Integrity

"Alright, class! I'll be giving out your test papers now. Please remember to get your parents to sign them!" My teacher, Mr Tan, announced in a stentorian voice.

Upon hearing Mr Tan's words, my heart nearly stopped. That was the paper I was certain I would do very badly for. There was no doubt in my mind that I had failed.

Sure enough, when I got my paper, I saw a big red 'F’ written at the top right corner. My eyes widened. Were my parents going to cane me? What would they do? What would they say? A wave of anxious thoughts washed over me.

Just then, I thought of a brilliant but dishonest idea. What if I change my grade myself? Surely my parents would not find out!

I virtually patted myself on the back proudly for thinking of such a smart idea. I grabbed my correction tape and held it over the red ‘F’ on my paper. My hands trembled as I slowly covered up my grade with the correction tape, which was so blindingly white that it seemed to shine straight into my eyes. Then, I took a red pen, and carefully wrote 'A' over the area. There was no going back now.

Once I was done, I examined my work carefully and nodded in satisfaction. The fake grade looked neat enough to pass as the original. With my lips pursed, I slotted the test paper into my file, confident my parents would not realise that I had changed my grade… or so I thought.

Once I reached home from school, I slowly gripped the cold, metal doorknob. My heart pounded against my chest as I reminded myself to stay calm.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped inside, trying my best to act normal. Hearing the gate creak open, my dad emerged from the living room to greet me. "Tom, how are your test results?" My dad ventured with a smile on his face.

“Uh... it... it was g-good,” I stuttered as I passed him the test paper.

Upon seeing my grade, my dad raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "Wow, Tom! I can't believe you really got an 'A'! I'm so proud of you!" Beaming with pride, he quickly reached for a pen and signed his name at the bottom of the paper, his smile stretching from ear to ear.

Just as Dad was handing the paper back to me, a tiny sliver of correction tape fell off stubbornly, as if to announce its unnatural presence. 

"Hey, what was that?"

I gulped. "Dad, do you know what we learnt in Math today?" I interrupted nervously, trying to distract Dad by changing the topic but my dad was having none of it. He peeled off the correction tape and stared at the giant red ‘F’ revealed under it. His face turned mottled red in anger.

"Can you explain what this is?" he roared, looking so angry that it seemed like steam was coming out of his nostrils. 

I trembled under his shadow, words failing me. 

"You're grounded for the whole month! No more pocket money for you too!" My dad thundered.

From that experience, I learnt that honesty is the best policy and that we should always have integrity. It was not worth compromising for a single moment of praise.