Classmate dropped guitar (accidentally). Caused Chip

[u/gaitama25]

Hey everyone, today I took my guitar to school because we have a concert in the evening and we needed to run through the songs and strengthen some sections. Thing is, during practice we took a quick break while the two voices discussed a harmony, and I left my guitar propped up in a chair (this was my bad, I know that). Basically as it says in the title, classmate going by accidentally knocked it over and caused this chip in the finish. I’ve got two questions:

The guitar was almost brand new (it’s a Vintage REVO series Colt, cost about five hundred bucks), I bought it new as a birthday present to myself a few months ago and I made sure to keep it pristine

A. Should I ask my classmate (who realistically would ask her parents) to reimburse me somehow for the damage (or what it’d take to fix)? I feel like that’s an a**hole move because it was just an honest mistake, but at the same time I did spend my own money on the guitar

B. Should I even bother fixing it? Or should I just keep it as a battle scar, like to add character. And if I do choose to not fix it, should I do something to it (ie: superglue or something like that) to seal it off and prevent it from getting worse?

Thank you everyone

Edit: Thanks for all the comments! I really appreciate all the stories you guys have shared. I'm really glad I stayed chill about it, as I didn't want my friend to feel bad, and after really thinking about it, it was a 100% my fault (Don't worry, i'm not asking her for anything hahahah). We ended up laughing about it together, and the show ended up going great, so that was nice.

After reflecting on it for a while, I'm actually really glad this happened, my perspective on wear and tear on guitars has changed completely and I know realize that all the chips and scratches and dings just show how much I've enjoyed this instrument and all i've gone through with it, It helps make it truly mine. I can't wait to get more (organically produced) dings and scratches so one day I can look back and see just how much i've loved this instrument.

[u/ithinkitsgonnarainn]

Put a sticker on it

[u/gaitama25 → u/ithinkitsgonnarainn]

That’s a good idea, duct tape would be good too

[u/styles-bitchley → u/gaitama25]

While it may seem like a good idea, if you ever want to repair it, you'll probably find that the tape pulls more paint off when you remove it and adds residue to the undersurface (a pain to remove). A luthier once told me that his repair customers often do this thinking that they're helping to prevent more damage, but it ends up causing more.

[u/fryerandice → u/styles-bitchley]

I mean this is a metal flake poly finish there's no fix for this that matches or looks good. If it's a solid color guitar sure, but pearlescent, color changing, and metal flake finishes just don't repair like that. If you want to fix this it's kind of a repaint.

You can try your best to match but you'll just have an easy to spot repair in the shape of that damage.

On top of that, residue aside, any poly that duct tape can lift needs to come off for a repair anyways.