School reunions are an interesting occasion. People come from all over to see classmates they haven't seen in years, and to show how their lives are going. These are supposed to be fun and light-hearted, but that doesn't happen all the time. Sometimes, old behaviors and issues can resurface. When that happens, it's not pretty.
People on Reddit share the worst thing they've ever seen at their high school reunion. Content has been edited for clarity.
Fight Night
“I never actually ended up going. I hated my class and made it a point to put all possible distance between myself and any trace of that miserable place. And even if I had a modicum of interest, I doubted anyone would turn up. Why the administration thought grown men and women would want a reunion for their middle school is beyond me.
However, the turnout was actually pretty big. A good number of the popular crowd went to the same high school together after we left that place, so they saw it as an opportunity to reunite. They did, and the gymnasium of this private catholic middle school was utterly destroyed as the attendees smashed the gym floor with kegs and coated the surrounding hallways with vomit. One of the nuns who organized the event was taken to the hospital after she was knocked out trying to break up a fistfight.”
“I Was Mortified”
“My ex, who I dated for about 4 years, brought his new girlfriend. Well, not new—they started dating right after we broke up. And I hadn’t met her or seen him since the breakup, so I didn’t want to show up alone. I brought a random guy as my date that I had only met once, and asked if I could just tell people he’s my boyfriend.
I got blackout trashed, ended up stealing some high school memorabilia that belonged to my ex, and made my date drive me 45 minutes home. The next day I was so embarrassed that I texted my ex and told him I stole the stuff, and made my mom drive to his house to return it because I was mortified.”
He Had No Idea
“During our reunion, a social group of ‘cool people’ that I had cordial relations with during high school but was never part of all met up and were pretty happy about it. Until it somehow came out over drinks that all of them had been hooking up during high school… except one of them.
He had always seemed like a core member of the group from the outside, not unattractive or anything. For some reason he was just never clued in to the fact that all his friends were sleeping together for basically as long as they knew each other. There was some very eye-opening loud screaming.”
“Is That Your Wife?”
“We’d been there less than an hour. Having a great time reconnecting. Suddenly an old friend approached and said, ‘Is that your wife over there? She’s pretty hammered.’
And as we watched, she tripped and fell face-first, full body crash onto a 12 top table where many of my old classmates were sitting.
The table broke, food and drinks flew everywhere, I walked over, scooped her up and half-carried/half-walked her out the door. She took xanax before going (unbeknownst to me), and was a heavy drinker who started slamming drinks as soon as she got there. So… Good times.”
“Gets A Blank Look”
“We had a teacher in high school that told us ‘by the time you reach your 10-year reunion, at least one of your classmates will have died’ during a discussion about mortality. Ten-year reunion arrives and nobody from our class has died.
Saturday night of the reunion, we’re partying and having a good old time. One of the organizers gets up to the microphone and is making some announcements, she gets a blank look on her face and drops to the floor.
Brain aneurysm, she was dead before she hit the floor.”
Oops
“A couple of years ago, a bunch of us met up over Thanksgiving weekend. My buddy Chris is autistic and as a result often says things without thinking them through first.
In high school, this girl had a big obvious crush on our other friend Cody. Cody knew about it, but wasn’t attracted to her. So he always just played it off as he had no clue around her and would talk trash about her from time to time to save face with his male friends. Not very nice stuff, calling her ugly and things like that.
Well us three guys are drinking at the bar and she comes in and is talking to someone across the room and hasn’t seen us. Chris goes to the bathroom and starts talking to her when she sees Cody across the room and waves to him. We both start walking over and arrive half-way through Chris telling her the ‘hilarious’ story about how Cody had no clue she liked him and about all the mean things he used to say and about the nicknames he gave her.
Well, Cody and her had been dating for about three years and apparently he had proposed earlier that week and she was meeting us there to tell us the news. Chris had no clue because he lived out of state and didn’t really keep in touch with people socially.”
Bad Luck All Around
“The class officers did a 5-year reunion on Thanksgiving weekend at a local bar. They only invited who they had liked (30-40 people). One of the people they didn’t invite had become a police officer who talked his supervisor into running a drinking checkpoint. Almost half the people who went ended up going to jail that night.
Two of the organizers ended up with substance abuse charges, as well as DWIs.
The 10 year started off better, but still ended up being a cluster mess. They decided to go with a picnic the same place we had our senior picnic. One of the class officers had started a catering company and gave themselves the job. About 1/3 of the people ended up with food poisoning.”
“But We Just Saw Him?”
“My sister, my (now) husband and I were all in the same graduating class. Plus, my husband’s best friend.
Best friend’s name is something like ‘John Smith.’ Very common. He was very popular in high school. Super nice guy, stood out in a crowd- if you didn’t know him you certainly knew of him. Even in a massive school.
So anyway, the 20-year reunion rolls around, my sister is the only one who wanted to go. She called right after, very upset. Apparently there was a huge memorial wall for John Smith, who had just died! None of us knew! Awful.
My husband was like, ‘Huh? But we just saw him?’
Called him up and was like ‘Hey dude, are you dead?’
No. Not dead. Surprised, but not dead.
Anyway, it turned out the much less popular other John Smith was the one who died. They made a lovely memorial for the wrong guy, who was forgotten totally.
We still run into people to this day who see him and are like, ‘Hey, aren’t you supposed to be dead?'”
“All Heck Broke Loose”
“The High School I went to had a massive gang problem. A great many people didn’t attend due to being in prison.
Some of those who were in gangs in high school had worked their way through the ranks…
One in particular was pretty high up, he decided to show up. It was generally peaceful, until somebody decided to stick him with a knife. Then chaos broke loose.
The dude that got shanked was a colossal prick to me through all of high school, and now he’s bleeding profusely from multiple stab wounds. Being an off duty medic, I did what I do, half expecting him to bleed out on the gym floor. He didn’t remember me, there wasn’t that movie moment between us. I doubt he even recognized me, I just kept plugging holes and thinking I shouldn’t have worn my nice shoes.
Cops and EMS arrived, few people got arrested, he survived, I ended up tossing my favorite dress shoes and a really nice pair of pants because they were too blood soaked to rescue.”
How Did That Happen?
“My wife and I went to her high school reunion at a brewery back in Michigan. A former friend of mine showed up after a bit. That friend happened to be in the same graduating class as my wife. I didn’t attend the same school.
Anyway, she gets there and I asked how she has been. Her response ‘Awful.’
She precedes to tell me that her and her boyfriend split up, she has a terrible low paying job and so on. Also, it doesn’t help that she really doesn’t get along with most of her old classmates that attended. The night goes on and everyone is catching up and having a good time.
My former friend says goodbye and goes out to the parking lot to her car. She comes back in saying someone ran over her car. Everyone assumed she meant someone hit her car. You know like dented the bumper or something. Nope, someone with a truck or SUV literally ran over her car, drove on top of it, and took off.”
“She Looses Her Ever Loving Mind”
“In high school, my husband was (and still is) a very reserved and quiet person. He tolerates no nonsense though. I call him my John Wayne. He is also six years older than I am.
We arrive at the venue, and everyone is mingling. All of a sudden, a woman calls out my husband’s name and runs over. He introduces me and she looses her ever loving mind.
Apparently, she had been in love with him since elementary school but hadn’t ever said anything and she planned on asking him on a date that night. She has no idea he was married or that his wife (me) was seven months pregnant.
She bursts into tears and starts yelling at me incoherently. Turns out she is living with bipolar disorder and was also an addict at that time which is why she reacted that way. We still choose to leave less than 20 minutes of arriving though.”
At Least She Had A Good Attitude
“I went to my reunion despite high school having been a nightmare for me. I was the self-conscious girl who was pretty jumpy when someone would talk to me. I’ve long grown out of that, so I figured why not go and see who I can talk to now. I spent the night talking with some people who I never talked with because of the whole high school cliques thing. It was a great time and then someone decided they were going get blind trashed. He started a fight with another guy for no reason and the two of them crashed into me and we all fell over into a table, breaking it in the process. I didn’t break anything, thank god for being chubby! But I had some pretty intense bruising along my torso and hips. I also had a bruise going across my right cheekbone.
The cops were called and the hammered dude got arrested. The guy he picked a fight with was taken in as well, although not under arrest and I was sent to the hospital. I had to take time off work for a few days and learned how to apply concealing make up since I worked in customer service then. The hammered guy’s wife was nice enough to pay me back for my hospital bill though.”
“Don’t Ask”
“My 20-year reunion. I saw our class president, who married his high school sweetheart. We were all really close as a class, and she wasn’t there, which was really uncharacteristic. I asked him where she was. He said, ‘Don’t ask.’
I was kinda confused by that, but hey. They had been married a long time at that point and I just figured maybe they had a fight or something.
Well, I found out not too long after that I was the last person in our class of about 150 people to hear she had tried to commit suicide by throwing herself off a bridge. She broke just about every bone in her body. They have two kids together. It was awful. She had some underlying mental health issues nobody really knew about.
She’s OK now after multiple surgeries and lots of therapy, but dang I still cringe thinking about asking him about her. Can’t believe no one told me about what happened to her.”
“It Was Like Watching A Train Wreck”
“Former Valedictorian (who was pregnant at the time) did narcotics in the bathroom. Then she got it into her head that the reason her husband was trying to get her to leave early was because he was trying to hook up with some other lady that was there. She refused to leave, but some of her friends and husband got her to go outside to cool off or something.
Two hours later, she got called up to this collapsible stage thing for a speech. She went off on everyone. Every dirty little secret or rumor from high school, she just vomited it up – aired out everyone’s dirty laundry. Mostly stuff about people who cheated senior year, where they hooked up, how this one girl in the chastity club was actually hooking up with half the baseball team, dumb stuff like that. A lot of relationships that had been together since high school got in fights that night thanks to her. I had been a transfer student my senior year, doing partial independent study so she and I have only had one class together which I failed out of for sleeping through it all year – basically she didn’t even know who I was. But all the big ‘popular kids’ got dragged. It was like watching a train wreck.”
A Nightmare Of An Evening
“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 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 furious, 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 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 sub level 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.
Things started off a little awkward, because the emcee was one of those that was stopped for driving while hammered, the second in command was held up at the bar, and the third person was already vomiting 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 a while 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 fewer 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 hammered 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 sub level 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 my drink was laced 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 nine 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.”
“It Was All Over The News”
“A guy I went to high school with organized a Facebook page to connect all of us from school. The idea was that we would then formulate getting our reunions schedule through the page. He added a bunch of people to it and asked everybody to update on how they were doing and it was pretty cool.
The guy was kind of a tool in high school, and treated me pretty poorly so I wasn’t a huge fan of this guy. I kind of like the idea of being able to reconnect with some old friends so I joined the page.
People were joining in the page with gaining traction and before anything was scheduled, the police busted down the door of the jiu jitsu studio where he worked, and promptly arrested him for inappropriate acts with children.
It was all over the news, and was very quickly shared amongst us and since then nobody has really talked about high school reunion.
So that ship sailed before the party could even happen.”