Calling it a lie is too forward. Let me just say that was the only way I could get away with my actions. It happened when I was still in Primary 6.
My teacher gave us a take home assignment on Quantitative Reasoning. I was so bad at calculations, and my dad wasn't at home to help me with it. Being the girl that I was, I manipulated everything, and yes I expected the worst.
The next day, I went to school early. I guess it was because our school bus came earlier than usual. There was this girl in my class who was very good and had really smart brains. My teacher had nicknamed her "Guru." Luckily for me, she was my friend. I saw her in the classroom that early morning and begged her to let me check if our answers were the same. It was as if she was in a very happy mood that morning because she agreed. So, I opened her book without a pencil, but my brain was busy noting down the answers. I thanked her and immediately wrote them down in another book. The problem I had was that I needed an eraser to clean up my work, and many people had not arrived at school yet.
I waited until after the morning assembly, then rushed back to the classroom, found an eraser, and corrected everything. Omo, I was already feeling like Merlin 😂. That feeling of copying from an intelligent person made me think that, of course, it should be 10/10 across the board.
Our strict teacher entered the classroom, and the assignment had already been submitted on her desk. She started marking the books, and when she got to mine, she called me and told me to stand up. Omo, in my mind, I was thinking she wanted to praise me or maybe say something good about my work.
She asked, "Who did you copy from?"
I lied immediately. "No, Aunty. I did it at home."
She asked, "But there is a cleaned work before this one."
I said, "Yes, that's because I did it, then took it to my dad to crosscheck, and he corrected it."
So, it happened that we had Mathematics next. Out of everyone in my class, only me and hyper got the answers correctly.She started the correction and called me out to come and solve one of the questions and explain it to the class. I froze, my heart started beating fast
I came out, of course, and held the chalk. I was just writing things I didn't even understand on the blackboard while the whole class had their eyes on me.
Omo, she shouted, "What is happening? I said explain it to the class!"
I told her, "Aunty, I have forgotten how my daddy solved it."
Foolish me then! I thought what mattered was just copying the final answer; I didn't realise that the working was what mattered too.
She brought my book in front of the class and continued, "All the answers are correct, but the methods used to solve them are different. Explain."
I said, " ma I don't know the method my daddy used."
My aunty looked at me and said, " Cecilia, I can't believe you tell lies. Tell me the truth. How did you get these answers?"
I knew then that there was no escape route. I had to confess.
My punishment was that I would lead the class presentation during assembly for one week. I was so ashamed of myself. I couldn't look up at that moment. Although she did not flog me but it was as if the ground should just open up and swallow me so the whole show can end.
I was just happy that we were in Primary 6 and would soon leave the school. Anyway, everything went back to normal the next day. But that Hyper did not lend me her book again until we finished school😂.
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