PSLE: Cheating

It was the night before the PSLE examinations for the Science paper. I was struggling in the wee hours, struggling to devour my Science notes as fast as I could. Fatigue had set in and brought on dark rings under my weary eyes. Finally, I finished my dreary revision and went to bed. 

The next day, dad in crisp uniform, I marched off to school, ready for the battle. Arranging my artillery of pens and highlighters of various colours, I suddenly spotted a soft purple light shining for a split second. It was from my classmate, Timmy.

"What are you doing, Tim?" I asked curiously.

"This is an invisible pen. All the spellings of the difficult words are written on my palms. Just shine and I will have my answers," came the soft reply with a mischievous glint.

"Don't do that!" You will be in hot soup!” I spoke with a grave, solemn look.

"Don't be a busybody!" Timmy hissed with a look of annoyance.

Suddenly, a stern voice blasted over the speakers. "You may now begin." Our conversation ended abruptly and we began scribbling answers as fast as we could.

Throughout the examinations, I could not concentrate at all. My eyes kept staring at Tim and his wrongdoing. His hand secretly cupped over the other as he shone on the hidden words. My heart was in a turmoil. On the one hand, ! knew why Timmy had to cheat. He had always been a mediocre student but he had a super strict mother who often turned him into a 'striped zebra' whenever he had less than a Band One grade; on the other hand, his actions clearly showed a lack of integrity in his heart. It was just so unfair to others who had slogged so hard to revise their subjects. What should I do? Our years of friendship would be gone if I were to tell on him.

Finally, my hand flew up and an invigilator strode over. “Yes?" The invigilator asked, her glasses perched low on her nose bridge.

"I. .. I ... " The words were stuck in my throat. I took a quick glance at Timmy who was now glaring at me with burgling eyes and furrowing eyebrows.

"I dropped my pen," I answered, pretending to look for it.

"lt's here on your desk," the kind teacher picked it up and placed it in my palm. Flashing a gentle smile, she patted on my shoulder and whispered, "Good luck!" As the invigilator padded away, I could hear a 'phew' as Timmy flashed a grateful smile.

Time flew and the speaker boomed, "You have ten more minutes."

By now, Timmy was already gloating with pleasure, probably thinking that he would never be caught.

lndignance filled my heart and I was determined that justice had to that justice had to triumph over friendship. I raised my hand and the same invigilator strode over again.

"This student is cheating!" I thundered. Gasps of horror immediately rippled across the examination hall. "No, I am not!" Timmy replied defiantly and protested ever his innocence. By this time, a posse of invigilators was crowding all over.

"Yes, you did!" I insisted and showed the teachers the invisible pen and shone on his hands.

Surprisingly, all the words had faded. "Oh no! Timmy must have washed away all the evidence during a toilet trip ten minutes ago," I thought to myself.

To avoid unnecessary disturbance, the chief invigilator sent us to the principal's office. An argument erupted between Timmy and me. I insisted that cheating took place while Timmy vehemently denied it.

"Enough!" thundered the podgy invigilator with a dark mote on his chin. Holding the examination papers, he flipped the papers and asked, "Spell 'photosynthesis'."

Beads of sweat formed on Timmy's brows instantly as he stuttered, "P-H-O-T-O-S----" He swallowed his saliva and continued, "l-N- T-H-E-S-I-S."
 

"Are you sure?" The teacher looked straight into his eyes.

"Ye ... s," he stammered a reply.

"Turning the pages, he asked, "What about 'Light'?"

Thinking that he had passed the test, he spoke confidently, "L-I-G-T-H!"

I heaved a sigh of relief for! knew that his fate was sealed. Timmy was immediately given a zero for the paper and his mother was summoned to the school. I felt sorry for him who glared at me in tears as I left the office. I certainly hoped that Timmy would turn over a new leaf.