‘They Had A Crush On Me’: 20 People Share Things That Surprised Them From Their High School Reunion

High School Reunions can be nerve-wracking experiences. Checking in with your old friends, first crushes and lovers, and maybe even former enemies can be rather overwhelming. There is also probably still a part of you that’s curious too. Wondering, how did everyone else do in the game of life?  Someone asked Redditors to talk about their high-school reunion experiences and the biggest surprise of what they encountered. Folks were happy to oblige with their stories and we’ve shared some of the more interesting tales below. 

#1

Image source: lagoon83, Alyona Pastukhova The massive stoner from the year below me who used to get suspended on a monthly basis was the head of the English department.

#2

Image source: juleztb, cottonbro studio At some point of our 10y reunion I asked the girl I had a crush on back in 7/8th grade if she knew that I had a crush on her. I just thought it was fun talking about that as adults. Turnes out she texted me several times the next days, we met again and now, almost 6ys later we're engaged (for 2ys... but didn't marry yet ;)) we have a house, a child, second child on the way and everything is great. Not what I expected back then.

#3

Image source: Hetvenfour, Max van den Oetelaar Back in high school, there was one girl who was extremely popular, extremely pretty, and seemed totally unapproachable from my vantage point. She was also really catty, embodying a lot of the “Mean Girl” stereotypes. Talking with her at the reunion, it turned out that she was very insecure, and had a very tenuous home life for which she was compensating and now she is extremely kind, full of gratitude, and just really down to earth. I love seeing that sort of change in people!

#4

Image source: PM_Me_UrRightNipple, DEELIN The biggest surprise anytime I catch up with people I grew up with is finding out their career. Most of us have pretty unremarkable jobs but some that stood out: -The guy who got arrested for underaged drinking 3 times is now a cop -The girl who couldn’t form a coherent sentence is now a teacher -The super genius is living in poverty because he decided to move to Costa Rica to save the rainforest -The bad kid joined the Army and now runs a small business and is doing very well for himself. -The golden child is now in prison for sexual assault -The weirdo became a DJ and does shows at night clubs -The nerdy D&D kid now owns and operates an outdoor shooting range and is one of the largest ammunition suppliers in the area.

#5

Image source: someguysomewhere81, Product School At my 10 year reunion, one of the guys that bullied me for being gay had, himself, come out of the closet and I learned had embraced the bdsm lifestyle, in all the good ways. We chatted and he apologized for his behavior and we got to talking about our mutual interests. Not that night, but down the road, he bullied me again... he bullied my brains out... It was surprisingly cathartic.

#6

In high school in the late 1970’s a punk bully took my back pack and threw it out a third story window. I hated that guy. He did random s****y things like that to a few others. At a recent reunion he surprisingly showed up. I decided to talk to him. After a few beers I brought up the back pack toss. He didn’t remember it. We further talked. Turns out during that time in high school his dad was dying of cancer and he was struggling with his sexuality. He’s gay. Through tears he apologized to me for his erratic behavior in high school. After a couple more beers he told me that his 30 year partner had also recently passed of cancer. Wow. I’m just glad I went to the reunion. I had been talking s**t about that guy for decades. Now we are great friends. Image source: 2ndanointed

#7

I was probably a big surprise for a lot of people. And I met my husband, we knew of each other in high school but had both changed so much we were basically new and different people 10 years later. He’d been a huge stoner hippy but popular cool party boy and I’d been suppressed into near invisibility between an abusive boyfriend and conservative Christian parents. I had zero interest in going and actually hadn’t even graduated from there, but my old friends (one was bullied terribly and was now out and proud, the other had a near-lethal cough syrup addiction and barely graduated but now had mid-6-figure internship on Wall Street) really wanted me to go because I was a late bloomer and they wanted to show up with a newly pretty girl on their arm. Plus I had really nice fake boobs. Their explanation not mine. Pretty much the best decision I ever made. Met my husband and he’s so hot and super awesome and we’re still killing it 13 years later. Most unlikely couple ever. Image source: wimwood

#8

Image source: brock_lee, David Bartus At the ten-year, One guy who had been a kind of nerd and on the bowling team was now part of a "wacky morning DJ" crew on one of the more popular radio stations in New York City, and came in with big hair and dressed like a rock star.

#9

Image source: GlitchyMcGlitchFace, Emma Bauso The couple from our graduating HS class that had nine kids by our 10 year reunion. They were even given an award for it, smh.

#10

That the guy who pretty much terrorized half of the school, was highly aggressive and got into legal trouble multiple times, is now running a successful business. He also has 4 kids now and apparently, one of the middle ones has a really big bullying problem at school. And he's part of a parent run school club to fight against school bullies. More than 20 years have passed since then and I don't have any bad feelings towards him (anymore). But I also hate the fact that he acts so high and mighty about it now, while also being the worst offender when he was young. People change and I'm the first one to forgive and forget. But it leaves a really bitter taste when you sit there and he talks for 2 hours straight about "How to stop bullies". I mean... Thanks for my childhood trauma that really damaged my self esteem for the longest time... I guess? Happy you did so well for yourself. Image source: OneMorePotion

#11

Image source: zazzlekdazzle, fauxels (20-year reunion) How many people seemed like they wanted to get to know me better in high school. When I was in high school, I felt like a total social pariah and I would only approach people I thought were also at the bottom of the social food chain. It turns out, a lot of pretty cool people would have likely been my friends if I had given them a chance and been more open to it. Many people mentioned that they thought about being friends or better friends with me but weren't quite sure why it didn't happen. Also, at the reunion, I was much more extroverted and confident and I realized a lot of the people I thought were popular snobs were very cool people. Back in high school, it's not like those folks were begging me to hang out and I said no, but I was definitely defensive because I didn't want to get rejected. This means that I might have missed out on having not only more friends, but better ones because picking from the lowest rung of the ladder often meant I was dealing with people who had a lot of emotional problems.

#12

Image source: survivalguyledeuce, Marcus Herzberg My 10 year reunion was held at a bar. It was all the same people at the bar as it was every weekend, but this time they were wearing nicer clothes.

#13

Image source: Kaiser93, Anna Shvets Last year was our 10th year reunion. I went there just for s**ts and giggles and......wow. Where do I even begin? - The biggest nerd in the whole year turned out into this huge egotistical douchebag. - The school's most "sociable" girl became a nurse. - The school gang of bad boys were: 2 dead - one car crash/ one drug overdose, 1 commited suicide, one worked is a tech store, one worked 2 jobs because he was paid child support to 3 women (remember, kids, condoms are a good thing), one actually turned his life around and got a bachelor's degree in English and was a middle school English teacher and the last one was working for his dad because he got kicked out of uni. - My classmate, who many people thought was an asocial and stuck-up b***h, bloomed into a beautiful woman, who's married with 2 kids. We had a long talk and she said that she appeared asocial because our classmates were morons (true) and she had no intention to talk to them.

#14

Image source: ACorania, Mehmet Suat Gunerli The reunion itself. My wife was down in the state south of us for training and got into an accident. I went down and got things sorted with her so she was good and went back to what she was doing and I drove back north. It was a friday and I was driving through my home town and figured I would take my mother out to a restaurant we used to both really like going to. As we were eating, an old friend from highschool walked through, waved and headed into the back. Then another, and another, and another. Just as I was about to get up and go see what was going on an old girlfriend and later good friend walked in, saw me and came up to talk for a bit. Then she asked if we should head back there, which confused me. Turns out I made it to the 10th year reunion for my class without knowing that I was at the 10th year reunion for my class. I finished my dinner with my mom, let her take my car home (I would catch a ride), and had a good night at the reunion I didn't know to expect.

#15

Image source: Gonzostewie, John Matychuk My band got asked to play "some 90s class reunion" by a venue. We took the gig. As we're setting up I thought "Hey, I know her... And him... And her... And them" *It was my f****n class reunion and I wasn't invited.*

#16

Image source: poo_smudge, August de Richelieu That my friend was still alive and he was equally surprised that I was. We got into drugs together right after HS, we ended up being so f****d up that one night we robbed each other (he sold me a bag of actual grass and I gave him a dollar instead of a 20 and we both ran in opposite directions and never spoke again. Friendship ended, no one even confronted the other. 10 years later at my HS reunion I see him sitting in the corner, we were both sober and looking great. I walk over to him and first thing he says to me was "OMG I THOUGHT YOU'D BE DEAD" and I said the same thing back to him... we talked the rest of the night, he didn't even remember why we stopped talking in the first place, just that we were both in a very dark place when we parted ways lol. Anyway we both felt it best we leave the friendship there and did not exchange numbers or anything but I'm glad he's alive.

#17

Image source: Back2Bach, Mike B It was disturbing that 17 classmates had died by our 10th reunion.

#18

Image source: Someoneoverthere42, Мария Сусоева The last I ever heard of my high school reunion was in an alumni newsletter. I was listed as “missing” with a request for anyone who knew how to contact me to contact the alumni organization. The newsletter was sent to my house. I’m trying not to take it personally…..

#19

Image source: Unable_Literature78, cottonbro studio The hottest girl in grade 12…totally out of my league…told me at the reunion she’d always hoped I would ask her out and didn’t like that I treated her more like a sister despite her attempts to flirt with me. I am Captain Oblivious it turns out.

#20

Image source: whomp1970, Andrea Piacquadio The only real "surprise" was **just how wrong we were about how people would turn out.** The ivy-league bound people you were sure would be CEOs one day, ended up dropping out of college, having normal middle-class lives, jobs, and marriages, and just being happy as "average". The people you were sure would end up like [Wooderson from School Daze](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7DdPZDYBSGI/maxresdefault.jpg), turned out to get Masters degrees and even PhDs in one case, and now work in either government or aerospace. The guy who fought to get into West Point, ended up doing his required four years and then leaving the armed services. One guy ended up becoming a semi-successful author, and nobody saw that coming. Two committed suicide, and many asked "Why? He seemed to have everything going for him!?" The girl who got pregnant at 16, who you were sure was destined for a life of struggle, ended up landing a great career and retiring early. And her kids turned out to be great people who any parent would be proud of. The people you were sure would never lose contact with their friend group, vanished as if they never existed. The people who had to ask yourself, "I don't recall that name at all, did they graduate in my class?" are now friends with 75% of the class on Facebook, and active! The athletes (boys and girls) are now anything but athletes, overweight and frumpy. The frumpy dumpy ones now are rock climbers and hike the entirety of the Appalachian Trail. **IT JUST GOES TO SHOW:** Who you are on graduation day, is absolutely not who you will become in three, five, ten, or thirty years. The future is yet unwritten, and the only thing stopping you from change, is yourself.