Reddit Stories - My new family MEMBERS PERSUADED me to join in on their wild SCHEME,

Episode Date: January 25, 2026

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #familydrama #wildschemes #persuasion #unexpectedturns #lifechoices  Summary: A person shares their experience of being persuaded by new family members to engage in a wild scheme. Initially hesitant, they navigate the complexities of family dynamics and the influence of those around them, ultimately reflecting on the impact of their decision and the unexpected outcomes that followed.  Tags: redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, family, schemes, persuasion, relationships, lifechoices, drama, storytelling, personalexperience, humor, conflict, decisionmaking, unexpected, advice, community, supportBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6816713/support.This episode includes AI-generated content.

I hope you enjoy this story. My new family members persuaded me to join in on their wild scheme, but they abandoned me when we were caught. As a result, I decided to inform our guardians about the situation. Hey there, I am a 16-year-old boy. Have two step-siblings. One's my older step-sister, Rachel, 17-F, and one's my stepbrother, Jack, 16M. My mother married their father almost a year ago and it seems like they still haven't gotten over the shock of their parents' divorce. My mother's never been married before and my father has never been in the picture so it was different for us.

She dated a couple of men before but it had never been as serious as it was with my stepdad. Rachel and Jack's parents, from what I know, got divorced abruptly a couple of years back because my stepdad Derek, 44M, had caught their mother cheating on him with a younger job. dude. Their parents have shared custody of them but their mother hardly ever visits them anymore, not after she got married to a Uber rich boyfriend. Now she's just too busy with her luxurious vacations to come see her kids. She Skypes them every two weeks and thinks that that is enough which is also probably why my step-siblings are so cranky all the time. Their parents separated almost five years ago so it's not as if the divorce took place recently. But for some reason, they still like to act very touchy about it.

I'm not saying that they're not allowed to be hurt, but I just don't by their little act. And they seem to hate me and my mother as well. They constantly act very weird around us, especially me because my mom forces me to spend time with them since apparently we're family now, but it couldn't be clearer to me that they don't want me around. My mother acts like she is oblivious to their behavior and doesn't notice it, probably so she doesn't end up making a big deal out of it, but I'm not. I see how they act around us and try to exclude me from their private little club, which only allows my stepdad and the two weirdos to be part of it. So that's my step siblings for you and I guess you guys might have figured out that I don't really get along with my new family. It wasn't like this back when my mother was dating Derek because I guess at the time my step siblings were still holding out hope that this might not turn into something permanent.

For those two years, my step siblings were not very pleasant to me but at least they weren't downright annoying. to be around, like they are now. We would all be a lot happier if my mother did not constantly try to make us friends. Like we've even shown her that neither of the three of us wants that to happen. Derek didn't really try to make us friends because I guess he understood that his kids weren't too keen on befriending me and the feelings were mutual. Tensions had already been running high for the past couple of months but last week is when things turned sour for me and my step-siblings. So last week my parents decided that they were going to take a trip to the beach to celebrate their wedding anniversary, but without us because Rachel had a test on Wednesday.

Instead of just sending Rachel to live with her grandparents so she could study and taking me and Jack with them on the trip, my parents made the brilliant decision of leaving all three of us teenagers at home. I knew that it was a terrible idea but my mother insisted that it would be a great bonding experience for the three of us. I even tried to get out of spending the weekend at home with just the two of them by calling my grandparents and asking them if I could visit, but they were out of town that weekend as well. So that's how I ended up getting stuck in the house with Rachel and Jack for that weekend, and while I did have fun on the weekend, Monday was the worst. As soon as our parents left the house on Saturday morning, Rachel came up with the bright

idea of a prank that we could play on our parents. She suggested that we throw a huge rager party on Sunday evening because she knew that our parents would be okay with it as long as Rachel finished studying on time. My mother had even suggested it so we could bond better. The prank was that we would call them in the middle of the party and make them think that we were in trouble by acting as if the police were on their way to shut down the party. And we'd also hint that we'd been drinking which would spell real big trouble for them because all of us were underage. I was on board with the party but I wasn't really cool with the prank because I thought it would be cruel and unnecessarily dramatic to make our parents worry about us like that.

Unfortunately, neither of the two idiots cared for my concerns and somehow managed to convince me to join in on the prank. I guess it was because they were being really nice to me for the first time and it was just good to be on the same team for once. So I kind of got carried away and decided, like an idiot, that I'd be part of the prank. Saturday passed and we planned on how we would execute the prank. It was kind of exciting, to be honest. We invited pretty much everyone from our grade to the party the next day and then the word spread,

which is how a couple of people from other grades and even other schools showed up the next evening. I was pretty excited, for one, because this was my first high school party. We had crazy fun that evening with music, drinks that a couple of seniors had scored for us, and a lot of dancing. Then, at around 11 in the night, my step-siblings and I decided that it was the perfect time for the prank. The party was still going on in full swing so we went to my room and called our parents. I was the one who spoke to them along with Rachel and we tried our best to sound very worried and scared. We told them about how our neighbors had called the cops on us because we were apparently being too loud and now the police were on the way. We were worried because

we'd been drinking and were afraid of being caught. Needless to say, our parents were pretty scared and told us to call our uncle who lived nearby to sort the trouble out because even if they started driving right away, it would still take them a while to reach home. Right on cue, Jack started playing police siren noises in the background on YouTube and we hurriedly hung up the call after one last request for help from our parents. After we disconnected the call, we had a good laugh about it and then turned off our phones. knew that when our parents discovered that our phones were switched off, they would definitely send our uncle to check on us. And it was already close to midnight, so we sent all our friends

home and went to sleep. We didn't wake up until 10 in the morning the next day. We'd even decided to skip school so we could watch our parents' reactions when they realized that we were at home, safe and sound. Our parents came back home around noon and to say that they were pissed, would be an understatement. My mother was furious and so was Derek. I'd literally never seen them acting that way before. They told us that they'd decided to come back home later than planned on purpose because they had sent our uncle to check on us after our phone call. And he'd talked to the neighbors who told him that they hadn't called the police and the cops weren't going to show up so there was no need for our parents to be worried. So they'd found out last night itself that

the whole call about the cops was nothing but a prank but because we've been inconsiderate and selfish and this stupid prank of ours was quite cruel, to say the least. This went on for quite a few minutes. The three of us just stood there quietly and heard them out because we knew that we deserved to be yelled at. And then my mother said that they were going to have to punish us for what we did so that we never repeat something like that in the future. Our parents said that they had thought about our punishment already on the drive back home and told us that we were going to be grounded for two whole weeks. It would not have been such an insane punishment had it not been for the fact that they had another party to attend in the coming two weeks. The very next week,

Rachel and Jack were supposed to attend their mother's birthday party. They had been planning for it for almost three weeks now and were really excited for it because their mother's parties were almost always legendary, ever since she married her rich boyfriend. And if they didn't meet their mother now, they would have to wait for several weeks or maybe even months to get another opportunity to see her. Rachel and Jack immediately started begging our parents not to do this to them, to delay the punishment or something, but our parents were pretty firm on this. Rachel even tried to cry her way out of it, but her dad did not care about it. I personally thought that this was not that harsh of a punishment, but that was probably

because I didn't have anything at stake here. Derek even told his kids that he was going to call their mother and tell them that they would not be attending her party because of the stupid prank that they decided to play. I was trying not to say anything and just accept my fate even though my own mother was glaring daggers at me but out of practically nowhere Jack piped up and said that he didn't understand why the two of them had to suffer for something that was my idea entirely. It took Rachel a few seconds to catch on to her brother's plan, but as soon as she did she wiped her tears and started telling our parents that they didn't even want to go through with the prank or even the party, but I had insisted on it. I looked at them with shock on my face because I had not

been expecting them to throw me under the bus like this. My mother also seemed just as shocked as me because I had never been the one for parties or pranks or crazy stuff like this. Only when she asked me if this was true, did I snap out of my days and manage to tell them that it was absolutely not true. I was still reeling from the shock of my step-siblings betraying me like this after we had so much fun just the previous evening. I was angry and hurt, and it just got ten times worse when Rachel doubled down on whatever they were claiming and told her dad that I was lying and that this was all my idea. Then I lost my temper and here is where I might have been the A-hole. All three of us go to the same high school and I do see them around school a lot.

It's not like we hang out or anything, but I do get to hear things. In fact, Jack is actually in my grade so I know a lot about him and how he is at school. Rachel happens to be very close friends with my friend's brother, so I knew a couple of things about her as well. Like she'd been hanging out way too much with some guy who had almost graduated college and had even been going on dates with him. I'd also heard from my friend that she was flunking out of bio in a majorly bad way. As for Jack, he'd been skipping school almost every other day to go hang out with his new friends, all of whom happened to be the stoner weirdos. I hadn't told our parents any of this for two reasons. The first was that what my step-siblings did at school was none of my business,

and secondly, because I didn't really want to come off as a tattletail. So I'd kept my mouth shut about it for so long, but as soon as Rachel and Jack began to blame me for the party and the prank, I decided to bring out these facts and see what our parents had to say about it. I announced it to them and just so they wouldn't doubt it, I even told them that they could call the school right now to confirm it. I could even call someone from our friend's circle and they'd confirm it for them. Rachel looked scandalized and tried to deny it vehemently while her brother just stood their

dumbfounded because neither of them had been expecting that I'd come out and tell their dad the truth. Derek looked really uncomfortable and took his kids to another room and I watched it all happened which felt really satisfying at the time. But when I turned to my mother, she looked really disappointed in me and told me that I hadn't done the right thing by tattling on my siblings. I tried to defend myself and told her that they were the ones trying to get me in trouble first for something that I didn't even do because the prank idea was all them and I'd been really

against it when they suggested it. Even then my mother just looked at me with disappointment and then went into the room that Derek and his kids were in. I stood there in the living room by myself for a while and I could hear Rachel and Jack screaming at their father while he yelled right back at them. I wasn't sure but I think my mother was trying to diffuse the situation. After listening to the screaming for a little while, I went up to my room and locked myself in because the look on my mother's face made me feel really bad about myself and whatever I had done. I didn't intend to get my step-siblings into that crazy kind of trouble that they did.

It just slipped out of my mouth because I was really upset with them for stabbing me in the back the way they did. That entire day I just stayed in my room and only came down for lunch and dinner. My mother and I were the only people who were having dinner at the table because everybody else was in their rooms. Derek was in his room by choice because he didn't want to be around me for a while, but I didn't know if the others were in their rooms by choice or because they had to be. It's been almost a week since the party and I feel like I am reliving the same day over and over again now. Every day I go to school on the bus, but Derek drops Rachel and Jack to the school and picks them up when it's time to go home. To most people, this would seem like he's playing favorite with his kids, but I know that this is actually their punishment. In our school, only the little kids come to school with their parents and a couple of middle schoolers.

Anyone being dropped at school by their parents in high school really gets made fun of so most people either get dropped a block away or take the bus like me, it's a thing. But Derek drives right up to the school building which is embarrassing for his kids, to say the least. His workplace is near our school so occasionally he's even been dropping by during lunch to confirm if his kids are still in school or not. Even after school ends, they're not allowed to stay back for any co-curricular activities and are supposed to come back home straight from school. Jack has had to put football practice on hold and Rachel has quit the band altogether because she can't afford to skip practice and still keep up. And even when they are at home, none of them look at me and pretend like I'm invisible. They're still not having dinner at the table and my mother and I are the only people who eat together now. Yesterday, while having dinner, I finally asked my mother how long this was going to go on because I was beginning to feel really guilty.

It was my fault that Rachel and Jack were having to live their life like zombies. They weren't allowed to have any fun, they weren't allowed to go anywhere apart from school and it had been a week since everything had happened. I felt like if this went on longer the guilt would just keep building up inside of me so I had. I had to ask my mom what was the plan eventually because this couldn't go on forever and I knew that. To that, my mother told me that this wasn't really up to her because Derek would know better how to deal with his own kids like she'd know how to deal better with me, so they weren't going to interfere in the way they raised their kids. She said it bluntly and without any expression on her face so I knew that she meant business and Rachel and Jack were pretty screwed right now.

After last week, my relationship with my mother has also been pretty strained. She doesn't behave with me the way she used to before and I can tell that she is mad at me for what I did. In fact, it seems like the entire house is against me right now. Just because I tried to save my own skin after the other two tried to throw me under the bus for something that was not my fault. Everyone's acting like I am some villain here but I feel like that's really unfair. At the same time, I can't help feeling that none of this would be happening had I not opened my big mouth and spilled my step-siblings secrets. I feel like I should apologize but I don't know what for.

I just want them all to stop icing me out like this. I'd offer telling my mother and stepdad my step-siblings secrets after they tried to throw me under the bus for a prank they'd suggested. Update 1, hey guys, so I went through the comments on my original post and I guess I wasn't being the goody two shoes that I thought I was. Catling on my step-siblings was wrong and out of line and I get that now. But I also realized that I don't need to apologize to them over this because they tried to mess with me first and I just retaliated by telling our parents their well-protected secrets.

To be honest, if I think about it, I actually kind of did them a favor by telling them because the secrets that they were hiding could have really hurt them in the future. Rachel's supposed boyfriend wasn't actually her boyfriend, he was just some creep from college who couldn't get girls his own age so he was praying on high school girls instead. And about Jack's habit of skipping school to hang out with the stoners, I don't think I need to elaborate on how that could have hurt his future, so I really don't think I did anything unforgivable, if anything, I did them a huge favor. Derek, of all people, should be grateful to me that I told him what his kids were up to because otherwise he never would have found out, and even if he did, it probably would have been too late. But the worst of all is my mother's behavior towards me. She, at least, should be on my side through all of this,

but I guess being on good terms with her husband is more important to her than her own son now. None of them are speaking to me even now and it's been almost ten days since the incident. But at least now I know that I am not the villain that they are making me out to be. I was feeling awfully guilty about everything, getting my step-siblings into church. trouble and hurting my mom, but now I don't feel that bad anymore. All, thanks to you guys. Now if they want to talk to me they will and if they don't, I'm cool with that as well. Because at the end of the day, they just need a scapegoat to blame everything on and that happened to be me. So whatever. Update 2. So hey guys, it's been two weeks and my mother finally talked to

me normally three days back. But it was nothing good because she told me that I need to be a needed to go and live with my grandparents for a while until the situation with my step-dad and step-siblings cooled down enough. I didn't understand what she meant by cooled down because as far as I was concerned, none of them were speaking to me so it literally could not get any cooler than this. We could just live like this, without speaking to one another, and there would be no more problems to deal with anymore. When I said this to my mother, she told me not to act snarky because after all it was my own fault that this was all happening. I told her that I didn't agree with that and if anything, I was the victim here, not the villain.

We got into a bit of a tiff over that, but after a while, I realized that she's just going to keep on defending her husband and his kids no matter what they did. Because that was her priority now, and not me. That was also why she was sending me away to live with my grandparents. It was about time that I accepted that my mother was not the same person as before. So I just stopped arguing with her, and I decided that I was just not going to speak to her anymore because it wasn't worth it. I packed my stuff in silence while she helped, trying to make small talk with me, but I didn't respond.

After almost an hour, we were finally done, and just in the nick of time too, because that's when my grandpa hung from outside the house with his truck. My mother and I carried all my stuff outside and loaded it onto the truck with my grandpa's help. After we were done with that, she tried to give me a hug before we drove off, but I dodged her and sat in the passenger seat. Derek and his kids were not at home that day and I think it was on purpose so that my mother could surprise them with my absence when they came back home or something equally crazy and selfish. My grandpa and I drove off and I didn't even bother to wave back or say goodbye to my mother because deep down, I was kind of hurt. But it didn't matter to her

and I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of knowing that she'd actually hurt me. At least my grandpa was really sensitive about the whole thing and tried to make me feel better throughout the ride back to his house. And so did my grandma once we got there. I guess both of them knew what had happened and in their own little way, they were letting me know that they were on my side. Even if their daughter was not. My mother has been calling and texting me every day to check on me,

but I haven't been responding and I don't think I will for a while. because now I am the one who needs to cool off. Update 3, hi, everybody, so I know it's been almost a month since my last update, but I am finally doing better now. And for those of you who are wondering, yes, I'm still living with my grandparents and that's part of the reason why I'm doing better right now. The last time I spoke to my mother was almost a week ago and we got into a really terrible fight because she just kept telling me that my stepdad hasn't come to terms with everything yet and I need to stay away for just some more time. I accused her of putting her new family before me and the sad part is that she didn't even

try to deny it. She just accepted it and told me that that's exactly what she was doing because she finally had a family of her own and she wanted to make things work with them. And she reminded me that it was, after all, my fault was. so I had to pay for it as well. So essentially, I was just being punished for telling the truth and trying to save myself. After she said that, I just hung up. She'd been promising me almost every other day that she would talk to Derek and make him see that I needed to come back.

She said that she would convince him and also my step-siblings to make things right with me, but so far there have been no results, and it just felt like empty promises after a while. I had already stopped holding out hope that she would do anything about the situation, but to hear it from her own mouth, that she valued her new family more than me now, was pretty hurtful. And she also constantly kept blaming me, but she didn't care that my step-siblings had tried to screw me over as well. It had become very clear to me that I was just not important to her anymore and I couldn't keep trying to make myself believe that I was somehow. So to detach myself from her, I decided to block her everywhere and cut her out of my life altogether.

It was difficult, but I managed to do it and I cried a lot that day, because for the longest time, it had been just me and my mom against the world, but it was now my mother against me and it was incredibly difficult to deal with. But my grandparents were really helpful throughout and made sure that I was all right. They even fought with my mother over how she was treating me but couldn't make her see sense because she was too caught up with pandering to Derek and his kids. My grandpa told me that I could live with them for as long as I needed to, they didn't mind and if the need arose, they'd even take me in legally. They've enrolled me in therapy to help make sense of everything and even though I've attended only two sessions, I feel better. Mostly because

of how helpful and supportive my grandparents are being. I feel less alone now. I still see Rachel and Jack in school, but they ignore me. me and I do the same to them because we're not family and never have been either. I don't know what's going to happen with me and my mother, but whatever happens, I'm going to accept it.