PSLE: Cheating

A hot and humid day rested on a Monday, “You may start now! “The teacher announced, everyone started their paper. Pens were screeching noisily across the Maths examination papers as the students wrote their answers.

Beside Mingzhe was his friend, Neave. The naughty boy did not revise for his exam. Instead, he was playing electronic games for the past few days. Perspiration drenched Neave’s uniform as he struggled in a difficult problem sum. “Ding!” An idea struck him. Since Mingzhe, a pro in maths, was sitting beside him, he could just ask him for his paper and copy the answers. What a brilliant idea!  

So Neave craned his neck and whispered uneasily to Mingzhe, “Hey, hey, can lend your paper? Please, I beg you.” Mingzhe gave a long sigh and gave his paper to Neave. The boy was on cloud nine! His plan worked! Neave immediately shot into action and he scribbled all the answers on his paper like a bullet train.

“Ten more minutes, please check your answers,” the teacher kindly announced. Mingzhe then realised time was almost up! He became panicky and turned ashen-faced. He then asked Neave for his paper but he refused as he had not finished.

“Please… Faster, Neave! I beg you! There is no more time! ’’ Mingzhe urged continuously. By the third time he repeated it, he started to feel that a lot of pairs of eyes were staring at him and Neave. Mingzhe then saw all his classmates and the teacher stared furiously at both Neave and Mingzhe.

“How dare you cheat in your exams, I have the rights to bring you to the discipline master’s room” the teacher bellowed, Mingzhe and Neave were speechless. They were caught red handed.

Mingzhe and Neave then recounted what had happened to the discipline master . The burly man with thick glasses was infuriated. “How dare you cheat, it is wrong!” he hollered in rage. Mingzhe was a timid boy; tears started to welled up in his eyes and blurred his vison. Neave was a little braver. He just pleaded with him not to call his parents but his plea fell on deaf ears. It was a lesson to be learnt and hopefully, they will not repeat the mistake ever again.

Arista Lim, P4