They say true friends should always have each other's backs, no matter what the cost. Sometimes, this means being willing to take the fall for each others' transgressions, all while knowing full well that such an act could have significant consequences. "Taking one for the team" requires absolute trust in the friendship—and an unwavering belief that the friend in question is worth the risk. Here are some "take one for the team" stories that demonstrate peak loyalty.
1. Just Be Kind
When I was a freshman, our class pulled a horrible prank on this girl who had a learning disability during Homecoming week. They voted for her to be the freshman representative as a joke, but she ended up winning. Well, the guy who was assigned to walk with her during the celebrations backed out the day before and I was second in line.
Being a freshman, and knowing I'd have to walk her down with everyone watching, I was absolutely mortified...but I still did it. I remember my stepbrother making fun of me for agreeing to go through with it, but when my stepfather saw this, his reaction blew me away. He chewed out my stepbrother and told me he was immensely proud of me.
I don't think she ever figured out it was a joke and she was just so happy that night. It was probably the highlight of her high school career, honestly. Some 25 years later, my stepdad ran into her parents and he told me they never forgot what I did for their daughter. You just never know whose life you might touch. Be kind.
2. Larry Crowne
I took a class in college that I didn’t want to take. I had no idea that I was doing a good deed. If I had never enrolled in it, the class would have been canceled and two other people would not be able to graduate.
3. Who Cut The Cheese?
I was in riding in a car with my girlfriend and my uncle's family. At one point, my girlfriend let out some nasty gas and my uncle started complaining about the smell. It was the first time that my girlfriend had met my uncle's family, and I figured it would be super awkward if they figured it was her, so I took responsibility for it.
Besides getting hammered with complaints, nothing else happened. But if I'm being honest, it was actually so stinky, so I don’t blame them for complaining at all.
4. Livin' La Vida Loca
I was on a cruise and they were doing auditions for the "end of trip" show where someone from the crowd has to impersonate a well-known performer. We were over an hour into the karaoke time and no one had auditioned yet. I felt bad for the organizer of the event, so I stepped up to the plate. I’d had a few drinks already, so I figured, what’s the worst that could happen?
Well, here’s the worst that can happen: I found myself performing on stage as Ricky Martin with a crew of backup dancers.
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5. Not About The Money
I work for a small mental health charity. When the lockdowns were imposed in 2020, they ran out of money and they stopped paying me. I could have easily just quit, but instead, I made a decision. I took on more work. Many of our staff were furloughed and I hated seeing my remaining colleagues under stress to make ends meet.
At that point, it was no longer about the money for me—I just wanted to help them continue their amazing work. We managed to pull through and continue supporting people for free during the hardest of times.
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6. A Good Call
I was at Universal Studios with my best friend and our boyfriends, waiting in the line for The Hulk roller coaster. It was 97 degrees outside, the air was like soup, and we had already waited in line for an hour. At one point, I looked over at my best friend. She was white as a sheet. She looked like she was about to faint, but I could sense she didn't want to be a killjoy.
So I decided to call it. "Hey guys, I’m not feeling it. Steph, do you want to grab food and shop in that store with all that good Harry Potter stuff?" I could sense the immediate relief from her as we walked out of the line. Her boyfriend is a Florida native and she was trying to put on a brave face, but I knew two more minutes in that line would have caused her to pass out.
We ate ice cream and shopped while we waited ANOTHER HOUR for the guys to get through the line to ride the two-minute roller coaster. Totally worth it to take the "weak" title for myself to bail.
7. Now That's Love
A friend once broke open a tampon vending machine in a women's bathroom when I really needed one but had no quarters. Fun fact; I'm dating him now and we've been together for five years.
8. It's The Climb
A bunch of my friends and I were going on an eight-mile hike during a group camping trip. Before we left, one of our friends kept voicing his skepticism about being able to complete an eight-mile hike. His girlfriend kept urging him to go because she didn’t want to hang back with him, she wanted to hike. So, he ended up going.
About an hour and a half into the hike, we are going up a series of switchbacks and the dude just couldn’t do it anymore. He told us that he was going to go back. We all kind of looked at his girlfriend to see if she was going to accompany him back and she just turned around and kept moving forward. That's when one of my other friends said, "Should someone go with him?"
We all kind of looked at each other hesitantly. I finally jumped in and said I would go back with him so that everyone else can keep going. I caught up with him and he said I didn’t have to do that, but I said that I don’t want him being alone all day. We made it back to camp and he immediately took a nap. I ended up sitting at camp by myself for the next few hours until the rest of the people got back.
I guess I should have listened to him when he said I didn’t have to come back with him...
9. Role Reversal
My grandmother always struggled to get to the bathroom by herself. Well, one time she didn't make it, and someone had to help her take a bath. I jumped at the opportunity—I got her all cleaned and pretty and smelling great. I also brushed her hair just before bed too. Why? Because she raised me, and during the most formative years of my life too.
She went through it all with me—the potty training, the reading, the writing, teaching me to tie my shoes, adding and subtracting, writing letters and counting numbers —it was all her. She was patient, kind, understanding, loving, and immensely wise. So giving her a bath was nothing compared to what she did for me. I'd do it again tomorrow. I miss her.
10. Ultimate Wingman
I was in Vegas with some friends, and we were at a rooftop club getting bottle service. One of my friends, Ed, left with a girl—let’s call her Nancy. Ed and Nancy really hit it off, and they went back to his room together at the end of the night. The next night, we were hanging out again and having dinner, and Ed had invited Nancy to join us.
She arrived for dinner, but not alone—she brought her roommate and lesbian friend Carol with her. There’s a long backstory that I never got more details about—something about how Carol was divorcing her husband, hated men, was living with Nancy for the time being. She probably had an unrequited crush on Nancy as well, but I never bothered to ask.
I immediately caught on to what was happening. Nancy was obviously looking to continue the previous night’s activities with Ed. Carol, however, was bound and determined to prevent that from happening. So she’d invited herself along and wouldn’t leave Nancy’s side. In order to give Ed an opening, I started talking with Carol. We got into an involved discussion about the ongoing Winter Olympics and it was actually a fun conversation.
While we were talking, Ed and Nancy slipped away. When Carol noticed that they were gone, her demeanor immediately changed. She clammed up and left soon after. Ed thanked me profusely the next morning.
11. Don't Worry, I Got It
In the first year of the pandemic, I made a decision to stay on as one of the junior doctors on the infected ward. First, because I was lucky enough not to have any medical conditions. On top of that, I live alone. Some of my colleagues would have had to make drastic life changes, so I volunteered myself so they wouldn't have to themselves.
I remember walking into the tea room and a nurse was crying because her son had severe asthma, so her family was temporarily living with the neighbors. She hadn't hugged her kids in a month.
12. The Loyal Friend
My best friend convinced me to have a "couple of drinks" with him and the next thing you know, I'm carrying him on my back at 1 am to his house. The problem was, we were 16 at the time, and some officers came and detained us. This happened when the lockdowns first started in Greece, so nothing really happened with the authorities; they just phoned our parents and informed them of the situation.
When both of our parents came to the station, they asked us whose idea was to go drinking. I knew that if I told them it was my friend's idea, he would be in much deeper water with his parents, so I just told them that it was mine. I got grounded for two weeks and he was grounded just for one. Later on, I actually told my father the truth about how I took the blame for him and he just laughed.
He told me, "My son is a loyal friend".
13. Brother From Another
My buddy was unable to get away from his job, wife, and kids. He never got time to himself. His wife is also a bit of a helicopter wife, so that makes it worse. We have a bond over baseball, and I hadn't seen him in a long time, so I took him to a Blue Jays game. During the game, his wife constantly texted him, telling him that he had to come straight home as soon as the game was over.
My buddy turned to me and said, "It's a Saturday afternoon. I haven't seen you in ages and I want to go to a pub after for drinks...but need an excuse that will give me an extra hour or two". On Saturdays, the Jays would have "Jr. Jays Saturdays" where if you were 12 and under, you could wait in a long line and run the bases. I thought this would work perfectly with my plan.
I told him to tell his wife that I was trying to hit on a hot, single mom who had a four-year-old who wanted to run bases and that I offered to take the four-year-old around the bases with the intent to get her number. She knew he looked after me like a little brother, so she couldn't say no. Mission accomplished—but the story didn’t end there. A month later, I was at his house and the first thing his wife said to me was, "You are such a pathetic sleazeball!"
14. Grief Counsel
One of my coworkers who I was very close with lost a long battle with cancer. I gave a eulogy at his funeral and it was horribly sad. He had a friend at work who I didn’t really know, but I knew they were also close because they always took breaks together. She happened to be out of the continent when he passed and she missed his funeral.
She wasn’t a particularly warm person—in fact, she was even standoffish toward me when I’d see her in communal office spaces. I have a busy life and I had trouble with the idea of supporting what might become an obligatory friendship…but she seemed to be different after his passing. So after about a month, I sent her an email.
I said something to the effect of: "I know we don’t know each other well, but we both knew Jim well. I don’t want to be presumptuous, so feel free to ignore me entirely, but if you ever need a friend, I’m here". She responded and we became casual friends, but later on she ended up telling me something that sent chills down my spine. In her words, she had "reached out to the universe" that week for a reason not to take her own life.
I guess my email arriving the next day was the sign. She has never said this, but I think she was pretty in love with our mutual friend and he was her main social connection. She is a wonderful person who is very committed to her relationships despite having only a few. She is fiercely loyal and defensive of her friends. I admire her greatly.
We’re not a match in terms of our interests or personality, and somehow I feel like a stand-in; just there to get her through week after week until she decides on her next direction. I am happy to be there for her and she teaches me a lot about myself. She listens to me when I’m sad too. It’s been a while…I should check in on her.
15. For The Band
Earlier this year, my bandmates and I were at Seaworld and we were in the line to see the Mako show. While we were getting in, we tried to put our stuff away in the containers that were to the left of the ride. It was only at that point, after waiting in the line for over an hour, that we discovered only loose articles were allowed in the basket.
We would all have to get off the ride, go downstairs to get a locker, then get in line again. I realized it’d be a waste of time since it was a school trip and our time was limited, so I grabbed everyone’s items, stepped off of the ride, and took one for the team so they could all go.
16. Savior Of Knees
We were 15 hours into our two-event shift. It was so busy that my smartwatch said I had done 14 miles of walking by the end of it all. It was also snowing. My seven other team members were also barely walking straight, limping in soreness from the day's work. Anyway, when both events were over, it was time for clean-up. The leader said, "Only one person needs to stay to sweep, so the rest can go home".
I'm in the army, so I volunteered. My joints hurt, but they were not as bad. They all hugged me on their way out and I stayed an extra 90 minutes to clean up.
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17. Break The Ice
In high school Spanish class, we all had to write a story in Spanish outlining our summer vacation. When it was time to present to the class, no one wanted to go first. That awkward silence when the teacher asked, "Who wants to go first" was deafening. I decided to raise my hand and start everyone off. I was terrified (since I hate public speaking) and was horrible at Spanish, so going first was a huge stressor.
Anyway, after that class was over, my teacher pulled me aside, thanked me for going first, and gave me extra credit.
18. Sister, Sister
When my loving and dear mother went to the hospital last month due to terminal brain cancer, only two people could visit for her entire stay due to pandemic security measures. My father was one of the two and the last spot was between my sister and me. I let my sister have the last spot without debating or arguing. I thought I’d seen her for the last time—then a miracle happened.
After two days of not being able to visit, they were able to convince the hospital management to make an amendment and let me in. Sadly, I missed out on two of the last five days she had left.
19. Shots For Love
My ex-girlfriend and I worked at a bar in Montreal. She was a waitress and I was a bartender. Once in a while, a bunch of rich dudes from the States would come up and flaunt their money to the girls we worked with; buying champagne and such. One night, she was serving them and I got cut early, so I was just waiting until she was done.
Some of those dudes then insisted on giving her drinks. She was coming down with a cold and didn’t want to drink, so she kept feeding me the drinks that were intended for her. Long story short, they had put something in the drink. I blacked out and I woke up on my apartment floor with my girlfriend on the couch. I’m glad I took that one for her...
20. Sleepover Condition
I was at my friend's house for a sleepover. There were five of us there, and we all knew each other because we started a babysitting group at our high school. We would all sleep in her parents' bed since it was a king and it would fit us all. The girl's parents would then sleep in the guest room. Later that night, we woke up and someone had wet the bed.
We didn’t know who it was, but I knew it wasn’t me. My friend’s mom was livid because her bed was brand new. She had all of us stand so she could figure out who had wet the bed, but her pajama checks were inconclusive. So she gave us an ultimatum. If no one admitted to it, no more sleepovers. After a couple of seconds, I said that it was me.
I was punished pretty badly; mostly for not owning up to it right away. And every time I slept over after that, I had to wear a diaper. Outrageous, I know, but at least we still got to have regular sleepovers. Worth it.
21. Out Of Pocket
I was a paid staff at a well-known UK furniture shop. Most of our volunteers were disabled in some way, ranging from not noticeable to pretty obvious. A lot of the customers were low-income, eastern European immigrants who never really gave us any problems, but a few of them, on occasion did try to take advantage of our staff.
One volunteer, in particular, was absolutely lovely, but somehow, he always ended up in trouble. It got to a point where he was on the brink of being asked not to return. He wasn't a bad guy; he just got taken advantage of. I kept him close to me from that moment on—in my eyes, he was the only volunteer who was 100% reliable and guaranteed to turn up every day.
Anyway, one day he was on the till while I filled out paperwork. An man came up to the counter and dropped a large order for us, around £500. He paid in cash, but he kept swapping the notes about. The volunteer must have lost track at some point, and because his line had gotten super long with angsty customers, he didn't double-check. He just accepted it, assuming it was the correct amount.
That night, the paid staff were cashing out and we noticed we were £100 short. There were five of us and we all took turns counting out the tills just to make absolutely sure since that was a big amount that would need to be reported. Everyone was sitting there wondering what the heck happened. I could have thrown the volunteer under the bus, but instead, I came up with a plan. I told them a half-truth.
I explained that the customer was messing around with the payment, but instead of saying the volunteer had dealt with him, I said that I had. I also stressed the fact that we were so rushed at that moment that I must have counted wrong when he was finally done. Luckily, we were all pretty close and always covered each other within reason.
While they covered for me, I went to the bank, took £100 out, and put it in the till so we didn't have to report it. I also never let that volunteer near the till again, just to be on the safe side.
22. No One Gets Left Behind
A classmate of mine was really behind on the school work we had, and I mean it—like, he was REALLY behind. He even had to stay late to finish the work. I didn't want him to be alone, so I decided to stay and I told the teacher I could teach them a thing or two while they were finishing their work. We ended up graduating together.
We weren't really friends, but I would like to think he'll remember me in the future.
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23. You're Off The Hook
I had a junior developer on my team who made a mistake. He had only been there a few months and although the mistake was an easy one to make, it would end up costing the company $40k. I was a senior developer and relatively untouchable due to my history of fixing similar types of mistakes in the past. For two days, management was talking about who made the mistake and what they would need to do.
As soon as I realized who it was (he was unaware at that point that he had done it wrong), I said I did it. Nobody said another word about it. Shortly after though, I quietly explained the correct way to push code changes to the junior developer.
24. Cheers, Mate
I got busted for having illicit substances on me last year and my buddy came to my disciplinary hearing. He gave an amazing character statement for me that helped me out tremendously. Afterward, he was waiting outside with a light, so hats off to you Rob!
25. I Got Bro Duties
I was at a concert in Waco with a bunch of buddies back when I was stationed in Texas. The music was pretty good, the drinks were plentiful, and it was one of those strange days that good things kept happening—no traffic, awesome parking spot, got a few free drinks, managed to get a nice spot close to the stage—everyone was having a good time.
As the show continued, a lady next to me started complaining that she couldn't see the stage. Her friend told her to "ask that tall guy to put you on his shoulders". To my surprise, this cute little five-foot-nothing girl turned around and asked if she could climb me. I laughed and said sure, hop on. This girl was on my shoulders for what felt like forever.
At one point, we moved over to the side of the crowd because I'm 6'7" and with this spider monkey on my back, I knew people behind me would be upset. I was hitting it off pretty nicely with her and her friend. I learned that they were elementary school teachers, and for one, they were really interested in me. The next band started coming out and I asked the shorter girl if she wanted to hop back up on my shoulders.
She said no, she just really wanted to see the last band. We keep getting further from the stage, talking the entire time we shifted. They asked me where I was staying and I told them I lived about an hour away. That's when the short girl told me they had a room like 10 minutes away and I could stay there for the night. Of course, my mind started going a mile a minute, but I tried to play it cool and hit her with a maybe.
Without missing a beat, she replied, "Well, maybe we'll give you a back rub since I was sitting on your shoulders for an hour". Hold up. We? I'm sure my efforts to play it cool were not effective, but it didn't seem to matter at that point. I thought to myself, I'm about to cross some stuff off my list tonight. Well, that’s when it all came to a crashing halt. Cue my buddy Reggie.
He ran over to inform me that my roommate was about to get beat up by more than enough guys to successfully complete the task. I looked over and yeah, there was his tipsy self trying to walk away from four jerks surrounding him. I begrudgingly ignored the devil on my shoulder and went to help my friend. I punched one of them, and in turn, I got punched by someone else.
Reggie was fighting another guy, and it was a good scrap. Security showed up and pulled everyone apart. Nobody got seriously hurt but at that point, we were being escorted out. I was literally pleading with security to let me stay, even just for a minute to let these girls know what was happening, but they weren't having any of it.
So there I was, in the parking lot; my face sore, my tipsy roommate yapping about what happened, and Reggie laughing his butt off. Reggie asked me how things were going with those girls I was talking to and I told him the whole story. At that point, he was in tears laughing at me, calling me a moron. I asked him what he thought I should have done. I’ll never forget his reply.
He told me: " I would have let him die".
26. That's Just Foul
I was working as a volunteer at a camp for people living with intellectual and physical disabilities. On the bus ride home from camp, we had to do an emergency toilet break at Maccas, where a participant of the camp did the foulest #2 I'd ever witnessed. As the only male volunteer on that bus, I volunteered to clean this guy up with no gloves or protective gear.
Safe to say there was some feedback for the organizers when I got home!
27. I Ain't No Snitch
I was at an outdoor concert when I was 14 and I had snuck in, without paying, with five or six friends. We met some girls there from the next town over and we were having a good time. At least an hour into it, a security guy asked to see my ticket...and he only asked me. None of us had tickets, and at that age, it would have been easy, almost natural to say, "What about them?" as I was escorted out.
I kept quiet and took one for the team. My buddies were obviously happy with my performance, but even better, we ended up meeting up in high school with these girls two months later, and they thought I was the coolest guy for not ratting out my friends. It was instant cred with a whole group of girls. Totally worth it, and looking back, pretty cool for a 14-year-old.
28. Chasing Pavements
A friend of a friend of mine that I didn't particularly know got stuck without a ride home while she was visiting my city. She lived three hours away. I had to drive her all the way home and then drive back to my house, which was a total of six hours on the road. I did that after working 14 hours at the office. I had to wake up and go to work the next morning.
But my buddy was happy and I would hope if I got stuck in an unfamiliar city like that, somebody would help me out too.
29. Good Looking Out
I was walking home from work one night, after having just gotten off of a shift at like 2 am. At one point, while passing through my college campus, I heard a slight moan from the bushes in front of the library. What I saw made my blood run cold. There was this dude who lived on my dorm floor in the bushes—he was passed out, with vomit on him, completely out.
He wasn't really responsive, and I couldn't get any words out of him. I knew he needed help. I'm not a huge guy (6', 170 lbs), but he was small (5'5", 130 ish). I then made the executive decision to text his girlfriend that I found him, and I fireman-carried him three blocks to the emergency room on campus. The guy never even knew what I had done for him.
30. Freak Accident
A science project kind of exploded in the lab, and I took the blame for it since the rest of my group was failing. They had been absent for a few classes and I was doing fine in that class, so I figured I could take the fall. Well, I ended up getting suspended. No one was really at fault—it was all of us—but we all ended up getting As anyway.
31. Who's Really Winning
It was the stereotypical situation: a group of male friends out at the club and an equal amount of female friends in the next group. One of the females was curvy while all the others were model material. Everyone else wanted to have the models...but I went for the curvy friend. My dating history has taught me that this was the best way to go...and I was right.
My male friends ended up scaring off the model friends while the curvy female and I ended up together. To them, I took one for the team; but really, it was the other way around because I was the one who ended up with a life partner.
32. Cat Surprise
I was on the road with my family from Texas to Kentucky to visit my parents. It was just the five of us and our three cats in a 1994 Suburban. I picked up one of the cats to pet him and he immediately started peeing all over me. I held that little guy as tight to my body as possible. There's nothing worse than the back of the car being all smelly and gross.
I'd say I took one for all of us. I ended up changing clothes in the car while parked at a Waffle House. My family was laughing their butts off outside the car.
33. Transit Tyranny
A freshman with a cast and crutches was getting yelled at by the school bus driver for "being too slow" while getting to her assigned seat at the back of the bus. She was in the band, so in addition to having to go down the narrow aisle with crutches, she also had to carry a big instrument case. This was the fourth day in a row this had happened. I finally had enough.
I helped her to her seat and called the bus driver a stuck-up witch (along with a few other choice words). The bus driver replied, "If I want to stick up for tubby over here, you can get her punishment too". I just flipped her the bird, got off the bus, and walked home. I refused to take that bus for two years after that, and I still don't regret it.
34. For The Bro
In college, my friend and I went to a party at a house. I met a girl there and we hit it off—we were hanging out together, kissing each other, and drinking. She had a friend who was obviously hitting on my friend. My friend wasn’t into her, but being the dang fine wingman that he was, played it cool and chatted her up.
Not leading her on or really flirting, but keeping her occupied. Well, around 2 am, they told us they had to go, so they got in their car and drove halfway across town to go home. My buddy was relieved, but I was bummed. We were up a bit longer though so I kept texting this girl, and finally at like 4 am, she said: "Hey, we're coming back to pick both of you up!"
I told my buddy and he initially said no, but I managed to convince him to take one for the team. It was late as heck, and I started getting worried that they were going to call it off. But they eventually arrived and we went to their house, each of us going into our separate bedrooms. In the morning, when we left, he just looked at me and said, "You owe me".
35. Elephant In The Room
My friends and I had a Christmas party and one of them brought her new boyfriend whom we were meeting for the first time. We all prepared presents for White Elephant and the guy brought cushions as gifts. They weren't special cushions either, just cushions from Ikea...and they were traded away every time they landed on someone's lap.
It was quite obvious no one wanted them, and I figured we were probably making this guy feel really bad, so I traded away my gift (which were movie tickets) for the cushions. No one took the cushions away from me. Anyway, I still have them, but our friend and the guy split several months after.
36. No Rats Here
In my early high school days, I worked at a fast-food joint and I had coworkers who were old enough to buy me booze. I would drink or sell that booze to other kids who weren’t able to legally purchase them. One kid I sold to ratted on me after they got caught. Being that I lived in a smaller town, the officer on the case knew my mother and he called us both in so I could be questioned.
The officer demanded I rat on who had bought it for me, saying things like I’d be let off the hook if I told the truth. On the fly, the best story I could come up with was that I had snatched it from a party the week prior because I knew someone would buy it and I needed money. That wasn’t good enough, and the punishment they gave me was to repaint the board room in their department.
I couldn’t put a number on it or anything, but this room was HUGE and the walls were beaten to filth. I spent three days a week for an entire summer finishing it all. Not heroic or anything, but I still like to think I did the right thing.
37. It Just Takes One...
I went to a wedding a few years back. The bride and groom invited all guests to come dance with them. Not a soul in the room would budge for nearly 15 minutes. The poor bride...she was visibly upset that no one wanted to dance. After finishing a cocktail and a conversation, I grabbed my husband and we proceeded to dance, despite being terrible dancers, next to the newlyweds.
The bride's face lit up! Shortly after we did that, other guests trickled to the floor and began to dance. A few weeks later, when the couple returned from their honeymoon, she called me to thank me.
38. Break And Enter
After the school day had ended, I was still in the building with a big group of my friends. One of them said they left their laptop and their dad's guitar in the closed music room and his dad would be really mad if he left it there. So I snuck into the room, climbed through the window, and got the guitar and laptop. I saw a teacher on the way out, so I bolted out of the front door and gave my friend his stuff.
We ran out the gates to the school and to the nearest bus stop, narrowly avoiding detection.
39. Hide The Evidence
One time, my best friend had a psychotic breakdown. Her mom asked all of our friends to do a wellness check on her, but I was the one who stepped up to the plate. My best friend got in her car and left her apartment, but I was able to get into her Apple ID and follow her location. I followed her for about an hour before I found her parked at a gas station. I’ll never forget what I saw that day.
When I pulled up to the scene, she was all bloody, and there was also a knife in her hand—she had literally impaled herself in the leg. Soon after, four patrol cars started approaching her; but before they arrived, I quickly out of my car, took the knife out of her hand, threw it In the passenger seat, and somehow convinced the authorities to let her come with me.
I legit almost lost my life for this girl.
40. Unintentional Carry
In high school math class, we were taking our midterm exam. Depending on how well everyone did, our teacher would curve the test. Usually, the curve would be around 8 to 15 points depending on what the highest scores and lowest scores were. Well, for the midterm the curve ended up being 25 points because the kid who scored the worst literally had a single-digit as their original score.
That kid...was me. I told everyone I purposely sabotaged my answers to "take one for the team"...but really, I just totally bombed that midterm.
41. Chips Ahoy!
When my uncle surprised us at our door, my parents let him stay until he could find somewhere to live. One day, he had brought some spicy chips and we were eating them in the living room. The next thing I knew, my younger sibling was crying because he got some of the chip dust in his eye. My parents were trying to figure out who in the world let him eat those spicy chips.
I took the blame. I knew my uncle was struggling at the time, and he needed a roof over his head while he got his life back together, so I was not going to risk having him get kicked out over an accident. Besides, he didn't even mean to hurt the kid. In the end, I just got scolded, so no biggie there.
42. Color Confidential
This was in kindergarten. Our teacher told everyone to use violet to color a specific part of our drawing. I didn't have violet (my family was poor, so I only had the eight pack), so I used purple instead. Anyway, the teacher started going around the room and looking at everyone's progress. I’ll never forget what happened next. Next thing you know, she started screaming at one girl because she used purple instead of violet.
Luckily, I was on the other side of the room, so she hadn't seen mine yet. The kid next to me, seeing me begin to tremble with fear, took his violet crayon and broke it in half so I could finish my coloring without getting yelled at. It was the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me.
43. Get Those Fists Up
There was this big red-headed guy who used to hang out at the same computer lab that I did during lunch in high school. One day, someone threw a piece of paper at him and he thought it was me. He walked up to me, grabbed my arm, and twisted it behind me. I kept telling him I didn't do it, but he just kept twisting harder. I was hurting too much to do anything.
Next thing I knew, my friend Eric smacked him in the back of the head and beat the heck out of him right there. The teacher ran in and Eric got suspended for three days. That kid always had my back.
44. Free Wheels
My closest friend gave me his car when he went to Afghanistan. He signed over the title just days before he left. I had recently wrecked my car and I didn't have any other means of transportation. When he got back, he never asked me to return it to him.
45. Friends For Life
I got into a fight and the authorities were called. My friend took the rap and he ended up facing a year in prison. Luckily, he was only given probation, but that was overly cool of him. I don't know how I could repay him, but I know I would do the exact same for him if he was in my situation.
46. The Responsible One
I was out with a bunch of my friends and our designated driver ended up leaving us about 10 minutes into the party. I did not have my license, but I knew the people I was with and I knew they would still try to drive despite drinking all night, so I decided not to drink and I drove them home after the party. At some point, we got pulled over by the RCMP, and he asked me for my license and registration.
I gave him the registration, but I told him I didn't have a license on me. He started in on me asking me why I was driving without a license and I simply pointed to each person in the car. He could see that they were clearly not sober, and then I explained the whole situation about having to be the designated driver last minute. He gave me back the registration and told me to carry on.
This was 35 years ago, and life was different then. It also happened in rural Canada, so there was no transit or cabs that were instantly accessible from where we were. Funnily enough, the RCMP officer actually pulled me over for a burned-out taillight and not for my driving skills.
47. Facing The Bridezilla
My friend picked out terrible bridesmaid dresses. If you can picture it: structured, cheap, goldenrod, transparent chiffon with a body-clinging tank top slip the size of a napkin underneath. Sort of that twee shabby chic, prairie-style that was en vogue a decade ago. My husband called me, and I quote, an "Amish corner girl".
All the bridesmaids hated them, but no one wanted to complain. I fell on my sword and begged her to let me pick something different because of my weight, as I was the chunkiest one. I absolutely refused to stand in front of people in that handkerchief. She wanted everyone to match so she switched to a much more flattering dress.
I got a group hug from all the bridesmaids in secret. It's been a decade and she still brings it up occasionally that the first dress was fine and everyone else liked it.
48. Core Memory
I taught at an elementary school in my early 20s. At the end of the year, we would always put on a dance for fifth graders as the last hurrah before they moved on to middle school. One year, we hired a DJ and he was really great. The kids and families were having a great time. But then, out of nowhere, the DJ announced a "Father/Daughter" dance.
Most of the girls pulled their dads out to the floor and started dancing, but not all of them. A couple of co-workers and I noticed the girls who didn't have dads kind of cowering in a corner of the dance floor. We walked over and started dancing with them. This wasn't a big deal at all, and honestly, it was pretty forgettable; but cut to a few years later...
I was attending some college graduation for a family friend. One of the girls who I taught in elementary school was graduating that day as well. She came up to me and told me how much the dance meant to her and that it's one of her favorite memories from school.
49. Sir, This Is a Wendy's
I was 16 and working my first job at Wendy's. One of the older guys there was Native American—he had been in the Vietnam War and he knew a lot of martial arts. We were friends, but we always horsed around a lot at work. One day, knowing full well this dude could fight, I lurked around a corner, and when he walked by, I faked a jab at his head with a mop handle.
He had me on the ground bleeding in under a second, I didn't even see what he did! He immediately started apologizing, the manager ran back to the dish room to see what happened. I flat out lied to the manager and told him I slipped on the wet floor. My friend was trying to explain, and I just kept telling him to shut up every time he opened his mouth.
It totally wasn't his fault—I caused it, and he had a family to support. The manager kept trying to get him to admit what happened, but I would not let him speak. I didn't give a heck about that job; they could fire me and it was no big deal. We ended up going out for beers after work and laughing about it, but he had busted my nose and given me two black eyes so fast I never saw it coming.
50. You're Not Alone
I had just broken up with my fiancé and I texted a buddy of mine telling him the news. He called me back right away and said he'd pick me up in an hour. He and his girlfriend pulled up and she dropped us off at a seedy bar where we did the typical post-break-up drink fest. His girlfriend then came by later that evening and drove us home. The kicker?
After they dropped me off, the two of them left for the romantic weekend they had planned. I never will forget that. They put their own plans on pause to make sure I was okay.
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