Cesar was sitting in his seat praying to God hoping that the bell will ring five minutes earlier and he will be able to escape punishment. Mr Simmons kept on checking everyone's notebooks one by one.
One by one the students were called to the podium and Cesar's turn was getting near with each student getting his notebook checked.
He opened his eyes slowly and took a look at Mr Simmons, he was done with the students who were sitting in the first row and was starting to check the notebooks of the second-row students.
Cesar was sitting on the last bench of the very last bench of the third row and his tension was increasing with every notebook that was getting checked by Mr Simmons, he hoped that until his name was called, the period will be over but at the same time, he knew that he cannot believe his luck because luck never seems to work in his favour.
After pondering for a long while, he then decided to complete his homework by himself, however, it was next to impossible because he was not that brilliant and there was no way he could solve all the problems in such a short time.
However, Cesar still started to solve his math problems, at first, he was very enthusiastic but seconds later all of his enthusiasm went down the drain when saw the questions. They were more than just difficult and just one glance was enough to get him confused. Picking up his pen, he tried to use all the formulas that he knew but no matter how much he tried to solve those problems, he couldn't get the answer that he was supposed to.
On the last bench of the second row, Andrew was completing his homework while Rosie continuously looked back at him to see whether he was done with his homework or not. After all her turn was about to come and she was getting nervous, she waited for a while and when she saw that he wasn't returning her notebook, she asked Andrew in a low voice, "Hey, Andrew are you done with it?"
Andrew replied, "No, not yet."
Rosie then said to him, "Andrew my turn is about to come, please give me my notebook once I am done with I will give you back."
Andrew ignored her pestering while he tried to copy all the answers as quickly as he could and said, "Just wait a few more minutes Rosie my work is about to complete."
Mr Simmons felt something was wrong when he heard Rosie and Andrew murmur.
He angrily called their name, and made them stand before asking, "What are you both doing? Didn't I ask you two to stay quiet?"
Both of them didn't say a word when he asked the first time.
Mr Simmons has been teaching for a long time and knew that the two of them had a guilty conscience, so he asked again in a more fierce tone than normal. " I am asking you one last time what were you two doing? Don't let me come and see what you both are actually hiding, you hear me?"
They still didn't say a word.
Annoyed Mr Simmons knew exactly what he needed to get them speaking. "Look if both of you don't tell me why you were whispering among yourselves then I have to take some strict action against both of you," he paused and said, "I will take both of you to the principal's office."
Rosie got scared by Mr Simmons's warning and immediately answered nervously, "Nothing Mr Simmons I gave my notebook to Andrew and asked him to give it back."
Mr Simmons then asked her the reason, "And for what reason did you give your notebook to him?"
Andrew was anxious, he lightly shook his head and secretly put a finger on his lips as a gesture to Rosie ——not to tell anything when Rosie looked at him.
Mr Simmons got irritated by their behaviour he ferociously screamed at Rosie. " Are you going to tell me everything or not?"
Rosie was startled and immediately started to tell everything in just one breath, "Mr Simmons, actually Andrew hasn't completed his homework so gave my notebook to him."
Andrew rolled his eyes and covered his face with one hand in frustration while Rosie knew from his look that she had made a blunder and looked at Andrew with an apologetic look on her face.
Mr Simmons turned to look at Andrew. "So Andrew you haven't done your homework?"
Andrew's eyes were down, he nodded his head. " Yes, Mr Simmons I haven't done my homework."
Mr Simmons after learning that he hadn't completed his homework narrowed his eyes and asked, "Ok Andrew can you please tell me why you haven't done your homework?"
Andrew with an apologetic look on his face made a lame excuse, "Sir, actually last night there were some goons who broke into my house and they all tortured my family and I was so scared that I was unable to complete my homework." Last night he has seen a movie where the protagonist said the same thing to his teacher and was able to escape his way punishment. As the cool dude of the class surely he will be able to get away with it.
Cesar immediately looked at Andrew who was looking at the class with a swagger and groaned. Now even if he wanted to tell the truth, there was no way he would be able to say it, even if he was to show his injuries to Mr Simmons. He couldn't help but call Andrew an idiot in his countless times.
This guy was a bully through and through …even when he wasn't bullying him, he will do something that will cause a problem for Cesar in one way or another.
Mr Simmons had been a teacher for more than twenty years, with just one look he knew that Andrew was lying but he still looked at the latter with sympathy and said in a voice full of concern, "Oh that's such a horrible thing, I feel sorry for you Andrew, is everything okay at home now?"
Andrew had a pitiful expression on his face but inwardly, he was delighted thinking that Mr Simmons had fallen into his trap.
He lowered his head and replied, "Yes Sir my family is ok."
Seeing that he was still continuing, Mr Simmons rolled his eyes and shouted, "SHUT UP! STOP GIVING ME THESE NONSENSE EXCUSES AND NOW GET OUT OF THE CLASS."
Andrew's plan ended in a catastrophe, he stood up and made his way out of the class before he walked out of the class he gave an irate look to Rosie and. Rosie was now regretting why she said the truth to Mr Simmons if she would have lied then Andrew wouldn't have been punished like this.
Cesar inwardly thought, ' Andrew lied to Mr Simmons but what he said really happened with me last night. If I tell this to Mr Simmons he will never believe it and he will embarrass me in front of everyone. Oh, God! what should I do?"
Cesar was sitting on his seat anxiously, and Mr Simmons was checking everyone's notebooks after what happened with Andrew he was checking the notebooks much faster, wanting to catch another copycat.
Having done checking the notebooks of the students who were sitting in the second row, he turned to the third row.
Now it was looking like Cesar had run out of his luck, he clenched his fists, and his eyes turned red and his breathing turned uneasy.
Oh, God please just ring the bell!
"Cesar! bring your notebook." Mr Simmons called Cesar. In response to his prayer Mr Simmons's words rang out in the class and Cesar could only look at him stupidly.
"Cesar you went deaf or what? I said bring your notebook," seeing that he was in some sort of stupor, Mr Simmons's temper flared up and he scolded Cesar with a crack of whip-like voice.
Cesar gulped his breath and stood up with his notebook, moving out of his seat as slowly as he could.