Johnny was convinced he could talk his way out of any trouble, but his confidence was put to the test when his history teacher, Mr. Johnson, suspected him of cheating. After reviewing Johnny’s test alongside the paper of Mary, the girl sitting next to him, the teacher noticed that several answers were exactly the same. When Johnny was called to the desk, he acted surprised and demanded proof, believing he could easily explain the similarities.
Mr. Johnson started with the first question, which asked who the first president of the United States was. Both Mary and Johnny had written George Washington. Johnny quickly defended himself, arguing that the answer was common knowledge and that there was nothing suspicious about it. The teacher then pointed to another matching answer about who freed the slaves. Both students had written Abraham Lincoln, but Johnny remained calm and insisted he had studied his history book the previous night.
However, Mr. Johnson had one final question that would expose Johnny’s mistake. He asked who was president during the Louisiana Purchase. Unlike the previous questions, Mary had not provided a historical name. Instead, she had written, “I don’t know.” Johnny had copied her answer just as he had copied the others, apparently forgetting that he needed to make it sound believable.
When Mr. Johnson examined Johnny’s paper, he found the same response written beneath the question: “Me neither.” In that moment, Johnny’s carefully prepared excuses fell apart. His attempt to defend himself had only made the situation funnier, proving that even the most confident student can get caught by one careless mistake.