Consequences for Our Actions
“There she goes again, looking at her neighbor’s paper! She is so obvious. She has to be the worst cheater ever. Now she is looking at me and acting nervous. If she looks at Shelly’s test again, I am taking her exam away” Joe thought to himself as he sat at his desk, pretending to grade the previous period’s final exam. Hailey, the student in question, was sitting a mere three rows back and her nervous eyes kept darting to, and then staring at her neighbor’s paper.
Out of the corner of his eye, Joe saw Hailey check to make sure he wasn’t looking, and then obviously look at her neighbor’s desk while and feverishly copied down Shelly’s answers.
Joe stood up, buttoned his jacket, calmly walked over and grabbed Hailey’s paper without saying a word. He then walked to the back of the classroom nonchalantly. He could feel her angry stare on the back of his head.
He stopped at the back of the room, turned on the heel of his black leather dress shoe and surveyed his class. Forty or so high school seniors were sweating to finish their chemistry final exams. He saw Hailey slouched in her desk, twirling a strand of her long, wavy red hair while with the other hand she defiantly scribbled on her desk.