Ms. Divan’s face flushed and she half-stood. “Katie, you’d better think this through!” she said. “I understand and appreciate your loyalty to your friend. And I also appreciate that you’re trying to right what you feel to be a wrong. But don’t be hasty here. The repercussions could be quite severe!”

I waited for her to say more, so she did. “Katie, dear, you’re a sensible girl. Think about it. What good can come of a single-person boycott?”

I got up on rubbery legs and said, “Well, anyway, bye.” And I left her office.

She called my name but she didn’t come out after me, so I kept walking.

Still shaky, I made my way down the hall and out the front door of the school.

Nothing happened. Jailbreak alarms didn’t sound. Snarling attack dogs didn’t come at me with their fangs bared. It was amazing really, to realize that nothing held us in school besides the fact that we were supposed to be there.

I’d never thought about it, but I’d always felt there was a force field, an invisible fence, a SOMETHING that kept all of us inside from the first bell to the last. I glanced around for truancy police and almost laughed out loud, thinking of myself as a juvenile delinquent. A criminal. Ha! It was thrilling! No wonder kids skipped school.

Here I was, walking down the school’s long driveway. Happy, amazed, blinking in the bright sunlight, illegally ALONE! I felt taller, stronger. My lungs filled with air. Not CLEAN air, of course, but NEW air. Free air!

Rob

CHEATING ESSAY:

Here’s why cheating rots. Because it’s lying. Because it’s trying to pass yourself off as someone else. Also, if people cheated and got away with it, they’d go around acting like they know stuff that they don’t know. Pretending to be someone they’re not. Then after a while they’d probably believe it themselves.

And even if they got sick of lying all the time, it would be hard to suddenly come clean. To tell people you’re a big fake. You might even get thrown in jail. Like if you were a pilot flying planes and you’d cheated on your flight tests. Or you’re the guy who fixes the plane but you really don’t know your gears from a hole in the ground, so the plane crashes and everyone dies. You’re guilty of murder.

If a lot of people cheat, then none of them would be who they say they are. And there’d be no way to know what’s really going on. Like to tell which mechanic can fix your plane and which ones’ll kill you.

Everyone would be worried about getting caught. They’d be suspicious of everyone else. So all together the whole world would be a drag and everyone would be afraid.

Signed,
Robert King

Katie