I’m halfway through a godawful worksheet on the history and composition of plastic spoons (don’t ask) when some kid walks in the classroom and hands me a slip of paper…

Recipient: Theodore Kim

What: Come to the front office

When: ASAP

I excuse myself, leaving my bag under the desk and making my way down to the office.

It was probably a graduation thing. Or maybe they’re finally calling me in for the missing math textbook…

That wasn’t my fault, Lee is a little bitch-

There aren’t any people in the office when I walk in, so I stand here awkwardly for a minute or two until the front desk lady comes back. She startles when she sees me.

She puts a hand over her heart, her bracelets clicking together.

“Sorry,” I say.

“Can I help you with something?”

I show her the slip of paper.

“Ah.” She says, her expression changing.

“You can go right in.”

“In where?”

“Principal's office. He’s waiting.”

Great. What fresh hell is this?

The Principal, incidentally James’ dad, was a grey-haired man in his early fifties that looked like your classic authority figure. Nothing really special about him. It was when he started talking that you started paying attention.

Braces. Yes, those little rubber band things that I was never unlucky enough to have to wear…

Why did Principle Hamilton need them? No one knows. And no one talks about it. It’s kind of the unspoken joke around the school.

Oh, you’re going to see Principal Hamilton?

Yeah I’ll have to sit there and pretend to take him and his rubber-mouth seriously.

Dude, good luck trying to understand him through the lisp…

James sure as hell doesn’t talk about his dad. Would you really want to, when your father was the disher-out of punishments and report cards for the whole school?

Yikes-

Hamilton is sitting at his desk, facing the door, straightening a few bent leaves on a potted plant by his PC.

I try not to look annoyed at being here, going instead for respectful senior.

He sees me immediately and lets go of the plant.

“Hi, Theodore right?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I nod. He knows who I am, his son’s only other best friend. Hi, hello.

“Take a seat please,” he says.

Principle Hamilton smiles and clasps his hands together.

“Do you know why you’re here, Theodore?” He asks.

“No. It’s Theo-”

“I’ll tell you why you’re here.”

Um, yeah. I expected you too…

His strange forced smile stays for a second, and then turns into a sort of grimace.

“You are aware that cheating in any form is not tolerated at this school, correct?” He says suddenly, as I tried not to stare at his rubber-bands.

Oh. Shit.

That’s why I’m here. But-

Hamilton reaches under his desk like he’s pulling a rabbit out of a hat, then places a bunch of stapled-together papers on the desk between us.

“Do you recognise this test, Theodore?”

Theo.

Why does this feel like a game show or something? Press the button when you think you’ve solved the problem! The question before you: Did. You. Cheat?!

I look down at the papers. I mean, I already figured out what it was.

Oddly enough, I’m not panicking yet. No stress. Don’t care. Caught me? Meh.

“Yeah my name’s on it,” I say.

I meant this as in yes sir, I recognise this test. I took it.

But clearly it sounded rude because Principle Hamilton glares at me. He takes another piece of paper off his desk. I recognise this one too. Cheat sheet.

I’m still shocked I did that.

School was out early one day and Mrs. McKellen had left her laptop open after everyone, including her, had left the room. With the door locked conspicuously, I emailed the final answers to myself then deleted the email from her computer.

Not my finest moment. It was done out of fear, and I wouldn’t do it again. But it’s not like I can explain any of that to Hamilton…

“You admit,” he says, with his lisp lisping away. “That you cheated on this test?”

I nod. No point in lying.

“Yes.”

Principle Hamilton sighs deeply, and then puts his hands together on the desk.

I’m half wondering what he’s gonna do to me, half wondering how he found out, when he answers both of my questions in that order.

“In light of this, and because of our school’s no cheating policy, I’m suspending you for three weeks.”

Only three- wait. Three weeks?

He nods. “You will therefore be unable to participate in the graduation ceremony, but because I don’t want to destroy your future due to this mistake, I will allow you to retake this test with a preset 20 percent reduction of any score.”

My heart races in fear. Not because of the graduation thing or the score bullshit. I just don’t want to retake this test. I can’t do it-

Principle Hamilton sighs again…

“It really is a shame that so many of our young people are turning to cheating,” he says as if I’m not here anymore.

“It’s a good thing to get this stuff out in the open though,” he nods. “It’s hard to deal with by yourself. Liars never prosper, so it’s nice to have friends that will help you come clean.”

I pause. “What do you mean?”

Hamilton’s shoulders shoot up slightly, the pride exploding from his face.

“My son was quite distraught about all of this. It’s a very hard thing to tell an adult about something bad your friend is doing. James probably has it as bad as you, don’t you think?”

Ignoring his disgusting words and the fact that he used the word distraught in a sentence, I sit back and let it all sink in.

James told his father, the Principle, about me and my secret.

I thought he didn’t care… could this be his payback for being with Ravina? Fuck, is he that mad? I can’t even imagine how pissed he must be at me for him to do something like this. Maybe it was what I said about his brother. I really shouldn’t have said that-

“Anyway, please collect all your belongings from your locker. I’ve set your test date for next Friday. An email will be sent to you and your parents about when and where to come for the test.”

He doesn’t say anything else so I take that as my cue to leave. Walking out, I realise how much everything just fucking changed.

And I’m still not freaking out. About the idea of taking the test yeah, but not really about my future or graduating or anything like that.

I decided I wasn’t so afraid of the long-term anymore. I also realised something else very quickly.

Ravina won.