They always say what goes around comes around, but sometimes it takes years to finally see the pay-off.

For Mia, leaving her small town behind revealed just how far she’d come compared to the high school ex who broke her heart.

Read on for the full story!

The best petty revenge is the one that happens for you

Many years ago, in high school, I (“Mia”) broke up with my first boyfriend that we’ll call “Sam”.

We had dated for a little over a year and I felt like we were basically growing out of each other.

There was nothing malicious and we were in agreement over breaking up.

But then Sam had a bit of a confession to share.

Although he then proceeded to regale me about why he thought it was best, which was because he had been seeing another girl from a different school.

No idea why he ever told me that. Maybe to make himself feel less guilty?

But I digress…

Mia soon became the victim of some toxic rumors.

Despite what I thought was a rather amicable breakup (despite the confession), maturely dealt with for a pair of high school kids, in person, he immediately began avoiding me.

Soon after, there were lots of rumors being spread about me that caused my already small friend circle to dwindle further.

I was a geek, into computers, music and 19th century poetry. Wasn’t really the type to ‘fit in’ in high school anyway, so the rumors hurt.

Soon it’s revealed the rumors came from a source she once trusted.

I found out later that Sam was the source of the most vicious of the rumors.

I confronted Sam over it, asking him why he did it, and he gave the non-answer of “I dunno” in the typical teenage boy fashion.

Mia was so done with high school at this point, and was determined to live her best life elsewhere.

By the time I was a senior, I had a strong “F the lot of you” attitude, graduated a semester early, and other than a handful of people, never really looked back.

I went to community college, got my AA, moved far away for university, and got on with my life.

It was at university that I really found my footing and people I could relate to.

Those that stayed back in the place where we graduated from, life just ‘was’. A mediocre existence.

She began reuniting with old friends.

My best friend, we’ll call her “Anne,” I knew from high school, but didn’t really become friends with her until after graduation. It is amazing what distance from the toxic social life that is high school can do for people.

Anne had been invited to a lunch with a few other people from high school as a little catch up, and Sam happened to be one of the people to show up to the lunch.

This was 7 or 8 years after high school.

Anne and one of the other gals there would later tell me the same thing.

At this lunch, everyone was talking about what they had been up to after high school.

Everyone is chatting, talking about how things are going with them.

Anne would be the first to admit things were just ‘okay.’

Stagnant jobs, always broke.

They go around the table and it is the same general story from everyone… except Sam.

Sam crows about how he was just promoted to assistant store manager of the (insert name of drug store chain here), and how he was now salaried and was looking at apartments of his own.

Then Mia came up in conversation.

One of the other girls piped up, “Anne! You just got back from visiting Mia, right? How is she doing?”

Anne goes on to give a glowing review of my life from what I’ve been told.

Anne romanticizes Mia’s life in ways she would have never thought to.

Mia is teaching at the university out there and had just gotten back from a conference with her dean.

She had been one of the editors of the paper there too, but dropped that when she was given more classes to teach.

Went to the beach in her new car, got goodies at the farmers market down the street from her place.

Basically sounded excited about all the things I saw as my everyday droll.

Mia was most interested in how her ex Sam handled the news of how well she was doing.

If it had just been Anne telling me that Sam sunk deep into his chair and sat quietly for the rest of lunch, I would have thought she exaggerated, but I was told the same by one of the other girls.

Years later when I went out to visit, seeing several of the people that were at that lunch, it came up again how comical it was to see Sam’s ego deflated so deftly.

The best revenge is doing better than your bullies.

The best petty revenge is the one that happens without you even lifting a finger to try.

Mia didn’t need to gloat – her story spoke for itself.

What did Reddit think?

The story would be kinda sad if Sam hadn’t been such a jerk in the first place.

It’s even better when you get someone else to brag on your accomplishments!

For those who moved away, it’s hard to picture the monotony of staying the same town your whole life.

This person moved on from their bully so well they forgot about her altogether.

Mia’s life had outshone any of her past naysayers.

Sometimes the best revenge isn’t what we say – it’s who we become.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.