From Cheaters

Ms. Abramson: Sit down. Ms. Lewis: All right - start from the beginning. Things will be better for you if you tell us everything you know.

Michelle: I don't know anything! I didn't do it!

Ms. Lewis: So you can get your story straight? Ms. Abramson: I think it's about time for you to tell us everything you know, Michelle.

Michelle: I don't know anything.

Ms. Abramson: You're saying that an A student, a student who is innocent, who has absolutely nothing to do with this - she would lie to us, therby exposing herself to harm, and implicating you. Ms. Lewis: Tell her what grade you got on the last test.

Michelle: I don't know what I got on the last test.

Ms. Abramson: Now why would she do that?

Michelle: I don't know.

Ms. Abramson: That's not an answer. Ms. Lewis: We already know she's a liar. Are you sure you didn't see her chear? Are you sure she didn't have her phone out?

Michelle: I don't know.

Ms. Abramson: Twenty seconds ago you said you didn't know what you got on the last test. Why did you say that?

Michelle: I don't know.

Ms. Lewis: There were other people cheating too, right? Ms. Abramson: She was helping people, wasn't she? She was texting them the answers?

Michelle: I don't know.

Ms. Abramson: I thought you said you didn't know what you got on the last test.

Michelle: I got a fifty-seven.

Ms. Abramson: So which is it: do you know what you got on the last test, or did you get a fifty-seven?

Michelle: I got a fifty-seven.

Ms. Abramson: Why would you want to do that?

Michelle: I just need to talk to somebody.

Ms. Abramson: So when you said you didn't know -

Michelle: I was lying! I was lying when I said that.

Ms. Lewis: How do you know they were cheating too? Ms. Abramson: How do you know unless you were receiving the texts too?

Michelle: I wasn't!

Ms. Lewis: How do you know?

Michelle: I'm sorry?

Ms. Lewis: Of course I know you didn't cheat.

Michelle: Oh so -

Ms. Lewis: I know Anne is a liar. She was lying when she said she saw you cheat.

Michelle: Oh.

Ms. Lewis: What I want to know from you is: did you see Anne cheat? Ms. Abramson: Think real hard about it.

Michelle: She doesn't sit all that close to me.

Ms. Abramson: Anne said that you did it.

Michelle: She's lying!

Ms. Lewis: You think we're stupid? You think we're so stupid that we're just going to take her word for it?

Michelle: She's lying!

Ms. Lewis: And yet you're pretty sure that Cal, Madison, and Angel were getting texts. You must have been looking around a lot. Ms. Abramson: If we checked your phone, what would we find?

Michelle: There's nothing on there!

Ms. Lewis: Who else? We know there were other people - who else? We already know who they are. If you come clean now we know that you weren't in on it. Ms. Abramson: Who else was there?

Michelle: Um... Cal... and Angel... and...

Ms. Lewis: Who else was cheating?

Michelle: What?

Ms. Lewis: Madison? Was Madison involved? Ms. Abramson: Think hard.

Michelle: Yeah. Madison too. Can I go now?

Ms. Abramson: You're saying she had her phone out?

Michelle: Yeah. She had her phone out.

Ms. Abramson: And you are calling Anne a liar.

Michelle: Yes. Anne is a liar.

Ms. Abramson: Oh. You were lying to us. Ms. Lewis: You were lying to us before and now you're telling the truth.

Michelle: Yes. I am telling the truth now.

Ms. Lewis: Anne is lying?

Michelle: Yes?

Ms. Lewis: I know.

Michelle: You know?

Ms. Abramson: Sit down.

Michelle: I didn't do it.

Ms. Abramson: I need your pin to check your phone. Write it down on this piece of paper and hand it to me. Ms. Lewis: Thank you.

Michelle: Hey can I get out of here?

Ms. Lewis: Your default position is to lie to us, and only when pressure is applied do you tell the truth.

Michelle: I am telling you I did not cheat on the test.

Ms. Lewis: How do we know that?

Michelle: Check my phone.

Ms. Lewis: What did you get on the last test?

Michelle: Fifty-seven.

Ms. Lewis: You said that at first. But thenn again, that was during your lying phase.

Michelle: I didn't cheat!

Ms. Lewis: She says you did it. Did she have her phone out?

Michelle: ...yeah.

Ms. Lewis: Think, Michelle. Tell me why she would do that.

Michelle: Because she was cheating on the test.

Ms. Lewis: Why would she do that?

Michelle: Because you were threatening her!

Ms. Lewis: And what are you? Are you a liar? Ms. Abramson: A liar is a person who lies, right? I don't have my dictionary around here, but I'm sure that's what it means.

Michelle: Can I call my Dad?