So I (Em) 16 have a friend, I’ll call her (Mia) 15.
At the start of this situation, all I said to her was to get a jumper string out of her mouth because I didn’t want her to get sick. That was the beginning of what this whole argument turned into.
Recently after that, we had an argument, and later she told her parents that I told her to harm herself. She also said I made comments that her life wasn’t worth living, which I did not say. This wasn’t a misunderstanding in the moment what she told them was not what was said, and it’s really upsetting because of how serious the accusation is.
I found out about it through her sister, not directly from Mia at first. When I heard it, I was really shocked and upset because it’s not something I’ve ever said or would say to anyone.
After I found out, Mia emailed me saying she wanted to talk because she thought there had been "miscommunication" and that she wanted us to be best friends again. I told her I needed space because I felt really hurt and betrayed by what had been said about me and how it was told to her parents.
This whole situation has also really affected my mental health. It’s been stressing me out, making me overthink everything I say, and bringing up past trauma for me that I’ve had to deal with before. It’s been really hard knowing something this serious has been said about me, even if it hasn’t spread widely.
Later, she said that her parents told her her sister must have misheard or misunderstood what was said. From my perspective, that doesn’t feel accurate, because what was repeated back to me was not what I said in the first place, and it feels like the explanation has changed after the fact.
At this point, it hasn’t really spread to other people, and the people who do know about it are actually on my side, but it still really affected me emotionally because it involves something very serious.
Her parents have also told her that I don’t understand what she is going through. I do understand more than they realise, because I have my own past trauma that this situation has brought up again for me, which has made it harder to deal with.
I tried to talk to her about it, but she keeps saying she doesn’t think she needs to apologise unless she “means it,” and that she doesn’t understand why she should apologise at all.
I feel really hurt because even if she didn’t intend for it to become this serious, it still involves a very serious claim being made about me, and I don’t know if I’m overreacting by still being upset.
AITA?