Watchdog

• Melissa Phu, Grade 8, Mt Waverley Secondary College - Junior Campus
• Short Story
• 2014

Excellence Award in the 'The Text Generation 2014' competition

My mind spun in infinite loops as the constant chatter went on.
"SILENCE!" I shouted, with a furrowed frown on my face. The chaos slowly subsided. The students gave me innocent looks, pleading for the cancellation of the test but I moved my head side to side to express a firm 'no'.
I walked down the never-ending aisles of tables, handing out each sheet with the crackling noise of paper. This time, I'd watch out.

The test began and pencils were dancing away. Tongues stuck out and whispering of numbers in incoherent sentences were heard, but there was more to it. Something was going to happen. A child would cause a distraction and all hell would break loose. Answers would be shared through indiscernible signals and glances across the table would occur. Johnny was an expected culprit. His latest maths results had drastically improved. Who would he send up to do his dirty work? I only had to witness it to catch him.

Fifteen minutes had passed and not a single student had come to my desk for help. Could they've been more cautious this time? Uncertainty floated like a cloud above me. I glimpsed at every pupil. Johnny to Mary to Sarah then back to Johnny. Suddenly, I caught his eyes. He looked down straight after he'd noticed my gaze. I leapt up from my high desk of glory and wandered around the space surrounding Johnny and his test. His hands were scribbling indecipherable words but his eyes shifted onto the test paper next to him. His modest brown eyes made him look guiltless and his chestnut hair exhibited neatness, but I knew better than that. Behind the mask, he was a mischievous rat with a nasty grimace. I stepped closer to Johnny, leaning on the table beside him. The child on the table I leant on gave a disparaging look behind my back. I swooped around glaring at them with my beady bloodshot eyes. She flinched back looking rather frightened, then continued on her test.

I pondered about potential cheaters of my test. Each one was a deceptive rodent risking their life for cheese. As I got off the table, Sarah stomped towards me, her booming steps somewhat unsettling. I scanned the classroom before she reached me, in particular, to Johnny.
"Um, Miss, what does question seven mean?" Sarah questioned, handing me her test paper.
As I explained the question, Sarah nodded to every second word with a wide grin on her face. Her vegemite-covered braces were stained with yellow soggy pieces of bread. I gave a silent expression of repugnance, as she looked down at the paper. Instantaneously, Johnny lifted his head to look at Mark in front of him and tapped on his back for help. He leant forward to try and see Mark's test paper and hastily scribbled answers to some questions until he noticed me in front of his desk.
"Gotcha!" I whispered with a smirk on my face.