So I (17M) think I may have seriously messed up today, and I’ve been feeling sick about it ever since.
For context, I take relationships and boundaries pretty seriously. I don’t like being the kind of person who makes others uncomfortable or disrespected, especially in shared environments like school. Today during class, something happened that I can’t stop replaying in my head.
There’s this person who usually sits near me. We’re not close, but we exist in the same space, and there’s kind of an unspoken understanding of mutual respect. At least, there was.
Anyway, at one point during the lesson, things were quiet. Like, really quiet. The kind of quiet where every small action feels amplified. And in that moment, I made a decision—one that I didn’t fully think through.
I reached over.
I hesitated for a second.
And then I… borrowed one of their pens.
I know. I know how that sounds. But I didn’t ask first. They weren’t looking. I just took it, used it for maybe 30 seconds, and then put it back exactly where it was.
They never reacted. They might not have even noticed. But that’s almost worse, because now I feel like I’ve violated some invisible moral code. Like what if they did notice and just chose to stay silent?? What if they’re quietly reevaluating everything they thought they knew about me??
I’ve been debating whether I should come clean tomorrow, apologize, maybe even replace the pen just to be safe. Or is that overkill and I should just live with the guilt forever?
AITA?