She Saved Up Money To Buy A New Laptop For College, But Her Stepmom Took The Money And Gave The Laptop To Her Stepbrother
This 16-year-old girl has a 17-year-old stepbrother.
Recently, she was accepted into a dual-enrollment program at the community college in her hometown.
Before classes started, she needed to buy a laptop.
This past summer, she got a job so that she could work full-time for a few months and save up for a computer.
Her stepmother asked her to give her the money she made from work, claiming she would order the laptop for her so that she could give her AppleCare as a gift.
Two weeks later, the laptop still hadn’t arrived, so she asked her stepmother if she’d received any updates.
Her stepmother then informed her that the laptop had already arrived, but she gave it to her stepbrother instead, who sold it.
“She said that ever since my dad passed away, he’s had to go without because she has custody of me. I told her that she shouldn’t have accepted taking custody of me if she felt this way,” she said.
After that, her stepmother started sobbing and locked herself in her bedroom.
Photo 56332053 © Alexandr Ermolaev – Dreamstime.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
Once he found out what she’d said, her stepbrother said that she was unappreciative, and neither of them had spoken to her since.
In order to graduate high school with college credits earned, she left her previous high school that she would have attended for her junior and senior years.
She is also doing her best to earn an athletic scholarship before graduation.
“I am doing everything I can to not be a financial burden. I am so mad that I worked so hard for months, and now I have no money and no laptop,” she explained.
At the same time, she understands that her stepmother isn’t her biological mother, so she doesn’t know how to feel about the situation.
After receiving support and opinions, she wonders if her stepmother is currently receiving survivor benefits from when her father passed away.
“She’s always told me that all Dad did was leave her a house and nothing else. I have not bought clothes since my dad died. I eat as little as possible. I try not to ask for anything. I am just so confused and feeling so betrayed,” she shared.
In her view, she doesn’t have any options to call CPS or move somewhere else. She doesn’t know where she could go.
While she does have grandparents in a different state whom she could contact, they live in a retired living community, and they aren’t allowed to have anyone live with them who isn’t a senior citizen. Her grandparents could be kicked out if she stayed with them and someone found out.
Plus, even if she did live with her grandparents, she would have to sacrifice the dual-enrollment program she was just about to start.
When she thinks about the idea of suing her stepmother or calling the cops, she believes that in response, her stepmother would give up custody of her. If that were to happen, she would possibly have to live in a group home.
Years ago, before her father received custody of her, she lived in a group home for a period of time, and she had a horrible experience that she deemed worse than living with her stepmother.
She doesn’t think there’s much action she can take to change the outcome. While it’s unfortunate and deeply upsetting, she accepts the awful reality that she lost her money and the laptop.
At the same time, she feels grateful that she is more aware of the fact that she didn’t do anything wrong and shouldn’t blame herself. She now understands that she was never a “burden” and it was her stepmother treating her unfairly and disrespectfully this entire time.
What advice would you give her?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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