It was a sunny day, no clouds, and not much wind at all. September has weather like this, but not usually this warm. I was waiting outside for my parents to drive me to school. I went to Western Hills, it was a nice school, big, but not huge. My mom finally pulled out of the garage in the white Honda we bought the year before.

On the way to school I said, “I got a test today in Math.”

“Did you study?”, she asked.

“No”

It was a normal day when I arrived, kids running and screaming everywhere. I walked to my sixth grade classroom and put my bags in my locker. The classroom was half-full and louder than ever. I sat in my seat as the bell rang, and listened to the announcements. It was a mostly boring day and I was nervous for my test. As the teacher passed them out, I could feel the anxiety building up. I knew i wasn’t prepared for the test, but I had to do it. About halfway through I felt a tap on my elbow, a fellow classmate.

He whispered, “What’s the answer to number 18?”

I tried to ignore him but he tapped again, I was about to tell the teacher when somebody says, “Jackson is cheating.”

I went red immediately. The teacher said, “Is this true?”

“No”, I replied.

“Come with me”, she instructed.

The walk to the office was fast. When we reached it, she told me to sit in a chair, and that she’d be right back.

“Who was it?’ she asked upon return.

I had to think, take the blame for something I didn’t do? Or tell on my friend.

“It was me”, I mumbled.

“Why did you say it wasn’t”

“Because, I didn’t want to embarrass myself.”

It was just then when my friend walked into the office and fessed up. He explained that it was him, and that he should’ve admitted it in the first place. He also apologized to me, and said it was a dumb idea.

“You will receive a 0 on the test. Jackson, you may return to class,” my teacher said.

Later that day things went back to normal, despite everyone asking what happened, and who got in trouble. As the bell rang, the girl who wrongly accused me of cheating apologized, and I told her she didn’t need to. The bus ride home was longer than usual, all my friends were laughing and having fun, but I sat alone. Too tired to even carry on a conversation. When the bus pulled up to my stop, I stood up and slowly moved towards the door.

I lived fairly close to the bus stop so, it wasn’t a terrible walk in the heat. I walked in the door and my dad was sitting on the couch watching tv.

“Where’s mom?” I asked.

“She got held up at work. I made you a sandwich.”

“Thanks”, I lazily replied.

After I ate the sandwich, I went to my room and flopped onto the bed. The day went by fast. I still had homework to do, but I felt like doing it later. I closed my eyes. When I woke up I looked at the clock. 6:30 AM. I fell asleep and forgot about my homework! I hustled down stairs and knocked over a couple things in the rush. I found my mom in the kitchen.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?’

“You looked tired, so I left you alone,” she replied.

“I have homework to do!”

Before my mom could say anything, my dad walked into the kitchen.

“Shouldn’t you be at work?” I asked

“It’s Saturday,” he said.

I was relieved. I couldn’t have forgot to do my homework. My teacher would’ve been angry, almost getting caught for cheating, even though I didn’t, and then incomplete homework. I dropped the thought, and sat on the couch and watched TV, I was going to have a good weekend.