Recently, Reddit user Tomfooleryman asked, “What made the popular kid lose popularity?”* and the stories ranged from wildly juicy to disgustingly messed-up. Here are the school incidents and scandals that dethroned the popular kid overnight.
*We also used responses from this Reddit thread.
NOTE: There are mentions of violence, child sex abuse, and death ahead.
1.
“The popular kid lost his popularity in a pretty epic way. During a party, someone found a group chat where he was talking crap about everyone. They projected the screenshots on a big TV, and everyone saw his true colors. He tried to explain, but no one believed him. From then on, people valued those who were sincere and genuine. It was a brutal reminder that popularity built on lies doesn’t last.”
—u/bunnysunlight
2.
“This super popular girl tricked one of the shy nerdy kids into thinking she liked him, got a dick pic, and sent it to a big group chat. She got in trouble but cried her way out of it; a month later, though, she transferred schools. Once we figured out she had transferred, we told the people at that school what she did.”
“Funnily enough, the kid she victimized got a lot of support over this. He came out of his shell and became pretty popular, so at least there’s some good that came out of this.”
—u/Insectshelf3
3.
“We didn’t see him much after he knocked up his girlfriend and had to drop out of seventh grade. I’m not joking. They were both seventh-grade preteens. They kept the baby, and their families made him drop out and get a job to support it. This was in the US in the ’90s, and it’s fucking sad.”
—u/Semi_Lovato
4.
“We were in middle school — seventh grade, I think. The kid wasn’t exactly your traditional ‘popular kid,’ but he had lots of friends. He was a good kid, and everyone knew him and got along with him. Let’s call him Greg. … One day during our lunch period, my friend group’s lunch table was invaded by Greg’s friend group. We told them to fuck off since there wasn’t enough space. … When we asked them why they wouldn’t sit at their own table, one of them pointed at Greg (who was sitting at an empty lunch table all by himself) and said, ‘Look at Greg dude, he shit himself in class. He smells so fucking bad, bro.’ The poor kid just sat there staring at a wall the entire lunch period. I’ll never forget that face either. He was just completely void of all emotion. It was so fucking sad to look at. I’ve never seen anyone look so hollow.”
“Turns out Greg had a stomach virus or something and was sick, but since he didn’t have a fever, his mother sent him to school anyway. The guy was in algebra and shit himself so bad and so loud it was impossible not to notice.