I sat in apprehension, not leaving my seat. Class had already ended and so was school, but I haven’t left yet. The classroom was empty except for me, everyone had already gone home, doing club activities or went to hangout somewhere else.
I had declined my friends invite before, not feeling well enough to play. I mulled over what happened earlier today that made me reluctant to go home, somewhat dreading my parent’s reaction.
“Dennis? You’re still here?”
Startled hearing my name, I turned around to see one of my friends and classmate entering the room.
“Sally! You came back.”
“I forgot my notebook.” She walked towards her seat and grabbed a notebook from her desk, then turned to face me. “What about you? Not playing with Ken and Leo?”
“No, I told them I have to go home early.” I replied dully. My answer and mood seemed to click something for her.
“Ohh! Your scared about telling your parents the teachers called them for catching you cheating in the exam today.” She hit the nail, surprising me.
“How did you---“
“I was eavesdropping,” She said nonchalantly. “Mr. McCree asked me to help bring some test papers from another grade to the faculty room. I was curious and stayed a bit to look at our papers, then you and Ms. Jess came, I didn’t want to get caught looking so I hid behind the desk.”
I was surprised and embarrassed, my problem right now was just as she had said. I wasn’t prepared for some of the exams and ended up relying on a cheat sheet, though I only used it on one subject. I finished the exam without being caught, or so I thought. After lunch break, I was called by my homeroom teacher and confronted about cheating.
At first I denied it, but then she showed me the crumpled cheat sheet that I had carelessly threw away at the trash and pointed out how when compared to my answers, many were copied word for word. At that time, I was cursing a little in my head about how thorough the teachers were to make sure there was no cheating.
I sighed thinking about what punishment I would have when I get home. My parents weren’t strict, but they would definitely not be lenient with being called to school.
“Well you had it coming,” Sally simply said.
I knew she didn’t say it as a bad thing and that it was right, but it still made me upset hearing them from her. I frowned and huffed exasperatedly, but to my dismay she went on.
“You cheated, failed at hiding it, got caught and now your acting like a monster is waiting to eat you up at home.”
“Two monsters,” I said sarcastically, thinking of both my parents still unaware of my teachers summons. I don’t get what her problem is, but she seemed to be very caught in lecturing me because it might’ve given her a lot of power to preach by what was morally right.
“What I’m saying is,” Sally continued, taking a seat next to me, not considering my feelings at all. “Cheating is wrong, but if you really didn’t want to get punished right now you should have done a better job at making sure no one finds out. But at least you tried.” She ended with a smile.
“Yeah, well---wait what,” I turned sharply, looking at her face directly. What did she say? Was she preaching me or teaching me. “Why does it sound like you aren’t really lecturing me about cheating being wrong.” I asked confused.
“Oh, it is wrong, I’m just saying it turned bad for you because you got caught,” She then added, “If you were doing something that you knew would get you punished, you should have prepared for expecting the worse to happen no matter what your reason for doing it is, so not getting caught was the only thing that was right when you chose to do it.”
I looked at Sally, still confused, not sure on how to process this turn on the conversation. “How did you come up with that logic?”
“My grandmother told me once---actually often, that sometimes you have to be underhanded to succeed, just because people are taught to be fair doesn’t mean everyone will be honest, as long as you don’t get caught it’s fine, especially if you weren’t trying to hurt someone. Of course, she told me it’s still very wrong, so just on occasions when you think it’s needed. So if you choose despite being aware of what the consequences of getting caught is, that’s on you to face them, even if the reason for doing it was for a good cause.”
“Your grandmother...seems very complicated.” I said, not sure on how to describe her wisdom.
“Yeah, I get what you’re thinking, even I don’t understand her entirely.” She accepts.
“But you think otherwise,” I inquired, she was telling me this, did she follow this advice, I wondered.
“Well,” She quickly looked around to check, apparently making sure that there were no other people listening, then leaned in close towards me, enough to make me self-conscious of the distance, “I also cheat, but not all the time. I can definitely promise I didn’t cheat on the exam, but for a few tests and quizzes before, can’t say which, but not many.” She leaned back into her chair. “This will be our little secret,” She said lifting a finger to her lips, winking at me.
I gaped at her, shocked. I knew she wasn’t a studious person, more playful and out-going would describe Sally, she was in the girl’s basketball team so half of her time was spent on practice, but she always managed to keep her scores well enough. I knew our sports students had a hard time balancing their sports practice and academics. Her casual confession also made me realize she found me trustworthy, enough to be told of this secret that can also get her in trouble, I felt warmth.
“Those sometimes I did was when I had been busy with sports stuff, so I couldn’t concentrate much and I needed to pass a few test to stop me getting scolded for not getting good grades at home or else my parents are putting me off the team. What other choice did I have in that short time.” She reasoned.
I wasn’t sure on how to reply, so for a few moments we were quiet. Eventually for some reason she decided to accompany me to my house as a form of friend support for the “disaster” I was going to face. I wasn’t sure if I should be feeling touched or frustrated that the talk didn’t help me, not that I was expecting any, since I knew nothing changes the fact that I still need to tell my parents.
As we walked out together, she seemed to remember something and turned to me. “Oh right, my grandmother also said that the only thing people should never cheat on is relationships with others, especially romantic ones.”
I looked at her surprised, thinking that the topic was sudden. She then repeatedly gave me a sideways look. I thought the conversation ended, it seemed she wanted to talk more. “I am curious though, why did you cheat on the exams, your one of the smartest students in class and you always had a decent high score.”
I felt myself heating up from shame. The reason why I did such a thing, it’s true I could have passed the test easily, but it wasn’t that I found it hard. After thinking, she did tell me her secret, I have to return the favor of trust.
I finally answered her. ”It’s kind of ridiculous, but...well...I’ve been losing focus. Recently Ken and Leo invited to play a new online game, I got really into playing it, and well, you can tell how it turned out.” I looked away.
“Game addiction!” She laughed. “You guys talked an awful lot about it more than usual in class. Ohh, you definitely had this coming!”
“Shut it!”
“Well at least you learned your lesson,” She said after laughing.
“Yeah, yeah, limit playing games.”
“Not that, it’s the part of not getting caught if you cheat.”
“Are you serious!?”
“Half and half.” She smiles widely.
I looked at her incredulously, but sighed and gave up, I had to be prepared on how to inform my parents.
Surprisingly, I just got scolded, it wasn’t light, but not too much. It happened to be that way because my parents were a little worried I was loner, I never did invite friends over at home, even Ken and Leo, mostly because I had no intention before nor saw the reason to, but maybe bringing Sally along helped eased the tension. She ended up staying for an early dinner, now that I think about it, she is definitely the first friend that I decided to bring home. I guess they were more concerned about my social life than my school performance, I’m both touched and confused.
As the saying goes, if you do the crime you have to be ready to do the time. Sally certainly seems to have her head screwed on. A really good read.
Your story captures the complexity of young life — both academically and socially. Nicely done, @vincric! Thanks for sharing your story in The Ink Well, and for reading and commenting on the work of other community members.
That ending made total sense to me. Instead of a stiff punishment, his parents just scolded him. They were too excited about him having a friend!
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Your publication has been selected as one of the best of the week and has been highlighted in The Ink Well magazine #85.
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-ink-well-highlights-magazine-85