People Are Confessing Their Most Awkward High School Reunion Experiences

I went to my girlfriend's high school reunion with her. Now we're lesbians so I was expecting someone to give weird looks, but I wasn't anything that bad. It got much worse.When we get to the reunion we're having a nice time, people recognize my girlfriend (she was much more popular than me back in high school.) No one really cares that we're gay until we meet Bitch Lady and her husband. When I say that I'm her partner the lady asks "Oh like business partner?" Since my girlfriend has a good sense of humor she laughs and tells her that no, we're dating. What does she do? Not apologize or just not mention it, instead she turns to her husband and says in Spanish "I knew there was something wrong with her." My girlfriend is pale but she's Mexican and speaks fluent Spanish so she tells the lady to fuck off.

At the awards portion of the night we had pretty much forgotten the Bitch. Turns out the Bitch had been the organizer of the event and was doing the the awards. We laugh at some of the humorous awards and than we get to my girlfriend's award. Can you guess what it? It was "Biggest Dyke." Long story made short, I am escorted out by security leaving the Bitch with a bloody nose.

/Well-That-Was-Bad/

10 year reunion invite came up and I thought 'yeah looks like it could be fun'. I notice the venue is fancy restaurant. Disappointed, expecting some sort of party. Room is very limited.. for a class of over 100 you would think they would have picked a venue with over 25 capacity.I start reaching out to all the friends I've kept in touch with. Not one of them is even remotely interested in going. My old high school best friend suggests we catch up at his and drink, instead. Havnt seen him in years so I bail on the reunion. Turns out almost no one went. 

One of the girls that organised the thing was begging my mate to go, because she was so embarassed how little people had RSVPd. She ended up bailing, herself. Turns out for the 10 people that actually went (half of which organised it), they had to be split up, since they booked a place that was not intended for large groups of people.

Unironically, the same group that organised it took it upon themselves to organise our end of school formal (aussie for prom). They decided for themselves that we didn't want to go with the original plan and completely replanned it without really consulting the general student body. 

So many people bailed on it that they had to start inviting ex students (dropped out, changed schools, expelled - takes some real shit to get expelled from a Catholic school in Australia) just to meet the minimum capacity the venue required to move forward with the date.

Honestly, I know they meant wepl, but this group ruined the formal for a lot of people. I don't know why I expected anything good from their reunion. Apparently the after party was wild, though. Someone almost got thrown off the boat (literally into the water at 2 in the morning), and a guy we know copped a dick in the eye.

To answer a few questions: he woke up the next day, and sat up without opening his eyes. He had been sleeping on the floor, and someone was standing over him with his dick out. Why was it hard? I don't know. I don't want to know. 

Lol. the after party was of the formal. And the after-after party is called the kick-ons. I'm sure the restaurant could have catered to 10 people. I assume some rocked up unannounced. If you get expelled from a Catholic school, at least in Australia, you can not attend any other Catholic school. My school (at least) were hesitant to expel, as a result. 

They had told us this, but I can't remember if it was because they wanted to keep kids in Catholic schools, or if it was because we were preparing for the HSC (Aussie version of finals).

/Gnemlock/

We haven't had a reunion, and that's part of the awkwardness that is actually hilarious from the outside. Wall of text incoming. We were 8 years out of education (6 for those that went to college, and 2 for most of those who went on to do university courses). Somebody popped up an FB group for our 10 year reunion. Great, somebody though ahead to plan it early and take time to get the class together, then time to plan it. Intelligent.Not quite. The people who had started the group are part of that young mothers group that were neither popular, intelligent, nor liked outside of their own social circle but all got knocked up by randomers, and not a one of them was a looker so anytime someone points out they have a kid everyone goes: "Really? Someone slept with her?". You know the group I'm talking about, on their own they're probably nice people, but their hypochondria, narcissism and all around elitist attitudes are neither justified nor something you have the care to tolerate. Trying to have a conversation with them devolves into "as a mother, my opinion is more important than yours. Your higher education on the matter, and the fact you studied this exact topic to a masters degree level means nothing when compared to the fact that I use my kids as weapons in the emotional war that is relationships".They had thrown this group together of everyone who they could remember, then locked the group down so you couldn't add anyone they missed, which probably equated to 40% of the year.
They wanted commitment from absolutely everyone in the group, otherwise it would not be going ahead. So those of us not interested backed out of the group so it looked like they had a 100% turnout. Things look ok for this sad little get together, but as the group wasn't properly private those of us who backed out could still read everything. I invested in popcorn shares and logged in to check this group every goddamn night until the hilarity died.

The more popular kids started to take control a little and actually drive it toward being an all inclusive, democratic group that planned things with everyone's wishes considered. They were inviting people that were left out, they were actively checking for suitable places to hold it and costs so they could work out what kind of deposit people would need to pay. The young mother's weren't having it. They refused to budge on having the venue as a small sports club venue in our hometown that could only hold 50 people (class was over 300, and around 150-180 had committed to showing at this point), and they would not have a reunion that cost money (because they of course are all living on the dole).

Ok. It kinda worked because as they were young mothers they were adamant that the get together was going to be early afternoon so they could bring their kids. The more social orientated group members realised that they could spill out onto the playing fields if the weather was alright, then metriculate into town to hit up the pubs. All good with the sports venue as one of the popular kids was working behind the bar there and checked (actually the first the club had heard of this reunion taking place there, which goes to show how little actual work the young mothers had done)
Apparently that wasn't good enough for the young mothers. If you were planning to meet-up at the reunion and leave, you were uninvited.

The popular group splintered off to have their own reunion. They still got together anyway in normal life so they just turned it into a night out, grabbed a few people they had fallen out of contact with. From what I saw online, they had fun. Got royally drunk and a few people got a taken home in the back of cop cars. All round enjoyable time for early 20 year olds that had no responsibilites. That was about 35 of the 150-180 gone. We'll call this 130 remaining for ease.

Here a few of the young mothers dropped out. Their kids had health issues. They had health issues. They were ousted from the social circle for having thoughts and ideas independent from the group. Just typical flakey shit from these people and their tenuous social links. It left a core group of around 7 mothers to sort the reunion out however, and boy howdy, these were the absolute sociopaths that were taking over now. Think like if the Gestapo were Hitler's personal party planning branch. These mothers were going to make sure things were down THEIR way. They were the driving force the whole time, but the few sane heads were no longer holding back the tidal wave of fuckery that was about to descend.

At this point we're now about 120 months out from the 10 year anniversary. Plenty of time to get things sorted. The first order of business was to rename the FB group to the "Rachel Matthews (fake name btw) 10 year memorial reunion". Rachel Matthews (remember fake name, I'll just refer to her as RM) was one of the OG young mothers. She was the youngest and the motherliest of them all. She sadly died of weight related health problems at the age of 17, leaving behind two kids that had 10 months age difference, with no idea who their fathers were. I think she had got pregnant at 15 with her first, so she was the pioneer, the template on which the other young mother's aspired to build their lives. RM wasn't well liked however. She generally kept to herself, and had been bullied quite a bit, growing up but as she got older she got very argumentative over everything with everyone, and her general vapidness left her on the losing side of soooo many self started arguments over the years

Most of the remaining class were ignoring this name change as they were more bothered about the reunion than the young mother's power moves that were happening. Someone however had the fucking balls to ask that someone else from our class who had died (I think hit by a drunk driver) be mentioned, and turn it into a general in memoriam reunion. The young mothers went ballistic. And started cursing people out. A few days of shit slinging happened and the remaining FB group was down to about 20 people (the mothers and I suspect the rest were just watching like I, but without dropping out of the group).

After alienating the entire year group (and accidentally causing a splinter group to form that actually just turned into the rest of the class who now plan the reunions etc,) a post popped up in my messages from the "RM 10 year memorial reunion": "Hi all, we have to cancel the reunion as we've worked out that it's not actually the ten year anniversary next year. Whoops. What we're doing instead is going to local pub name for a drink on RMs birthday. We do it every year but want to invite you guys to come remember this wonderful angel taken too early. Hope to see you there. We'll plan the reunion next year and actually do it on the ten year mark" There has been no ten year reunion. They did go to the pub but it was just them as usual. The photos that went online looked depressing as fuck. Reunion turned wake, organised by narcissists, caused and entire year group to oust some bitches.

/SG_Dave/

Mine is in a few months but the awkwardness has already started. First, I never had any plans to go. Things like that really aren't my speed. I'm not a mingler and I always want to leave right away. Besides I'll be away on military orders by that time anyway so there's no way I can go.
So a few weeks ago I get added to a (my school) 10 hear reunion page on FB by someone I don't recognize. Immediately think "nope" and leave the page, then don't think about it again. I got a phone call a few days later from an unknown number. Not unusual since lots of people call me for work stuff. 

I answer and get this really enthusiastic "OMG HI IT'S (NAME) HOW ARE YOU!" I apologize and tell her I think she has the work number. I don't know anyone with that name. She says my whole name and says she got my number from (friend from school). 

She was the class president but I honest to god didnt remember ber. She asks about the reunion, I politely tell her I'm not going, I have other obligations. She says "I don't know if that will work, I'll be in touch" and hangs up. I'm like wtf but whatever.

A few days later I get added back to the same group by her. Again I leave it. Not 30 minutes later I get a phone call from her. She wants to know why I left the group again, and again I tell her I have other obligations. 

She told me that "you don't skip reunions, we've planned this for years. You'll be there." So sarcastically I said "ok well save me a spot then" and up. A third time I'm added to this group. I'm like ffs and leave again. I get a call and this time she's calling to tell me that my ticket and dinner money are due by the end of the week. 

I politely remind her that I'm not going. She gets snooty and informs me that the venue and catering have already been reserved and that I will need to pay for my meal as the fund would not cover it.

Once again I remind her that I was never attending and that it isn't my fault that she paid in advance without a proper count. She then told me "you don't have choice, it's already paid for so you have to be there. I said "alright bye (wrong name) and hung up again.

I ended up blocking her on FB, ignoring her calls, and leaving the group 2 more times when other members of the reunion committee added me back in.

[redacted]

Went to my high school reunion. I honestly don’t know why I did. The friends I kept in touch with...well, I kept in touch with. But one friend managed to convince me otherwise and so I went.
The reunion wasn’t bad. It was mostly people trying their best to one-up each other in their bid to look successful. I sat down at a table next to my friend where I was actually enjoying my time catching up with long forgotten acquaintances. During the reunion, there were two people who stood out the most.

There was this chick that I barely recognized. My friend and I kept asking each other if she was in our graduating class or a spouse of one. Found out later that she spent close to $80,000 for cosmetic surgery; hence, being unidentifiable. She was so proud of herself that nobody was able to recognize her. Seriously, she could’ve been a candidate on “Botched”...but who was I to pop her bubble?

The other was a guy who was so snooty back in high school. We’re talking the cliche ‘if your address wasn’t within a certain neighborhood, you weren’t good enough to acknowledge’ kind of snobbery.

Well, he arrived late for the dinner portion and all the seats at his old friend’s table were already taken. So he sullenly sat down with the likes of us. Yikes. Having to sit with people you looked down on all your teenage life. The poor man. So I took pity on him because most of the people at the table probably remembered his attitude as well and ignored him. I started asking him questions...of how he’s faired since graduation, etc. This was our conversation while the DJ was blasting music and others were yelling over the din to be heard within their own chats.

Me: “So what are you doing now, Snob?” (The name of guy was changed to protect the innocent)
Snob: “I work at Smith, Smith & Smith Attorney Law firm.” (Not a real company but you get the gist)Me: “That’s impressive. Are you a Lawyer? Studying to be a Lawyer?”
Snob: “No. I’m working on it.”
Me: “Oh? Articling at your Law firm?”
Snob: “No.”Me: “You work at Smith, Smith & Smith. So what exactly is it that you do?”

Movie moment, I kid you not. The DJ cut the music so that the MC could make the announcement that dinner was to be served shortly. But before that happened...

Snob got frustrated with all my questions and stated loudly into the unexpected silence: “I’m a Mailroom Clerk!”Everyone stared and hate to say this...accidental justice was served. Snob was taken down a peg or two by his own hands.

/OneRaisedBrow/

Made my first ever account just to answer this (been lurking in n around Reddit for a year now)... Bit of backstory : I signed an eight figure import contract with a gulf country. Been on tv in my native country as a result. Alumni class organised our 6th Annual Reunion since graduation, less than a week ago... Deleted 90% of my batch back in 2014 when things were going well, and left the batch's Facebook page n all. 

Finally mustered up the courage to attend my first ever reunion since graduation (p.s. never got to graduate coz my high school grades sucked)...90% of the batch never invited me to any of the previous 5 reunions or any other outing post-graduation and suddenly my number's blowing up with people asking me to give a speech this year. Duly obliged...
Walk in with some of the remaining 10% buddies and everybody's talking to me as if we've all been bffs since graduation... Now I wasn't a loser by any means in high school, but I always held a grudge towards how everybody cast me away after the shame of not being able to graduate back in 2012 (yeah these things matter a lot in my country)... 

I got a little drunk before getting on stage for my speech so I got on and basically picked out people I held a pretty significant grudge against, one by one and the room got uncomfortably silent as people were tyna figure out if I was kidding or being serious. Worst of it was directed at my ex who broke up with me a day after graduation stating "she doesn't see a future with a nobody like me" (she's married to a classmate presently)... 

So I said something along the lines of 'remember when you didn't see a future with me? Well guess what I've got enough money to buy your entire family now'... That was the last straw and my best friend dragged me off stage with an uncomfortable and hasty apology to all... So I came down and her husband basically punched me square in the jaw and ko'd me on the spot. 

Okay now since the deal broke out, me n my company have been getting extortion threats from the Isis cell in my native country. So quite recently I had to pay for a private security detail. Not much, one big guy with a gun and one without + chauffeur. So all 3 of my security detail were lined up way at the back of the hall during my drunk speech and as soon as my speech was over and my friend dragged me off stage and my ex's husband decked me, they proceeded to destroy him on the spot. 

Apparently while I was passed out and after they beat him to a pulp, they dragged me out along with the friends I came to the event with, called the venue security and got the police involved pressing an assault charge against my ex's husband who has been detained and basically the entire event got shut down.
Idk how awkward the whole thing was since I passed out, but I figure it was pretty awkward and if they hated my guts before Im sure they'll only hate me more now. Anywho, so my friends have asked me to post a formal apology in the facebook group. Im not gonna. Don't feel like it. 

I wish I could've witnessed the whole thing but yeah I assume it was pretty awkward. Definitely during my drunk n rage filled speech but moreso afterward...

r/no_more_worries/

I should start by saying that our boys swim team (which I was a part of) and the girls swim team were very comfortable with each other the year I graduated. I'm pretty sure every girl in the team had seen every boy naked more than 20 times (as almost all of them took to hanging out in the boys locker room after meets) the coach was retiring that year so he gave no fucks what we did. The other way around was mostly true as well as almost half of the girls graduating with me tried showering with us at least once or twice.
So that year my team captain threw a graduation party for us at his parents house and once the weed and drinks came out we all kind of made ourselves extra comfortable in the back yard pool.
Now this party was originally just for the swim team but eventually more students started showing up and making their way to the back yard to ogle the girls (some of them were pretty popular). Once we figured out we were being watch most of us covered up and eventually it eventually settled into a regular high school party.

10 years later. A reunion was planned but it never happened. The swim team got together every Christmas anyway for an alumni meet so a few of us decided to go back to the team captains house for an unofficial reunion party (this time we were all very drunk, very hot, 26-27 year olds, trying to hold on to our glory days. And this time nobody came who we didn't know... Things got out of hand).
I was married at this time and my wife and I left before the party got too wild but we heard all about it the next day.

10 years later. A semi formal twenty year reunion too place in a very fancy hall. One guy who had gotten very successful paid for almost everything. While we were all eating and talking and having a good night, this girl came bursting in like she had a mission. She starts going on and on about how everyone treated her terrible in high school and how she didn't get an invite to the reunion (it went out to everyone on Facebook and tickets were available to buy for almost a year before the event). And how she didn't get an invite to the party 10 years ago either. At that point everyone is confused. She goes on to say that she wasn't invited to the graduation party even though she lived right next door.

Now we on the swim team start looking at each other like "Does she think our party was an official school party?" (No one was invited to that, it just kind of came together). Then she pulls a bunch of papers out of her bag and start going from table to table hurling the loose printer pages onto each table. When she gets to our table we can see that they are pictures from both parties that she took off us from her window. I guess she was trying to embarrass us.

She was promptly thrown out and someone gathered all the papers (I'm sure a few managed to escape) and threw them out. Then suddenly everyone started laughing about it. We were all old assholes at that point coming up on our 40s. 

Most of us were overweight if not in terrible shape, and suddenly someone shows up with with naked pictures of when we were young buff and sexy. Not to mention half the people at the reunion were at the original party, so it's not like this was some deviating bombshell.

The pictures from the second party were much more embarrassing (some of the people there were married and acting very not married) but I think no one besides those if us who were there really caught on that these were from 2 different decades before the pictures were all collected. If they did catch on no one mentioned it.
All in all it could have been much worse than it was, and I'm sure for some of the people who were caught cheating, it was. But for most of us it was just another fun memory of being stupid and young. And really, isn't that what high school reunions are for?

/Zero111of160cru/

I was just thinking about this today. A few years when the 20th reunion was coming up i started getting messages on Facebook from people asking me if i was going. I didn't want to be there when i was in high school, have had recurring nightmares over the years i never graduated and had to go back the next day, and aside from family i went to school with have literally only had contact with one person from high school. Needless to say, I had no plans to go.
The messages were coming in from my friend, my family, and then random people who i was briefly acquainted with two decades ago. No. Nope. Sorry no. I never thought i was real popular in school because i treated it like prison. Did the absolute minimum and never spent a single second there I wasn't required by the state to do. I would kind of glance over the messages and then just respond with one or two word responses. I figured after the initial flurry it would just stop. 

I was wrong. Evidently I was a popular guy in high school and really fucking good looking. I wish id known it then. I know this because i started getting messages from a lot of girls i went to school with who "just got divorced and wanted to catch up". A couple of them flat out said they wanted to do what they were to afraid to in high school and fuck my brains out. Im not bragging but i really haven't changed much since high school. Im going grey but its just like in spots in my beard and at the tips of my hair. Im not bald. Im about two pants sizes bigger, but now i work in IT so that will probably change. I have never considered myself attractive, mostly because of what these same people said to me in elementary school.

When the messages got weird i decided to show my wife. Better i show her than she discover them and think im hiding something. She knew i had no intention of going to the reunion and prior to this she had actually been trying to change my mind. She had a completely different high school experience and still goes to every reunion and keeps up with high school friends. She asked my friend and his wife who told her I was evidently more popular than I thought i was and most of the girls had crushes on me at some point. My buddy was mr popular in school and like my wife kept up with those people. His wife was a year behind us but confirmed the story.

So because of the reunion i found out what i believed about who i was in high school was completely in my own head. It changed absolutely nothing else. I didn't go to the reunion, didn't respond to the messages, and have no plans to ever go to my hometown or see my high school alums again. Family and my one friend excluded of course.

Whats more, im no more confident about my physical appearance. I guess i was an ugly duckling but I have avoided mirrors and pictures my whole life and i can't make myself believe anything else. I wasn't physically bullied, honestly im pretty strong and got in quite a few fights with bullies that tried and by middle school they just left me alone. But the words cut me very deeply very early. Once i accepted that as my reality i decided to make myself exceptional in other ways and have had a very interesting life.

I found out something about reality from the reunion experience i had, and with so many young folks on reddit i thought it worth contributing. The reality you live in is painted heavily by your own insecurities. Its never as bad or good as you feel, but i hope you don't spend a second longer in that pit of depression and suicidal thoughts than you have to. 

When i said i accepted my reality i mean id been through some painful things and was clinically depressed. The emotional bullying at school made me hate school and that probably opened the door that later tragedies walked through but just like walking away from that place still ranks as a top five day of my life your situations can change to. 

Don't consider permanent solutions to temporary problems. And delete Facebook so overcome obstacles have a harder time coming back.

/ZazzlesPoopsInABox/

Ugh. I went to my husbands ten year reunion. Two of his high school friends, a couple who both went there as well, rode with us.The party was being held in a venue on a golf course about an hour or so from our house. No one wanted to bother with staying overnight somewhere, and since it wasn’t really my party, I volunteered to be DD.

I went in knowing absolutely NO ONE, aside from my husband and our two friends. I spent the next several hours feigning interest in ridiculous stories and reminiscent conversations I had nothing to do with, while also trying not to get visibly annoyed with everyone around me getting more and more drunk while I sipped on my beer. 

I had absolutely nothing in common with anyone at the party- they’re all from a small town and most of the attendees still live and work there; I grew up in the big city. I’ve never seen so much camo in one location at one time as I did that evening, and the amount of gay bashing/racial slurs/god and guns talk I overheard from these people made me want to punch myself in the face.

To top it off, the party was complete with a party crasher- some random guy who was at least ten years older than us. A group of alumni met him THAT DAY while they were out on the golf course. They invited him to the party and he proceeded to get absolutely hammered.

At one point, my husband and I were on the dance floor. When the song ended, he went to the bathroom. I took maybe three steps back towards our table when I was accosted by the extremely drunk party crasher guy. 

He mumbled something about, “hey baby, you look lonely” and tried to grind on me in front of everyone. I pushed him away but he only got the message when a few of my husbands classmates came up and dragged him away.

The party lasted for about five hours. When the venue finally kicked us out, everyone decided to drop by the local bar for another drink. I was exhausted, sober and since it was already 11 pm all I could think about was our hour long drive home, but not wanting to ruin it for everyone else in my group, agreed to go out. That one drink of course turned into multiple. I don’t think we got out of there until after 1 am.
In a different situation, maybe one with less camo, and where I could also partake in the partying, I’d be able to have more fun. But really it was one of the longest, more miserable evenings I’ve ever experienced.

/brightxeyez/

My 10 year and my husband's 10 year were both the same weekend. We decided to do his because it was well organized and looked like like fun, plus we hadn't been back there in quite some time. They hired a little party boat to cruise around a lake for two hours. Prior to that they had a meet up across from the lake for lunch and a happy hour bar hop. The festivities started around noon, boarding was at ten and everything was supposed to be over at midnight except those that wanted to do an after party.Problem one, the lake they picked was 45 minutes away from the area they all lived. People had to find their own rides which was a bit of an issue since many didn't have vehicles. Eventually most people that wanted to come were able to carpool, however a couple cars were pulled over on the way because they had been pre-gaming and shouldn't have been driving, or the passengers were throwing empties out on the highway. Yes, this was in the middle of the afternoon. Problem two, lunch and happy hour were the responsibility of the individuals. Not everyone believed they should pay so some people ran up tabs in the name of the school's class of 2005 reunion and then ghosted. The restaurant and bars got super angry and started stopping any patrons that said they were there for a reunion and held them until cops came, even though some of those people didn't add to the tabs. We thankfully had arrived late because we had a dinner with some of his friends and only went to the last bar on the list. We had already paid for the drinks we had so we dipped before they rounded us up too. I heard eventually some of those places were trying to sue the school to get their money.

Next, the boat. It wasn't huge; it had a main enclosed area, a small deck on both the front and back connected by a very narrow single file gangway on either side of the boat, an even smaller standing only area on the roof (maybe 3 people at a time), and a small sublevel that was strictly off limits. There was one bathroom for each gender. Everyone upon boarding was already pretty tipsy. The cruise was split up so the first thirty minutes were like a where are they now, in memoriam, pub quiz thing, etc. Then an hour was unlimited drinks and snacks with dancing and mingling. The snacks were baked goods had been carried from venue to venue and were frosted in a vibrant bright blue- the school color. The drinks were bright pink. I'm pretty sure it was like pink lemonade powder, Sprite, and cheap vodka. Anyway.

Things started off a little awkwardly because the emcee was one of those that was stopped for drunk driving, the second in command was held up at the bar, and the third person was already vomiting bright blue and pink over the side of the boat. Eventually someone kicked it off and only fumbled about the dead people- bad jokes that no one laughed about so they got mad and quit. People then found a boom box, turned on music and started mingling...and eating more baked goods. We never touched them because I have celiac disease. Suddenly, a ton of people started getting sick. I'm talking like 30 of roughly 70 people. Not only were they puking, but it was coming out both ends for some. Remember there was only one bathroom for each gender? Yeah. Nightmare. We were at the furthest point on the lake by then so it was going to take awhile to get back. It was a mess; people were throwing up in whatever they could find, messing their pants or trying to find a corner. The captain only had one person onboard trying to help but it was a losing battle.

Since that was in the enclosed space, the rest of us tried hanging out on the decks to try to get away from the smell and the noise, so we're all scrunched together. I had gotten separated from my husband, but was chatting with people I'd met earlier through him, when a guy came up and started being like "I don't remember your name, but I'd never forget your beautiful face" kinda thing. Jokingly I was pretending to be shocked and said we'd been in the same classes since kindergarten and we even dated in Junior high, etc. The people I talked to were playing along all saying they're surprised he doesn't remember me, that I was even prom queen. The guy says he is gonna gets us all "apology" drinks and then disappears.

By then my husband found us and brought more drinks and is telling us about this guy that's bragging to anyone who will listen about how he's taking home this hot chick. We all just kinda laughed it off saying several other people said something similar about their spouses too, drank the drinks and started dancing because someone brought the boom box outside. While my husband is grinding on me, out of nowhere the guy from before materializes and starts telling my husband to get off his woman. He then grabs me and is saying something about finding a space of our own when we're all yelling at him that it's my husband and he needs to back off.

The guy puffs up like he's going swing, then goes weirdly quiet and apologizes, says no hard feelings and passes out the drinks. It was pretty awkward so he disappears again. I have a couple sips and go back to dancing for a bit when I start to feel funny. I tell everyone I need to get some air and start walking down the side of the boat where there's less people. Then I start feeling really dizzy and nauseated. I saw a girl pop out from the enclosure further down and I remember saying something was wrong, but she didn't seem to hear before disappearing. I was trying to use the railing to stay upright and walk back, when who should appear but drunk creepy guy. He said something I don't really remember, but his face was so scary. I'll never forget that face. I turned away from him and almost fell over the railing because my body was not cooperating. He started pulling me by my arms down the boat to where the entrance to the sublevel was and I was basically a rag doll. I could hardly move. The last thing I remember thinking was that I should grab something or yell something but nothing was working properly. I believe I passed out right around then. It's really lucky I did because they think that going full dead weight caused him to stumble, fall, and hit the back of his head knocking him out.

When I came to, I was inside a hospital. The girl that I saw went to find someone who knew me and when they found me, the guy was bleeding from his head and I was turning blue. I was having seizures and had choked on my own vomit. The hospital told me I was drugged with GHB. They wound up keeping me an entire day because I was also covered in hives and they weren't sure why. The creep also went to the hospital for some serious damage to his face and crotch that occurred before police arrived, and over half the people on the boat had contracted norovirus from suspected contaminated baked goods.Creep was eventually charged with a whole host of things, pleaded down, was sentenced to 18 months and only wound up serving about 9 weeks because of overcrowding. If he hadn't been allowed to plead down a couple felony charges he would've been in prison for 50 years supposedly, so that's the criminal justice system for you. Basically I'll never attend any kind of reunion again and I avoid going back there whenever possible.

/kitschywomble/

Well this is going to get buried but oh well might as well tell all... I didn't exactly attend this party but, well as you are about to find out I technically did.
I work as a Police Officer in the UK, at the time, I was 19 years old and 4 months into my service. I was enjoying the job but I had always kept a low-profile in school about what I wanted to do, only telling a few people who were mostly close friends and teachers about my career intentions.
I was invited to a one-year anniversary meetup which was planned over Facebook by several of the "Lead" students of our year of school. The event would start up with a formal meetup but there would be post-drinking at nearby pubs if people were interested.

Several of my close friends were going but, I didn't really want to go because well I had a bad time at high school and didn't want to bring back bad memories. I had a perfect excuse to get out of it, I swapped a shift with a colleague who needed to swap for the day of the reunion. I would be working a night shift (10pm - 7am) instead of going to this reunion event.

It was a very busy Friday night I remember, a huge number of calls coming mostly far pub fights and drunk and disorderly behaviour. We were asked by my Sergeant to go and do a semi-urgent errand for him due to an arrest made earlier on that day. We agreed and drove down to do the errand.
On the way, we were stuck in traffic as usual when suddenly a call comes in that there has been a stabbing outside a pub only 2 streets away from our location. We immediately hit the blues and drive to the location. We arrive and go into the pub, as we get there we find the victim was dragged into the pub by the bar staff after being stabbed outside(Some random old dude I didn't know), we start providing initial first aid as police but the paramedics arrived a few moments later, other officers also arrive.

As I walk over to the bar to speak to the pub manager, suddenly I hear my name called out. "Wait that's BlunanNation" This isn't by my colleague or some other officer, I turn to see about 40 people who all used to go to my school and quite a few I certainly didn't get on with back in school. "Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit" I think.

Now several of them are coming up to me and asking me about what happened, how am I and also stating there surprise I am a copper. The next 10 minutes were some of the most awkward moments of my life.

The pub had to close as it was now a crime scene, I had to tell all the patrons in the pub they would have to leave and explain to them what had happened, that included the ex-school people. Telling people who you did not get on with as a position of authority is a very awkward thing to do, however, I persuaded them all to leave and go to another place to drink. I also had to do this with blood from the victim still only my hands.

What was worse was after on the way back to the station to do paperwork, my colleague in the car couldn't stop talking about it. He found it fucking hilarious the whole thing. I had never talked about my age openly as I never wanted to come across young but now they all knew I was a 19 year-old-baby.

When I got home on Facebook I had about 10 - 12 messages from several of these ex-school people, some were from people I had known well but others I had never spoken to in my life. Many of the messages I had received were just people wishing me well and hoping everything was okay after what had happened. I did get a few rude messages from some less desirable people I went to school with. I still speak to one or two of these people from school on a semi-regular basis.

/BlunanNation/

I was in a band that was hired to perform at a 20 year reunion. A couple of the guys in the band were actually in that class, so I guess it made sense for the organizer to hire us. Keeping it tight knit and all. I knew none of these people aside from the guys in the band, but I wasn't going to say no to free food, money in my pocket, and booze.
It was all going well with a really large turnout until my singer's brother showed up. He was hammered before he got there and proceeded to get even more hammered and make a complete ass of himself. In between songs, he could be heard hollering vulgar shit from a nearby table. Just being "that guy." In between sets, he took it upon himself to grab one of the mics and say some rather "classy" things or generally ramble nonsense before one of us turned off the PA.

Then he starts hitting on my singer's wife and groping her while we're playing. My singer sees this and is shouting at him (off-mic) in between lines, while a friend of the band is trying to pull the brother away from her. The wife was all but winding back a fist to sock him in the face, at this point. This is totally causing a scene.

The golden moment was while the organizer was announcing something on the mic in between sets and Singer's Brother grabs one of the backup mics....... and decides to rudely interrupt her in the form of "Shut the fuck up, you dumb bitch....."

The whole room was aghast and it went quiet real quick. Organizer went into "Mom" mode and scolded him like a child. A couple guys ended up throwing him out. Somehow, he got back in and was causing more trouble. The same guys are having trouble getting him out again. 

The organizer is looking at my singer to do something about his drunk brother. My singer is just all like "Fuck this. Call the cops. Get him outta here. He's not going home with me." It's a total shitshow at this point. We finally got him out of there and he got home somehow.

On top of that, another guy got thrown out for being a drunken buffoon. The funny thing is that particular guy wasn't even in the graduating class, nor did he even go to that school. He was a friend of the band, whose wife was in the graduating class and she didn't even show up to the reunion in the first place.

With all of that, it certainly didn't look good on us. I guess the organizer wasn't too happy and chewed my guitar player out the next day when he met up with her to collect the check.

Pretty sure we won't be getting called to do the next reunion. But fuck it. I got free food, some wild entertainment, and I made decent money.

/Some_Drummer_Guy/

I went to my 5 year highschool reunion with a friend of mine I hadn't seen in years. She battled with eating disorders and cocaine addiction in highschool, but I was oblivious and forgiving. 

So we meet to drive up in her car (she is 30 minutes late) and we stop at dunkin donuts where she uses the rest room for almost 20 minutes. As we're driving up she is falling asleep at the wheel so I offer to drive. 

She says she was up late the night before. I get there and we part ways for the day. When we meet back up to drive home around 10 pm, we stop at the gas station. 

She drank at reunion so I was driving. She goes into the rest stop while im at the pump and she takes so long that I have to park the car in a spot to go inside. The gas attendent comes running out and thinkis I'm going to drive away without her! 

She says shes on the floor of the handicapped stall passed out. I run inside and crawl under this nasty stall to find my friend passed out on her face, pants around her knees, and a needle on the floor. I threw it all in the garbage. I threw anything in her purse in the garbage. 

i picked her up and then she woke up. She was so out of it. She walked around the store for 10 min before she would get back in the car. I buckled her in and she passed out leaned forward the whole way home. 

I drove us back to my mom's condo where I was spending the night (October in NH) and I threw the keys in the backseat and left her there. I locked the door to the house. When I woke up the car was gone and her mother had called. I called back, and she asked me if I crashed the car when I drove home because Alex told her mother I had. At that moment, I told her mother EVERYTHING. All of it.
One year ago I received an email apology about that night. She was in rehab and didn't want to reconnect but wanted to say sorry for putting me in that position. She also thanked me for being the one friend who saw her cries for help. 

I couldn't believe it. I'm still a little angry about it to this day. She recently sent another email saying she's been 2 years sober and she was asking if I would go with her to an alumni dinner in boston in two weeks. I still haven't responded. Oof.

/AuDBallBag/

My 10 year reunion killed itself before it happened. Turns out our class president (traditionally in charge of organizing) took a hard turn into a Footloose character after high school. 

(Edit: originally said she took a hard turn for the Evangelical - several commenters objected to me lumping this brand of crazy into Evangelism, for which I apologize)
Highlights of her event planning include: No alcohol allowed, not even BYOB. a few classmates in a reasonably successful band offered to play for free. She was adamant there would be no music or dancing. Plus ones were to be spouses only. 

Two guys happily told her they'd bring their husbands, and she kicked them both from the Facebook page. the venue was the high school's soccer field. In Iowa. In August. We were welcome to bring our own chairs. A few people offered to bring beanbags and bocce and similar games. 

She said no, because it would make the reunion "too much like tailgating". Suggested entertainment was a guided tour of the school, which had undergone zero change since we graduated. Catering was from Hy Vee, which is a grocery store. Their food is actually ok, but – Tickets were $60.

It was ultimately cancelled because out of our class of 300, less than 10 people bought tickets. This was eastern Iowa, Cedar Rapids/Iowa City region. (Which makes the sudden Footloose morals all the weirder - it's a pretty liberal area)

I cast no judgement on HyVee catering, put down the pitchforks, their food is good! Just not $60 worth of good I sadly couldn't come up with the name of the band (short of messaging dudes I haven't talked to in 20 years). Looks like they haven't been active in quite a while.

A bunch of people who stayed local did indeed pick a bar and a Saturday night to meet up, and had much amoral debauchery. Rumor has it there was even KARAOKE.
It makes a good story, but I'm ultimately sad for our 'event planner.' I got the impression that she REALLY needed everyone to see that she was The Most Good Person who was Doing Everything Right, and that she hadn't been in control of something in a long, long time. I hope she's doing better now

/kenjiandco/

Just had my 20 year high school reunion. The head cheerleader was overweight and single, the class clown is now a District Attorney, and my buddy who was, at one point in time, getting a medical degree in xenobiology (the study of alien life, seriously) ended up becoming a very boring patent lawyer. All unexpected, but none of these were the "worst" change I saw.
There was a girl in high school named, well, let's call her Connie. Connie just kind of had a sultry way about her all the time. She wasn't playing at anything; she just sort of oozed sex. It was like a combination of playful comfortableness with anyone in any situation and come-hither looks that she held a little too long. And she had this hair that was like a giant unmanageable rat's nest that hung down to the small of her back. 

I don't know what it is about hair like that, but I find it irresistible. It's incredible and luscious and oh so unkempt. It didn't look like she had given up, but was, rather, more like an armistice had been declared and she and her hair had an uneasy truce resulting in the hair sort of doing its own thing, provided it still looked good.

And here, 20 years later, stood Connie, looking for all the world like she hadn't aged a day. Same smile, same eyes, same damn hair. And yet something was different. She was... broken. It was clear that, with the onset of age, Connie had given up on herself. 

The way she hung on the words of other attendees when they talked about their children; the way Connie asked after the other girls' husbands... it was sad. Somehow Connie had transformed into Blanche DuBois.

As the night wore on, Connie got drunker and drunker. She started resting her hand on my chest while we talked, and then on another guy's when he walked over, and then a third... She would lament her absence of a beverage and all of the single guys would volunteer to buy her a drink. The other girls started asking each other to look out for Connie and make sure she got home okay.

It was sad. She had decided - or been told - that her only value was her sex. She had given up all hope of ever being happy or having a family. Connie was looking to fill her figurative void literally, and was clearly following a well-practiced routine, probably the result of years of bar hopping and one night stands.

Seeing someone who had once been so vibrant and mysterious laid bare like that; knowing that she still had the magic that she'd had back in high school, but also seeing that she no longer believed in magic at all; and realizing that some people, who deserve to be happy, will never be happy purely because they've given up on themselves... That was a horrible thing to witness. 

Connie: You're better than you think you are. Good luck.

/Kahzgul/

Not mine, but my husband's. 10 year anniversary for high school graduates. The whole thing was really just sloppily slapped together and it was pretty clear the class was not interested in getting together.
The gathering place kept changing every couple weeks (this was updated via Facebook group btw). At first, it was renting a place and getting food catered and whatnot. Except it's pretty typical in my town for most people not to go on to be successful by any means, so asking mostly unemployed or minimum wage workers to cough up I think $200 to attend just didn't work out. 

Venues kept downgrading to accommodate until they got down to having a bonfire out by the lake, BYOB, no fee, just come hang out for like, an hour or something.

Throughout the fiasco of finding a venue, a majority of the class declined going. Some had to change status. There was a good handful still marked as going, but with everything changing and people obviously starting to tune out midway through, a lot of people forgot to change their status of going to not going.

2 people showed up. That was it. One was my brother, who had nothing better to do anyway. Other guy that sort of help put the crapshow together showed up.

The gal that set the whole thing up was pretty mad about it and the rando dude that helped posted a long rant on the Facebook about how awful people were and how they should've appreciated the efforts it took just to hold the pathetic gathering.

My husband had me sit and flip through the page after everything was said and done. It was pretty obvious the gal was in serious denial the entire time, despite it being pretty clear nobody wanted anything to do with the event. I laughed at the rant, then honestly forgot about it until I saw this thread.
Edit: I failed to mention my brother and husband were in the same year. They were buddies throughout high school, college, and even now. I'm just a little younger, hence why I was not part of the reunion and my brother was. 

And no, husband refused to go to the reunion because clicking through facebook profiles was enough to check on people he had any curiosity about. Plus we had just moved states right around this time, so traveling was not on our list of to-do any time soon.

/magicrowantree/

I was one of the first recipients of an alumni scholarship from the class of 1999, and for their 20th reunion, the guy who organized the scholarship reached out and asked me to come as his guest to give a speech encouraging people to donate. I live about an hour away now, but I felt pressured and thought, sure. After all, I got the benefit, why not pay it forward? (He also pressured me into making a symbolic donation of $10. That’s not nothin’ to me.) wrote a speech, practiced, wrote notecards.
Show up at this hotel and the party is in the front lounge. Swarming with people 10 years older than me. I find the guy, he starts introducing me and explaining what I do now- but he gets it wrong Every Time. Ask him when I’m gonna speak. He says later and tells me to enjoy the food. It’s all meat. I don’t eat that. Disappears.

By random happenstance, in this sea of people having, you know, a reunion, I run into a guy who worked for my old community theater. I cling desperately to him so I’m not alone. He probably wants to, you know, reune. But instead he’s talking to me for an hour.
Find the guy. Ask him when I’m going to speak. He says soon. I ask where! I’m going to speak- I’ve just realized there’s no stage and the party is spread all over the lobby. He points to where the DJ is, and where everyone’s pictures from high school are playing on a screen. Excellent backdrop- slideshow of memories behind a girl no one knows or particularly cares about.

Another hour passes. It’s time for the group picture. Everyone herds over. I stay nearby to be ready. I am among the spouses, girlfriends, boyfriends. They ask who I’m there with. I say I’m giving a speech. They ask when. I say soon. At an adjacent party, a band starts playing. V loud. People are shouting to be heard. It dawns on me that I may not give my speech.

I go find the guy. Ask, smirking, when I’m going to give my speech. He says, utterly guileless, that it looks like I don’t have to! But he hopes I had fun! I get home at midnight from someone else’s high school reunion with my unused speech in my purse. Haven’t heard from him since.

Can’t believe people want to read what I would have said! Cobbled it together from memory: I don’t mean to brag, but I kind of killed it in high school. I was a National Merit Scholar, I had the lead in all the musicals, I was in show choir, and I never took a regular class if there was an AP offered. That’s why I got the scholarship – I applied for every one I could, and because I was exemplary in everything I did, I got plenty of them.

But when I got to college, for the first time, I started to flounder. I struggled in some classes, and I took that really hard. That, coupled with the loneliness I felt, made my first semester away from home much harder than anything I’d done. Thankfully, with scholarships both from high school and college, the one thing I didn’t have to worry about was money. That was one pressure that I was spared, and every bit of pressure matters when you’re trying to adjust to college.

But scholarships can be about more than just the financial impact. For me, they were a vote of confidence, and a reminder of what my teachers and community thought of me- not just as a student, but as a person. That scholarship was a gift that said, “We’ve seen what you can do, and we want to help you do more.” The dollar amount wasn’t the highest, sure. But it was a safety net when I needed it, and it was a reminder for me, when I was having some low times, that I had done well before, and I could do that again.

So tonight, I want to encourage you to donate to the fund, to keep that scholarship going. I’ve actually already donated – it was ten bucks, which is going to buy some kid in the class of 2020 maybe an eighth of a textbook if they buy it secondhand. But that ten bucks adds up, and that message gets louder and louder with every donation – We’ve seen what you can do, and we want to help you do more. Give that vote of confidence to someone who’s about to head off on their own, and take it from me – they’ll be very grateful.

/ScathachRises/

Some context to begin with: I come from a town with a population of 5000 people, everyone at my age knows everyone thats more or less their age. We throw a reunion party every 2 years or so. I've had a stroke of bad luck attending them for the last decade. I went through depression during 2017 because I felt excluded in my hometown every time I came back(easter, summer and xmas) because I felt nobody wanted me there. I ended up cutting my relationship with almost all my highschool classmates after 2018.
Here is why: 2011 My 2 closest friends (who still are my 2 closest friends btw), lets call them Mike and Paul, and some of my other classmates got mad at each other for some pretty serious stuff and I was caught in the crossfire. I decided not to attend any of the two separate reunions they organized that year to remain on neutral ground. (They are still in bad terms as of today). 2012 my grandma fell down the stairs and we had to rush her to hospital (she is fine now). 2014 I was studying in Canada (I'm spanish).
Here comes the juicy bit: 2016 No one invites me and September (the month we usually chose to throw the party) goes by without me noticing. I call some of my classmates and they tell me they did not know nothing.
2018 comes by and I make sure I can attend this time, I even help organizing stuff and cook most of the dishes for dinner. I had to push real hard for them to let me do this and I did not understand why. The day comes, the party goes on for 2-3 hours without any noticeable highs or lows, everything is fine. 11pm, some drunk ass party members start complaining about how this party was shit comparing it to the last one TWO YEARS AGO.
Perplexed by this, I start asking around and I come to the conclusion the entire group ghosted me thinking I was on the other side of the fence in regards to what happened in 2011 with Mike and Paul and that I had been making excuses for an entire decade not to attend and save face.
This did not make me mad per se, It was almost understandable for some of the people there to think that, they only talked to me once every two years by Whatsapp to plan the party ffs. What made me mad was there were a lot of people in that reunion that did know I was telling the truth every year that went by but did not correct anyone.
I confronted them about that and they ignored me or outright told me they did not think of me as a friend but as somebody they could get help from about technology related stuff whenever they needed it for free and nothing else. That they did not seem to care.
To add insult to injury, latter some of the guys who did not know I was being sincere the whole time told me the entire group was also avoiding me every single time I told anybody to meet up, go to a bar, anything really.
So, the conbination of poorly timed events, a discussion between some friends I was not a part of and some greedy motherfuckers pulling strings made me go through a depression and made me feel excluded from my hometown ending with one of the worst parties I've ever been to. Fuck reunion parties, just make sure you meet up with your true friends more often.

/DoctorMckay202/

When the invitation for my 5 year class reunion came in the mail, I almost had a nervous breakdown. You see, Doctor Swole was not always an alpha male pimp with 18 inch pythons. In fact, high school was hell for me, I graduated at 105 lbs and was constantly tortured by my classmates.
After graduation, I spent three years in my basement with my cat, lifting weights and eating cans of tuna like they were junior mints. The only time I came out was to go to night classes at a local college. Since that time, I have built my body into a rock hard temple and am also a self-made millionaire. I couldn't wait to show all the f**kers from high school what I had become
The invitation said "suit and tie", but if you know me, I'm just not a suit and tie kind of guy. I walked in dressed in my usual fur coat, aviators and beater, with a shovel. I also was carrying my homemade protein shake: 1 jar of Natty PB, 2 scoops of cottage cheese, one can of tuna, and a cup of oatmeal, all blended with skim milk. Delicious
I walked in, lats flared and my adrenaline pumping. I was walking around like I owned the place. Two former classmates approached me. Classmate #1: Hey I remember you! Hey Sully, remember this kid? Classmate #2: Oh yeah, that's the one we used to strip naked, wrap him in ceran wrap and tie him to the flagpole. You got a lot bigger man. How ya been? I felt the rage burn up inside of me. I grabbed each of them by the throat and dragged them into a back room, where I beat both of them unconscious with my shovel. "How's it feel? I said hows it F**KIN' feel?!?! " I screamed at their motionless bodies.
Next stop I headed to the bathroom, where I stripped down to my speedo and oiled up my body. "You've been waiting 5 years for this, Doc" I told myself, psyching myself up. I felt like Eminem before the rap battle in 8 mile. I headed to the stage, pointed to the DJ, indicating for him to start playing my song. "Welcome to the jungle" blared throughout the room, as I began my posedown. Side Chest, Back double, Most Muscular, I showed off every pose in the book. I watched the stunned reaction of male classmates, while women flocked with dollar bills. "Take it off, Doc!" When I hit the crowd with my signature lat flare, the screams were deafening. One girl even fainted. I put my fur coat back on and started to walk out. Someone grabbed me by the arm. Tiffany Brown. Nicknamed "Pass Around Brown" for her reputation of having the offensive line run a train on her under the bleachers.
She still looked the same. Hot face, nice body, huge tits. "F**k do you want?" I screamed at her. Tiffany: Well, I thought that was really amazing. My husband's body is- well, not that great. I mean, he's rich and all, but its just so hard to find that total package of wealthy and jacked. Me: Yeah, I guess so. Tiffany: Oh god, a BMW. Will you take me for a ride? Me: I want gas money and a blow job out of it. Tiffany: You drive a hard bargain, but I accept! I took her for a 2 minute ride into one of the busiest sections of Philadelphia and told her to slob my knob.
Tiffany: Here? In the middle of the city? This is so dangerous! Me: Tinted windows, cupcake. Now suck. She knew what she was doing. An absolute Hoover Vacuum.Me: Hey Tiff, remember the time you asked me to the prom, but then when I showed up at your house you had the football team drive by and throw eggs at me, and then your real boyfriend took you to the prom? Tiffany: MmmmMmmm. Me: Well, I never got to tell you how I felt about that.
I pulled my dick out of her mouth and jerked off in her eyes. Two shots of baby batter in each pupil. Tiffany: Oh god, what the fk! I can't fkin see! I opened her door and pushed her into the street, in only her underwear and shoes. Keep in mind this is one of the busiest intersections in Philadelphia. I pull my beamer about 50 feet from her, take her clothes and pour some gasoline on them, and light a match.
Meanwhile, Tiff was stumbling around like Stevie Wonder on crack. Tiffany: YOU F**KIN PRICK! GET BACK HERE! The glare of the pile of clothes on fire reflected in my aviators. Me: Revenge is a bitch, Tiff, aint it? REVENGE IS A BITCH! I pulled into my beamer and sped away, laughing like a madman and beeping my horn. I looked in my rearview and saw Tiff standing there, clueless. A small smile crossed my face. "Revenge is a beautiful thing," I thought to myself, lighting up a cigar and speeding home.

Dead_Politician/

When I was in high school, I had horrible acne, a bit overweight, and was in the marching band. Puberty arrived late and my self-esteem was non-existent. I was the type of kid who would bring my high school crush a birthday gift every year, even though she had a boyfriend (think Chris Brander from the movie 'Just Friends'...god, I was pathetic).

So when I started hearing rumblings about the class of 2001 getting together, my first instinct was obviously to not go - high school was just a miserable time in my life and I didn't want to re-live it. After giving it thought, though, I realized that I didn't have 4 illegitimate kids I couldn't afford, I had a good job, wasn't divorced, and I was extremely happy with where I was in life. Reunions, after all, are dick-wagging contests and I felt like I could hold my own.I RSVP'd at the last minute, booked my flight, and headed back to my hometown for the weekend. I had initially made plans to bring one of my hottest friends as my date. She backed out at the last minute and I instead gave my extra ticket to a borderline-alcoholic girl who graduated a year after me. I figured she'd appreciate the open bar.
Upon arrival at the designated establishment, I was admittedly nervous. I sat in my car for a good 15 minutes and started second-guessing my decision to come...then I realized that, shit, it's not like I'm the only person who's a little nervous about attending. During my alone time in my car, I watched as person after person walked in and I realized that I wasn't nearly as busted as a lot of the attendees.
Long story short, I had an absolute blast. Ended up hitting it off with one of the girls who I dared not approach during my adolescence - she was on the dance team during high school and drop dead gorgeous. She looked even better at the reunion and we still keep in touch today.
I spent the entire weekend catching up with these people who I initially thought, for the most part, weren't worth my time and got to talk to people who I never bothered getting to know in high school. I think one of the best moments for me, personally, was when a girl I had class with all throughout high school had no idea who I was - she couldn't recognize me. For as bad as high school was for me, this was a huge compliment.
We ended up bar-hopping in Tampa, ran into Tom Green and partied with him for a little while. By the time I got home at 4 a.m., my mom was still waiting up for me like I was in high school again. I spent a good hour talking her ear off about how awesome it was - and how goddamn gorgeous that Stephanie chick was.
The day after the reunion, one of my buddy's and I spent the afternoon driving around town, driving through neighborhoods and talking about everything - life, love, whatever. We'd pass by someone's house and, seemingly out of nowhere, another story would come up in conversation... "That's so-and-so's old house. I remember one time..."
As I sat on the plane to leave my hometown, I realized just how fast 10 years goes by. We all get caught up in work and life and we don't realize how quick life is. Even if high school sucked, I think it's worth a shot to attend at least one reunion - there's just something about going back to your old stomping grounds and taking a moment to take a look at where you came from.
/_mike_hunt/

One morning my best friend, Gary, told me that Kay had participated with a group of people that rolled his house over the weekend. (To be clear, I think some people call it TP'ing... basically Kay and her friends threw a bunch of toilet paper into Gary's trees.) He wasn't upset about it, just surprised that Kay would be involved in that sort of thing. Gary and I were all the time rolling other people's houses, so this just gave us a reason to get some revenge. I always had a fun time seeing how many people I could trick at school, and this was my best trick yet.... I told Gary to just act depressed during his first period class and not to tell anyone, especially Leigh.
Leigh and Gary were good friends, and Leigh was the type of girl to always want to make someone feel better. I knew if Leigh thought that Gary was depressed, she'd ask me about it later in the day.
Fourth period rolls around, and I head for my desk. Leigh's seat was right in front of mine so all I had to do was wait for her to ask me abou it. But this is where it got even better.
Kay was kneeling down at Leigh's desk talking to her when I got there. And as soon as I sat down, she asked. "Gary seemed really upset about something, do you know whats wrong with him?" I responded, "Yeah, someone rolled his house last night..." Kay covered her mouth with both hands and tried to stifle a giggle as soon as I mentioned "someone rolled."
But I expected it, I was doing this totally to see her reaction, and I saw her trying to hide it. Like I said, rolling a house was WAY out of character for Kay but I know she had fun being rebellious.
I continued, "... and when he went outside this morning, he found his cat dead. He thinks it choked on it." Leigh looked sad, and a sheer look of guilt and regret appeared on Kay's face. She got up and quickly walked back to her desk and didn't say or do much that I noticed for the rest of the class.
10 years later, I was talking to Kay at the reunion. We were talking about all the stupid shit we used to do and I brought up the time she rolled Gary's house... and how I tricked her into thinking that she was responsible for his cat's death.
Her mouth hung openand her eyes were wide open for a couple of seconds before she half shouted and half asked, "YOU MEAN I DIDN'T KILL HIS CAT?" Oops... I forgot to tell her it was a prank.

/Noggin01/

Here’s my story about the snobby magnet school, Hume-Fogg High School in Nashville, that I graduated from. Around Christmas in my senior year of high school, I was uprooted because I told my parents I was gay. I come from a trash family. My dad made it about him, and high drama ensued. The solution was to go live with my dad and put me in a magnet school that you had to get invited to, where they don’t accept students in the middle of the year, and they don’t accept seniors as new students.
As you can imagine, due to how unusual the situation was everyone instantly thought I was weird. The reason I was there was kept under wraps as some sort of dirty little secret. It was the most uncomfortable experience of my life made worse because I was already a little odd as an outcasted teenager trying to find myself. My attitude also didn’t help matters; I didn’t want to be there, and I wasn’t making the best of a bad situation. Fast forward 28 years later. My updated reflection on the experience was it wasn’t all bad. Although I was snubbed and laughed at by plenty of people while I was in school, I also had people I did talk to. As I figured we were all in our mid to late 40s and had matured some, I had a change of heart and decided to reach out.
My problem was is that I didn’t belong to anything. I didn’t get to graduate with the people that I spent most of high school with, and I was only at the magnet school for five months. However, I thought since these guys were more intelligent that they would conduct themselves more maturely and as adults. I started with a girl in our class that became a writer and had a blog. I posted on her blog. I expressed interest in reaching out and asked that she let our other classmates and reunion organizer know. However, I could feel an underlying discomfort while talking to her but wasn’t sure and thought I could be imagining it.
Two years later, I see on Facebook a reunion being organized. She had also posted on the page. However, she either told no one I had contacted her or told them and they decided they didn’t want me there. Now, how I came to go to the school was a significant event. I would definitely be remembered, and even if people were still snickering you think they at least be curious regarding how it came to be. I posted on the Facebook page that I would be interested in going. To try to shorten this story, what happened was some instances of miscommunication, invitations not being sent, and another classmate trying to save face by giving me her email address. I wrote her later; she never wrote back.
It became clear to me that it was a reunion for some but not for others and that I had invited myself. While it was true many of the people that were communicating on the page I have not had a relationship with in the five months I was at that school and I would not be remembered after 30 years, there were a few people on there that I did. Considering my unusual situation, you’d think somebody would at least say hi or be curious what happened and what became of me. I did not hear from one of those people. Not one! So, I realized it was a mistake and dropped it.
Three years after the reunion, on the same Facebook page the reunion organizer posted something disparaging about attending his wife’s reunion at another non-magnet high school in the same district and relaying that the people were “mind numbing and dull”. Still two years away, he’s already thinking about a 35th reunion. His comment gets seven likes despite that he insulted his own wife and her classmates.
After saw this, I realize I’d been vindicated and that my classmates were a bunch of snobby assholes. They did me a favor by excluding me. I did comment about the inappropriateness of the post, which he said he had done when he had had too many drinks and realized he made a mistake right after submitting it. However, this was nine months after the fact, and he didn’t delete the post. Bullshit! Then, to put it back on me he tells me that I’m bitter and that he’s sorry that high school was a bad experience for me, which did nothing but further vindicate me. WTF!
The fact is whether you go to a high school with lower-middle class redneck kids or you go with a bunch of gifted kids, some from privileged families, the end result of the high school reunion is all the same. People don’t mature or change and go back into their cliques. And you still have those people that have never mentally left high school and never wanted to leave such as the reunion organizer.
I did look up some of these people. I know that the reunion organizer didn’t set the world on fire and became a mortgage processor. Some of the people are successful based on their own merits, but some are successful due to their southern good ‘ole boy connections and having the right look, disposition, and friends/family. Yes, I was out of their league, but that’s a good thing. I’m content being the Everyman with decent values and maturity.

/joejoe7883/

My 10th Anniversary High School Reunion was probably one of the worst in recorded history. For some reason, instead of the usual people you'd assume would organize it (the former "cool kids" who never moved away from your hometown or something like that), the leader of the organizing committee was one of the unpopular kids.

For some reason he thought that since he had some cordial relations with some of the former cool kids that meant he was now one of them, so he set up an event page using Wordpress or something like that.

He reached out to everybody through email (Facebook wasn't really a thing yet) and the idea was that everybody would post their contact info and vote on a few things such as the venue, and so on.
Thing is, since the page was set up so that you could leave anonymous comments, it quickly became a cesspool of asshole 28 year olds who never grew up leaving anonymous comments talking shit about other classmates, their spouses, and all manner of awful shit like making fun of people's appearance (even if they no longer looked like that) or even their physical handicaps.
People argued back, everybody started insulting each other, some posted clutching their pearls and/or criticizing the anonymous trolls and got insulted for their troubles, the older brother of one of my classmates tracked down one specific guy who was posting really awful shit about her and beat the crap out of this specific Anon poster and sent him to the hospital.
Ultimately, there was no reunion at all and nobody has even attempted to organize a new one on any of the subsequent usual anniversaries. The only thing that could've made it worse was if there had been a reunion and there had been a shooting or something like that.
I don't miss those people at all. About 95% of them are utter assholes and never grew up, or only grew up to become the adult version of their asshole kid selves, which is even worse.
I did get a chuckle out of someone posting after the proposed date for the reunion had passed claiming to be this one guy (I'm pretty sure he wasn't who he claimed to be) and asking what had happened because he'd supposedly shown up on the date and location agreed upon.
But there was nobody there except three other random classmates he mentioned by name and he claimed they decided to buy a couple of cases of beer and blast out some tunes and proceeded to have a pretty great time and everybody else missed out. It was obviously totally made up but I thought it was pretty funny.

/Tough_Stretch/

I went to two different private schools, the first from kindergarten through sophomore year (10th grade). I had been unhappy at my first school for a long time, particularly from middle school on, but it took me that long to work up the nerve to switch. When I finally switched, I made some really good friends and people in general at my second school seemed more welcoming and friendly, though it still had the usual cliques, "cool" and "not so cool" kids and all of that.
I went to the 10-year for both schools and had an awful time each time. Only one girl from my close group of friends showed up the first night for the second school's (my alma mater) reunion and she spent most of the evening staying close to her husband. I ended up chatting with the husbands of two other girls I knew and liked well enough, but that weren't as close of friends to me. They spent a lot of time up at the bar getting drinks and I think their husbands felt just as left out and uncomfortable as I did being there.
The rest of the crowd had all broken up into their old, clique-y groups and didn't really seemed interested in catching up with anyone else. I had one guy I barely knew following me and others around bragging about his toddler son having just learned to use the potty. 🤦🏻‍♀️
I went to some of the planning committee meetings for that reunion, but the former "cool kids" seemed to take over all of the planning and so I didn't really have much say in anything. Also, all anyone seemed to be interested in was if you were married and had children. I didn't and it was a bit of a sore subject for me since at that point, many people were and I wasn't. I very much wanted to meet a nice guy and start a family but it hadn't (and still hasn't) happened.
At my original school's 10-year reunion, pretty much the same thing happened. Everyone broke up into their old groups and very few of the people I had been friends with were there. One girl brought one of those accordion-style wallet photo holders with photos of her three kids and kept yapping about her "MOPS" (mothers of preschoolers) group. Then she went around saying to everyone, "You know what I remember about you? This is so funny!" and relating some embarrassing little tidbit about each person and laughing about it.
For our 20-year, I only went to the one for my alma mater and not my previous school. I made the mistake of getting a spray tan a few days before it - very bad idea! - and also had no husband or date to take with me. Had a miserable time because I was about the only single person there. Pretty much everyone else had someone with them and even the friends of mine who were there spent most of their time chatting with each other, their husbands, about their kids and busy lives and so on. I felt so invisible.
People also wouldn't stop gushing about and fawning over the "it" couple from our class. They're insanely wealthy because his family is worth close to a billion dollars and people seem to think that makes them extra special. You would have thought the President or some celebrity was there the way people kept fawning over these two. I snuck out early at that one because it was so awful.
We were supposed to have a 25-year reunion about a year and a half ago, but Covid put a damper on that and no one seemed too fired up about doing it later when the pandemic situation was starting to settle down. If we have a 30-year in a few years, I'm not sure I'll go based on my previous experiences.
I've heard reunions are supposed to be more fun and old classmates are supposed to be more mellowed out the further along you get, but I don't know if that is true. So far, I haven't had a very good time at any of them.

/Goldengirl1977/

So when I was in high school I knew a guy named Quincey. In highschool Quincey was a really good student. He was in the Orchestra program on piano, he was a tech kid. His goal in highschool was to work for Google as an adult. That's what he wanted to do.
Quincey is the only person I've ever met who truly used Marijuana as a gateway drug. He tried it for the first time after highschool. I think the problem was that his family was very strict and so it just blew his mind that weed was even a thing. Both of his parents were teachers at the university in my town. He had essentially a full free ride to college. But he branched out too much from weed.
It started with weed, then it went to hallucinogens. He did those for a while and you could see that he had a problem with moderation. Essentially tripping his balls off all the time. One time I stood behind a christmas tree and had a full argument with him, and he thought I was the angel on the top of the tree. He actually got mad at a tree decoration. It was pretty funny.
But then he started to devolve into lesser drugs. He picked up Nos, nitrose oxide. He did that a lot, and while I enjoy the occasional nitro I could never attempt to keep up with the amount he did. Then he went from that to Robotripping. Drinking Cough syrup for fun, which to me sounds gross. These were the worst times that I saw. He would sit in a chair looking like he was going to throw up on himself for hours and days. After I stopped hanging out with him, quincey got hard into pills.
At one point he was so fucked up that he beat up a foreign exchange student that was his roommate because he thought the dude was breaking into his house. when the police arrested him he was literally making the "pew" noise with finger guns at them while cradled beside his bed. He spent 4 months in the mental hospital in our town after this.
From that point on Quincey would spend his time between homelessness and jail. He got an inheritance from his grandmother when she died, and spent every penny of it on drugs. During this entire process his parents absolutely turned their back on him. I can't blame them, but they didn't help.
Two years ago Quincey overdosed on painkillers and died. It was the second most depressing funeral I've been to. In the span of 4 year he went from dreaming of being a Google employee to being a dead drug addict.
He is the example I use when I preach moderation. I'm not against drug use. I love drugs personally. I think DMT and MDMA are great drugs. But you have to understand the limitations. It's not hard to be smart with drugs. I've done heroin and I didn't get addicted. I one did two hits of heroin in a day, felt questionable and decided I needed to not do it for 2 years. that's my limit. In about 8 months I'll be comfortable enough to do heroin for fun for a day again. Moderation is a learned habit. Quincey didn't have that habit and it killed him.
It's just crazy to me that a guy I once admired for intelligence turned into some who I hated for his life choices. It was such a shame when he died.

/ProbablyaWaffle/

The girl I was in love with was a French transplant to a small southern town. Her father was a baptist preacher who couldn't find a church to work in and her mom was mental. She was stunning, spoke six languages, was as smart as she was hilarious. She was kind too, very patient with people who weren't as smart as her. She never held her self above them and was liked by many others as well. She was mostly quiet, walked to school and almost never attended any after school function.
We spent our time together at the only coffee shop in town, getting to know each other over our senior year. Our last night together was a group camping trip out to a rice field with a giant river in the middle of it. Her and I went for a walk in the field and talked about our upcoming separation, different colleges and whatever else until a huge storm came out of nowhere.
We ran for cover towards an abandoned, 1920's bread truck. Someone had left a couch in it so we cuddled up and watched the rain and the river churn past us in the dark as it climbed up and over its banks. We promised each other we'd stay in touch. We rarely, then eventually never did.
Fifteen years later she finds me on FB. She didn't have one previously, and this account only had some pictures cut from a 1950's comic and zero posts. She was living in Texas now after studying at Yale and UT. She'd used those languages to begin working as an international lawyer for some major oil companies and probably the CIA (though she told me they wouldn't pay what she was asking)
We spent two weeks on the phone almost every night in anticipation of our reunion. I'm not sure what she was up to that day at the Dr. Pepper museum in Waco, our chosen meeting spot, but I'll never forget it.
The quiet, shy girl now had a deep and frequent laugh. She stood taller it seemed and talked louder. Her eyes danced around the room, and she'd become outgoing. Her pale skin was beautifully covered in colorful and exotic tattoos. She now rides a custom Ducati and lives in a camper between trips to the airport to work in far off places for far off billionaires.
More than her personality, lifestyle and dress and pretty much everything else that changed, was her heart. It was so weird, heartbreaking really, being next to a woman I had loved and missed, being deeply attracted to the woman she'd become, and just so ready to have finally found someone to get along with, someone that I was practically in love with. Where her heart once held caring, empathy and understanding of those around her - she deeply cared about those less fortunate, and worked hard to help them- it now holds a cold manufactured distance from them.
Where her heart held a passion for intimacy and true friendships, is now a space turned inward and calcified with bitterness and aloofness towards her fellow neighbors - and a strong urge to protect that division. A woman who truly cared about the planet and its people now, through the twists and turns of her life, talents and fortunes, finds herself defending billionaires after their oil company spills millions of gallons of oil in some third world community's drinking source because, as she answered the questions I finally mustered' "Someone's going to to do it. Might as well be me."
I still love her, and hope to find her again one day. She deleted that phony FB page after our meeting and stopped calling me back, saying she was getting married soon (which hadn't come up once in our weeks of talking.) The whole thing just leaves me sad and a little empty, but there's some solace in remembering our time together, and how completely unlike anyone else I've ever met she is. Damn. Sorry I wrote such a meandering answer, but you got me thinking about her again.

/SwatchQuatch/

A lot of these stories remind me of myself and I am terrified. I just graduated class of 2017 with 4.0 and honors, hardly cared and didn't even wear the cords to the ceremony because I thought the whole thing was stupid. I even won an award and scholarship to a couple schools in the state, but I decided to take a gap year to figure out my life and work.

I "knew" most of the kids at HS, but just about all I knew about anyone was their name and face. Had barely any friends and didn't hang out outside of school. I was a computer programmer, but one that knew how to talk well (even though I suck at socializing) and was working part time on an enterprise web application for a company after school. After I graduated, I left the lovely little company to work for a new company, hated it, and quit after 3 months. Now I still live in my parents home, spending my time working out, learning programming, or working on music with ambitions reaching past the clouds and I feel like a bum.

No job. No place. And apparently I've lost most of my scholarships for taking a gap year, so if I want to go to college, I'll have to pay out of pocket and probably go to the community college. It is weird because my life is on a teeter totter and it is killing me that I can't quite get it to tip in my favor. And the weird thing is that I don't regret any of it. I don't regret not going to college. I don't regret leaving that company. But at the same time, it makes everything I am doing right now so much harder and I am unable to see through to where this will take me.
I experienced a similar feeling when visiting my old neighborhood for the 4th of July last year (and prom). I moved 2 miles away from them when I was about 13 and ended up at a different highschool. I knew them all since I was about 6 and was very good friends with a lot of them, going camping and playing on the same football teams. My best friend (lets call him Joe) was always getting us into trouble when we were young.
Our families were very religious and I was the nerdy rule follower. Did well in school. Joe would swear sometimes and drink caffeine and hang out with the "cool" kids. Nothing serious, but as a little religious kid, he always seemed kind of "edgy" to me. We were super good friends and knew each other very well. Anyways, fast forward to the 4th of July party/prom. Both of our parents are divorced. Mine have left the church and so have I. He is still a member. I have drastically changed personality-wise and belief-wise and everything else. All of them just seemed like larger versions of the friends I used to know with some minor differences. Joe had a new best friend, was dating the prom queen. A different friend got into weed and other trouble. It was so weird. Fast forward to today. Joe is currently serving a mission for the church, planning to go to college, has a girl waiting for him, etc. I live in my parents basement with no plans for college, not a part of the church, bearing hardly any sembelance to the person I used to be.
But right now, that is ok with me because I have had to make some difficult choices along the way and I stand by them. Sure it is kinda crappy, but I don't regret any of it. I want my life to be an adventure and get the things out of it that I am looking for, and I wouldn't be able to do that without making those choices and finding an open mind.
I feel like Bojack sometimes, "why can't I just be happy like everyone else" you know? Joe found it and Joe seemed to barely have tried. I am a friendless recluse who does not know how to act in social situations any more. I don't even know if my professional life is on the right track any more. Or my music. I am shooting arrows in dark, knowing that I will hit something sooner or later, but at the same time, I don't believe luck has anything to do with it. Just choices. But these choices, large or small, and whether you make them or not, will impact you life forever. We are a culmination of our choices.
And it is crazy to me the number of people who don't stop to think about the things they do with their lives. They just follow what everyone else is doing and what they are told is best. But maybe that is why they are happier. After all, ignorance is bliss. Not bragging or anything, just commenting my memories and experiences relating to this post. Sorry that got kinda long and not completely relevant...

/i_am_ghost7/

The ten year reunion was a crapshoot. Some people hadn't gotten their lives together and didn't attend, even if they were in town. Others hadn't gotten their lives together and still showed up, and were very open about their struggles. I respected the hell out of that.

Most conversation was about careers. You saw people still acting out their insecurities from high school, not because they still carried them, but because being around the same people again made it all come back. HS was still very familiar.
The fifteen year you had a dividing line where half the attendees were parents and half weren't. So suddenly there was this barrier experience that made small talk tougher with the people you'd expect. You got to meet people for the first time AS PARENTS which was a pleasant surprise.
People had time to grow into their skin. Quiet people were confident and loud. Some people were still trying to figure it out. You could tell some people were still in "twenties" mode and dressing cool whereas others had fully embraced pre-middle age. This is not a slight on either camp.
The twenty was an unexpected lull. You'd think TWENTY YEARS was a big deal, but not a lot of people attended. Most were busy. Kids were older. The people who didn't have kids were in various stages of life adventure, and couldn't get the time to travel home for it. It was quiet and a little sad. It was the first time HS felt a little hazy, like you could see yourself forgetting your youth.
Twenty-five was GREAT. You saw people but you measured them as adults. It doesn't matter who knew who or liked who or stole whomever's significant other. We were in our forties for chrissakes.
We had a common experience and got to discuss our home town as it was and as it had been. Some people had kids who were FULL GROWN ADULTS which will never be weird.
Some people were still pregnant. You got to assess the breadth of life experience by how certain people's journeys really took them to amazing places.
Of course, and this is the darker tone, by this point we'd lost some people. Some cancer. One or two suicide. A few were in rehab or various stages of failing recovery. But that's just life, and how numbers work. Our thirtieth is next year. I can't wait.

/eqvolvorama/

I went to the 10th, 40th, 45th (was more informal) and will possibly soon go to a 50th, which was delayed a year due to Covid.
The 10th was just ok. We hadn't been apart long enough for it to be interesting. It was a wedding-like affair in a hotel ballroom. Could barely hear over the band. Should have skipped that one. Kind of boring.

40th was really enjoyable. Everyone was older and much mellower. The music wasn't constant, which left time for chatting. I talked to people I barely knew in HS or didn't know at all, as well as some people I did know. We had a very large class, over 500 people. Most people had been through lots of life stuff by this time and are just nicer and not as critical of or judgey about others. There was no breaking into HS era cliques at all.

45th was informal, at a local watering hole. Only a fraction of the class was there, mostly locals. Laid back. Some classmates had suffered losses, of jobs, of parents, of kids even, of spouses. Some had developed diseases like Parkinsons or cancer. There was a lot more understanding and no judgment, just felt like a lot more care for one another. It was nice. I wrote an essay about it.

Considered skipping the 50th. Some of my classmates went down to some dark places since 2016, and they're very vocal. It's heartbreaking, especially because our generation was instrumental in the social justice movements of the 60s and 70s. Because of social media, you can see who is where in their world view/politics. It's sort of taking sapping what enthusiasm I had.

But, the majority of my classmates seem to be sympatico, and this may be the last reunion some of us get to have, statistically speaking, so I may go.

I wasn't popular in HS. Not unpopular. Just one of many who didn't really stand out in any way, on the cusp of nerdy--good grades, didn't get in trouble, wasn't bullied at all. Wasn't athletic, didn't go to prom, (no one asked me, and if they had I might have declined because I wasn't really into dancing--too self-conscious).

This is just to give you an idea of how I'm probably not someone you'd think would enjoy a HS reunion. Had a couple of close friends I've kept in touch with, more or less, since then, but no other lasting friendships. I think that's the norm, honestly. Most people move on after HS, especially if you leave your hometown.
Since it's your 30th, people will be nearing 50. If it's convenient to go, why don't you go and see how it is? You can always leave early if it sucks. :)

/miz_mantis/

It's interesting that so many say the 10th was the most competitive. Because the 10th is the only one I attended!
Actually helped a lot in organizing it, because once I got involved, it was clear how disorganized it was, and I could fix a lot of what needed fixing. I was definitely not in any "in" crowds, but at 10 years, I was much more self-confident than I was in hs and just wanted the experience.

After? Been there done that, felt no need to do it again. Got hounded for the 15, 20, 25, and a big all-school anniversary one. Nope. The one person I didn't want to see, an old bf, showed up at the planning meeting on day one. When I was both uninterested and unavailable, he never showed up again. Win!

More than one former classmate made a pass at me. That was weird. One sent me a huge bouquet with a "thank you for a great weekend" or something like that, which took some 'splainin' to my bf that nope, nothing happened, no idea what the married former classmate's deal was.

Again, I was never one of the popular kids, certainly not one of the "cute girls." Late bloomer, I guess.

I worked to hit all the marks: get the contact list together to make sure we tracked down everyone we could. Helped budget everything, managed the payments, collected donations, did a final accounting. Did the programs. Helped with the memory book. Organized the campus restoration of our class year marker (school tradition to paint a coat of arms style class banner with the year).

Learned that two guys who had terribly disliked each other were now creative partners in Hollywood and New York.

And yes, the cheerleader/clique groups were still active. I just navigated it all without getting ruffled, enjoyed the experience, checked it off my list, and never felt the need to repeat it.

This question got me reflecting on the experience. One thing I haven't articulated before is that the main reason that I got so involved in the planning and work to set things up was because it gave me a sense of belonging. Like I had the right to be there. And I realize that means I felt like it gave me some power in the situation, since I felt like one of the (many) powerless kids in hs. I do think it closed that chapter in my life and I don't need to go to any more reunions.

/Noobinoa/