Ethan walked along the sidewalk, dragging his feet. He was hoping time would stand still or a black hole would appear. As he shuffled toward his house neither of these events occurred. Before he knew it he was stepping up on the front porch. His mom was inside and she always knew when something was wrong.

"I never cheated before , at least I never cheated before today."

Ethan grabbed the door handle and opened the door.

"Hi Honey, come in the kitchen and tell me about your day."

"Can't Mom, homework."

Ethan hurried down the hall to his room, opened the door and closed it a little harder than he planned. Dropping his backpack, he laid on his bed with his size 12 basketball sneakers hanging off the side.

"What am I going to do? I feel so bad about cheating."

"Everything ok, Ethan?" Asked his mother.

"Yeah Ma."

Ethan jumped off the bed almost falling over. He was not use to his new six foot height. He started pacing. Six steps one way and six steps the other way.

There was a knocking on the door, "would you like a snack?" His mother asked.

"No. Ma I'm fine."

Ethan knew, if he went into the kitchen, his Mother would know something was wrong.

Ethan continued pacing. He needed to figure a way out of this mess. The problem is he copied off Rose Mary's paper. She always gets A's. Mom would wonder how he received an A because he has to study hard for C's.

"I fell terrible about cheating. If I can figure out a way out of this mess, I'll never cheat again."

"Ethan time for dinner." Yelled his mom.


***

The next day in history class, Ethan felt like he was going to throw up. Going to the school nurse was not the answer; his problem would still be there.

"Ethan Owens good job!" Mr Hyde said as he gave Ethan his folded test paper. He peaked at his grade B+.

"Why couldn't this be a C. Then this would blow over and I would have learned my lesson. No harm no foul as they say."

***

Later that afternoon, Ethan walked into the kitchen.

"Hi Ma."

"How did you do on your history test?"

Ethan open the refrigerator and stuck his head inside looking for a snack and trying to avoid his mom.

"I got a B+." He mumbled.

"Why that's great," responded his mom.

Ethan kept his head in the refrigerator, trying to cool off. He was feeling ashamed that his mom was praising his cheating grade.

"Ethan what is wrong? Your wasting energy."

Ethan pulled his head out of the refrigerator and looked at his mom.

He said quickly, " I didn't study. I played video games with Kenny. I copied off Rose Mary. That's how I got B+. I feel really bad.

Mom gave Ethan, 'The Look,' which he hated.

"Well, I am proud of you for telling the truth. No video games for a month,"

Mom added, "You need to make this right with Rose Mary and Mr. Hyde. Let me know what your planning.

Ethan was relieved. The mess was over. He was off the edge, almost..