the textiles teacher were having an affair and that a student found them together in the store cupboard/office. The textiles teacher left, and it remained a rumor until I went to college and ended up meeting the woodwork teacher’s son! I knew it was him because he had an unusual surname….

I never did ask him about the rumor outright because I didn’t know if it would upset him. Eventually, we were talking about what schools we went to and he told me it was true. The whole thing. It caused his parents to split up, and he didn’t speak to his dad again after his parents’ separation. Reddit user: [redacted]

While some of these rumors probably left you speechless, just wait until you hear these stories about what it was like to go to school with celebrities. From always being the center of attention to causing tons of trouble, these people reveal what celebrities were really like in school…

Celebrities seem like aliens, in a sense, when they’re on TV. They have million-dollar smiles, picture-perfect bodies, and more often than seems not, truly great hair. These superstars are almost not human. However, in reality, they’re simply actual, real, regular people who put their pants on one leg at a time (if they wear pants).

Way before all of that fame and fortune, celebs went to middle school, talked on the phone with friends, and even went to random basement parties. So just because they make tons of money and grace the covers of magazines doesn’t mean they aren’t normal people.

From athletes and musicians, to actors and models, celebs at one point or another almost all attended a typical school for kids. Some went to charter or private, but an overwhelming number of celebs went to public schools. All these years later, their former schoolmates have loved to recount how they really acted back in the day in school, long before they were famous…

Tupac

I was in French class with him in either 10th or 11th grade. I was pretty lousy at French, and I don’t remember him paying too much attention to the subject, either. Then again, I remember little of those days, since it was over 20 years ago. I can vouch for his having been really funny though; he had the whole class totally losing it on more than one occasion….

It’s just a shame that his life ended so early. Tupac was not only very young but in the prime of his rapping career. Even though he had both fans and haters, he did have some great words that he was able to express to the world. Too bad it didn’t end differently for this lively class clown that had everyone laughing.

Kate Upton

I didn’t go to high school but did ballet and horseback riding with Kate Upton before she moved to Florida. We kept in touch through letters. I lost touch with her right after she was named rookie of the year for Sports Illustrated because she just got way too busy. Total sweetheart, though; always knew she was going to be famous, be it through her looks or her horses….

Naturally, it was her looks that took this girl-next-door to superstardom. Well, maybe not quite the typical girl, considering her ballet and horseback riding talents. Kate Upton is known all over the world for her beauty, mostly thanks to her work in the Sports Illustrated magazine. More recently, she got married and had a child who will most likely be equally beautiful and famous.

Taylor Lautner

I went to high school with Taylor Lautner. The kid was an attention-seeking jerk. He once wore a dog suit backward to school with the tail hanging at his crotch. However, I also know someone who once pushed him into a fountain at the mall. Taylor and my friend Sean used to be friends, but Taylor started getting a big head because he was about to be in Twilight….

They were having a verbal argument at the mall. Things escalated, and Sean shoved him, and he tripped into the fountain. In the end, Taylor did get pretty big thanks to his movies, but that didn’t give him the right to turn all crazy on his friends and think he’s bigger and better than everyone. It’s not like he’s really a werewolf in real life.

Taylor Swift

I went to high school with Taylor Swift. I had a few classes with her but honestly didn’t know her really well. She played in the school talent show freshman year before she got popular and did that Tim McGraw song. I remember, when she did make it, CMT would come to the school all the time to film her and her friends….

She was actually really nice to people and made everyone feel welcome. I also had Driver’s Ed with her. She was very witty and smart. I was coming back from a mission trip to Mexico and saw her at the Texas airport, so I went up to her and said, “Hi, Taylor!” Because we have the same name, she said, “Hi, Taylor!” back.

Donald Trump, Jr.

I went to the Hill School in ’94-’95 while Donald Trump, Jr. was there. He was a big-headed and judgmental jerk who ran with a posse of sycophants of his choosing and who also always paid his way for him. The dude never seemed to pay his own way. He also bagged his share of girls from the all-girl schools who would get bussed in for our dances….

The one negative encounter that comes to mind each time I see his smug face on TV is when that jerk criticized my choice in hats. You see, I fancied myself a skate punk in the early to late ’90s. I had decided to get a straw golf hat and safety pin it up all Australian-like on one side and festoon it with a band made from a cut-up school tie. Anyway, he sees me rollin’, he hatin’, and he yells out, “Hey, that’s not a skater hat!”

Margot Robbie

My partner was in the same grade/school as Margot Robbie. It’s very weird to see how popular she is and think of how few degrees of separation there once were. His sister also did musicals with her. Apparently, she was known for being pretty and somewhat popular, but not one of the super-popular people that everyone went crazy for during school productions (in some of the productions, people would cheer when the well-known, charismatic people appeared on stage)….

There are these back story rumors that say she was so into Harry Potter that she wore glasses to look like him, but both my partner and sister are like, “No, that’s not true.” So I think she has these origin stories that are trying to make her seem more relatable to geekier fans of hers, but it’s all just promo stuff to make her seem more relatable.

LeBron James

I went to high school with LeBron James. In high school, he was pretty humble and down to earth, even when he (and the rest of the school) knew he was going to be an NBA superstar. He kept his class and played it cool through graduation. His ego didn’t blow up until after high school at all, either. Not like some other athletes and celebs….

LeBron James was born in 1984 and already earned over $35 million. He married his high school sweetheart Savannah. They now have three children together. For an athlete, he doesn’t have a bunch of side chicks, baby mommas, and so on. LeBron stayed with the same girl and made a family, and that really shows his true character, regardless of his talented basketball skills.

Lauren Conrad and Kristen Cutler

I went to Laguna Beach High School while MTV was filming ‘Laguna Beach’ (which we all thought was going to be ‘True Life, The Real OC’ but didn’t quite work out that way). Anyway. I was a few grades below all those kids on the show. It’s funny that Lauren Conrad was cast as the nice girl, because she was one of the biggest jerks of them all….

She was always super, super popular, though. She’s been able to make a nice little career for herself off of being America’s Sweetheart. Kristin Cav (Cutler now?) was okay but slept around a lot. She and her friends in 8th grade called themselves “the six-pack girls,” which meant they would do anything for a six-pack of beer. I’ve personally witnessed her making out with girls at parties for attention.

Katie Holmes

Katie Holmes went to my Catholic all-girls high school. Apparently, she was nasty and a trouble maker, and whenever we asked any of our teachers about her, most of them said, “I’m sorry, but we’re not allowed to talk about her.” Also, it’s rumored that she hated our school so much because of the nuns who disciplined her that she donated a large sum to our rival school out of spite….

My drama teacher said she was terrible at acting. Yes, isn’t that just hilarious! Obviously, the joke is on the nuns, because Katie Holmes went on to become a famous actress. She’s still in the spotlight today, and I think it’s just great she donated to the other school, because those nuns were pretty ruthless, to say the least.

Emily Ratajkowski

I was roommates with Emily Ratajkowski for a 5-week art program. It was in San Francisco, I was 17, and she was 16; we shared a bunk bed and dorm room. She was nice, a great artist, kind of valley girl-ish, but pretty down to earth actually and a very pretty girl. She actually had kind of a tough time making friends within the program, like she wasn’t interested in doing so….

She had a skate rat boyfriend from back home who came to San Francisco during the program, so she kind of just did her own thing with him all the time. We had a conversation once where she said she couldn’t really decide whether she wanted to pursue modeling or art. She was doing some modeling in those days, I think for Forever 21 or something, but her dad is an art teacher, so she grew up making art.

Demi Lovato

Yes, the infamous Demi Lovato was in the grade below me in middle school, then moved to Hollywood just before high school. She was a real jerk and a half: definitely the biggest mean girl of her grade. I don’t really understand why she goes into interviews saying she was bullied so badly; it was her doing all the terrorizing….

Nowadays, though, she does seem to be struggling with both mental health and addiction problems. Hopefully she gets better and feels good about herself finally. Maybe it’s karma for all of the stuff she did to other people, but nobody deserves that, not even her. It’s just another reminder to people not to dish out what you can’t take yourself.

Zack Synder

Well, he was really passionate about wanting to make movies. He acted in plays; he loved strong, almost exaggerated characters and representations. He was very much about iconic, dramatic portrayals. He acted like he was already headed to being a famous, successful director. He was into Culture Club, despite being a very straight guy. I ran into him again in LA, where he was still studying and trying to get into the business….

We went shooting at a range and played paintball. His passion for cinema did not dull, but I could tell he was a little frustrated by how difficult it can be to ‘get in’ the industry. Then he made 300. I didn’t even realize it was him until after seeing it on satellite at a friend’s place about a year after it was in the theater, and I about fell off my chair.

Robert Downey, Jr.

I went to junior high school with Robert Downey, Jr. He was very, very much like many of the characters that he often plays in movies: always trying to make the quick joke. Sometimes I can’t separate his character (especially in his early movies) from the kid I knew in JHS because that’s exactly the way he acted back then….

We were in a drama class together, and the teacher used to make a joke where he wondered why Downey was here in the class, adding that his father was going to get him a bunch of jobs through his connections. One time, he got the wind kicked out of him by another kid for dating a girl the other kid liked. I went to school with Diane Lane (who no one liked) and Jon Cryer, who was a really nice kid.

Halsey

Halsey is horrible. She was horrible at school. She’s horrible now. Constantly trying to be the center of attention, had to be right no matter what, got a great teacher fired because she didn’t like that he would ignore her, stole a sweatshirt…I could go on. So the main thing was that she was very much a face and opinion but had no real substance as a person….

She continually would rant and rave about things that didn’t matter. The best way I can describe it is that she was Tumblr personified. So many unsubstantiated accusations and claims of being oppressed. She, at one point, was in an interview that she said she was ‘bullied’ and that her dad left when she was young.

To the best of my knowledge, her dad is a local cop, and if I were to assign anything to her, it would be ‘bully’ and not ‘bullied.’ She also repeatedly said she didn’t understand how anyone in the school felt bullied because everyone gets along. She was always the girl crying wolf and usually instigated everything. Maybe she was just mean to the people around me.

Chloe Bennet

One of the stars of Agents of Shield, Chloe Bennet, went to school with me. She, of course, changed her name once she got famous (was born Chloé Wang). In person, she was gorgeous and became the most popular girl in the school since day one of freshman year. She was actually very nice, and I never saw her be mean to anybody….

I hung out with her in a group of friends after school a few times. She did have a lot of friends who were older sketchy drug dealers that didn’t go to our school. I sat behind her in geometry, and let’s just say brains were not her strong suit. After our sophomore year, she left school and became a Chinese pop star for a hot second (funded by her rich father), and now she’s part of the Marvel universe.

Jon Stewart

My aunt dated and lived with Jon Stewart for a few years before he was famous (while he was well known in NYC for performing in comedy clubs). They’re still close friends. I met him, and he’s pretty awesome. She said that he is a total workaholic, more than anyone realizes. Like sleep in his office type of workaholic. Also, he reads every book that he discusses on his show in full….

So he spends several hours per day reading. He got us VIP tickets to see both his show and Colbert a number of times, and I was surprised that each film their shows in pretty much one take. But that is how you do it when you are a professional. He definitely made it all the way and found himself some great success.

Lil B

I’ve known Brandon McCartney (Lil B, the rapper) for a long time. He and I shared a really good mutual friend, and we became friends pretty quickly. From about 10 to 14 years old, we hung out daily. He’s a really nice dude and super goofy. One day, when we were like 13, after staying the night at his house, his mom refused to let us leave the house until we each had at least a liter of water and had to eat this huge bag of grapes….

It was at least a pound. We were full of Captain Crunch, and we couldn’t stop laughing at how ridiculous the situation was. It took us about 45 minutes to eat all the grapes. We felt disgusting. I don’t see him much anymore, but it’s become a custom of mine to tease him about his nickname.

About a year ago, when he was presenting at the MTV Woodies Awards, I randomly decided to text him. I turned on the TV, and I saw he was presenting an award to Matt and Kim, who went nuts on stage. I asked him why he didn’t mention that he was at the awards, and all he said was, “I’m stressing out bro, I’m surrounded by all these crazy white people.”

Miranda Kerr

The typical popular pretty girl who tried hard and had everyone fawn over her. Basically, the perfect poster child and good girl who did whatever she was asked. I mean that with no disrespect intended. Her parents, on the other hand, are attention seekers, and I have no respect for them. They moved the family across the country for her ‘career’ when she was still quite young, without much care-factor for her childhood and even less care-factor for her younger brother, who has struggled a lot in life living in her shadow….

She was doing magazine shoots at 14 and being heavily made up and posed in skimpy outfits. There was quite a bit of uproar locally, with people asking the question of whether it was borderline pedo stuff because she was just so young, but they were making her up to be so much older because she was so tall and skinny with such big eyes and lips.

It seemed they were sexualizing a girl who wasn’t even in the area of the legal age of consent, and it always seemed off that a parent would allow that. Anyway, the parents basically made it all about her, and they pinned everything on her gaining success at whatever cost. The parents were quite controlling and only gave the brother half glances in life.

Rob Schneider

According to legend, my mom’s friends strung Rob Schneider’s underwear up a flag pole at their band camp when he was a freshman. I brought it up with him a few years back when he was visiting the town, and he jokingly scolded me for “bringing up that painful memory.” In high school, he was supposedly a dorky, goofy, kind of annoying but lovable kid….

From my own experiences more recently, he’s silly and loves to make jokes and everything, but mostly he’s just laid back and very kind. This famous actor even funded our town’s band program and tries to come home for concerts and to stop by and say hello once in a while. He’s a real genuine good guy from what I know about him.

Miranda Lambert

I attended the same high school as Miranda Lambert. My now girlfriend played drums for one of her early local performances. She said she was really conceited and didn’t take well to people complimenting her (my girlfriend) and the other non-singing performers. On a separate thought, my girlfriend went to high school with Kacey Musgraves at a nearby high school….

My girlfriend’s sister used to have sleepovers and such with their friend group. She said that Kacey would always use her friends as a way to prop herself up, i.e., making jokes and little side comments at their expense. Maybe the country superstar was self-conscious at the time, and it made herself feel better, or maybe she was just a mean girl.

Matt Ryan

I went to college with Matt Ryan. He’s getting a lot of national attention as one of the top NFL MVP candidates. I had a few classes with him. He was an incredibly nice guy. He was also very intelligent. I wasn’t surprised at all when he had one of the top scores (if not the top) in his draft class on the Wonderlic test….

My first class with him was before he won the starting job at Boston College, and my last class with him was after he started getting recognized as a potential NFL-level player. He didn’t change at all. He was always super approachable and kind. I was definitely not at his level in terms of social circles (science dork), yet he still knew my name and would say hi to me unprompted if we crossed paths around campus.

Rebecca Black

Rebecca Black was my ‘little buddy’ when she was in kindergarten and I was in 4th grade. Honestly, she was adorable and very well-spoken and polite for a five-year-old. And I remember for the two other years I went to that elementary school, we still bumped into each other every now and then. She spent most of her time in the library reading….

She kept herself only to a small group of friends. And now we’ve been friends on Facebook for the past two years or so, even before Friday debuted, so it’s safe to say she was a nice girl then and an even sweeter lady now. She probably still likes reading, too, and keeping her circle as small as possible.

Tyler the Creator

In middle school (6th grade), I sat across from Tyler the Creator for one semester, but he was in my class all year long. He was always making stupid jokes (and of course inappropriate jokes here and there). He broke my pen and said I could just buy another one. He was always chatty, talking about his favorite hip-hop artists….

It was the Neptunes and NERD, I believe. Towards the last few days of school, our teacher brought a camcorder to record the class, and he wanted to do a rap battle with another classmate sitting in our group. The entire class roared with laughter, and I wish I could remember why, but the opponent sat down afterward. I didn’t know he was Tyler the Creator until a few years ago and it’s crazy that he’s famous now, but his humor is still intact.

Debby Ryan

We didn’t go to the same high school, but we went to the same church youth group. She was nice, very bubbly (borderline obnoxious), and was involved in a lot of church productions. She even played Mary for Christmas one year. I actually remember overhearing her afterward telling someone how she felt she had played the part so well it brought people to tears, and she found it touching or something….

I thought it was hilarious. I remember when she auditioned for Disney. She wouldn’t stop bragging about it. Our church was in Keller, TX, and I want to say her mom took her to Dallas for it. I remember thinking there was no way she’d land a part for Disney. That’d be like winning the lottery; it just doesn’t happen to people you know. I’m actually pretty proud of how true to her values she seems to have stayed, honestly.

Tyler Joseph

I went to high school with Tyler Joseph, lead singer of Twenty One Pilots. In school, he was an amazing basketball player; he and his brother Zack were known state-wide. He comes from a great family. To be honest, as charismatic as he is, Tyler was relatively quiet back in those days. Then, once his rise to fame happened, he seemed just to be a little more arrogant….

But hey, corruption is a mean disease, and he’s still not a bad guy. If others were in his position, they would be the same way, or maybe even worse. His band is quite famous, but his name is still a common one. But hey, maybe he’s stressed out about it all…and now we all have to go listen to that song.

Amy Poehler

Amy Poehler is from my home town, although about ten years older than me. She was just getting famous from SNL when I was in high school. Her mom taught at my school, but I never had her. She was really well-liked, though. Amy came back and did some cameos in the senior class video a couple of years after I graduated….

All those kids said she was awesome and super nice. She totally didn’t have to go and star in a small-town high school senior comedy sketch video, but she did, and that’s awesome! It’s always nice to give back to your own roots and show other kids anything is possible: even becoming a rich and famous comedian for SNL.

Eddie Robertson

I went to school with Eddie Robertson (of Barenaked Ladies). He was a brilliant and hilarious guy and was friendly with everyone he knew. He was part of the ‘gifted’ program at Woburn Collegiate in Scarborough (a year ahead of me). He was one of the few ‘nerds’ (back in the 1980s when it wasn’t a positive term) that was actually popular with all of the cliques in the school….

He and Steven Page performed together (proto-Barenaked Ladies) at the school talent show at least once. I’m pretty sure that’s where I first heard McDonald’s Girl. He and another student used to be in charge of the music/announcements on the PA before classes started in the morning, and they were very funny. He was just a funny and nice and talented and outgoing teenager who became a funny and nice and talented and outgoing adult.

Brandon Stanton

I went to school with Brandon Stanton, the Humans of New York guy. He absolutely loved being popular. Everything he did was essentially to get and maintain attention. Fairly smart, somewhat funny, a reasonably functioning druggie, and always really loud. After high school, he bounced around for a while. He always talked about writing a book or producing a documentary or something….

Essentially, they were all just different plans for projects that would make him famous. Anyway, he eventually moved to New York and started taking pictures of people, and it took off. It’s a great site, and he probably does more good than most, but it would never have happened if he didn’t love attention and praise from the very beginning.

Ray Fisher

I went to high school and was good friends with Ray Fisher, who plays Cyborg in the Justice League movies. We hung out a lot in our senior year and several years through college. He played a lot of pranks on our statistics teacher. All that enthusiasm he has in interviews and stuff is so real. He’s a great guy….

He’s really down to earth and worked incredibly hard to get where he is. I haven’t seen him since he got the role, but his best friends from high school are still some of his best friends, and he hangs out with them all the time. Justice League is hugely successful and well-known all over the world, but Ray Fisher is a true friend and a one-of-a-kind guy.

Eric Paslay

I went to high school with Eric Paslay, the country music singer. He was a really quiet kid. He had a fun streak and was honestly one of the best musicians at our school. He was good friends with my boyfriend, and so I wound up at his house a couple of times after gigs (he was in a local band, and my boyfriend and I helped him after gigs by playing ‘roadie’ and helping unload equipment….)

He and I weren’t best friends, but our circles crossed a lot. I was a genuine fan of his music and made it out to all of the gigs too. His mom was super nice, and all I can say is I am so glad someone so talented and sincere has found a bit of fame in Nashville. He also used to sing like Dave Matthews, and I still own his first CDs from his local band.

Aziz Ansari

I went to high school with Aziz Ansari. He used to always answer questions wrong in class and try to argue that he was right. Like, if the teacher asked what year America was discovered, he would say 1896 and tell the teacher they were wrong. He would ask for their source and claim the source was unreliable, regardless of what they said….

Eventually, the teachers would ignore him; then, he’d tell me they were racist. I wasn’t sure if he was funny or weird; I guess he was both. And honestly, he seems like he hasn’t changed at all. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. Either way, he definitely made it big and probably still says silly, strange things.

Justin Trudeau

September 11, 2001, I was only 13, but I could tell that this was some serious stuff. My French teacher wasn’t at school that day. Our sub was Mr. Trudeau. So there I am in French class on 9/11 with this sub who says that he’s actually a history and drama teacher, but he’s from Montreal, so he teaches French from time to time….

He wasn’t going to teach us French that day; he wanted to talk about geopolitics, to the extent that 13-year-olds could. He had some thoughts, but he was more concerned with facilitating discussion. Unfortunately, I don’t remember a lot of what was said. Still, I remember that he did want to hear from every student about how they thought it would affect their lives.

Heath Ledger

I went to high school with Heath Ledger. In Guildford Grammar School, we had a ‘house system’ as a way to organize students and have a more engaging mentoring system through seniors and a head teacher. We were in Woodbridge house, one of the ‘day’ houses where the students weren’t staying on campus. Being a year ahead of me, the seniority mentality set in….

He was seen as a jerky senior that would not think twice about beating you up if you were a junior who crossed him. One time, we were playing ping pong at lunch, and I lent him my paddle. One of his friends shoved him as he was taking a shot, and he used my paddle to break his fall. It splintered it to pieces, but he replaced it a week later with the cheapest piece of wood he could find at the local dollar store.

Mark Hamill

My mother dated Mark Hamill’s cousin and indirectly caused the car accident Hamill was in. She convinced her boyfriend to have Mark come to some family reunion or something. I don’t remember the details, and considering my mother, I’d say this story has a chance of being completely true. My mother and uncle were friends with Alexis Denisof growing up, who played Wesley in Buffy and Angel, among other things….

He’s nice and down to earth. The same uncle was roommates or neighbors (I forgot which) with Jason Segal when they were both trying to make it big. Apparently, he’s a great guy and funny. Oh, and my grandmother knew all the great singers of her time: Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, and so on. Frank was a jerk, but Bobby was sweet to her.

Miley Cyrus

Two of my friends at college went to school with Miley Cyrus. They said she wasn’t popular or anything. She was on the cheer team and was kind of annoying. They said they remember her coming to school and saying that she had landed her own TV show, but no one believed her. Then she didn’t come back to school, and they were like, “Oh….”

Also, one of my friend’s friends went to school with Emma Watson, and in passing conversation, he said that she was “bizarre.” Not sure what he meant, but I didn’t care enough to ask him to elaborate. In context, it seemed like he was saying that she was kind of in her own celebrity world and didn’t associate with any of them.

Lamar Odom

I went to college with the former NBA player Lamar Odom. The one who married a Kardashian for a little bit. He was a giant jerk back then, though I’ve heard he has gotten his act together before more recent events. He would park his brand new SUV, which ‘coincidentally’ matched the SUV of every other player on the basketball team, very badly….

However, his SUV was slightly different from his customized LOdom license plate. Anyway, he would always park on the sidewalk because he couldn’t be bothered to park anywhere legally. Not only that, but we even spotted a handicapped tag in his car more than once. That’s pretty sad that he can’t just park and walk a short distance to the door.

George R. R. Martin

My cousin went to high school with George R. R. Martin and recalled having a freshman lit class with him. When it was time for everyone to read their stories, George’s was by far the best. Apparently, the entire class simultaneously dropped their jaws. The guy is talented. Oh, and apparently he was your typical nice dude, but that’s not all I learned about him….

He also started a fight club, and his full name is George Raymond Richard Martin, also known as GRRM. This infamous author went on to create epic fantasy novels like The Song of Fire and Ice, which was adapted into the notorious and award-winning HBO series Game of Thrones. I want to know more about that fight club he had in college, though.

Kristen Bell

I was two years behind Kristen Bell at Shrine High School. It was an odd transition seeing someone you vaguely know become famous. Even in high school, she was in regional Rite Aid commercials. That was strange enough. Then my friends started having viewing parties when she’d make an appearance on The Shield or had 10 minutes in a David Mamet movie….

She had a couple of TV movies and then suddenly she was Veronica Mars and a star. My friend and I went to see Pootie Tang on opening day because we heard she was in it. It turns out she had roughly two minutes of screen time during the end credits. And the rest is history for the beloved Frozen Disney star.

Ben McKee

Ben McKee of Imagine Dragons was a goofy music kid. He was nice and mellow, just like how he still seems now. He was one of us California Russian River Rats if you know what I mean. I also went to elementary and middle school with him. He was voted ‘Most Likely To Get Hit By A Parked Car’ in eighth grade….

Any example of how he was goofy happened in junior high. He had a Just Blame It On El Niño shirt in 1996 and asked our eighth-grade first-period math teacher to sing us Lemon Tree. You know, just your typical goofy music kid who eventually became a global singing sensation. Ben McKee is kind of a hero, you could say.

Ellen Page

I went to school with Ellen Page. We were in the same group of friends, went to all the same parties, and ate lunch together. She kept thinking I was calling her ‘Helen’ all the time, which was weird. I’d say, “Hi Ellen, how’s it going?” “My name is Ellen! Not Helen!” she’d say, when I called her that in the first place….

My best friend dated her for a bit, and they were nice together. She’s one of those people who act exactly how you’d expect. She’s a bit timid and shy but nice. Apparently, fame and fortune from Hollywood didn’t change her either, because she still seems that same way today. It’s great that she found success in major hits like Juno and X-Men.