I'm two months into my first real job, and my toxic high school ex just resurfaced in our hometown group chat playing the reformed saint. Everyone is fawning over his 'growth', and watching them buy the act while I'm sitting at my desk trying to stay professional makes me feel completely crazy.

Deep breath and close that tab: you don’t have to clap for a clown just because he put on a nicer suit. Hometown group chats run entirely on cheap nostalgia. To everyone else, his little redemption arc is easy entertainment. To you, it feels like an insult because you’re the one who actually paid the bill for his bad behavior. That doesn’t mean your friends have abandoned you, and it definitely doesn’t mean he’s suddenly a saint. They're just cheering for the trailer, while you had to sit through the terrible full movie. Hit mute on that thread right now—not for an hour, but for a month. You are building an actual adult career, and you cannot afford to waste your daily bandwidth on ghosts from tenth grade. If someone reaches out privately asking why you're silent, give them one clean sentence: "Super swamped with the new job, keeping my head down right now." Let him perform for his audience. You’re busy outgrowing the whole theater.