The Cheetah Chase Lie

Emma gripped her pencil tightly as her teacher handed out the papers.

“It’s time for our Cheetah Chase,” said Ms. Malcolm. “You have five minutes to do 93 math problems. Everyone who finishes on time can add a cheetah sticker to their chart.”

Emma really wanted a cheetah sticker. If you got five stickers, you won a prize! But the Cheetah Chase math problems were so hard.

“Everyone ready?” Ms. Malcolm said. “Go!”

Emma flipped over her paper and started answering the questions. She had to think carefully about each one. It was hard!

BZZZZZZZ! The timer went off, making Emma jump.

“Pencils down!” Ms. Malcolm called.

Emma hid her paper with her hand and kept writing answers. It wasn’t a big deal if she kept going, right? She’d done it before, and nobody noticed.

“Pass your paper to the person next to you for grading,” Ms. Malcolm said.

Emma finished the last answer before passing her paper.

When Emma got her paper back, she saw the red 100% at the top. But she didn’t feel very good inside.

“Everyone come show me your papers to get your stickers,” Ms. Malcolm said.

Emma walked to Ms. Malcolm’s desk with her paper.

“Emma, can you stay up here for a minute, please?” Ms. Malcolm asked.

While everyone else was talking, Ms. Malcolm turned to Emma. “Did you keep answering questions even after the timer went off?”

Emma’s face got really hot. She nodded and looked down. “Yes.”

“Have you done that before?”

Emma shook her head. “No.” But she felt her face get even hotter. She had cheated before. And now she had lied.

“I can’t give you a cheetah sticker unless you follow the rules. Do you understand?”

Emma nodded. Then she walked to her seat with her eyes down.

For the rest of the school day, Emma felt an awful knot twisting and turning in her stomach. She felt bad for cheating. She felt bad for lying. She didn’t like this feeling!

After school, Emma talked to Mom. “I don’t feel very good,” she said.

“What’s wrong?” Mom asked.

Emma suddenly got nervous. Should she tell Mom what she had done?

She took a deep breath. “I cheated today at school.” It was the first time she said it out loud. It felt like the knot in her stomach was untwisting. “And I’ve done it before. I feel bad.”

Mom gave Emma a hug. “Thanks for telling me. You know cheating is wrong. Why did you do it?”

“Because I really wanted a cheetah sticker, but I didn’t finish the math problems in time.”

Mom nodded. “What do you think you should do now?”

Emma thought about it. “I should say a prayer to Heavenly Father to say sorry for not being honest. Then tell my teacher.”

“That sounds great.” Mom smiled. “And I can help you practice math more so you’re ready for the next Cheetah Chase.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Emma said. Then she and Mom knelt down to say a prayer. Emma felt warm. She was glad she had decided to repent.

After she prayed, Emma wrote an email to her teacher. She told the truth and said sorry for cheating. She promised she wouldn’t do it again.

After clicking send, Emma felt so much better. She knew Ms. Malcolm would probably cross her cheetah stickers off her chart. But that was OK. From now on she would earn them the honest way.

Illustrations by Anny Chen