You Don’t Have to Go to Euphoria High For IRL Scandals

Tales definitely worth telling

After two long years of production, Euphoria has finally returned with a fresh new season. Since its initial release in the summer of 2019, the HBO drama is back on everyone’s minds with plot and character developments no one could have really imagined. 

The show is known for the rawness with which it depicts its characters. It zooms in on most of the trials and tribulations most teens, and while it’s often raunchy—most can relate. Although fiction, the show portrays a reality that is not so out of touch with ours. From substance abuse, relationships to crime Euphoria sheds light on a distressing lifestyle some of us have either had the misfortune of experiencing first hand or keyholed via their entourage and close friends.

For that reason, we decided to ask you what Euphoria-esque escapades you got up to in your earlier years.

Mona, 22 

This was at an end of year party. Two of my friends snuck away to talk and sort their relationship out after a sticky break up. Clearly, it went well because they would’ve gone back together if a video hadn’t started going around on Facebook. I’ll spare you the details but it was quite graphic. By the next day, the whole school, including teachers, were aware of the video. The guy got away with a couple of hours of detention and a probation of a couple of months. The girlfriend though was cast out the school with everyone, including staff, calling her dirty names and exposing her. She fell into depression and eventually tried to commit suicide. Thankfully she didn’t manage to but her family ended up moving out of Cairo and cut all her ties with her past life from here. I feel like I could’ve done more to help but given the magnitude of the scandal, it was almost impossible without being targeted myself and being put in the same basket. I don’t know how I feel about it but it for sure was wrong and it still makes toss and turn even years later. 

Ahmed, 19

I’m from Morocco and being queer is far from being a welcomed thing. I used to play football at a good level for a very good team. The kind of team that gets players drafted to play for the first league academies. There was this striker, I won’t share his name, but he was insane with the ball. He had a bright future ahead of him until the coach found out that he had been performing for a Friday night drag show in a cabaret downtown because one bench player, who wanted his spot, snitched. We never saw him again after that and I still think about the career he would’ve had if that story had remained quiet. 

Karim, 17

Last year, our school had a basketball tournament with teams from our district. It got heated and a fight eventually broke out between a player from my school and another one. The player from our school punched a bit too hard in the wrong place and eventually sent our opponent to hospital. Turns out he had a chronic heart issue and passed away because of the fight. He had a heart failure which was such a shock for everyone. I haven’t been on a court since because of the trauma and don’t think I’ll ever be able to play basketball properly because of that. 

Selma, 26

Two guys at a school nearby vandalized hundreds of cars in a garage around my neighbourhood. They were hopping from car to car spray painting the sides and hoods. Police were eventually able to track them down at school. They could have been charged with hundreds of thousands of dinars worth of damage, but the owner didn’t want to see two young boys go to prison for the rest of their lives for one stupid mistake. Instead, he offered them jobs to pay off their debts over the next few decades. It’s been five years and they’re still working there.

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