Thankfully, I wasn’t bullied in school, so I can’t directly relate to what it would be like to be bullied. However, I can imagine that you’d probably never want to be around those bullies again, and you might need therapy to move past the pain.

In this story, one woman signed a lease with her boyfriend. They thought it was the perfect rental home, but then she realized the landlord knew people who used to bully her when she was in middle school. She felt so upset at this realization that she made up an excuse to break the lease.

Now, she’s wondering is she shouldn’t have done that.

Keep reading for more context about her middle school bullies, and see if you think she did the right thing or not.

AITA for cancelling out my new release due to the new landlord being friends with the people that used to bully me in elementary and middle school?

There’s a bit of a backstory story that stems from my childhood.

Growing up I wasn’t liked too much. I was made fun of for being fat, poor, goth/emo and was singled out a lot of the time.

It made my childhood so miserable, I wouldn’t want to go to school. With me not going to school was another reason I was bullied. (Me and the landlord went to elementary together during this time.)

Here’s how OP dealt with middle school.

Middle school comes. I did not like being on time.

I had lots of anxiety and my mom would drop me off about 5 minutes after class starts. It was so I didn’t need to stand outside with all the other kids by myself.

I was late and absent so often to the point that the teachers have said something to the classes about how hard it is for me to come to school already.

It lasted a few days that no one said anything about it and then it was back to normal.

She considered the teachers part of the problem.

Honestly I didn’t even like my teachers or principal because they would see and hear it happening, watched me cry, freak out in class because I would have things thrown at me in class, and overheard someone say “why does she even come, it’s not like she’s going to pass.”

I had one teacher that would even bully me. He would ask me right in front of the whole class “so do you plan on being here tomorrow, should I give you one” referring to the days lesson and work sheet and told me I’m not going to graduate or make it anywhere because I was never there to do the work or hand it in on time.

And on the work I did do in his class, he would read my marks out loud in front of everybody (which embarrassed me). One of the times I only got 2 answers right and he was surprised I even got that.

(It was so bad that as an adult, I had an interview at my old middle school via Zoom for a school guidance counsellor position, and there were a few of the same teachers in the interview that stated that they remember me as a youth and were surprised about how far I came. I just felt like that was a big slap in the face, and I kinda spaced out in my interview, mainly because I know I can’t not work with people that let me get bullied for 3 years in front of them, and do nothing about it but tell me; not to listen to what others say, it doesn’t matter and other ‘supportive’ phrases along those lines. I just wanted to shut my computer and never log back on.)

High school was much, much better.

Anyways, when i left middle school; I went to a different high school where no one knew me, I made the honor roll, graduated, and went to college, and even got a scholarship.

It’s been 6-7 years since I graduated and started my career working with kids/youth in care/at risk/homeless.

She thought she had found a great place to rent.

So, come to the present date, my boyfriend and I had found a place within our budget, and when we viewed it, we were told that lawn/snowcare is up to the landlord.

We signed our lease without thinking. As the move-in date approached, I noticed that the lawn hadn’t been kept up with, and I had reached out to the landlord.

A few days went by, no reply and I had seen on my people you may know list, the landlord. I clicked on his page and saw pictures of him from high school with all the kids that used to bully me. So, I did not feel comfortable moving into a place that a landlord will consistently be at throughout for over half the year, as it snows almost every day in the winter where we live, Along with the little communication.

In the end; I used this as a reason to get out of my lease. I paid a penalty fee and took the L.

She’s wondering if she messed up.

For so long I was to trying to escape/erase/forget my past and got led right back to it, without realizing.

It’s been 3 days, and I’ve been non-stop crying.

AITAH for cancelling my lease and not telling the truth? I just really did not want to admit to my past, re live it, or have anyone from my past knowing anything about me, etc.

(I know I’m the AH for the lawn and snow being the reason to cancel my lease.)

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First of all, it sounds like she needs therapy to deal with the middle school days. Second, I’m not 100% sure the teacher was a bully. Obviously, I wasn’t there, so it depends on a lot of context, tone, etc, but warning a student they’re not going to graduate if they don’t go to class could’ve been meant with good intentions. Thirdly, no, I don’t think it’s wrong to back out of the lease. Obviously, this is traumatic for OP, so actually living there would be even worse for her mental health.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a tenant who walked away from their lease after the landlord hassled them over renting month-to-month.

Let’s see if Reddit agrees.

I hope she’s in therapy too.

This person reassures her that she didn’t do anything wrong.

This person makes a good point.

Another person tells her that she did the right thing for her mental health.

At least she found out before moving in! That would’ve been a much bigger deal.

I wonder if she has told her boyfriend the truth about why she didn’t want to live there. If she feels comfortable talking to him about it, she should. Otherwise, she should look for a therapist. It has been years since she was bullied, but it is clearly still very painful for her.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a professor who missed a major funding deadline after they told their graduate student to leave them alone.