I Turned over the Question Paper

I turned over the question paper, I flipped through all the pages. I did not know how to answer any of the questions. I racked my brain to recall what I had studied yesterday but I barely could remember anything. I viewed around the class and found all my classmates were poring over and solving the question papers intently. My bosom friend, Serene was sitting beside me at the corner of the class. I doubted I was the only one who was still musing. The exam started at 10 a. m. and now the wall clock above the whiteboard was showing 10. 30 a. m. Time really flew, but I still had not even written a single word on my question paper. I started to have butterflies in my stomach. ‘What can I do now? ’ I kept asking myself. My brilliant yet filthy mind suddenly thought of an idea. I occasionally threw surreptitious glances at Serene. When I noticed Miss Lim was busy marking the exam papers, I rapidly threw a folded memo I had written to Serene: ‘Serene, please pass me your paper for just a couple of minutes. ‘ I could sense that she hesitated for a split second, however, she still handed her question paper to me in a swift manner so that Miss Lim would not have realised what we were actually doing. Serene was like my angel, she had always been part and parcel of my life since we had first met in Form 1. With lightning speed, I copied the answers favourably but apprehensively. My jubilance came to an abrupt end when I heard a discreet cough from behind. It was Miss Lim! She speedily snatched the question papers from me and glanced at me with the eyes of a hawk. It was too late for me to react when Serene beckoned me as I was profoundly concentrating with what I was doing. Then her creepy eyes turned to Serene who was close to tears. Her tears had yet accumulated in her guilty eyes. Miss Lim was too dazed to even talk. I could sense that all eyes were looking at us at that moment. Regaining her composure, she asked all the students to continue with their exam and took us out of the class. Just then, she made a phone call to our well-known discipline teacher, Mr Lambert. Mr Lambert took us to his discipline room together with the question papers in his hand. He scrutinised the question papers attentively. We thought he would have scolded us as loud as thunder until the staffroom located a few miles away could hear us. Surprisingly, he did not. He looked at us with his smiley and warmth face. Tears welled up in our eyes and we tried to hold them back. However, we could not. They started flowing down our cheeks. He waited with the patience of a saint until we had finished and asked us if we wanted to tell him why and how everything had happened. We told him. I confessed that I was the one who insisted Serene to pass me her question paper. He gave us a lecture and warned us not to repeat the same thing in future if not we would be suspended from school. Each of us was given a warning letter and our parents were called to the school. We vowed to Mr Lambert that we would never cheat again during examinations. From that day onwards, we were renowned to be the best cheaters ever.