15 people who ran into the 'popular kid' from school later share how they turned out.
We all know that high school hierarchies are arbitrary and don't reflect how someone's adult life will pan out.
But that doesn't stop people from specifically wondering if the shiny popular kid at their school went on to more shiny endeavors, or whether their external peak was in their teen years.
In a popular Ask Reddit thread, people who ran into the 'super popular kid' from school years later share how they turned out.
1. From haloarh:
I went to a pharmacy to pick up some medication and she was a pharmacist. She has a different name now, but it was definitely her. I Googled her and she got her Pharm.D. from a top school, has a successful husband and an adorable daughter.
I'm jealous.
2. From NewlyMintedSurgeon:
Oh man. One of the super popular guys went to law school and got his JD, but two years later got a DUI and got disbarred. I think he works at Amazon as a manager now though. He was always super chill to be around and talk to.
3. From tibiapartner:
He became a cop in our home town, crashed his patrol car, and faked a shooting to cover the crash, which spurred a countywide manhunt for the nonexistent shooter.
He was caught, fired, was possibly going to be charged, and then committed suicide the following Thanksgiving.
4. From MedschoolgirlMadison:
He was a chill dude three years my senior and I ran into him at a music festival in 2012. He still was an awesome guy. He just graduated his MBA that time and was working as a junior accountant. I heard he died of AML in 2014.
5. From Grantypants80:
Met him at a mutual friend’s wedding. We’d been close friends at one point but drifted apart. He was always so cocky and vain but seemed a bit more down-to-earth and mature. Career-wise, I don’t think he was particularly successful though.
A few years later, found out he committed suicide.
6. From MalfeasantMarmot:
She went to Yale for undergrad then the University of Edinburgh for an MSC and the University of Colorado for medical school. She was very nice, an amazing athlete, extremely intelligent, and very attractive.
Everyone liked her. If I remember correctly she won state in women's singles tennis three years in a row. I just looked her up and she's in the department of emergency medicine at a prestigious medical school in the US.
Good genetics on that one.
7. From True_Kharma:
Prison.
Drunk driving, killed a classmate's family. Also, his older brother vanished and has never been seen since that same time. Police found his truck with all of his clothes folded neatly, shoes and all on his seat.
Cell phone and entire inside of truck had been wiped down. Few footprints nearby, nothing else. 10? People have gone missing from that area in 5 years. Strange. RIP.
Will link if anyone wants:
Adding link---if you google his name, results are all about him and his family's search efforts.
First:
http://www.kxii.com/home/headlines/Carter-County-deputies-search-for-missing-man-254275821.html
3 years later:
Link shows that a skull was found 3 years later, they think it was his. Didn't know they found his skull tbh. RIP big guy. Also guys, this dude has been a bodybuilder since we were young. He was a scary mofo.
8. From intracellular:
The popular kid bullied me in elementary school but when we got to middle school and high school we ended up bonding and becoming good friends.
He transferred to another high school eventually and we grew more distant but talked from time to time, mostly politics. We couldn't have been more different but I'll always have a connection to him.
I give him credit for bringing me out of my shell in middle school and building me a social life. He died in September of last year from a heroin overdose.
He was set to go to law school in November to become a family lawyer, which he told me last time we spoke and was very excited about since we were both children of divorce. Rest in peace Nick, the whole town misses you every day.
9. From iAdolph:
Moved to the Midwest, got engaged and was generally happy.
Murdered an 18-year-old kid with his friend for fun. Now is serving a life sentence.
10. From smokey_C:
Well, high school graduation was ten years ago. About 2 years ago, the prettiest and most popular girl in my high school committed suicide. She had two sons and a loving husband she left behind. You just never know, man.
11. From sara56789:
They got arrested for having 10 gallons of liquid meth.
12. From kermi42:
The super popular kid at my school was a genuinely nice guy who knew everyone by name and remembered stuff about you so he could talk to you about your interests and make you feel like you were his friend.
Incredible he had room for all that in his head as well as acing his schoolwork and exams. Ran into him a few years ago and he’s a doctor of mathematics teaching and doing research at one of the country’s top universities.
We had an interesting conversation about getting research grants. We also share a birthday so we make a point to message each other on Facebook once a year, pretty much the only time we post anything.
13. From dummystupid:
Doing good. Works for a fortune 200 company as a senior manager. Making great money. Has a beautiful wife and two kids. I feel good for the guy. He was super popular because he was a great person, not super rich or anything. I’m happy for the guy he deserves it.
14. From AjonHernan:
Well the super popular kids were the valedictorian and salutatorian. They married each other and are really big on sharing His Word, or the Good News. Kinda annoying really.
15. From Seaasickk:
One of the most popular girls in my graduating class got pregnant at the very end of senior year. She wasn’t very nice, but wasn’t the worst.
My best friend was good friends with her in middle school, but said that once they came to our high school she dropped my friend like a hot potato in favor of fitting in with the popular crowd. Her loss.
She had her baby boy and got engaged to the dad, but they ended up breaking up. Years later she ended up working at our high school doing some sort of admin work. She got caught having sex with her former English teacher and was fired.