this has happened to me a few times as a kid but the only time I distinctly remember being asked out as a joke, the dude comes up to me from his friend group (we are probably 12 at this point) and is like “do you wanna go out” and I was like “what” and he was like “do you want to go out with me” and I put my books in my locker and I look at him and I go “……no?” because I genuinely didn’t and his shit eating grin falters and he goes “it was a joke” and I was like “okay” and he goes back to his friends and I can see them all waiting for the punchline but instead he came back more confused than me, which is hilarious, because im sure he was expecting me, the fat nerd, to be like “of COURSE I would LOVE TO” but instead I was like “why on earth.,..?”. it probably hurt his ego more than mine. fantastic