I was the kid everyone else cheated off in High School. It kept me from getting picked on. I actually became obsessed with finding different ways to help my friends and see if I could outwit my teachers who knew I was helping them.
When I was a junior, I had a history course where the teacher had a very simple way of grading you. He would give only 3 tests per semester. The first two were worth 25 points a piece, with 25 questions each. Therefore each question was worth 1 point towards your final grade. There were just 5 homework assignments, each worth 2 points a piece for a total of 10 points. The final exam was worth 40 points and that exam had 40 questions comprising everything he had taught that semester. The one unique thing about his exams was that he did not print up the questions and hand them out to you, he would sit at his desk and ask them verbally.
He would lecture each class for about 40 minutes, giving you about 4-8 pages of notes to take. You can image how much information would accumulate between exams and most of the students had a hard time getting a decent grade. Now after the first two exams, my grade total stands at 47, meaning I got 3 wrong. The kid next to me, who was not the brightest bulb, has 45. The teacher knows I've been giving him help and tells me so in front of the whole class and he vows to stand behind me for the final exam.
So the day of the final, sure as shit, he stands behind me, but slightly to my right side. The kid I'm going to help is on my left side. He reads the first question and I put down my answer. When he starts to read the second question, the kid I'm helping turns slightly toward him to make it appear like he's trying to hear him better, all the while looking at me as I mouth the answer to the first question. This goes on for the next 38 questions and after the exam is over he turns to the kid whose name was Vinny and asks him how he did. Vinny cockily says
I think I did pretty good. He turns to me and asks me the same question, I look at him with the arrogant demeanor I used to have back then and say
Piece of cake.
We come back on the following Monday and my test score is 38, Vinny's is 37. Two of our incorrect answers are identical, with Vinny getting the last question wrong too, because I couldn't help him with that one because the exam was over and the teacher was looking around the room. He was pissed when he handed out the test results, but he couldn't do anything about it because he stood right behind me.
To make a long story short, about 10 years go by, I'm long since graduated, when I happen to meet the teacher at a restaurant one day. He's no longer teaching and is a pompous lawyer now. We exchange pleasantries and just before I take leave of him, he asks me about that day. Relishing what I know will go up his arse sideways, I tell him exactly how I did it. He gives me the meanest scowl and walks away. It was too much for his fragile ego to realize that he had been outwitted by a 17 year old kid.
