Week 11 Story: Little Failing Lies

 

    Kai had never been the worst in school, but she had also never been the best. However, her sophomore year math class was going terribly. She couldn't think of the last time she got a grade that was higher than a 65. Nine-week progress reports were going to be handed out in seventh hour and Kai needed to figure out how to slip out of this situation she was in. Her mom didn't expect to always come home with As, but she usually expected Kai to at least have Bs and Cs, and right now she had a D in math. She thought about hiding the report, but her mom would know something is up because another one could be printed even if she 'lost' it. By the end of the day, with her progress report in hand, Kai had decided she was going to lie to her mom. She wasn't proud about it, but it was the only way she could save her own behind.

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    "Kai!! Why do you have a D in geometry?!' When she had arrived home, Kai had quickly handed her report off to her mom and sprinted upstairs. After setting down her backpack, Kai headed downstairs, ready to tell her mom the lie she had made up for her lousy grade.

    "That teacher doesn't even teach us mom! She just tells us to look in the book and when we ask for help, she completely ignores us!" Of course, this wasn't true, Mrs. Pitt was always there to help, but Kai felt too embarrassed to ask for help. "And I think she has it out for me. Anytime I speak of in class, she gives a death glare. But you can't say anything to her or the school, I'm sure it would just make it worse!" Bingo! She had an excuse for her mom and Mrs. Pitt and the school would never know about it.

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    She had never been so wrong in her life! Even though she told her mom not to say anything (and her mom had even agreed!), Mrs. Pitt had still somehow figured out about her little lie. Apparently, Kai's mom had called up the school just the next day to tell them what her precious daughter had told her. The principal immediately took the issue to Mrs. Pitt, who had no idea what was going on. When Kai had made it to third hour, Mrs. Pitt was always over her shoulder, ready to help Kai with any problem she had. Kai didn't realize the reason for this until a week later, when Mrs. Pitt revealed that her mom had called up to the school. For the rest of the school year, Mrs. Pitt was always right by Kai's side, ready to point out any mistakes and correct Kai's work. On the bright side, Kai ended the course with an A.

Author's Note:

    I took inspiration from an Eskimo Tale called The Wife Who Lied. In the story, there is a woman from a cannibalistic tribe who is married to a man from a non-cannibalistic tribe. One day, when the woman went home to visit her tribe, she wore mittens on her feet so that they would think her husband was treating her poorly. Her tribe decided to declare war against the other tribe and killed the tribe's women while the men were away hunting. When the men discovered their women dead, they planned a counter-attack on the cannibalistic tribe and ended up killing their men and taking the women as the wives, except for the original wife. She was dragged out and had her arms cut off and left to bleed to death. Obviously, the story was a bit gruesome and I wasn't in the mood for gore this week, so I did something much smaller. I myself have never done it, but I have known of a lot of people who tell their parents that the teacher is terrible instead of admitting to the fact that they didn't try their hardest or ask for help. I tried to make Mrs. Pitt seem like a forgiving person, but not too forgiving, as she stayed by Kai's side for the rest of the school year.