Okay, Ella, so here’s the deal. You’ve got to help us cheat,” my sassy, overbearing twin sister, Eva, said to me. Randal stood by silently, as usual. “I know you’re all sweet and innocent, but we’re failing US History.”
I squinted, and Randal said, “Don’t look like that. I know it’s bad that we’re asking—”
“Whatever!” Eva cut in. “She’s got a ninety-eight average in US History. You and I are funking. We don’t have time to study. We can do better on the next nine weeks. We need her to carry out our plan. Shoot, it ain’t like I have never helped Ella out on stuff.”
I wasn’t sure what my sister thought I owed her for, but I would be risking a lot. They were both serious. I was in a sour-pickle mess.
“I don’t even know how to cheat, y’all, even if I wanted to, okay? I can help you study for it though. Eva, you’re right, I know the material pretty well. It is not too late for you to get it.”
My sister looked at me like what I was saying was stupid. She had already stated her case, and I was just supposed to do what she said. We were identical twins, but we certainly were opposites. She was brash and sassy. I was patient and sweet.
It was not that I had a problem bending over backwards for her. What she was asking me to do could prove fatal for both of us. If we were caught, we could be suspended, and that meant being dropped from the cheer squad we both loved.
My problem with Eva was that she did not take responsibility for the predicaments she found herself in. Okay, so we did not have the perfect home life. Our father left us when we were five. We never got any specific reason, but looking back at the pictures, my mom used to be a brick house, sort of like Eva and me. We had bodies that would make any guy’s head turn. Eva liked to show hers off. I was more on the conservative side. My mom had put on some weight. I did not want to think my dad was that shallow, but looking at pictures of his new woman, who was skinnier than a stick, I could come to no other conclusion.
Eva loved playing the “poor me” card because our dad was not present in our lives. Now he had another family he called his own, and he was about to get married in a few weeks. He had a three-year-old son and another baby boy was on the way. Since she did not get the love from my dad, she gave it up to almost every guy who gave her attention. I was not calling my sister a garden tool, but if she ever got married, she certainly would be the last person wearing a white gown.
“Don’t say no,” Randal said. (But I was definitely going to tell them to forget it.) “Just go think about it.”
There were five of us who were tighter than tight. Our crew consisted of Charli, Hallie, Randal, Eva, and me. We were all cheerleaders on the varsity football and competition squad. We would be cheering basketball too. Our main goal was to make it to state and win the title of best cheerleaders in Class 5A.
We had just come from winning a football game. We were having a sleepover at Charli Black’s house so that we’d all pump each other up for our first big cheer competition the next morning. Charli was our captain and an extremely savvy cheerleader. She had the looks, the personality, the charm, and the skills. Her father was a big-time judge. We loved coming over to the Black’s house because Charli had her own wing, and there were no siblings to bother us when we gathered together since she was an only child.
Charli was with Hallie in the kitchen making us snacks. As outgoing as Charli was, Hallie was even more boisterous. Ever since I had known her, she had always been so positive. She had come through a lot and was raised by her father because her mother left them when she turned into a crackhead. Charli’s life was not as glamorous as we all thought, however. Her parents were trying to reconnect again. Her dad had been caught tipping out. Charli and Hallie had been hanging out together all night. They were both in love. They were both dating football players. Most ballers were jerks, but the two they had were sweetie pies.
“So what’s there to think about, Ella?” my sister asked with attitude.
I said, “Well, I just can’t take the test for y’all.”
Eva replied coldly, “We were gonna talk about the details in a little while, but you’re acting all apprehensive and stuff. One of your best friends and your sister need help.”
“Smoothies and sandwiches,” Hallie came in and said, holding the delicious offerings. “Come try some, Eva. Leave your sister alone. Let’s eat.”
“Stay out of this, Hallie. I’m talking to Ella,” Eva huffed back.
“Wait, what’s going on in here?” Charli said, clearly not liking Eva’s tone.
“We’re trying not to get kicked out of the mansion,” Hallie joked.
“Settle down everybody. This is slumber party time. Ella, what’s going on?” Charli asked me.
“I’m talking to her,” Eva said, and she stepped in front of Charli. “That’s what’s going on. If you give us some space and get out of our business, we can finish.”
“Eva, I’m not talking to you. I’m asking Ella,” Charli responded. She seemed to be the only one out of the five of us who could stand up to my sister.
“Okay, I’ll tell you,” Randal cut in to avoid a standoff.
“Hush, girl,” Eva snapped. Then she gave Randal a little push.
My sister’s rude actions were a red flag to me. If Eva did not want to tell her plan to Hallie and Charli, then my apprehensions were right on. If it was no big deal, then what was the big deal in telling them?
“They just want me to help them with the test,” I said, wanting Eva to put her claws away.
“What’s the big deal in that?” Hallie said. “We all need to study. First quarter exams are here. We can help each other.”
Eva and Randal were silent. I looked at my sister like, Are you going to tell her, or do I need to? Thinking Randal was going to step out of her shy box and take ownership of what she wanted me to do was a joke.
“Not that it’s any of y’all’s business,” Eva finally said to them when she saw that they were not going to leave well enough alone. “Randal and I need her to help us with US History, and not just studying. Heck, it’s too late to get the stuff down now. We have a little plan for her to help us. She’s got the class before us. She’s going to fill out two copies of her answer sheet and leave one behind for us to find when we come into class after her.”
“Huh? You want her to cheat? Oh heck nah. Stupid plan. It ain’t happening,” Charli uttered.
“She is not your sister. You can’t tell her what to do. Dang, you think you can boss everyone around,” Eva said to our hostess. “She’s my sister and I need her. What I don’t need is y’all clouding up her mind with this guilty-conscience junk that helping me is wrong.”
Eva truly thought her comments were righteous. Charli did not even look at her to cosign. Instead Charli looked at me, pulled me over to a corner, and called Hallie over to us.
Charli said, “Don’t let anybody make you feel like if you don’t help them do something horrible that it’s your fault if they fail. You have too much to lose, and you’re much too sweet of a person to fall for intimidation. Tell her, Hallie.”
Hallie said, “Ella, you know your sister. She wants what she wants, but everything she wants isn’t good for her. That’s why we’re friends. That’s why we’re sisters: to help keep each other in line so we won’t fall for the okey doke.”
The slumber party we were supposed to be having was completely shot. Hallie and Charli were balled up together, talking about their guys. Eva and Randal were cornered, hoping and praying I would go against my better judgment and help them. I was stuck in between, pretending like I was asleep so that no one would bother me. All the while, I was trying to figure out what I was going to do. What was right and what could I not forgive myself for if I did not do it?
“Get up everybody. Time to go win our first competition,” Charli said Saturday morning as if all hearts and minds were clear.
We were going to a meet in Loganville, Georgia. It was about forty-five minutes away, and there were four teams scheduled to compete in the 5A-4A category. Two of the teams placed in the state competition last year. However, this was a new ball game for us Lions. We had been practicing. Everybody had their tumbling. We were focused and ready to do this.
However, everyone but Charli was dragging. I had not decided what I was going to do about the whole helping Eva and Randal cheat deal, but I knew we really needed to straighten things out since had I basically divided the room by my uncertainty. Today we were a team.
I said, “Come on, girls, Charli’s right. Let’s go win. Hands all in. This is going to be a great day.” Reluctantly, and with bad hair, bad breath, and still some bad attitudes, all of us had our hands touching. “On three.”
Charli smiled my way and said, “One … two … three.”
We all shouted, “Lions!” We had to be at school at eleven. It was ten. Charli’s mom was fixing us breakfast while we were tripping over each other in the bathroom because we all had to hurry. I went into the bathroom where my sister was primping. She looked at me and rolled her eyes.
“Okay, so can we just talk about all this other stuff tomorrow and be a team today so we can win? Dang, drop the attitude.”
“Don’t tell me what to do, Ella. Besides what’s going on with me has absolutely nothing to do with school.”
We had our cycles on the same day too, and they had just gone off a week ago. Though Eva was usually a pretty crappy person, she was even worse during that time of the month. Since it could not be that, I wondered what was going on with her.
Caring, I asked, “Talk to me.”
“I just talked to Mom.”
“She okay?”
Eva vented, “Dad set a date for his wedding. Supposedly, his fiancée, Miss Samantha, wants us to be a part of it. He had the nerve to tell Mom, ‘Don’t worry about having to pay for the dresses because I’m gonna take care of them.’ We haven’t even met the lady, and he wants us to be in his wedding. He can do whatever he wants to do, but I’m not having any part of it. He needs to pay his back child support before talking about some dresses.”
Eva said one thing, but her body language was saying another. She was devastated that my dad had officially planned a date to move on with his life. It probably did not matter. He had been living with his other family for years. Just the fact that he was tying the knot made me sink down on the closed toilet and hold my stomach. I felt physically ill. Eva was dealing with her own feelings. She did not care that I was absolutely upset. She left me in the bathroom to deal with my feelings. It was not that my dad did nothing for us. He was currently paying child support and got us both prepaid phones. Without even thinking, I dialed his number. When he answered, I just held the phone.
“Hello? Eva … Ella … one of you girls. Is that you?”
“It’s me, Daddy, Ella,” I said, a little salty that he did not even lock in our numbers.
He was our father, and he was still having trouble telling us apart. I guess you needed to spend time with people to know them. Maybe that was just it. He did not want to get to know us at all. We did not spend much time talking. I told him what was up with our day. What was going on in our world, and that I would think about his offer of being in his wedding. I was just being nice. However, I sensed that he seemed moved.
When we got to the school, all twenty cheerleaders were nervous. No one was talking, smiling, or kidding around. When Coach Woods came out of the gym, she asked us to load into our cars. Though cheerleading was a sport, we did not get a bus.
“Girls, gather around,” Coach Woods said.
She was the best cheerleading sponsor in the whole world. She cared about us, but she was tough on us. None of us wanted to let her down.
“I need to check you guys to make sure you have everything you need.”
Eva had on the wrong shoes, and three of the girls did not bring their warm-up suits. Basically, we did not look one hundred percent uniform. Whitney, our high maintenance co-captain, was pissed.
“Shoot, I left the directions on my desk,” said Coach Woods. “Ella, go on in there and grab them. The door will automatically lock behind you. Here are my keys; don’t leave them.”
I had never been in the school building when no one else was in there. Though it was daytime, it was dark inside. When I got to the locker room areas, I had to pass by the boys’ side. I heard noise. When I went closer to the opened door, I heard water running.
Truly being a scaredy-cat, I had no idea why I went over to investigate. The sight I saw was one I’ll never forget. Being a virgin, I had never seen a guy’s nude frame. There stood the most gorgeous specimen I could ever imagine. It was Leo Steele, our starting defensive end who was also in our junior class. His backside was to me. I probably would have passed out had he turned around.
I wondered why he was taking a shower in the school when everyone was gone. Then I saw him hit the wall and slide down it in despair. I knew something was not right. Something also was not right with me, as I was flabbergasted at the sight of him. I must have knocked over a trash can as I exited, and I hoped he did not see me. I grabbed Coach’s directions and got out of the school building as fast as I could. But I’d never forget what I had just seen.
When we got to the competition, we entered in a disorderly manner. Worse yet, other teams around us, even teams we were not competing against, were locked hand in hand or walking single file, bag on the right side, and outfits perfectly coordinated. I’m not saying we looked ghetto, but we did not look polished.
“Hey, girls,” my dad said. His arrival was a surprise right before we were going on. “I brought your little brother, Evan, to meet you all. He wanted to come and see his big sisters perform.”
“Who told you to be here? How did you know where to find us? Mom would not have told you,” Eva grumbled. She looked over at me with accusing eyes.
I said, “I mean, I talked to him and told him we had a competition. He asked where. I didn’t know he was coming.”
Eva yelled, “I can’t tell you anything. Why’d you call him? What did you say? You’re going to be in his stupid wedding?”
“All right, Eva, settle down,” my dad pleaded. People started looking over at us.
“You think I care, Dad, what these people in here think? Please, and I’m certainly not taking orders from somebody who left us.” Eva walked over to Coach Woods. “Coach, isn’t it time for us to go on?”
Coach Woods was caught off guard, and the rest of the team was dumbfounded. She shrugged at my father who told her it was okay. Our problem was that we were all off focus. When we performed, we dropped all five of our stunts. In the tumbling rotation, a couple of girls ran into each other. Some of us had no facial expressions and were not smiling. Overall we were not even close to tight. The girls from Loganville and Ola were exceptional. Heritage High School was just okay, but because we were so pitiful, I knew we would not place.
Whitney said, “Ugh, we just look a mess. All black squad and we have no buckets or bows; we just look bootleg. If this is how our squad is going to be, we don’t need to go to another meet because we’re not representing Lockwood well.”
Cheerleading was supposed to be about yelling out and being proud. However, if girls had many issues in their home life, issues of security, issues of togetherness, how could they be cheerful? Maybe Whitney was right. Maybe we were in over our heads and needed to just stick to cheering on the sidelines.
I could not believe I agreed to help Randal and my sister cheat. There I was in US History, ready to forsake my morals, bracing myself to carry out Eva’s plan, and scared as heck. My teacher was Mrs. Green, a frail-looking older lady who was not too hip. People would ask her permission to go to the bathroom and not come back until the period was almost over. She would inquire what took so long and any dumb answer they gave, like, “I felt sick, so I just stayed in the bathroom so I could catch my balance,” Mrs. Green would buy it.
Instead of taking one Scantron sheet when she passed them out, I took two. As we began to take the test, I filled out both sheets. However, I only turned one in to Mrs. Green. We were on block classes. Therefore, we had ninety minutes per class. When everyone turned their tests in, there was still twenty-one minutes left in the class. Mrs. Green turned around and put the Scantrons through a machine.
“Well, I want to say most of you guys did not study for this exam. I had one A, one B, and the rest Ds and Fs. Congratulations to Ella. You earned a ninety-seven, so it’ll only be a three-point curve.”
The rest of the class booed me. Too bad they didn’t study. Eva’s plan was for me to leave the second Scantron under my seat and beneath my jacket. People left things in the classroom all the time, and Randal was supposed to distract Mrs. Green while Eva found the Scantron and copied down the answers. They would have time to do that because they had Mrs. Green after lunch.
The plan went awry because the two social butterflies passed the Scantron on to friends in Mrs. Green’s other US History classes. The majority of Mrs. Green’s students failed the test. Most people in Eva and Randal’s class had the exact same score as I did. The dummies did not even take the whole class period to do the test. People turned in their papers in fifteen minutes or less. She smelled cow manure, and my legs were knee deep up in it.
I was in PE with Coach Woods when I got called up to the office. I wanted to find my sister to ask if they tore up the Scantron, but the school year was still new. I did not remember her classes or where she was at that moment. Walking to the office, I thought certainly I would be able to talk myself out of any trouble because I had never been to the principal’s office before. However, I was shaking.
“What’s going on, Miss Blount? I’ve seen your sister a whole bunch of times, but I thought you were the good one,” Dr. Sapp, our fine principal, said to me. Mrs. Green stood there, rocking back and forth. “Mrs. Green came to me with some interesting, yet possibly disturbing news. She thinks you cheated on her exam.”
I defended myself. “But, Mrs. Green, you watched me complete my test. I answered everything on my own.”
Mrs. Greene explained, “I saw you taking your test, Ella, and I don’t believe that you cheated on your own exam, but it’s the class that came after you that I am having a tough time with. I can’t figure out how they got your exact score.”
“Maybe I wasn’t the only one who studied,” I said.
Not buying it, Mrs. Green said, “Your sister is in my other class, Ella. Her poor work ethic all quarter does not match up to the almost-perfect score she received. More is going on here, and I’ve never known you to lie.”
Not knowing all Eva had done to hang me out to dry, I rationalized, “But can you explain to me what you think I did, Mrs. Green? If you gave them the same test you gave me, and we got the same score, what’s the problem? You’re right, Eva’s my sister. We studied together, no big deal.”
“The question you missed was not a hard one. For fifteen people in my class to miss the same one and get everything else correct did not seem right. So I gave them another test.”
“What happened?” Dr. Sapp asked.
Mrs. Green said, “They all put down the exact same answers.”
“There you go. People studied,” I said.
Shaking her head, Mrs. Green said, “Problem was, Ella, I changed up the questions, and they put the exact same answers. If they studied, then they would have understood that what was question one on the first test was question six on the second test. Of course they all failed the second test, but nobody wants to tell me anything. Something’s not right. When the class was gone, I looked under your desk and found this: a filled-in Scantron.”
“I don’t see anybody’s name on it,” cool Dr. Sapp answered Mrs. Green.
“That’s right, but I’m just wondering if we can take it over to the forensics lab down in the technical building and see if Ella’s fingerprints will show up. She turned hers in to me, so why would there be a second one with all the answers filled in under her desk? Anyone could have used it, particularly people from the next class who hadn’t taken the test yet.”
At that moment, I lost it. I could not say everything was okay. I could not say I had not done anything. I came clean. I said I left the Scantron there but didn’t know if anyone would actually use it. I admitted that it was all my doing. Dr. Sapp told Mrs. Green that he would handle it from there.
When she stood up, she said, “You know, Ella, you’ve always been a lady with such integrity. It’s hard for me personally right now. I wish I could retire, but with this recession we’re in, I’m just not able to. I would never think kids would take advantage of me like this, particularly my better students. I am battling multiple sclerosis, barely even able to hold on, walk, much less keep my head up. Now I’m going to have to be on my guard for sure because I can’t trust anybody. Thank you for showing me I should have no faith in the next generation. Another reason I can’t retire any time soon is because I have to stay here and tighten up on you guys so you all won’t try to get over on another soul again.”
She walked out. I hung my head low. The lady did not deserve my bad actions.
“Gosh, girl, you done hurt the lady’s feelings,” Dr. Sapp said to me, trying to joke around.
“Sir, I’m so sorry.”
“So you know you can get suspended for cheating.”
“But I didn’t actually cheat. I didn’t know if anybody would actually copy it.”
“Ugh, don’t try to justify your actions,” he scolded.
“But I’m a straight A student. Please, sir. I’m on the cheerleading squad. We’re trying to win state, and we bombed out at our first meet. You always told us that you used to get in trouble back in the day. Can I have one courtesy pass?”
“Dang, my speeches get me in trouble,” Dr. Sapp said. “All right, I’m going to tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to give you ISS, in-school suspension, for five days. This way you’re on the squad. I know if you get suspended from school, you’re immediately off the team, and I do think you deserve another chance. However, taking the hit for anybody, your sister in particular, is unwise. I know Miss Eva, and she can be persuasive and lead you to do all kinds of stuff. You did not help her or anybody else by cheating for them.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now get your self to ISS down the hall. You’ll have all week to think about your actions. You’ll probably be the laughing stock, and I hope you can handle it. Maybe the embarrassment will keep you from doing something this stupid again. Mr. Hatcher is out this week, so I’m actually going to be the ISS teacher. I’m going to make sure you get everything done. You might be able to sneak out on Mrs. Green, but not Dr. Sapp. I’ve been around the way, and I know how to make sure you pay.”
“So do I get my books? Do I go to ISS tomorrow? What?”
“Weren’t you listening? You head on down there right now. I already have two kids in there.”
When I walked to ISS, I could not believe who was sitting in the tight space. It was Leo Steele, the guy I had seen naked. He was looking like he was about to break someone’s jaw. He looked up and saw me, and he stared really hard. I wondered if he saw me the other day.
“Get to moving on in there and sit down,” Dr. Sapp commanded, interrupting my thoughts. “There’s no need in delaying the inevitable. You’re going to be in here with me all week. Your books and assignments are on their way so you can stay caught up.