Omg I had this discussion with a friend because I thought it was really odd. I know when I was in highschool in the late 90s graduated 2000. No one had tattoos maybe it's different now lol am I old. But yes it didn't fit

I graduated two years earlier, and we had a few eyebrow piercings, but, I can't imagine, even today, that 16-18 year olds have tats.

(I call tattoos "tats" because I'm hip)

Hahaa yes eyebrow piercings! That's too funny because that was probably the biggest thing kids had done or a tongue piercing which I never see anymore. It's a good thing.

Remember when the coolest kids had pagers?

@Halberstram said:

Remember when the coolest kids had pagers?

Ahahahaaa yes!!! Omg I'm such a 90s kid I love it and love the simpler times so much. My 8 yr old has no idea 😄

Yeah I thought that was odd. I thought you had to be 18 in order to get a tattoo.

...#21Jumpstreet

(I used a hashtag because I'm cool...and yes, I'm old enough to be referring to the #original21Jumpstreet.)

"He's hip, he's cool, he's forty-five."

(Kids in the Hall reference)

My daughter nagged me to death for years to get a tattoo, so when she was 17 I caved. I had to be in the studio with her, those were their rules, and only one tattoo artist in the whole town allowed it. She only got a small one with her star sign somewhere it can't be seen so no big deal really. Now she's 18 with a paycheck :|

@Melanie - I graduated in 2000 as well and there were plenty of people in my high school with tattoos. I didn't see anything odd about it at all. Justin I'm sure had tats because he had a mother who couldn't care less about him and Skye explained hers and the reasons she had them (at least one of them). The rest, (like the rich jocks) I'm sure got away with whatever they wanted because they were rich jocks.

In my high school, a few of the students with tattoos all had another thing in common: teen pregnancy. One of my friends told me that "Once you experience the pain of birth, getting a tattoo is nothing." I always thought the comment was odd and I remember once my friend's dad asked me why so many girls my age had tattoos and I didn't want to tell him what she related to me.

I just grew up in a very small town I think that's why no one had tattoos. I'm sure it much more common now. And yes I got my first tattoo on my 35th bday this year and I said I've had a baby I can do this lol 😁

Haha well I guess that comment isn't so out of place after all

I got my first one when I was 19 and my 2nd and last when I was 23. I don't think my parents would have been ok with their high school teen having tats either.

Hahaha yes my parents would have killed me if I got one as a teen! 😂

I get that some students might have one tattoo or so in HS, but if I remember correctly these characters had some really elaborate work. I can't imagine this being the rule, perhaps the exceptional student, but not the rule. I don't know enough (or care enough) about these actors to know if they have them in real life, or if they were given to them for the production...does anyone know?

@Daddie0 I just did a search for Sosie Bacon (the actress that played the VERY tattooed Skye Miller) and she has nothing at all that extreme so it seems it was for the production. I've never read the book so I am not sure if this was how the character was described or if it was a creative translation but, the actress herself from what I could see only has a small tree tatted on her back.

Brandon Flynn, the actor that plays Justin Foley, has a semicolon on his wrist but, nothing like what we see on his chest.

Similarly, Alisha Boe (Jessica Davis) and Tommy Dorfman (Ryan Shaver ) have the semicolon tats.

In case anyone is curious what the semicolon tattoo means, it's part of Project Semicolon, a movement founded by Amy Bleuel in memory of her father who committed suicide. It was to represent the fact that "your story isn't over yet." Earlier this year, Amy also committed suicide at the age of 31.

Off topic -- Also, I love all of the commenters on this page. You're all from my era! LOL pagers. My husband was just talking about the "Zach Morris cell phone" and how today's technology seems to be headed back to those giant things. Just recently, I seriously thought someone in the grocery store was holding a tablet to their ear. It was a phone. Why are they getting that big?? /end rant