Some friendships only really show their colors the moment one person stops being useful to them.

This bright student learned that the hard way at his new school after befriending a classmate who slowly started leaning on him for everything from assignments to elaborate UI designs.

He happily said yes for months, even creating work so good their teacher was floored by it. But when the friend came back with eight more designs at a moment when he was buried in his own projects, he finally turned the request down.

The friend didn’t take it well, and the cold shoulder, the gossip, and the public freeze-out came fast.

Now he’s left questioning whether the whole friendship was real to begin with.

Read on to find out what happened next.

AITA for not doing a few designs for my friend in which I told him, “I can’t”?

I’m a 15-year-old BTEC student.

My friend, whom I met at the start of this new school, and I were pretty good friends.

We didn’t really hang out, as I’m not that type of guy, but we never really did those things.

The two did share a somewhat symbiotic relationship when it came to academics.

He and I would do assignments together and help each other with our schoolwork.

I even made us a Discord server to invite our classmates in, and we would help everybody out.

But lately, their dynamic has begun to break apart.

Now that aside, let me get to the main part. He keeps ghosting me and then coming back with things he needs help with.

I don’t really mind, as I always accept what he asks me to do for him.

Including big prokects.

One of those things was him asking me to design for him the UI for our assignment since I’ve done a very good job on mine.

Therefore, he asked me for one, and I delightedly made it for him, and it was amazing — so amazing that my teacher was amazed, but we didn’t tell him I made it, or else he would’ve failed my friend haha.

But… that’s where things went downhill.

When he told his friend he was too busy to help with another project, the friend didn’t seem to respect his boundaries at all.

He told me that he started working with a guy who gives you cheap subscriptions and botted followers, which sounds weird, but then I told him that I can’t because I’m busy with other stuff and that I can’t do the designs he asked me to do.

Days go by and I’m working my behind off on some projects where I code, but then when I go to school, he gets mad at me and says, “Why didn’t you do them?”

He reminds his friend what he said originally, but the guy still isn’t getting the hint.

“I told you I’m busy several times dude. I’m really sorry, but I’m not free this week,” I said.

He then told me that he sent me some messages and asked why I didn’t respond.

I was confused because I haven’t even done crap on Discord this past week, and he’s mad about it.

Regardless of how rude his friend was being, he still tried to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Like, dude, if you’re busy, you’ll know how it feels. I apologized several times to him about it, and he didn’t care.

I’m a very forgiving person towards others, so I just kept acting friendly and kind to him.

Then he said, “Fine.” Then I thought it was all good.

But that’s when his friend started doubling down on his rudeness.

NOPE, he started to ignore me, running away from me whenever I was near, talking behind my back, not even acknowledging me.

I was confused. Why act this way because I said no to you asking for 8 designs that I can’t do??

He keeps saying I’m an AH and stuff.

He doesn’t think he deserves this kind of treatment at all.

Dude, I helped you in several things; I never said no to whatever you asked me to do, but when I say no to you ONCE, you get this mad? Yeah no.

AITA?

This dude doesn’t sound like a real friend at all.

What did Reddit have to say?

True friends don’t treat people this poorly.

Maybe it’s time to kick this guy out of his life for good.

There was no sense in apologizing when the friend is so clearly in the wrong.

Sooner or later, this student will have to realize that good work shouldn’t be given away for free.

A real friend doesn’t drop you the moment you can’t help them. They show up, they reciprocate, they appreciate you — but none of that happened here,.

This student gave away his time, energy, and design talent without asking for anything in return, only to get a cold shoulder when he finally needed space.

Learning who you can trust is a tough lesson to learn, but this student will be better for it.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a young woman who didn’t expect closing her door to study to lead to a sibling blowout.