A Simple Examination
It was the twins’ final exam, and it had already lasted over six hours. Needless to say, they were beyond exhausted. But that wouldn’t stop them. They kept going, knowing that this was just another simple examination.
This exam was supposed to be the stepping stone into their long-awaited careers.
But as they were sitting before the school disciplinary committee, their visions blurred with tears. They were watching in slow motion as the school snuffed every single one of their dreams out.
Fess Up
How did it all go so wrong? No one ever warned them that it could get to this extent. But it was clear that the committee was being serious.
One professor yanked his glasses from his face as he spoke loudly, “Cheating in an examination is a severe offense.”
“Admit you cheated, and we can put this behind us.” It was obviously a trap to get the girls to fess up, but how were they supposed to admit to something they didn’t do?
Dream Come True
Beaufort natives, Sadie and Sally Miller had always dreamed of attending the Medical University of South Carolina.
They spent their days and nights in high school studying hard, and eventually, they secured positions in the school of their dreams.
The nineteen-year-old twins couldn’t believe how lucky they were. But they had no idea that one simple misunderstanding would ruin their lives.
Endgame
They had always dreamed of becoming doctors, and they were determined to make this dream come true.
They loved the idea of helping people, regardless of their background. They knew that this was what they wanted to do for the rest of their lives.
But as Sadie sat next to her sister, surrounded by a panel of professors, the dean, their mom, and a couple of other students, she knew the painful end had arrived.
Working Hard
Sadie didn’t say a word as she watched the events unfold right before her eyes. She thought back to the week that led to this horrible day.
Just like every exam week before, the sisters sat through the night, studying for hours on end.
“This is it,” they grinned at one another, sipping on their coffees while stacking more textbooks on their desks. They had no idea that this wouldn’t amount to anything.
Sadie Miller
Sadie had never cheated on an exam before. She was intelligent and had a natural ability to remember things that most didn’t.
She always enjoyed studying, and would often turn down plans with her friends in order to stay ahead of her work.
The only time she ever allowed herself to let loose was when Sally was around. They would often go out for ice cream or a walk around the park. But her twin sister was different.
Sally Miller
Although the girls were identical twins and similar in every way possible, their personalities were as different as day and night. Sadie loved snuggling up on the couch with a good book while Sally loved the outdoors.
She attended every campus party and every Friday night was spent away from her sorority house.
Sadie often warned her sister that this behavior would come back to haunt her if she wasn’t careful. Now here they sat.
Unhinged
Sadie watched Sally as the professors kept talking. While Sadie’s eyes were filled with tears, Sally was clear-eyed, sitting there like nothing was wrong.
Instead of sitting with her legs tucked together as a lady should, she sat with her knees as wide as possible.
She was dressed in cargo shorts instead of a respectable dress, loudly chewing her gum. How could she be so unhinged at a time like this?
She Couldn’t Have
Sadie didn’t make a sound as she watched her hopes and dreams fade before her eyes. Her mother sat behind her, squeezing her fingers in support. She knew that there was no chance that Sadie had actually cheated.
She always worked hard, and it showed in her work.
She was always at the top of her class in high school and outperformed her peers in most exams during her four years of medical school. But could the same be said about Sally?
Their Connection
The twins might’ve had behavioral differences, but they both excelled in school.
They had an indescribable connection that only twins had, which usually showed in their academic results.
They usually scored similar results, only separated by a few points. When the disciplinary committee presented the exam results, Sadie was fully aware that they would be nearly identical.
The Tip Of The Iceberg
The professors claimed that they noticed some sketchy behavior during the exams the twins took in the school library.
Although the twins sat across the room from each other, they worked through the questions at a similar pace.
They kept lifting their heads to search each other out and even asked for pencils almost simultaneously. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
An Interesting Find
As the exam answers were being monitored in real-time, the head professor noticed something that had him leaning toward his computer’s screen.
The twins were not only moving from one question to the next at a similar pace but getting the same answers correctly.
But that wasn’t the brow-raising part.
Cheating
The twins also got the same incorrect answers, indicating they must’ve been communicating. The professor thought he was reading too much into this, but after two hours of the same, he decided enough was enough.
He informed the invigilator in charge of the exam, telling her there was an examination irregularity.
That alone prompted an investigation. If the twins were cheating, they would face the consequences of their actions.
Unscrupulous Activities
Like many schools across the globe, the Medical University of South Carolina has zero tolerance for cheating.
“An institution meant to produce healers cannot be involved in such unscrupulous activities,” said the dean at the disciplinary hearing.
“No sick person would want to be treated by a doctor who doesn’t know anything about medicine but has a degree saying they’re qualified to diagnose and prescribe medicine or medical procedures,” he added.
Quack Doctors
Sadie could understand where he was coming from. This was a severe issue, especially in a world rife with liars and people who get to high places by forging documents.
Unlike many other professions, medicine demanded a complete understanding of the material.
As the dean said, “No one would want to be treated by a quack.” But did that mean that she and Sadie were liars?
The Evidence
The professors laid the irrefutable evidence before them.
Footage of the exam room played before Sadie and Sally, showing the twins pushing away from their computers at almost the same time.
They requested stationary and constantly nodded their heads during the six-hour period. They also looked around the classroom and shuffled their scratch papers simultaneously.
The Inference
The dean paused the video and said the twins were signaling each other and possibly passing notes.
It didn’t matter that the twins sat three rows away from each other. The dean failed to mention that there wasn’t a moment where the two locked eyes during the exam.
But that aside, the test scores proved his point. The twins had scored the same in their final exam, crediting the disciplinary committee’s belief that they cheated.
The Verdict
The committee read its final verdict. It was suspending the twins for a thousand academic days, effective immediately.
That meant Sadie and Sally’s last semester of school didn’t count. They would have to go home for three years before returning to retake their final exam.
Sadie had never seen Sally break down before. She was usually the stronger one emotionally. Today would be different.
Shattered Dreams
Tears tipped Sally’s lashes to match the ones racing down Sadie’s cheeks. The dream they once could see so clearly was no longer visible to them.
The years spent playing doctor as kids were wasted, and the future they’d worked hard to attain was gone.
Sally reached a hand to Sadie before standing up to hug her. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, ignoring whatever else the dean said.
Going Home
Sadie and Sally had been through a lot in their lives. After losing their dad at the tender age of seven, they vowed to work hard so they could take care of their mom. Now that, too, was off the table.
Sally, who rarely shed tears, couldn’t stop crying on their way home.
She couldn’t even look Sadie in the eyes and kept sniffling, her gaze bound to the blurred South Carolina vista rushing outside their car.
This Is Far From Over
“It’s not over, girls,” their mom kept repeating, even though she knew it was done. A three-year suspension was nothing to scoff at, and that’s what the twins were facing.
“I’ll call in some favors and see if we can’t do something about this misunderstanding.”
She knew the committee had made a mistake as someone who’d been there throughout the girls’ lives. She would fix it.
Supermom
Mrs. Miller, Sadie and Sally’s mom, collected all the test results from her daughters’ past academic achievements and returned to their school the following week.
She scheduled an appointment with the dean overseeing the disciplinary proceeding and laid out her own evidence.
She’d save her daughters’ future if it were the last thing she did.
Her Evidence
Mrs. Miller’s documents included her daughter’s college, high school, and even preschool exam scores.
She’d brought Sadie and Sally’s SATs, the MCATs, and LSTATS results, which were almost identical.
Her documents also had cognitive tests taken when Sadie and Sally were three, seven, thirteen, and nineteen years old. They would be the final nail in proving their innocence.
Is It Credible?
The cognitive tests showed that Sadie and Sally had identical genetic profiles. That meant that it would be more common for them to perform similarly academically instead of the other way around.
The dean rubbed a hand across his lips, eyes wide as he took in the information. As a medical practitioner, he could see the credibility of the documents.
But could the committee’s decision to suspend the twins be reversed?
Going Back
“They’re innocent,” the dean said, his brows drawn close. He advised Mrs. Miller to appeal the case. What she had here was significant and could help prove her daughters’ innocence.
Mrs. Miller didn’t waste any time. In the next two weeks, she was sitting next to her daughters in the same council room.
But this time, Sadie and Sally’s tears weren’t wrought with pain. They were happy tears, and the mom couldn’t be prouder. If only she knew that the damage was already done.
Something’s Not Right
Sadie and Sally returned to school, ready to finish up and graduate. But they realized that the school was colder than usual.
Friends who’d known them throughout their four years of college were not even looking at them, let alone willing to hang out.
Phone calls to the prestigious medical institutions the twins wanted to work at weren’t going through. Something was terribly wrong.
Don’t Get Too Close To Them
Sadie and Sally had transformed into the social pariahs of the Medical University of South Carolina.
No one would even say hi to them on the road. Even their favorite coffee shop wouldn’t let them sit in longer than needed.
They hadn’t even picked up their degrees, and their lives were already in shambles. The twins couldn’t even cry at how besmirched their name was. They stood in shock, unable to process anything.
Fixing The Damage
Mrs. Miller visited the school faculty several times, trying to find a way to reverse the damage.
But there was only so much she could do when word had already gotten around that her kids were liars and cheaters.
No hospital or research center would accept them. They would wither with their degrees in the house, slowly devoured alive by depression. The mom couldn’t watch this happen.
Help Her
She doubled down on her efforts, begging the school faculty to help. Couldn’t they send letters informing all medical bodies that her daughters were innocent?
But instead of being helpful, they called campus security to escort her out of school grounds.
They deemed her a nuisance, maintaining that she was disrupting educational processes at the college. They should have known who they were messing with.
Lawyer Up
Mrs. Miller couldn’t watch as her daughters languished in depression and PTSD. They could barely eat and wouldn’t even leave their rooms. Sadie spent her days sleeping while Sally sobbed through the night. They both had panic attacks and woke up screaming in the middle of the night.
The worried mom dug into her savings, phoning a lawyer friend to take on their case.
“Defamation, negligence, and gross negligence,” she said over the call. The school had ruined her daughters’ future. It would rue the day it decided to cross them.
To protect the privacy of those depicted, some names, locations, and identifying characteristics have been changed and are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblances to actual events, places, or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.