Article created by: Viktorija Ošikaitė

High school crush… Most of us probably have a name or two that already popped up in our mind. Teenage romance, with so little knowledge, so many new and confusing feelings, navigating situations you’re experiencing for the first time in your life. Have you ever figured out what made them so attractive for you? If you never made a move, do you regret it, or do you think it turned out for the better? Do you know what they’re up to now?

One Reddit user had pretty much the same questions. They wanted to know “how did your high school crush turn out as an adult?“, and people were eager to share their stories. After all, this, often the very first, crush has left a mark on many, as it is a very vulnerable and intense experience happening during our formative years.

From tragic losses to actually putting a ring on the person’s finger, Bored Panda selected the most interesting accounts from people who kept tabs on their crushes and actually know what they’re up to. Upvote your favorites and don’t hesitate to share the story of your high school crush if you have one!

Read More: 30 People Who’ve Kept Tabs On Their High School Crush Share How They Turned Out As An Adult

#1

Still super hot. She married some loser and has a few kids with him.

That loser was me. Just celebrated 22 years of marriage.

Image credits: BobSacramanto

#2

He had a rollercoaster of a life. I admire him more than ever, and more than most people I know, but can’t wrap my head around why I ever found him physically attractive. Maybe it was always just his heart.

By age 25, he had a PhD, a wife, and was a captain in the navy. By 30, he had two PhDs, a small business where he made a metric a*s-ton of money, and his wife was pregnant. By 31 he was diagnosed with stage-4 skin cancer that swiftly spread to his lymph nodes, bones, esophagus, and a few other places. He was told he had minimal chance of making it 5 more years. Even with the best health insurance money can buy, it still basically wiped him out.

Seven years later, he’s living a comfortable but not extravagant life as a civilian contractor for the navy, same wife and two happy healthy kids, and spends most of his free time advocating for better public health care.

Image credits: theMycon

#3

He’s 32 and still works at the same pizza place and is a conspiracy theorist so I feel like I dodged a bullet.

Image credits: thrashglam

#4

She passed away our senior year, six months after she agreed to marry me after we graduated 🙁

Image credits: MightyCaseyStruckOut

#5

Haha, my husband! Our first marriages didn’t work out and we reconnected after our divorces. If only I would have confessed I had a crush on him in high school, might have saved myself a lot of trouble… Lol

Image credits: Pineapple-dancer

#6

My high school ex randomly sent me a text years after we split up that went “I know you don’t like metal, but I thought you’d like this” and a link to a clarinet cover of a metal song (I played in HS).

Little did he know that I hated playing clarinet and I was now a total metal head.

Image credits: justAHeardOfLlamas

#7

An insanely talented molecular biology researcher at Boston. And she’s still insanely attractive

Image credits: sderou20

#8

She worked with the Obama administration (I forgot in what capacity) got married to some politician’s son (don’t remember don’t care to look up.)

She is happy and that’s the only thing that matters, oh she was also our schools Valedictorian she was so busy with her job she could not organizeour high school reunion so that’s a plus.

I wasn’t head over heels for her I admired her but I knew I wasn’t for her.

Then there’s another crush of mine, we ran into each other years after graduation at grocery store. After talking I asked her out to dinner at my house, I pull out all the stops I buy rainbow trout filets and make all the fixings.

6:30 rolls around I open the door and “who the hell is this man behind her?” Oh this is my fiancé , she tells (neglected to tell me about) me. Turns out they wanted to sell me on some MLM thing. She tried to cross the threshold I put my arm out and asked them politely to leave. I turned away from the door and had my saddest meal I ever ate.

Image credits: Gunslinger_11

#9

You made me check and she is actually a very successful artist and an art teacher at a renowned university in France. She even got decorated for her work (Chevalier des arts et des lettres)

Image credits: chinchenping

#10

My friends high school crush was Tom Holland… Like they went to the same school

Image credits: 5im5am

#11

Overdosed and died last year. I got to see him before he was taken off life support with a really good mutual friend we shared (organ donor too). It was surreal seeing him dwarfed by all these machines. He had one the largest hearts I’ve ever come across.

Image credits: Voltage_Biter

#12

Became a professional cheerleader, Died of breast cancer at 34. Googling names from high school is crazy!

Image credits: frijolita_bonita

#13

Dead by 32, drugs

Image credits: anon

#14

Began acting. It’s weird – every so often I’ll see a commercial or something and be like “oh, hey, I know them!”

My crush is an incredibly sweet person, so I’m glad.

Image credits: BitwiseB

#15

My only GF in high school was my crush. Her mom banned her from dating me after about a year because my GF admitted to her mom that we were fooling around. This was about 20 years ago.

She’s still living with her mom, no kids, and as far as I know never again dated seriously after her mom broke us up. Still has the same job from high school too. It’s like her mom went way into protective overdrive and my former GF never grew up.

Image credits: USPO-222

#16

I had three. One from the first two years and two from the last two.

The first one is now F to M trans, who walked to Colorado to join a cult/commune. He is now in Arizona recording rap albums.

The second girl moved to Florida and lives in a swamp. She periodically hits me up to tell me she misses me, how dumb I was that I didn’t follow through, that we should get married.

The third was a missionary. She wasn’t really into it once she grew up, came back home and I introduced her to one of my closest friends. They’ve been married for 15 years.

0/3.

Image credits: DrRoborknik

#17

Still a ten for looks. I’m sure she kept on as the amazing, kind person she is. She moved to another country, speaks multiple languages and is more successful than I imagined. She seems happy but we haven’t talked since the time I told her how I felt about her about 20 years ago.

Image credits: gorgonheap

#18

I briefly worked with mine and didn’t realise it was her until I left for another job. She looked almost unrecognisable, but it was 15 years after I last saw her. She’s married with a couple of kids now, so pretty standard life I guess.