The Test
Hi, my name is Clementine Barn and I’m in the seventh grade. I’m a pretty good student in my opinion; I’m in all honor classes and I’m doing exceptionally well in all of them, and I’ve never done a single thing wrong in my life, till March 1, 2014.
It started out to be a gorgeous sunny day, I could hear birds chirping loudly outside, bees humming as they were collecting pollen from their flowers, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. “Come down for breakfast, sweetie, or you’ll be late for the bus!” my mom screamed to me as I was getting dressed. “In a minute, Mom!” I screamed. When I came downstairs, my mom had made me my favorite breakfast ever; chocolate chip waffles with extra whipped cream and a bunch of strawberries on top of the whipped cream. The smell of it was enough to make a full person want to eat 100 of these waffles. Just as I was about to dig into my delicious breakfast, my nightmare came downstairs, my sister Pearl. “Hey weirdo,” she said to me. “Hey weirdo times two thousand,” I said back to her. “Please talk nicer to each other. I don’t like that language,” my mom told both of us. “Fine,” we both said. Then as I was eating my breakfast, I looked at my watch. 7:59 A.M. The bus would be coming in exactly a minute! I finished my breakfast as quickly as I could and then I was on my way out the door.   “Thanks Mom for the breakfast! See you after school!” I yelled as I was going out the door. “Bye, sweetie!” my mom shouted back.
That’s when I boarded the Vehicle of Terror. Most of the bullying that happens at my school usually happens on the bus, and let me tell you, I’m not the most popular girl in my grade. But luckily I found a spot in the last row of the bus, where I won’t be bothered by anyone. It took usually around 30 minutes to get to school every day, so I decided to pull out my favorite book, Harry Potter, and I started to read it. I must have been really lost in my book because as soon as I took a look out the window, we had arrived at school. By the main entrance to school, my best friend, Barbara, was waiting for me. Her outfit today was a plain blue and yellow plaid skirt that just barely passed her knees, a button-down white shirt that was a little too small for her, bold black glasses that covered her eyes and cheeks, and she had her chocolate brown hair in two pigtails on the sides of her head. “Hi Clementine,” she said. “Hi Barbara,” I replied. “You seem upset. What’s wrong? Was it your sister again? Cause I will be glad,” Barbara said, with a grin on her face. “I’m just nervous about the big test that Mr. Baw is giving us in math,” I replied, with a tear in my eye that was just sitting there, waiting to come out. “I barely studied and I know I should’ve studied more, but I just didn’t have the time to,” I said, crying hysterically. “It’s okay, Clementine. One bad grade on a test won’t make a big difference to you, considering that you have a perfect grade point average in his class,” Barbara replied. I just love Barbara; she knows how to make you feel happy when you think the whole world is going to end at that very moment.
“I know that that this a silly question to ask, but you won’t cheat right?” she continued.
“Of course not,” Clementine replied, “Do you really think I would do something as terrible as that?”
“No, it’s just that you seem so worried and sometimes people when they’re worried cheat,” Barbara answered.
“Well not me,” Clementine responded, standing tall with confidence that she’ll get an A+ on this test and that if she doesn’t know something, she definitely won’t cheat.
That’s what Clementine thought was going to happen…
“I know that you guys have a test today,” said Mr. Baw as the children we all taking their seats at their desks,” so please clear all from everything other than a pencil.” As soon as all the desks were cleared, Mr. Baw started to pass out the tests. “Wow! This is pretty difficult. I don’t think I’ll fail this test!” Clementine thought to herself, “but stay focused Clementine, stay focused.”
“Nobody look at anyone else’s tests or you’ll get an automatic failing grade for not just this test, but for the trimester!” Mr. Baw exclaimed.
Twenty minutes passed, and Clementine didn’t know how to do any of the problems. “Why did I go shopping for clothes at the mall with Mom and Pearl, when I knew I had to study for this test?!” Clementine said to herself, frustrated.
And then she did something she never would have done in her life, she looked at Alan Peters, the smartest boy in the whole grade’s test for the answers!
Clementine just finished copying down all the answers before Mr. Baw came around to collect them. She handed the test to Mr. Baw, feeling a strong surge of guilt inside of her. “Why did I just do that? A failing grade would have been better than cheating off of Alan’s test!” she screamed at herself.
Just as Clementine was about to leave, she heard, “Clementine, can I please speak to you for a moment?” Mr. Baw asked, with anger in his voice. As soon as Clementine took a seat by his desk, Mr. Baw asked her furiously, “I saw what you did on the test. I saw that you cheated from Alan’s test. And you know what I said before the test started about cheating! Tell me, Clementine, why did you do this? I know that you would never usually do something like this, so there must have been a reason.” “Well, Mr. Baw, I went to the mall with my mom and my sister, Pearl, and I just forgot to manage my time correctly, because as soon as I got home, it was time for me to go to bed, and that’s when I remembered when I forgot to study for this test. I mean, I studied a little bit in the morning before school, but as soon as I looked at the test, I knew that that wasn’t enough time. And then, without thinking, I just looked at his paper because I thought I was desperate,” Clementine responded, her head tilted downwards from all the shame that she cheated. “You know that I’ll have to send a note home about this and there’s a chance that you might get a failing grade for the trimester, but I don’t think that’s necessary because, judging from the look on your face right now, you’ve learned your lesson,” Mr. Baw said, “but I’m still upset that you did something so serious as this. But one thing that I do have to do is fail this test that you just took.”
When Clementine got home, her mom must have heard the news because she told her to go sit on the couch so they can have a talk. In Clementine’s house, you usually get a talk when you did something really wrong and they have to discuss what the punishment for you is. “I’m very disappointed in you, Clementine; I thought you would never to something like this. What happened?” her mom asked her, with a slightly angry tone. “Well, last night I totally forgot that I had a math test today, so I agreed to go to the mall with you and Pearl. And then since we got back so late, and you said that I need to go to bed right away. I did go to bed right away, just like you said, and while I was lying in bed, I remembered that I had a math test the next day, but I thought that you might get mad at me for turning my light on when you said to strictly turn it off, so I studied a little bit this morning, but as soon as I looked at the test, I knew that I should’ve studied more. And then I freaked out, and I didn’t even think about what I was doing first, and then I just cheated. But after I handed in the test, I felt so guilty, that I was kind of glad that Mr. Baw saw it, because I couldn’t hold the feeling in anymore,” Clementine said, tears dripping from her eyes onto her red and blue striped shirt. “Well now for your punishment. You are grounded for two weeks, you have to clean up after the dog for a month, and you have to write Mr. Baw an apology note stating that you shouldn’t have cheated and that you are truly sorry,” her mom said, looking at Clementine with a harsh look. “Okay, I’ll do all of those things, even though I know that I don’t really have a choice whether I want to do it or not,” said Clementine. “You’re 100% correct that you don’t have a choice, but I’m somewhat glad that you agree to do these things,” her mom said, “but just so you know, I’m still disappointed in you.” “Yes, I do,” said Clementine, looking not so happy anymore, “I guess I’ll go get started on that apology note.” “Good idea,” her mom said.
The next day, as Clementine was entering the math class, Mr. Baw called her over. “I really liked your apology note. I really can understand how bad you feel. So instead of me giving you a 30%, I’ll give you a 55%, which by the way, is still a failing grade, by the way,” Mr. Baw informed Clementine. “At least the numbers went up, not down!” said Clementine, a little happier now. “You are correct about that, Clementine. Looks like someone has been practicing their addition and subtraction!” Mr. Baw said, trying to make a joke, but failing to do so, “now go to your seat, the bell is about to ring.”
After class, Barbara asked Clementine, “What happened yesterday? I overheard you and Mr. Baw talking about that you cheated off of Alan Peters’s test. Sorry if you’re mad at me for eavesdropping on your conversation, it’s just that I couldn’t help myself! Why did you cheat like that?,” Barbara said, all excited to hopefully hear some juicy news. “It’s okay that you overheard the conversation. You’re the best friend anyone could ever imagine, and I would never want a friend other than you to help cheer me up in this situation,” Clementine told Barbara. “If I was in the same situation, I would feel the same way about you!” Barbara said to Clementine.
“Now I know the meaning of true friends and to never cheat!” Clementine said, with excitement.

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