PSLE: Cheating

“You may now begin,” Mrs Tan spoke.  Immediately there was a flurry of activities as everyone began scribbling down their names and started to do the Science paper.

Seated at the last row at a corner of the classroom, I looked hard at the questions.  A chill ran down my spine when I realized I could not answer most of it.  Where should I do?  I scanned the whole class and my mind raced hard for a solution.  Then, I spotted Cordell beside me.  Cordell was known to the smartest in class but he was also a scaredy-cat. 

“Psst, psst!  Let me see your OAS,” I whispered as softly as I could, trying to catch his attention.

Cordell stared hard at me.  He shifted his glasses which had slid down his oily nose.  His goldfish eyes  gawked (stared openly and stupidly) at me through his very thick lenses and he answered timidly, “My mother says cheating is bad – real bad!”and continued shading his answers.

I flashed a penknife at him under my desk and glared at him with bulging eyes.  “You’re dead if you don’t let me see the answers,” I hissed, clenching my hands real tight. 

To my horror, he ignored me!  This boy was really getting on my nerves.  I leant toward his desk and snatched his OAS away.  The paper torn loudly.  A loud clarion voice then yelled, “Fraser Tan!  What do you think you are doing?”  I could not believe my ears.  Instantly, the hair at the back of my neck stood on its end as I froze momentarily.  Encompassed with dread, I whipped my head around and saw, to my consternation, my form teacher glowering at me with her eagle-sharp eyes from afar.  My instincts told me that I was done for.

“Cordell’s paper dropped and I was helping him to pick it up,” I replied, trying to salvage the dire situation by lying. 

“You were cheating and even threatened Cordell with a penknife!”  Mrs Tan bellowed.  Immediately, all my classmates craned their necks and looked. My face turned as red as beetroot.

“You incorrigible brat.  Now, follow me to the principal’s office!”  she slashed out.  An audible gasp of horror immediately rippled from the class.

The next thing I knew, I was dragging my feet to the principal’s office.  The principal was livid with rage.  I was given three strokes of cane and was suspended from school for an entire week.  My buttocks were sore and painful.  Needless to say, I learnt my lesson and mended my ways.