Age 15, USA

I was stuck and didn’t want to get another bad grade. I studied really hard, but when the test was in front of me, I didn’t have a clue what the right answer was to the first question and I wasn’t sure about many of the others. I leaned forward and looked at your paper. You were sitting with your long legs stretched out and your paper was pushed to the side.

Our teacher started yelling at me, and then at you, saying you were helping me cheat. He took both our papers away. I argued and argued, explaining that there was no way I could see your paper because I forgot my glasses. It’s true. I couldn’t see anything.

This was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.

Our teacher gave us back our papers, but dropped your grade from an A to a B. I got a D. Over and over again I said that I was innocent and that you were innocent. The truth is I did try and look at your paper. Your answers were too far away. If I could have seen what you wrote down, I would have copied it. So, I’m sorry. Please forgive me for getting you in trouble and I hope this doesn’t impact your GPA.

What did I learn?

It wasn’t worth it. I know it was wrong and now I have to live with the guilt. Looking back, I know if I hadn’t been “caught” and I actually could have seen your paper, I would have written the answers down, and I feel badly about that. I won’t ever do this again.