so for context, I’m currently in grade 11. I go to a school in a small town. last year, I wrote an English reading comprehension test which is absolutely not my forte, and I got a grade in the 60s which I can’t remember exactly. I was super disappointed since my standards have always been much higher than that, and even for something I’m weak at, I expect myself to get at least an 80. Well I ended up having the chance to rewrite the exam. I found all the answers online somehow (I’m pretty sure the test was a Google form and I could just see it at home). I wrote them all on a piece of paper and put it in my pencil case (yea dumb). Anyways I ended up writing the test in an isolated space and forgot my pencil case there. And of course someone found it and looked inside it, which led them to seeing the piece of paper. My English teacher didn’t know who this pencil case belonged to but it was given to her since it was evidently belonging to someone in that English class. She asked us who it belonged to without saying what was in it and I said it was mine (bc I forgot what was in it - again dumb). So she took me outside the classroom and I made up some dumb ass stuff about how it belonged to someone else but I didn’t wanna rat them out. She believed me ish only for the reason that she knew I was friends with another girl that had actually don’t that before and may have put it in my pencil case. Later on that day I went to the teacher and told her that I wanted her to forget it because that girl didn’t deserve trouble and was going through a lot. She told me that that girl deserved to face consequences and that she was going to talk to the principal about it since it was the second time she was caught cheating (the first time actually was cheating btw). So I decided to use some reverse psychology (I know I sound insane) and I emailed the principal myself later that day before she spoke to him and told him that I could speak to him if he wanted to bc I didn’t wanna be blamed for something I never did. I ended up speaking to the principal the next day and told him basically the same stuff. My English teacher came into the room too and said that my story was changing up; I told her that I was just explaining my thought process. I ended up tearing up in that room and said I didn’t want there to be “an image” of me within the teachers as a cheater. The principal believed me bc I’ve been known to be a “dedicated” student for my years at that school. Please note though this was my first ever time cheating. And I think about it every day. That girl I said I didn’t wanna blame ended up being spoken to, and she was annoyed at the teacher (rightfully so) for blaming her. The teacher felt that her being annoyed showed that she could be guilty, and she even ended up raising my grade for that one reading comp test. please tell me how bad this situation is because it makes me feel awful about myself every day. Am I a horrible person?