What are the cool kids from your school up to these days?

[McOrange]

I keep in touch a bit and sometimes see people on Facebook from my old school (25 years ago now) and the former geeks and losers are the ones who seem to be doing really well, mostly got “big” jobs and have families etc. Whereas the cool ones stayed in my home town and don’t seem to have amounted to much.

of course, there is way more to life than you can see in a fb snapshot, and more to life than big jobs, but I wish I could have told my school age self that it was cool to be academic and embrace that. As one of those geeks who had the piss taken out of me a lot, I wish I’d known it was ok to be uncool.

What are those who were cool in your school doing now? How about the geeks and uncool kids?

There was an almost identical post to this recently

It's a regular thread on MN.

I live next door to the mother of the cool kid from when I was at school. He was a Billy Idol lookalike but he's the double of Ian Beale before the weightloss now. He is married to the woman he was dating in school. No idea what he does now though, I know he spent time inside but must have turned it around seeing as he visits in various porsche, Range Rover style cars.

It's a regular thread on MN

how depressing. Live your own lives - feeling a sense of karma because some cool kid you knew 20 odd years ago now can’t get credit is just a nasty attitude to harbour.

A mix.
The cool kids at our school were a big group.
If the ones I know
1 is a landscaper gardener and does big shows
1 is builder done well for himself
1 is a well known DJ
1 is a ceramicist
1 runs a post office
1 is a international photographer
1 is web designer
2 are teachers
A couple have quite bad drug problems
A few live abroad (Italy, NY, salt lake city)

How do you know about the WhatsApp group

The most popular girl in my year (a total bitch) became a porn star and I'm told runs a very successful OnlyFans! Pretty impressive since we're knocking on 40. So good for her. 🤓

Yes, I think OPs are often hoping for scathing stories about the 'cool girls' having 5 children to 5 different men and living on benefits, while the 'cool boys' are all doing time for GBH or drug dealing.

Most of them are no longer resident in this country anymore.

Couldn’t agree more. I hate these sneering threads. There is nothing wrong with living your whole life in one place if that is what makes you happy. Maybe these people are really happy with their lives- that’s a good measure of ‘success’ to me.

I wasn't cool very "middle ground". One girl
Was the queen bee, she terrified me. Smoked drank, had a 19 year old boyfriend.

Anyway we left school and occasionally I heard she was pregnant, divorced and so on

A few years ago I contacted a local cleaning firm for a quote. Who came out but "queen bee" I didn't recognise her at first but she remembered me. She was absolutely lovely, she runs a successful cleaning company and brought up three kids on her own. We get on really well now.

However if I was being a cow on this threat it would read "the old school bully is now my cleaner"

I was the cool kid. I got married, have three kids, work for an investment bank & still have my school friends which I went on a spa weekend recently.

The cool kids from school who I have on FB/bump into occasionally all seem happy and enjoying life. One is a big-shot magical circle lawyer. The others have various part-time jobs, lovely families and friends.

I was a bit of a geek/middle of the road popularity-wise. No grudges against anyone and I enjoy seeing people from school doing well in life.

The cool kids actually either had behavioural issues or were from middle class families.

Feom what I’ve seen the geeks and outcast have done well for themselves generally, BUT a few have had a hard time and it seems it’s because life happened to them.

There isn’t a clear split and I don’t think I keep an eye on enough of them to know.

The "cool" kids at our school oddly enough were actually really nice! I guess that's why they were popular. I moved back to my hometown during lockdown bumped into one who promptly offered me drugs (coke not my jam) oddly enough but I became friends with a few of them after bumping into them at the gym and went to one of their weddings last year. Similarly a lot of them stayed local (successful! and seem really happy/well adjusted).
I was an outcast at school but I think I just wasn't coping with family stuff (drug addiction prison etc) I was basically a selective mute (I cringe thinking back to how I behaved).

The cool kids in my grammar school all had good looks or were sporty as well as being clever so they've gone far.
Senior positions in companies and some running their own businesses and projects.

One is a roofer.
One is a receptionist.
One is a carer.
One is a shop worker. Think she may be a store manager now.
One was briefly a hairdresser apprentice before getting pregnant with her first at 18, she's since been a single SAHM to three kids, not with any of the dads. She was also recently 'outed' as being a sex worker to fund a crack addiction.

No judgement on any of the above (well, maybe aspects of the last one...), all perfectly decent careers, but not really what was expected of the cool/attractive/popular crowd!

I have no idea what the "cool kids" are doing now. I do sometimes wonder about certain people from my school days, but that is all. I bear no one any malice.

Mutual friend is apart of it and didn’t see any issues talking about it openly.

I don’t know of anyone I was at school with who went on to have a brilliant career (Northern girls comp). A lot of teachers who have a good lifestyle as home town is a cheap place to live. Teaching with 25 years experience will put them safely in the higher earner category locally.

Coolest boy is running a successful bar in Singapore.

I've met up with a group of them recently. Everyone (cool or not )seem to be doing really well and made me laugh so much my stomach hurt.Some have never left our home town, some have, some have left and returned.

A dig about SAHMs on the very first page, bravo

The 'cool' ie...academic but not stellar, but socially competent seem to be successful. Social media suggests very comfortable, big houses, family. Still socially the 'winners'
The academic, nerdy, lad went into family business and its his now.
The less academic, trades, nice lifestyles. They seem to be the happiest from what I can tell.
The PITA seems to have faired really well too. The kid who threatened a teacher with an air gun now runs a successful business, family, indie schools for his kids..
The middle of the road, reasonably academic, well behaved, but generally invisible are the least successful.

The ‘coolest’ girl in our class was horrible, mean and bullied me mercilessly for 7 years. Thought of herself as being well hot.
she got married quite young to a guy who bought her expensive cars etc and for a while there I was spitting with jealousy.

he ended up doing the dirty on her when his mistress got pregnant and left her when she was also pregnant. Think the girlfriend was about 6 weeks further on than she was. Kind of nightmare scenario.

she went on to develop quite a drink and drug habit. Basically her life spiralled out of control and I wound up feeling a bit sorry for her. She unfriended me about 4 years ago so I don’t know how she’s doing now. I sort of hope she’s managed to turn things around, if only for her kids sake.