If you were the popular kid in school...

[Anonymous]

The most popular guy a year ahead of me was named "C". Total asshole to everyone. He dated a girl in my grade named "A" - very popular beautiful (but unfortunately rather dim) girl, and he treated her like crap, but everyone told her she was so "lucky" to be dating C. Fast forward a few years (maybe five or six?) down the road - I am with a few of my friends at a popular home-from-college/post-college spot, and who do we see but C. He spends the evening hitting on me and desperately trying to get me to pay attention to him; begs me to go to a party with him the next night; and explains to me how he spent some time in prison for some sort of meth-related charges but is happy to be working construction now after rehab. He still has no idea I am someone he was horrible to during high school (not an exclusive club...it included everyone). It was really intersting to see him that way.

Not saying that all the popular students in my high school were failures - but a disproportionate number of them did not seem to fare well. (Others did fine - the ones who were both decent people and popular seemed to do the best - the shallow/nasty ones didn't seem to progress much beyond their high school selves).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I guess all of the PPs went to high schools that were VERY different from my own. At my HS, the "royalty" in the popular crowd could only be described as vicious - downright nasty, vindictive, unkind people. There was a second circle of nice popular people - well liked by all and also attractive and wealthy (which goes a long way toward being popular - the poor kids aren't often top of the social heap). Interestingly, two kids who would have been considered total nerds during our freshman year ended up being homecoming king and queen our senior year, because they were awesome people and universally liked by everyone...except the competitors for the crown. You would not believe the shock and horrorified looks on the faces of the queen bee and her assumed king when the "dorks" got crowned homecoming king/queen. Priceless.

You went to high school in a high school movie?

[Anonymous]

I think it is generational. The 1980s = mean kids; 1990s = age of acceptence.

[Anonymous]

Most of the popular kids at my school were perfectly nice and have done just fine. I wasn't popular in terms of parties and boys and Homecoming Queen stuff, but people liked me, I had nice friends, and I had a nice boyfriend.

[Anonymous]

I'm the OP and shocked at some assumptions here
How can you go so far wondering about what's in my mind just reading a few lines?
I was asking the question because I just watched "A walk to remember" and was wondering what happens to popular kids in real life.
I grew up in another country where the concept of "popular kid" is not like here. We don't eve have a Prom so I was just wondering.
Geesh!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP and shocked at some assumptions here
How can you go so far wondering about what's in my mind just reading a few lines?
I was asking the question because I just watched "A walk to remember" and was wondering what happens to popular kids in real life.
I grew up in another country where the concept of "popular kid" is not like here. We don't eve have a Prom so I was just wondering.
Geesh!

We don't like you, lady. We all make fun of you when you're not online. There is a whole other forum on DCUM you don't even know about because you're not popular. You need a password. Jeff can tell you. Only a few of us know about it. Those of us who dint waste or time on school, like you.

...just kidding.

[Anonymous]

I was part of the in crowd. I tried hard to be there, I guess. In fact I think I might have been the "hottest girl in school"s slightly less hot sidekick for a while. I enjoyed high school but the effort to maintain the look, the attitude, etc, was a bit exhausting. I was relieved to leave high school and reinvent myself as someone who was NOT lurking at the edges of the cool crowd. I was never mean to anyone, nor did I really feel most people were mean to me, though there were a few ferociously bitchy girls, I think there are some of those everywhere. The meanest girl in our "crowd" was not the most popular -- kind of like Rizzo in Grease, you know? Kind of an outlier herself. I have no earthly idea what happened to her but most of the girls who were popular in my high school have aged poorly. I feel that I've aged well, but maybe that's just wishful thinking! I do know that the dudes I longed to date in high school have completely gone to seed. I feel really mean just saying that, but it's true. They're all really heavy and unhealthy looking, and many of them are now sporting completely non-ironic mustaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:how's life for you today?
How was it then? Did you hurt others feelings often to keep the status?
Do you feel like it was worth it? Do you regret being mean/nasty to the regular kids?
How is it related to who you're today?

I know I had a reputation for being not such a nice person in high school. I never went out of my way to be cruel, never played pranks or called names or anything, but I guess I just made no effort to hide the fact that I thought I was smarter and cooler than most everyone else. Looking back, I am embarrassed and humbled. It's not like I ever got some big comeuppance or anything, and I'm pretty happy with my life now, but I've learned a lot over the years about how to treat and value different kinds of people and I wish I could have been that way in high school.

[Anonymous]

I love this thread as I am about to jet off for my HS reunion - great range of interesting posts. I traveled in the most popular crowd in HS, which was riven into sometimes competing cliques. By my senior year, however, I straddled the most popular as well as the geeks. Alas, most of the popular girls at my school were not the brightest (unlike many of the guys) and maybe I began to think it could become contagious (!). Some in the popular group were confused and even angry that I did that, but my closest friends ultimately accepted it.

There were not really any popular folks who were consistently mean with everyone, but there were probably times that folks were not always respectful. An appealing aspect of FB, at least for my HS class, is that a number of my classmates appear to have reconnected based on their most earliest memories in grade school, not necessarily because of their relationships in HS. I am also intrigued by how some of the more successful folks still seem to cleave on to perceived grievances, while others, who were not always treated the best, are far more charitable toward their classmates. I get why that is the case for the latter but can't understand why the former waste that kind of psychic energy.

And like a PP, I had - and have - a good sense of humor, and folks enjoy that. May not land you the cutest guy at 18, but that trait ages well ; )

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I guess all of the PPs went to high schools that were VERY different from my own. At my HS, the "royalty" in the popular crowd could only be described as vicious - downright nasty, vindictive, unkind people. There was a second circle of nice popular people - well liked by all and also attractive and wealthy (which goes a long way toward being popular - the poor kids aren't often top of the social heap). Interestingly, two kids who would have been considered total nerds during our freshman year ended up being homecoming king and queen our senior year, because they were awesome people and universally liked by everyone...except the competitors for the crown. You would not believe the shock and horrorified looks on the faces of the queen bee and her assumed king when the "dorks" got crowned homecoming king/queen. Priceless.

You went to high school in a high school movie?

Ha! Guess I did...that part about the "dorks" being crowned K&Q is true. Of course between freshman year and senior year the guy (HC king) got rid of his thick glasses and started dating a girl who lived a double life (hanging out with both the smart kids and the popular kids, at different times, and daring to go public with her smart kid boyfriend), and the girl (HC queen)...well, she was just pretty well liked.

Throw in the fact that it was a Catholic school and that the Catholic girls divided neatly into the categories of on-the-pill "tramps" and Bible-quoting "prudes", and yes, I apparently went to high school in a high school movie.

Did I mention that I think I had the beginning of an inappropriate relationship with a brand new young math teacher? He was cute. I had a huge crush on him and I strongly suspect he was...um...struggling with just where the line is exactly between "student" and "former student" once I was no longer in his class. Hey, I was 18 at the time.... We had a couple of rather sexually charged yet totally platonic (nothing , you know, "happened") get-togethers outside of school, but that ended after the last of our get-togethers was just a little too, um, dangerous, as in it was clear what would happen were we to get together again. So that ended that, but man, that was a good looking 22 year old math teacher.

I will now retire to my quarters and contemplate the casting of the high school movie that was my life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I guess all of the PPs went to high schools that were VERY different from my own. At my HS, the "royalty" in the popular crowd could only be described as vicious - downright nasty, vindictive, unkind people. There was a second circle of nice popular people - well liked by all and also attractive and wealthy (which goes a long way toward being popular - the poor kids aren't often top of the social heap). Interestingly, two kids who would have been considered total nerds during our freshman year ended up being homecoming king and queen our senior year, because they were awesome people and universally liked by everyone...except the competitors for the crown. You would not believe the shock and horrorified looks on the faces of the queen bee and her assumed king when the "dorks" got crowned homecoming king/queen. Priceless.

You went to high school in a high school movie?

Ha! Guess I did...that part about the "dorks" being crowned K&Q is true. Of course between freshman year and senior year the guy (HC king) got rid of his thick glasses and started dating a girl who lived a double life (hanging out with both the smart kids and the popular kids, at different times, and daring to go public with her smart kid boyfriend), and the girl (HC queen)...well, she was just pretty well liked.

Throw in the fact that it was a Catholic school and that the Catholic girls divided neatly into the categories of on-the-pill "tramps" and Bible-quoting "prudes", and yes, I apparently went to high school in a high school movie.

Did I mention that I think I had the beginning of an inappropriate relationship with a brand new young math teacher? He was cute. I had a huge crush on him and I strongly suspect he was...um...struggling with just where the line is exactly between "student" and "former student" once I was no longer in his class. Hey, I was 18 at the time.... We had a couple of rather sexually charged yet totally platonic (nothing , you know, "happened") get-togethers outside of school, but that ended after the last of our get-togethers was just a little too, um, dangerous, as in it was clear what would happen were we to get together again. So that ended that, but man, that was a good looking 22 year old math teacher.

I will now retire to my quarters and contemplate the casting of the high school movie that was my life.

I love your high school! Please tell me you all did a giant choreographed dance routine at the prom.

If your hot teacher taught English instead of math, that's pretty much my abiding fantasy.

[Anonymous]

High school movie grad here...we also had a hot English teacher, but he was irredeemably uptight and got thoroughly savaged by an unruly pack of wild animals called "11th grade advanced English students" - so it was pretty hard to incorporate him into any fantasies.

I will tell you, had the hot 22 year old been my freshman year math teacher, I suspect I would have developed an abiding love for the subject. Unfortunately, my freshman year math teacher was Mrs. M, who did not inspire much in the way of a burning desire to pay attention and hang on her every word.

[Anonymous]

OP, you sound like you are from here. And weren't popular. And are looking for revenge through your own kids, perhaps? Not a stretch, sadly.

I would recommend a way to be happy - whether it is through work, hobbies, friends, whatever. Find how to be happy. Don't put your kids through this. They will lose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it is generational. The 1980s = mean kids; 1990s = age of acceptence.

I went to school in the 80's and it there was no "mean girl" clique. I kind of think it depends on what kind of school you went to, what kind of area, etc.... Maybe? Who knows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OP, you sound like you are from here. And weren't popular. And are looking for revenge through your own kids, perhaps? Not a stretch, sadly.

I would recommend a way to be happy - whether it is through work, hobbies, friends, whatever. Find how to be happy. Don't put your kids through this. They will lose.

jajaja
OP here.
Where I come from, Physics, Chemistry and Calculus are mandatory subjects in HS
English is not