AITA for telling my friend she’s being cheated on? #4
“I was safeguarding my friend,” I snapped back.
How fucking dare she. “Becca didn’t deserve what your son did to her, and if he’s going around fucking other girls, he’s likely to give her an STD, which isn’t happening on my watch.
So no, this isn’t my fault. How about you teach your son how to be a decent human being. ”
“This happened because of your irresponsible use of your ability!” she argued.
Jon cleared his throat and in that oh so mild manner of his, drawled, “Ma’am, you’re trying to shoot the messenger now. Stop trying to blame the kitchen light for revealing there’s roaches in the kitchen. Abby only reported what she saw, to a friend, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
“But she’s using her ability to do that with, which is illegal, surely!”
“Not any more illegal than a friend reporting on something they witnessed. Take the psychic ability out of it,” Jon advised.
“If she’d seen your son kissing this other girl, and reported that, would you still be trying to pin the blame on her?
You know she’s not the problem here. Stop trying to deflect. ”
She glared harder. “So you’re taking her side, not even going to punish her?”
Jon quirked a brow at her, and oh shit, he’s about to do a Jonism. Oooh, she’s going to regret poking him.
“Ma’am. If we’re going to cast blame, then why don’t you start with your husband? Which is where your son learned his cheating ways.”
Her expression went ashen. It was her turn to stare at the floor like she didn’t know how to meet anyone’s eyes.
Donovan shook his head, sighing. “Listen, everyone, my husband will happily keep secrets to himself right up until you pick a fight with him. Then he will tell all. So please, let’s just not go there, all right?
The main problem here isn’t Abby telling her friend.
It’s that these two are caught out, and Kenneth apparently tried to attack Abby physically.
That part is not all right. Principal Evans, what happens next? ”
Principal Evans kept an eye on Kenneth and his mom as he answered.
“I agree, the problem isn’t Abby. She didn’t do anything wrong.
In fact, I applaud her courage in speaking up and safeguarding a friend.
What is the problem is that we now have a teenage pregnancy, and a young man who thinks it’s all right to attack someone instead of own up to his own wrongdoings.
None of that is acceptable. Kenneth? You’re suspended for two weeks.
Emily, you have permission to take a leave of absence for a week.
You’ve got some tough decisions to make. ”
Kenneth got hauled out of the room by his mother, and she was hissing into his ear, and it wasn’t anything good. He was in so, so much trouble.
Emily chased after them, her mother hot on her heels. “Wait, wait, we have to talk about this!”
I could hear him scream at her, “I don’t want a fucking kid! I thought you were on birth control!”
“Don’t you dare scream at her when you got her pregnant!” That was probably Emily’s mom screaming back, wasn’t sure with a wall blocking my view.
Principal Evans gave a long sigh. “We try so hard to teach kids not to do this kind of shit. I’m sorry this all happened. Becca, why don’t you take the rest of the day as a mental health day, okay?”
She gave a nod, tears still in her eyes. “Thanks. I will. Um, that said.” Standing, she came to me and leaned in to give me a hug. “Thanks. Seriously, thanks.”
I hugged her back, just feeling so bad for her. “You’re welcome. Becca, how about a girls’ night this weekend? We can eat too much ice cream and vent about how awful boys are.”
Becca straightened, gave me this searching look, then smiled. It was watery around the edges, but sincere. “Sounds great. I apparently need better friends.”
Meeting broke up at that point, with Becca going home with her mom. I paused in the lobby area outside of the principal’s office to talk to Jon and Donovan. “Thanks for the backup.”
“Of course.” Jon put a hand on my shoulder, and yeah, he got it.
I could see the history in his lines of moments he’d lived through that were just like this.
“This is why I told you, unless necessary, just keep it all to yourself. That said, Abby, you made the right call here. Safeguarding the innocent always takes precedent. Becca really would have been in trouble if she’d stayed with that guy any longer.
He’s prone to violence, too, which isn’t good. ”
“I just couldn’t let her be cheated on.”
“Yup, good call. Do me a favor, though, next time you have a situation like this on your hands, give Donovan a text first. A heads-up so we know if we need to come to you.”
Oh. Yeah, that would have been smart. Duh. “Got it, will do that from now on.”
Donovan looked at us both and then offered, “Why don’t I check you two out and you also have a mental health day? I think you’re too rattled to really pay attention in class anyway.”
Hopeful, I asked, “Can we get ice cream too? I feel like I need sugar.”
“Ha, yeah sure, let’s go get ice cream.”
School would be Gossip Central tomorrow, and my phone’d likely blow up tonight, but meh. It was fine, I could handle it. Right now, I had my girlfriend, two mentors, and the promise of ice cream. I’d live in the moment for a while.