*Featured image contains photo by RDNE Stock project and Pixabay
For a lot of teenagers, high school is a battlefield. It’s not just a place of education; it’s a microcosm of society where social dynamics reign supreme, bullies rule, and the struggle for acceptance and belonging can feel like a war zone.
One Redditor who goes by u/pasanquecosas knows this only too well. Now 29, her high school experience was far from idyllic. That is until she struck a deal with her popular classmate. In exchange for doing his homework, he defended her against her bullies.
It was a win-win.
She found peace and he found a transcript littered with good grades. But that’s not all he found. He went on to become wildly successful (and RICH). And while @pananquecosas may have forgotten about him, he never forgot about her.
Recently, he messaged her on Instagram to say “thank you” for giving him a leg up all those years ago. And to pay her back? He offered to buy her a car. AND a house.
A Ghost From the Past Comes Forward With a Gift for the Future
In a Reddit post that has gone viral, @pasanquecosas shares her story, explaining that when she was in high school she was a magnet for bullies due to having cerebral palsy, walking with crutches, and being a self-professed “nerd.”
“One year they mixed us so I had new classmates. The bullying was worse but then one of the popular guys would defend me. At first, I was confused but when I saw that he would leave me his notebooks I understood,” she writes.
“And so began our symbiotic (?) relationship. The bullying stopped and I would make his homework every day. We never talked about it, and whenever he spoke to me he sounded angry.”
@pasanquecosas via Reddit
This continued for three years until they both graduated and went their separate ways. They never spoke again.
Until out of the blue, he slid into her DMs.
“But then a week ago he reached out on Instagram. He told me how good life had been for him, he offered to buy me a house and a car. At first, I thought it was a scam but we made video calls, he showed me things and it’s legit,” she writes.
Turns out, Mr. Popularity is now a “successful businessman worth millions living abroad.”
Woman Refuses Former Classmate’s Offer
The guy I did homework for in high school reached out and now wants to buy me a house
byu/pasanquecosas inTrueOffMyChest
Surprisingly, @pasanquecosas refused his offers. Despite how difficult being disabled and a woman in her (unnamed) country can be, she’s doing okay on her own.
And then the phone rang. It was a medical center informing her that someone had paid for three years worth of physical therapy. Yup, Mr. P.
Confused by what to do about his generosity, she decided to take to the Reddit community, “True Off My Chest,” for guidance.
“I’m still ??????? cause I saw our relationship as purely transactional and now he comes and says he owes me????? im so confused.”
She also added the comment, “It’s an amazing gesture but I don’t really feel like I did something worthy of such gratitude.”
While she may have been confused, more than 500 commenters weren’t. Almost all of them encouraged her to take him up on his offers.
Paying It Backwards
A week after writing the first Reddit post, @pasanquecosas added a follow-up post.
“We did another video call where I explained to him why I was hesitant to accept and told him all my doubts and fears about the whole ordeal,” she writes.
“He also opened up to me and told me some sensitive stuff, which I would’ve never imagined. At the end we agreed that he would finish paying the car I had just started paying through credit. And also we found a little nice apartment in a good zone where I could be more comfortable.”
Her lawyer is currently working on the paperwork.
She adds that despite their mutual gratitude, this isn’t the start of an amazing friendship. Some things are best left in the past.
“I feel like this closed a chapter in my life and I think it’s the same for him. I don’t think we’ll ever talk again, nor do I think we are friends. He truly lives in another world and our realities are not compatible.”
Sometimes We Have No Idea of the Impact We Have on Others
@Pasanquecosas admits that it wasn’t until Mr. P reached out to her that she stopped to think about how their arrangement positively impacted her own life. In her mind, it was just a mutually beneficial contract.
Doing his homework was a means to an end; a way to survive high school. It was a standard case of, “If you’ll scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”
In Mr.P’s mind, however, it was so much more. It not only helped set him on the path to success but it made such a massive impact that it drove him to seek her out years later so he could repay her WITH A HOUSE.
Oftentimes, we don’t realize how our small day-to-day actions can affect others. And what may seem fairly insignificant to us? May hold significant meaning for someone else.
More from Goalcast: