"No, he left before I woke up," I whispered back. "Had to let the dog out."
"Sure, sure." She grinned. "But was it good? I mean, is he worth it all?"
"Liz! What kind of question is that?" I giggled, knowing exactly what kind of question it was. I nodded and flashed her a big smile.
"Good, then my work here is done," she said with a satisfied nod. "Now on to more important things. About the practice exam, how do you think you did?"
"I'm not sure, I think I made a mess of the middle part, but the rest seemed pretty straight forward," I said, taking the cue that it was time to move from boys to more important topics. "How about you?"
"I have no idea." She shrugged. "It could have been the best test of my life or the worst, it's all a blur."
"Maybe you should tell Professor Jackson that you were sick?" I suggested. "She'd understand, and maybe she'd give you a chance to retake it if you didn't do well."
"Nah, I'm good," she said, looking out the window. "I'll take my chances. It's only a practice exam, anyway. If I did badly, then I can figure out what needs to be improved."
As we walked into the classroom, Professor Jackson motioned us over to her desk and said, "I want to have a word with you both after class."
As we headed to our seats and prepared for the lecture, I looked at Liz and she shrugged. The whole class, I was on pins and needles as I wondered what Professor Jackson needed to talk with us about, and by the time class ended, I was convinced that I'd failed the practice exam and that she was going to tell us we were out of the program.
After everyone had left the classroom, Professor Jackson shut the door and returned to the front of the room to retrieve our exams.
"Ladies, I'm concerned about these exams," she said as she handed them to us. "I've had a report that you two were seen cheating on during the exam."
"What?" I gasped. "I didn't cheat!"
"Neither did I," Liz said quietly as she scanned the sheets and looked at the score.
"I was hesitant to believe the report given the source," she said with a wry smile that let me know the source was Violet Metzler. "But when I graded the exams and came up with the scores, I have to admit that it looked suspicious."
"Why? What did we do?" I asked as I flipped through my own exam noting the questions that I'd gotten wrong.
"Because when I graded the exams, your two exams were the only ones that looked absolutely identical," she said, pointing to the scores. "You got the same scores and you also got the same questions wrong."
"But that's because we study together," I said as I tried to remain calm. "We go over everything together, so it would make sense that we made the same types of errors."
"That may be the case, but I have to inform the program of the accusation," she said with a regretful look. "It's department policy when a matter like this is reported. I'm sorry, ladies."
"We're being accused of cheating because Violet Metzler has a bone to pick with me?" Liz blurted out. "That seems like shaky grounds for an investigation."
"It goes further than that, Ms. Baker," Professor Jackson said. "There have been reports of your questionable behavior at the hospital, and so we need to investigate that as well."
"I was sick," Liz said flatly. "It had nothing to do with Alex, so I don't see why she should get pulled into this mess."
"Like I said, Miss Baker, it's program policy," she said as she began gathering her things. "It's not personal."
"Right," Liz said sarcastically as she turned and marched out the door.
"Professor Jackson, we didn't cheat," I said quietly. "I know I can't prove that, but I can assure you that neither Liz nor I have ever cheated before and that we didn't do it this time."
"I believe you, Ms. Pierce," Professor Jackson said. "However, since the complaint was filed through the program, not privately voiced with me, I have no choice but to follow protocol and do what is required. I am sorry."
"What will happen now?" I asked.
"The department will collect the evidence, talk with the involved parties, and then render a decision," she said. "It shouldn't take more than a month, so you'll still be eligible for graduation if you're determined not to have broken any rules."
"I see," I said as the tears welled up in my eyes. I looked down and whispered, "This is so unfair."
"I agree, Ms. Pierce," she said kindly. "But that's true of many things."