PLAY SOCCER
No regrets here. I feel so much better being physically active than sitting at a keyboard. How do nerds stand it?
The night before the paper is due, I start to panic. Looking at my outline, I can barely read my own writing or remember anything I wrote. There’s no time to figure it all out.
Going back to some of the websites, I start copying and pasting paragraphs into various parts of my paper. Using a trick the teacher showed me, I right-click on several words in each paragraph and replace them with a synonym from the list.
That way, Ms. Sabin can’t accuse me of plagiarism.
A few weeks later, I’m in a meeting with the principal, my parents and my English teacher.
“I worked hard on that hard essay. You can’t prove I didn’t write it.” I’m so mad that my face is burning.
“The proof is right here, compliments of Google.” The teacher hands my parents a printed copy of the source. “Spotting the difference between student writing and published material is easy. Professional writers have sophisticated sentence structure and word choice. You don’t typically use words like facilitate or endogenous substrate.” Ms. Sabin gives me that what-were-you-thinking look.
“Dominic says it’s not plagiarism when he changes some of the words.” At least my dad is sticking up for me.
“He’s wrong,” says my mom. Yeah, she’s a paralegal. No point in arguing with her. “Based on our discussion with Dom’s girlfriend, we do know that he did some of the work on his own. Is there any way that you would allow him to redo the assignment? Naturally, he would lose points for being late.”
Ms. Sabin and the principal exchange glances.
“Dominic, it sounds like you started off well. What happened?” the teacher asks.
I decide to tell the truth.
By the time the meeting ends, the adults in the room have decided that I need help developing organization skills. The worst part is my parents. I think my dad is ashamed of me. And my mom looks sad, like she’s failed me somehow.
I feel bad, but at least I get a do over. A chance to make them proud of me.
My phone buzzes with incoming messages. Cameron is lifting weights and needs a spotter. Deja heard what happened, and is offering to help with my rewrite in spite of the fact that I’m “a complete fool.”
