This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/AmItheAsshole by /u/genxb456 on 2023-06-25 01:35:05+00:00.

After much effort, I’ve finally managed to pull together enough of my old classmates to have a school reunion. I’d say class reunion, but our school only ever had 103 alumni, so it’s not really necessary to do one for each class. Most of the alumni were fairly easy to reach as we’ve kept in close contact over the years. All but one girl that I’ll call Bell who unsurprisingly ghosted us right after she graduated.

Our school was…eccentric. It was designed for very specific types of students and had high expectations, and with that comes with some unusual attitudes and policies. One of their most unusual was against ‘fraternization’. Making and having friends wasn’t banned, per se, but interactions between students were closely monitored and had to be "beneficial’. If they didn’t view it as beneficial, there would be a disciplinary meeting. The consequences varied depending on what the circumstances were. Most of the time, it was just a warning about not ‘becoming a distraction to each other’ or enforced solo study time for a few weeks. The worst consequence was being put on probation, which was one step above being expelled and involved staying above a 3.0, not being allowed to have personal electronics after 8 pm (instead of 10), and losing off campus time for the entirety of the semester, but that only ever happened if it was extreme or involved someone of the opposite sex.

Most of us liked not feeling social pressure, so I’ve only heard of a few times where there wasn’t just a warning. The summer after sophomore year, one of our other classmates saw Bell hanging out with a male friend of hers. The rules technically applied both on and off campus, so when she reported it back, Bell ended up being put on probation for the entirety of fall semester.

She got sick and spent most of our senior year in and out of the hospital. I’m convinced she was only passed that last semester because they felt some level of sympathy. She turned down the standard offer for college help, and cut contact after.

Some people have noticed that she’s not on the list and are asking me about it. I don’t want to invite her. The last time we spoke about a year after, she demanded to be left alone to “live a normal life”. I want to respect her wishes to not be involved, but also, I don’t want to deal with her. She made it clear that she was disgusted by all of us and the school, and now I’m supposed to bother her? They want me to try. I have found her social media, and judging from that, they would just judge her anyway. She way underachieved, but she has her perfectly average, normal life. She looks happy, and I hope she is. I just think the best thing is to leave her out of this. They say she’s a graduate and needs to be invited. Am I wrong that she doesn’t?