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?

Moving Forward

Rocco met some of my high school friends the following weekend when Fay threw a party at her apartment. I’d been nervous about mixing my high school past with my college present, but Rocco fit in perfectly with everyone. He was friendly and funny, asked good questions, seemed genuinely interested in getting to know the people who were important to me.

Fay pulled me aside while Rocco was deep in conversation with some other people about engineering programs. She said she could see why I was with him instead of giving Nico another chance. She said:

“Rocco treated me like I was valuable because I am, not because he finally realized it after losing me.”

She said there was something different about being with someone who recognized your worth from the beginning, who didn’t need to lose you to understand what they had. I hugged her and told her I appreciated her understanding and support of my choice. She said she’d always support me choosing myself and my happiness over nostalgia or giving someone another chance they didn’t earn.

Later that night Rocco told me he really liked my friends and he was glad I’d introduced him to that part of my life. I realized I’d been protecting these two parts of my world from each other, worried that bringing them together would somehow force me to confront my past in ways I wasn’t ready for. But it felt good to integrate them, to show Rocco where I came from while also showing my old friends who I’d become.

Near the end of the semester I went to a party at one of the bigger houses off campus with Leilani and some other friends. The place was packed with people from various friend groups and classes, music loud enough that you had to lean in close to hear anyone talking. I was standing in the kitchen getting a drink when I looked across the room and saw Nico with the girl from our high school he’d been talking to at that party weeks earlier.

They were clearly together now, standing close with his arm around her waist, both of them laughing at something someone had said. She looked happy and comfortable with him and he looked relaxed in a way I’d never seen when he was pursuing me. He caught my eye across the room and for a second I thought it might be awkward, but he just gave me a small wave. I waved back and that was it. No tension or awkwardness or unspoken history hanging heavy between us. Just two people who used to know each other better acknowledging each other’s presence at the same party.

I turned back to my conversation with Leilani and Nico became just another person in the crowded room. Leilani asked me later that night when we were walking back to our apartment if I was bothered by Nico having a girlfriend. I thought about it, really examined my feelings to see if there was any jealousy or regret or sadness hiding underneath. I realized I genuinely didn’t care at all.

I told Leilani I hoped he treated this girl better than he treated me or his ex, and I meant it sincerely. I didn’t hope it because I was being noble or taking the high road. I hoped it because I wanted him to be a better person who didn’t hurt people the way he’d hurt me. Leilani said that’s how she knew I’d really moved on, when I could wish him well without needing anything from him. She said some people move on by staying angry or bitter, using their resentment as armor, but really moving on meant reaching a point where the person just didn’t matter to your emotional landscape anymore. They became neutral, neither good nor bad, just someone who existed in the world separate from you.

Success and Closure

As finals approached I threw myself into studying and preparing for exams. I spent long hours in the library with my study group, made detailed outlines for my papers, met with professors during office hours to clarify concepts I didn’t fully understand. Rocco and I studied together sometimes, taking breaks to get coffee or go for walks when our brains needed rest. I hung out with Leilani and our other friends, went to the gym to burn off stress, maintained my routines and friendships and relationship.

Nico became just another person I occasionally saw around campus. I’d spot him in the library sometimes or pass him on the quad between classes and we’d nod or say hi if we made eye contact. The power I’d felt from keeping him at a distance, from watching him want something he couldn’t have, transformed into something better: complete indifference. He was no longer the person who hurt me or the person pursuing me or even the person I was actively avoiding. He was just Nico. Someone I used to know. Someone who existed in my world but didn’t affect it. That felt like the real victory, better than any revenge I could have planned.

Winter break came and I went back to my hometown for three weeks. My parents were happy to see me and wanted to hear about school and my classes and my friends. I told them about my good grades and the clubs I was in and how much I loved living with Leilani. They asked if I was dating anyone and I mentioned Rocco casually, said we’d been seeing each other for a few months and it was going well. My mom smiled and said I seemed really happy, different from how I’d been that last summer before college when I barely left my room.

I ran into some old high school friends at the grocery store on my second day home. They recognized me immediately and came over to say hi, asking how college was treating me. I told them it was great, that I loved my school and had made good friends. One of them asked if I’d heard that Nico transferred there.

I said, “Yeah.”

I’d seen him around campus a few times. They looked at me like they were waiting for more, like they expected me to be upset or angry or hurt. I just shrugged and said we weren’t really close anymore, that we ran in different circles now. They seemed surprised by how casual I was about it, exchanging glances with each other like they couldn’t believe I wasn’t more bothered.

Later that night I realized they still saw me as the girl who got humiliated at that party, the one who cried and hid and let what Nico did define her whole summer. They had no idea that girl didn’t exist anymore. That I’d spent three years becoming someone completely different. It felt strange knowing they were still stuck in that old version of me while I’d moved so far past it.