Shengliver’s Note: A Chinese teen has learned not to be misled by superficiality.

 

I used to believe that everyone is kind, but what happened during the final exam changed my view. Now I’d rather believe that what we see is not necessarily what we get.

Last term when I was sitting the final exam, a boy was seated on my left in the test room. The first time we met, he asked, “Which subject is your forte, girl?” I said, “None. My grades are more or less balanced. I do not have a shiny subject.” The boy was so garrulous that he had chatted with all the other test takers around.

“He must intend to cheat,” I decided. “I’d better keep my distance.”

In each test, the boy would pester the student in front for answers. So shifty was he that the teachers almost caught him in the act. I cast a glance over at him during a test. Suddenly I found him a little handsome. His manners were gentle. Once he borrowed my eraser, smiling beguilingly. “Maybe he is not as bad as I imagined,” I thought. “I might have got him wrong.” After that I started to talk with him a bit during breaks.

Something disastrous happened in the last test. It was biology. When I was through with all the questions, there was still 30 minutes left. I set my answer sheet aside and began to double-check the questions one by one. So absorbed was I in it that I did not notice the guy sneaking looks at my answer sheet.

Suddenly I felt a hand grabbing away my paper as well as his. I tilted my head only to find one of the invigilators glaring. The teacher went away with our answer sheets. I immediately realised what had been going on. I began feeling petrified, because in my school if a student is caught cheating, he will be severely penalised. When I shot a piercing fiery look at the boy, he was nonchalant as if it were nothing to do with him. At the moment, I could not find words adequate to describe how I hated him. His peeping at my paper, however, constituted a dishonest act, even if I had not been aware of it. How foolish I had been!

Exam over, plucking enough courage, I ventured up to the teacher, head hung, explaining that I did not really aid and abet the boy’s dishonest behaviour. Having told me off for a while, the teacher turned a deaf ear to my pleas. Apparently, he did not believe me at all. I thought that the guy might come over and explain about it, but he did not. Instead, he acted as if nothing serious had occurred. I began to cry though there were hordes of students around. I hurled a curse at the boy, running away after the teacher when he was departing. He soon disappeared from my sight. I became desperate.

Fortunately, the other invigilator, who was a lady, asked me what the matter was. Then she said, “You were too innocent to take good care of your paper, girl. You should not have trusted him in the first place.” She rang the man teacher up to intercede with him on my behalf, reassuring me that there should be nothing serious to worry about. Having bowed to her expressing my gratitude. I wiped off my tears before I returned to the classroom.

A good lesson, this experience teaches me never to trust a person easily. We should not be blinded by his or her superficial behaviour or veneer. Where there is something pleasing to your eye or to your ear, there might lie a hidden danger.