When starting a new school year, you have to have all your things ready to go, including your laptop.

What would you do if your former guardian had the laptop and refused to give it to you until you deleted a file, but they wouldn’t give you access to the file in a safe way?

That is what happened to the young lady in this story, so she called the police to get them to mediate, but now her former guardian is saying she was out of line.

AITA for calling the police on my guardian and her partner after refusal to return my school Chromebook?

I (15f) live with my dad now, but I used to live with legal guardian Sam (26) (not a parent) who’s about to officially lose guardianship.

This seems like an unreasonable demand.

I moved out a while ago, and all my things were returned in trash bags except for my school-issued Chromebook, which I really need for school. First day is tmmrw.

Back when I lived with her, Sam sent me a file on it (an editor’s copy of her book), and now she and her partner are refusing to return the Chromebook unless it’s deleted.

OK, so Sam said she’d take care of it.

5 days ago, I showed up and it was dead, Sam told me she’d charge it and delete the stuff so I’d have it before tomorrow.

By today, I never got any update or the Chromebook so I asked for it back when we moved little sisters stuff from there.

Why are they upset about this?

Sam’s partner (23) , in a very hostile tone, told me I “wouldn’t have it for the first day of school,” and said this was a “boundary” they were setting.

I didn’t feel comfortable or safe and didn’t want to argue, so I called the non-emergency police line to help resolve it calmly and legally after another warning that I needed it by tomorrow that was ignored.

There must be more backstory to this.

Keep in mind, Sam wasn’t there for whatever reason. After I’d called the police, she tried to call me and pressure me into giving her partner the password and ID.

I said I’d delete in front of them, wait for the police, or for her to get home but that partner couldn’t have unrestricted control over my Chromebook.

Well, they got it figured out.

The officer was calm and kind, and I left with the Chromebook without issue after Sam deleted the document in front of me and the officer.

I didn’t even care about the book or give them any reason to think I did.

Why didn’t the partner just call Sam if that was an option?

During the ordeal they tried saying I was wrong for not calling Sam directly. (She later claimed she was in the middle of a surgery when it happened that I forced her out of, so I’m not sure what good calling her would’ve done anyway.)

Now they’re making vague posts online about karma and consequences, trying to make me look like the bad guy for handling it the way I did.

The adults here really handled the whole thing poorly.

I just didn’t want her hostile partner to have control over a device that isn’t theirs.

So, was I wrong for getting the police involved to make sure I got my school Chromebook back?

AITA?

If there really is nothing more to this story and no backstory that makes a difference, I can’t see what this young lady did wrong.

Let’s take a look at what the people in the comments have to say about it.

They were very immature, that’s for sure.

Going no contact with them seems like a good idea.

This commenter says it doesn’t matter why, the guardians were out of line.

I wonder what that file was.

This commenter says the guardian had no right to keep it.

This young lady is the only mature one in the whole story.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a teen who has spent a decade raising her younger siblings, and thinks it’s time to walk away from her family for good.