The Scarlet Sweater

6. Daniel Stohlmannesdale

“About it.”

“Oh! It.”

“So?”

“What?”

“Are you still thinking about it?”

Suddenly, Daniel felt uneasy. Nic knew about the “it,” and had the courtesy not to say anything to anyone. Only one other person knew about “it,” but they couldn’t...well, they weren’t in a state to say anything.

“Only every day,” Daniel said. “Every day it haunts me. I can’t escape from what I’ve done!”

Nic wanted to make Daniel feel better about the situation, but he wasn’t sure how (nobody had ever done - to his knowledge - what Daniel had). As Nic was considering how to cheer up his friend, Daniel had wandered down the hallway, up the stairs, around the corner, through a clearing, around another corner, around ANOTHER corner, and down the hallway to his locker. Daniel was thinking again; thinking about the huge paper he had due for Mr. Bausch today in history. He had researched for weeks to gather enough information for his paper. Suddenly, (as he was thinking) he heard someone walking down the hallway (how he hoped it wasn’t Nic, he couldn’t handle an optimistic speech from his best friend… not now).

Slowly glancing up, Daniel saw who it was (just as she rounded the corner). Jeni Hestersee, the most popular girl in… actually, she isn’t that popular - she’s just kind of… there. Just as Daniel was becoming aware of how uncomfortable he was being alone with… HER, Jeni saw him.

“Oh, hi,” Jeni said.

“Hello.”

“So… How have you been?”

“Oh… Um… Good, you know. Good.”

“Oh, that’s good.”

“Yeah.”

Just as Daniel began to think about how uncomfortable this confrontation was, it got worse. Mr. Bausch, the oldest teacher he had ever seen in his entire life came strolling down the hallway.

“Stolmannesdale, Hestersee!” he shouted.

“Yes?” they replied.

“Don’t forget, that paper for me is due in…” (he checked his watch, which was an old sundial thing), “… about…” (he got out his glasses, he couldn’t see) “… two hours…”

“Okay,” said Daniel.

As soon as Mr. Bausch left, Daniel attempted to talk to Jeni again. She wasn’t interested in talking. They scuffled a bit and Jeni’s paper for Bausch fell to the floor with a… well, actually it didn’t make a noise (it’s paper). Daniel stooped to pick it up for her (like the gentleman he is). As he brought the paper up to his face, Daniel noticed something… something… amiss.

“This… this paper. I know this paper.”

“Uh… whert?”

“This paper very closely resembles that of my sister…”

“That is completely ridiculous, I wrote this myself.”

“No. It’s not. This is her paper! You… you… you PLAGIARIzed it!”

A silence fell through the hallway, you could hear a pin drop. Daniel could tell that Jeni was about to attempt a denial so he quickly explained that he wouldn’t tell anyone about the cheating. Daniel could tell that Jeni was thankful and he hoped that this would help to repair their shattered relationship.

As the two of them headed to the pep rally (at 7:30… before school), Daniel saw Nic and slipped away from Jeni so he could enjoy the celebration with his friend. The pep rally was quick and uneventful, Daniel spent the entire time… thinking. He was thinking about the plagiarism and how he promised Jeni he wouldn’t tell anyone… this is how his inner monologue sounded:

“You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone… but cheating is wrong… but you promised not to tell… What to do? What to do? Maybe… no… Uggghhhhh!”

Nic would have noticed that Daniel was upset, but he was having too much fun celebrating the fall sports and the big almost-win they had last Friday. They walked to their lockers at the conclusion of the rally where Daniel told Nic that he… had to take care of something. Nic nodded and wandered off to his first period class. AS soon as he was out of sight, Daniel slowly made his way to the office where he told Mrs. March that he needed to speak with the man in charge. She smiled and told him to wait in the uncomfortable chair nearest the door to His office. Suddenly Mr. Schwartz entered the office where he was told (by Mrs. March) that “this young man needed to speak with him.” He nodded and smiled at Daniel, then ushered him through the door. Once they were both in the room, Daniel closed the door behind him and slowly turned to face the principal.

“What would you like to discuss, my boy?”

Daniel sighed and opened his mouth to speak.