on my to-do list: become a better actor

My Perspective:

I was the type of high school student that rarely got in trouble.  Don't get me wrong; I had my fair share of detentions, but detention was granted if you were even 1 second late past the bell.  Also, to give myself the benefit of the doubt, my ride to high school insisted on stopping at Dunkin' Donuts every single day (literally every. single. day.  The smell of hash browns still reminds me of him) - this made me frequently late.  I was punished for my tardiness, but maintained a solid reputation with my high school's authority.  Never 'in trouble'.  You know what I mean?

One day I decided to rock the boat.  It was a beautiful Thursday in April my senior year - I was already accepted into college, the weather was nice, and my best friend Thomas and I were leaving for our spring break Florida trip the following day.  We decided to skip period 4 (I had photography, Thomas had AP psychology) to go get lunch at our favorite place, Becky's Diner.  During our homeroom period that morning, Thomas's younger sister, Lilly, wrote us each a doctor's note.  My note was the first half of a soon-to-be ripped lined paper: I had a 'dentist appointment'.  Thomas's note resided on the bottom half of that paper.  He would be seeing the chiropractor.  Lilly ripped our notes down the middle - one for me, one for him.  You probably know where this is going.

Come period 4, Thomas and I march ourselves to the front office at the same time.  We hand our notes to Paula, the front secretary and scariest woman at our school.  "Thomas!" I remember saying with probably a hint of laughter I was desperately trying to hide, "do you have an appointment too? What a coincidence!"  Thomas followed my acting, telling me to have a great spring break - we later laughed at lunch that we flawlessly performed a skit in front of Paula.  Great actors, well executed plan.  

Except our plan wasn't flawless when we received a phone call no later than 15 minutes into our lunch that we were busted.  We scarfed down our lunch and returned to school, tails between our legs.  This little act of rebellion gifted us each an in-house suspension.

Paula's Perspective:

I'm not sure what gave it away first.  Maybe it was their laughter between every word, trying to convince me they were saying goodbye to other another; maybe it was the matching handwriting I saw on both notes.  I'm going to have to land on the Parent-Trap type of note matching I did, holding up their notes to create a perfect 8''11''.  If I had busted them right then and there, my fun would be over soon.  So let them go, I thought.  Let them go have 3 bites of lunch before they have to turn around.  I'll have their moms be the one to break them the bad news, rather than me.  Sounds like a plan.