June 28, 2026 at 11:35 am

Teen Left Confused After Friend Stops Talking to Her Over a Hiking Trip She Couldn’t Miss

by Benjamin Cottrell

woman laying on the couch checking her phone

Pexels/Reddit

Going on a trip you were openly invited to shouldn’t require a post-trip apology, but that’s exactly where the teen in this story ended up after her friend couldn’t make it and decided to take it personally.

The initial invitation for the trip came through a group chat and everyone was included. But when one friend couldn’t make it, the rest of the group decided to go without her.

So the trip happened, the teen posted about it, and her friend responded by ignoring her post entirely.

But when the teen noticed her friend acting coldly to her, she started wondering if she crossed some invisible line.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITA for hanging out with my friend’s friend?

I’m 18 and my friend (Jane) is 19. I’m from Northern California.

Here’s the situation. My friend (Jane) lives in Elk Grove but would always come back to the Bay Area during school and work with her grandparents. We have a mutual friend group.

Lately, some familiar faces came back into their lives.

Recently, she rekindled her friendship with her old situationship (John). They had an ugly falling out but now they grew and became good friends again.

Basically, his friends and our friends and I started becoming friends. We started playing video games together on FaceTime or Discord.

It started off well enough, and the group made plans to hang out.

A week ago, in our group chat (which had 7 people in it) he invited both of my friends (Jane and Anna) and I to a hiking trip and city walk in San Francisco with another group of friends.

I wanted to join so I asked if I could go and they were okay with it.

At the time, me, Jane, and my other friend (Anna) all were hanging out in my car. We were all on FaceTime with him and his friends (Carl, Scott, and John).

They all wanted Jane to join, but she had some scheduling conflicts, so the trip went on without her.

Jane gave me this look of wanting to come with us, and me and our friends on FaceTime were begging for her to go, but she couldn’t go because of work.

On the day of the trip, I hung out with them. I posted pictures on my Instagram of our hangout.

And specifically, I posted myself and she didn’t like it or comment.

But Jane was treating her other friend quite differently.

So I was pretty surprised, and when I came back home from the trip, I see Jane like, comment, and repost Anna’s post on Instagram.

Then I asked our mutual friend, John, if she was mad at me for going on the trip.

She decides to try and make peace with Jane.

So I sent her a paragraph, if I was doing anything to give her FOMO and making her feel left out because these were her friends, and that I was sorry for making her feel that sort of way, and if she had a bad day, I am sorry for that too.

She didn’t reply to my text.

So she did some digging — and she didn’t like what she found.

Until I found out they were all on Discord playing games together. I was going to join but something inside of me felt I was unwelcome to do so.

So I just went to sleep and to see if she replied to my text in the morning.

Now she’s starting to feel ignored by everyone in the group.

Well, today is the morning and I have no texts from any of my friends or his friends.

So, am I the AH for hanging out with my friend’s friends?

Jane doesn’t exactly sound like the best communicator.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who stirred up family drama by finally choosing her own mom over her in-laws.

What did Reddit have to say?

This user calls out just how immature this whole drama is.

Screenshot 2026 06 26 at 4.48.59 PM Teen Left Confused After Friend Stops Talking to Her Over a Hiking Trip She Couldn’t Miss

Feeling FOMO is normal, but Jane shouldn’t be taking it out on everyone else.

Screenshot 2026 06 26 at 4.49.34 PM Teen Left Confused After Friend Stops Talking to Her Over a Hiking Trip She Couldn’t Miss

Her past relationship with John could have something to do with the simmering tension.

Screenshot 2026 06 26 at 4.49.58 PM Teen Left Confused After Friend Stops Talking to Her Over a Hiking Trip She Couldn’t Miss

This commenter thinks maybe this person is putting too much stock in social media likes.

Screenshot 2026 06 26 at 4.50.44 PM Teen Left Confused After Friend Stops Talking to Her Over a Hiking Trip She Couldn’t Miss

Feeling left out when your friends hang out without you is normal, especially when you’re 18.

It stings to see photos from a day you wanted to be part of, and it’s natural to feel a little territorial when your friend group starts merging with someone else’s.

But there’s a massive difference between feeling something and acting on it by selectively ignoring someone’s posts, leaving their apology on read, and hanging out with the group on Discord that same night without acknowledging their existence.

This teen was openly invited to this trip, and she more than did her best to cajole Jane into coming along.

Instead of Jane saying “I’m bummed I missed it,” she went silent in a way that’s completely manipulative.

It’s high time Jane start learning some proper communication skills.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a middle schooler who was totally frazzled after being left to babysit alone for 3-plus hours, and swears she’s never doing it again.

Benjamin Cottrell | Assistant Editor, Internet Culture

Benjamin Cottrell is an Assistant Editor and contributing writer at TwistedSifter, specializing in internet culture, viral social dynamics, and the moral complexities of online communities. He brings a highly analytical, editorial voice to his reporting on workplace conflicts, malicious compliance, and interpersonal drama, with a specific focus on nuanced stories that lack an obvious villain.

As a published author of rhetorical criticism, Benjamin leverages his academic background in human communication to dissect and elevate viral social media threads. Instead of simply summarizing events, he provides readers with balanced, deep-dive commentary into why the internet reacts the way it does. In addition to his cultural reporting, he is an experienced fine art photography essayist and video game reviewer.

When he isn’t analyzing the latest viral debates, Benjamin is usually chipping away at his extensive video game backlog, hunting down the best new restaurants, or out exploring the city with a camera in hand.

Connect with Benjamin on Instagram and read more of his essays on Substack.