My High School Crush Kissed Me On A Bet To Humiliate Me. Now He Transferred To My College And Wants A Second Chance. Should I Give Him The Satisfaction Of A Response?

New Chapters

Rocco and I made plans to stay in the same city over the summer instead of going home. We both found internships in our fields and decided to get an apartment together for senior year. Sitting in his dorm room looking at apartment listings online, I thought about how much my life had changed since that awful night at the party. I realized Nico was right about one thing when he said running into me at college was crazy, but not in the way he meant it. It was crazy because it showed me how much I’d grown and how little power he had over me anymore. Seeing him around campus all year, watching him try so hard to get close to me and then finally accepting that it wasn’t going to happen, proved to me that I was strong enough to protect myself. I didn’t need revenge or closure or an apology to move forward. I just needed to trust myself and build a life I was proud of.

Rocco asked what I was thinking about and I told him I was just happy that everything felt right. He smiled and pulled me close and we went back to looking at apartments, planning our future together.

Fay invited me to coffee one afternoon in early May. We sat outside at a campus cafe enjoying the warm weather and catching up on end of semester stress. She brought up Nico out of nowhere, saying she’d been thinking about how I handled the whole situation with him. She said she was impressed by the grace and strength I showed throughout everything. A lot of people would have either given him another chance out of nostalgia for high school or been openly cruel to him out of revenge for what he did. But I did neither of those things. I just protected myself while letting him be responsible for his own growth.

I thought about what she said and realized she was right. I could have made things harder for Nico if I’d wanted to. Could have told everyone at the school what he did or confronted him publicly or tried to turn mutual friends against him. But that wouldn’t have made me feel better or changed what happened. I told Fay I just did what felt right for me, which was setting clear boundaries and sticking to them without being unnecessarily cruel. She said that took real maturity and she admired how I handled it. We finished our coffee and walked back across campus together and I felt grateful to have friends who understood and supported the choices I’d made.

The semester wound down through finals and last minute projects. On the final day of classes, I walked across campus with Leilani after turning in my last paper. We stopped at the coffee shop to celebrate being done and while we waited in line I saw Nico and his girlfriend through the window. They were walking together on the path outside, both laughing at something on his phone, her hand tucked into his arm. I watched them for a moment and felt absolutely nothing. Not satisfaction that he’d moved on, not sadness that we never happened, not even the faint vindication I might have expected. Just complete neutrality, like watching two strangers pass by.

Leilani followed my gaze and asked if I was okay. I told her I was fine, genuinely fine, and she smiled and said that was the best possible outcome. I agreed completely because it was true. The fact that I could see him happy with someone else and feel nothing meant I’d actually let go of everything that happened between us.

The Future

Summer break started a week later and Rocco and I both stayed in town for internships in our fields. I worked at an engineering firm downtown while he did research at a lab on campus and we fell into an easy routine of meeting for dinner after work and spending weekends exploring the city together. My internship was challenging and rewarding, giving me real experience in the career I’d been working toward for three years. I threw myself into the projects they assigned me, learning from the senior engineers and proving I could handle professional responsibilities. Rocco’s research was going well too and we’d spend evenings comparing notes about our days, both excited about our futures.

One night in late July someone from high school commented on an old photo on social media, asking if I’d heard Nico transferred to my university. I stared at the message for a moment trying to remember what he was even doing lately. It took me several seconds to recall that he was dating someone and doing better in his classes. The fact that I had to actively think about it, that he wasn’t just present in my mind anymore, made me realize I’d truly moved on. He’d become background noise in my life, someone I occasionally saw around campus but rarely thought about otherwise.

Rocco and I found an apartment together for senior year, a small two-bedroom place a few blocks from campus with big windows and enough space for both of us to study. We spent a weekend in August moving our stuff in, arranging furniture, hanging pictures, making the place feel like ours. Standing in our living room after we’d finished unpacking I looked around at the life I’d built and felt proud of myself. This wasn’t about proving anything to anyone anymore. This was about knowing my worth and building a life that reflected it. I wasn’t the girl who needed validation from someone who’d hurt her. I was the woman who knew what she deserved and refused to settle for less than genuine love and respect from the start.

Rocco came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist asking what I was thinking about. I told him I was just happy and he kissed my temple and said he was happy too.

Senior year started in September with the familiar rush of new classes and reconnecting with friends after summer break. I saw Nico occasionally around campus, usually with his girlfriend, and we’d achieved this comfortable acquaintance where we could nod politely in passing without any underlying tension. Sometimes we’d exchange brief small talk if we ended up in the same place, asking about classes or mentioning campus events, but it never went deeper than surface level pleasantries. It was the best possible resolution for us: not friendship but not enemies either. Just two people who used to know each other better and had moved on to separate lives. I’d see them studying together in the library or getting coffee between classes and it didn’t bother me at all. They seemed good together and I was genuinely doing well in my own life so there was no reason for tension or awkwardness anymore.

Johnny found me at the campus center one afternoon in early October and asked if we could talk for a minute. We sat down at one of the tables outside and he told me he was grateful for how I’d handled everything with Nico. He said watching me set boundaries and stick to them had helped their whole friend group mature and treat people better. Several of them had reached out to people they’d hurt in high school to apologize after seeing Nico face real consequences for his actions. Johnny himself had apologized to three different people for things he did senior year, including the girl he dated briefly and then ghosted without explanation. He said seeing someone actually hold Nico accountable instead of just forgiving him or getting revenge made them all realize they needed to be better.

I told him I appreciated him saying that but I hadn’t done it to teach anyone a lesson. I just protected myself and let Nico be responsible for his own growth. Johnny nodded and said that’s exactly why it worked because it was authentic and not performative.

The Apology

The party in late October was at someone’s off-campus house, packed with people from various friend groups all mixing together. I was there with Leilani and some other friends, drinking and dancing and having a good time. At some point someone brought up high school stories and a guy I didn’t know well started telling the story about a bet where someone convinced a girl to confess her feelings as a joke. My stomach dropped for a second, that old familiar anxiety starting to creep in.

But before I could decide how to handle it, Nico spoke up from across the room. He said that was the worst thing he’d ever done to someone and he’d spent years trying to be better because of it. He didn’t mention my name or point me out but he took full responsibility without minimizing what happened or making excuses. He said he was cruel and wrong and humiliating someone like that for entertainment was something he’d always regret. The room got quiet for a moment and then someone changed the subject to a different story. I caught Nico’s eye across the crowd and gave him a small nod of acknowledgement.

Later that night I found Nico outside on the back porch getting some air. I walked over and thanked him for what he’d said inside. He turned to look at me and said he meant every word of it. Humiliating me was cruel and wrong and he was genuinely sorry for what he did. Not sorry that I wouldn’t give him another chance, not sorry that it didn’t work out between us, but sorry for hurting me in the first place. I told him I appreciated the apology and I could see he was different now from who he was in high school. We didn’t need to be friends, probably never would be, but I was glad he was growing into a better person. He asked if I was happy and I told him yes, I really was. He smiled and said:

“Good. That’s what mattered.”

We stood there for another minute in comfortable silence then went back inside to rejoin our separate groups of friends.

As senior year continued through fall and into winter I focused on my relationship with Rocco, my friendships with Leilani and the others, and my future plans after graduation. I applied to graduate programs and entry-level positions in my field, updated my resume, went to career fairs and networking events. The Nico situation became just a small chapter in my larger college story, not the defining narrative I’d once feared it would be. Just one of many experiences that shaped who I became. I’d learned to set boundaries, to trust my instincts, to know my worth and not compromise it for anyone. Those lessons served me well in other areas of my life too, helping me navigate difficult conversations with professors, stand up for myself in group projects, make choices that aligned with my values even when they weren’t easy.