I thought I was getting a cute lunch date with a Hinge match outside my trade school, but he showed up with my ex-best friend from middle school. Turns out he's her cousin and the entire profile was just an ambush so she could 'force us to make up' after three years. I froze, turned around, and walked right back inside. Am I allowed to be completely furious or did I overreact?

Clear ruling: You didn’t overreact, you survived a poorly scripted soap opera ambush. Using a dating app and an accomplice to bypass someone's boundaries isn't a sweet rom-com gesture. It’s catfishing with extra steps. If your former friend actually wanted to apologize for the past, she could have sent a low-pressure text and accepted whatever answer you gave. Cornering you at your vocational school with a fake date isn’t an olive branch, it’s an ambush disguised as a meetup. You owe neither of them a civilized lunch or a tearful heart-to-heart. If she reaches out now, keep it razor-sharp: "Using your cousin on Hinge to ambush me at school wasn't the peace offering you thought it was. Please don't contact me again." Then block both of them and treat yourself to a proper lunch. Peace of mind tastes a lot better than forced nostalgia.