The day was not turning out to be good for Aliya. She had been running a high fever and coughing with a runny nose. But it was not her priority at the moment.

Aliya’s mother entered her room with a hot bowl of soup in her hands, but she found her daughter sprawled on the bed, writing vigorously in her notebook.

“Aliya, what are you doing? You should rest. Stop this work or you’ll get a headache and then you’ll complain,” her mother said with concern. Aliya had had a fever for around two days now and her motherly instinct made her worried.

Aliya looked up from her notebook, coughed a little and replied, “But Mama, I need to submit this assignment to my English teacher by midnight and it’s already 5 p.m. It’s worth 25 marks and she won’t listen to any excuses,” she spoke in a hoarse voice, feeling extremely uncomfortable with her swollen throat. She then placed her head on her notebook, tired and sleepy. Her mother was right; she could already feel the headache coming.

“Don’t worry, I’ll talk to your teacher. You’ll remain sick for more days if you don’t rest properly as instructed by the doctor,” her mother gently explained as she sat near the edge of the bed and patted the space next to her. “Come on, first have this soup, take your medicines and a little nap, and then continue with your work.”

Aliya sniffed and scooted towards her mother, who lovingly made her drink the soup. The soup was delicious, but the medicines created real trouble for Aliya, they made her mouth dry and all food tasteless. Not only that, they made her extremely sleepy, and that was exactly what happened as sleep engulfed her, the work long forgotten.

It was around 9:30 p.m. when Aliya woke up from her deep slumber with a headache. She grabbed her head tightly to make herself feel better. She slowly got up from the bed and headed towards her mother’s room, knowing only her mother could make her feel better.

Finding her mother sitting on her bed, a sewing needle and some cloth in her hand, Aliya slowly stepped towards her and whispered, “Mama, my head hurts a lot.”

“I told you not to do work today, but you never listen.”

It was then that Aliya remembered her assignment and quickly returned to her room, but her mother stopped her, made her lie down and started applying balm on her head.

Later, at eleven in the night, when Aliya was feeling much better, she sat down with her work, but half an hour passed and she still wasn’t able to write anything. So finally, Aliya picked up her phone and decided to use AI tools for her assignment.

“It’s just once, I won’t do it again,” she convinced herself.

Two days later, as Aliya made her way towards the staffroom, she knew why she had been called. Her English teacher had distributed the assignment grades today and everyone had received theirs. Everyone except her. She had been told to meet her teacher after class. It was really embarrassing as everyone looked at her questioningly.

“Aliya, I never expected this from you. Why have you used AI tools for your assignment?” her teacher asked when she reached the staffroom. Aliya’s head bowed down in shame. She knew it had been a big mistake to cheat on her work.

“I am sorry, Miss, but I wasn’t feeling well for the last couple of days and didn’t have any energy to do my work,” she replied truthfully. It was her mistake and she had to accept the consequences.

“You should have asked me to give you a few more days. I will not grade this work. What should I do now?” her teacher asked in a disappointed tone.

Aliya was speechless and teary. Part of her final grades depended on this work, and she had worked very hard for all her other papers. Now her mistake would cost her good grades.

After a few seconds, her teacher spoke again, seeing how ashamed she looked. “How about you submit it to me again by midnight? But I won’t tolerate this again.”

Aliya was ecstatic. She thanked her teacher repeatedly and made a promise to herself to never cheat in her work again, as it only leads to disappointment and guilt.

Published in Dawn, Young World, November 29th, 2025