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Most people figure out pretty quickly in school who their real friends are and who’s just hanging around because they need something. It’s one of those lessons that stings a little but saves you a lot of wasted energy in the long run.

In this story, a hardworking student transferred into a new class and immediately became the go-to person for notes and homework.

Classmates who never bothered talking to him any other time would pop up right before a test like clockwork, asking for everything he’d written down. He went along with it because saying no felt worse than being used.

But then he started hearing what they actually said about him when they didn’t think he was listening. The mocking, the uncomfortable questions, the way he only existed to them when they needed an academic favor.

Now he’s weighing whether to shut the whole thing down and deal with the fallout, or keep being everyone’s favorite workhorse.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITA for refusing to share my notes with classmates who only talk to me when they need something?

I’m an Italian high school student and this year I changed class, so I have new classmates.

Since the beginning of the year, some of them have been asking me for notes and homework.

The issue is that they talk to me only when they need something, and sometimes I’ve also heard them make fun of me or ask me uncomfortable questions.

He’s starting to feel like his classmates are being totally unreasonable, so he considers making a change.

Today, one of them asked me if I could send the notes I took during our economics lesson and old ones since tomorrow we have a test, even though he was in class and could’ve taken them himself.

I’m thinking about stopping sharing my notes completely because I feel used.

But he also doesn’t want his boundaries to come off the wrong way.

But at the same time I feel guilty for not doing it, and I’m worried they might accuse me of having “favourites” or being unfair.

From their point of view, sharing notes might be normal.

AITA for wanting to stop giving my notes to classmates?

These classmates are definitely not his friends, and they need to stop trying to fool him.

What did Reddit have to say?

Why should a lazy student get to benefit from a hardworking student’s labor?

His classmates definitely didn’t deserve his help.

This user agrees the note sharing needs to come to an end.

Why not make a quick buck off it?

The guilt this student is feeling is the clearest sign that they’re a genuinely kind person being taken advantage of by people who aren’t.

Sharing notes is a favor, not an obligation, and it definitely isn’t owed to people who mock you when they don’t need something from you.

The fact that this classmate sat through the same economics lesson and still asked for notes tells you everything about how this dynamic works. They’re not struggling, they’re just lazy, and they’ve identified someone too nice to say no.

Worrying about being called unfair is natural, but fairness goes both directions. There’s nothing fair about being someone’s tutor and their punchline.

Close the notebook, and let them figure it out on their own.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who stops speaking up in his Zoom meetings after getting constantly interrupted.