Cheating, indirectly

In high school, there would always be a group of students who did well in almost every exam and would score with flying colours. For every year of students, the school allocated 6 classes in total, each between twenty five to thirty students and students were divided according to their exam results. The top students would be put into one class and the rest would flow through the other five classes within the same year.

When it came to the final year of school where students were preparing for the college entry exams, Jill was one of the students in the top class. She was one of the teachers’ favourites or rather teachers’ hopefuls to enter one of the top colleges or universities. It was usually the case, when teachers start to pick their favourites and would give more attention to them with such hopes.

One would think that Jill was arrogant to have achieved such standards but Jill was down-to-earth and humble. A school prefect, president for a number of societies and she was always chosen to lead in assignments and such. I worked with her in a number of assignments back then and I enjoyed it. She was easy to work with, friendly, caring and had a big heart for everyone around her. Everyday, we would hang out after school, visiting cafés nearby and chatted until it was time to go home.

Jill had a kind heart and was always helping students out. As a prefect, when the duty called to punish students for detention class, she would give them a warning first, at least for the day unless they continue to make the same offense the next day, before issuing them with a detention class slip.

After school finished, Jill went on to college and furthered her studies to study medicine overseas. I didn’t hear from her much except during birthdays when the group of friends would just wish each other happy birthday without dwelling much into each other’s lives. I heard she was doing well with her studies and was into her final year of her medical school.

During a reunion gathering, one of our schoolmates mentioned that Jill had returned home. We thought she was back home after her studies but it turned out that she was caught cheating in her final year exams and she was expelled from her medical school. We were speechless because it didn’t sound like the Jill we knew, who was honest, kind and she was good in her studies. Why was there a need to cheat? We tried to get to in touch with Jill but she didn’t return our calls. We kept trying to ask her to join us but she could not be reached and most certainly then, didn’t want to be reached.

We didn’t hear from Jill until one day, I bumped into her at a neighbourhood shop. I asked her to join me for a cup of coffee at one of the cafes we used to go to when we were in school together. I ordered a cup of coffee, a cup of hot chocolate and 2 pieces of fluffy cranberry scones with clotted cream, just like old times. We found a corner with comfortable looking chairs and sat there.

As we chatted, it felt like school days again. We reminisced the past and laughed at all the silly things we did before. That was when Jill started to open up. I asked how she was in the last couple of years because we could not get in touch with her. She explained what had happened to her in medical school.   

Jill was in her final year and her last exam was a few weeks away when one of her good friends asked for help. Before the last exam, there were a couple of minor tests that they needed to pass too. It was on that fateful day she made a mistake that changed her life for the worst.

Her good friend had asked for her help to share answers in one of the minor tests. Jill didn’t think much of it and thought it was okay considering it was just a minor exam and it wasn’t the actual final exam. But little did she know how strict the medical school was. Jill was clearly not good at cheating and she was caught red handed. The school expelled both her and the friend whom she was trying to help.

After that incident, she didn’t dare to tell her parents back home. She stayed on where she was at another friend’s house while trying to figure things out. During that time, Jill met a man there and the man turned out to be someone’s husband. Jill was dating a cheating man and she was an accomplice. The man had promised that he was going to divorce his wife but as cliché as it sounded, the outcome was also as cliché. He didn’t divorce the wife and in the end, Jill left him and returned home.

It was a question of morale and integrity. It was cheating on different levels and different forms essentially. It was cheating but indirectly in some ways. It was not something easy to digest knowing the kind and honest person that Jill was back in school and the situation she was in, or indirectly brought to herself, knowing well what the possible consequences were.

It turned out to be a good meet-up and I was glad to have bumped into her. Jill had been picking herself up after she came back home but she was in depression. Her parents had been wonderful in supporting her in every way possible, to bring her back to the person that she was. It wasn’t easy but Jill managed to. She found a job back home and although she had not been able to entirely let go of her past, she was determined not to be affected by it. She learnt her lesson and at times felt like a fool at the end of it all.

I was quite speechless listening to her throughout the conversation but at the same time glad that Jill rise up again from it all. I was happier that she came back. I could see it in her teary eyes that it had been very tough on her and she kept trying and fighting. I admired her courage and honesty too sharing her story with me. I simply said, what didn’t kill her would only make her stronger and she did grow stronger. I hugged her as we said our good byes and I made her promise that she would not go unreachable again.

Another late entry to @JonicaBradley’s Writing Prompt #6: Cheating: https://read.cash/@JonicaBradley/the-writing-prompts-linked-in-order-5002007d