As enjoyable as senior year is, getting the school work done is almost as painful as getting wisdom teeth pulled. The amount of work, even if considered miniscule, is unbearable. Senioritis hits early and hard in the school year but the last term feels like a track race, when the runner is worried they won't make it because they can feel their energy draining. At a small public high school in Massachusetts, the end of the school year was so close all the students could taste it, tastes of freedom and something fruity. But, looming over them was a dark cloud in the shape of a paper, but not just any paper; the dreaded English Research Paper. It was the last hurdle before the finish line in that track race. When the runner is almost out of energy and they do not think that they can make it over. This is when athletes are tempted by illegal helpers; steroids. In a student's case, the illegal helper is not as such a big deal, or so one thinks. Plagiarism is a very harmful to have on your record and it is easily caught. The consequences vary depending on details of the plagiarism but are all harsh. I was not caught in the act but after learning so much about it I will now vow to never plagiarize again. Here is my story when I turned to the illegal side. It definitely was not a bright sunny day when the teacher slammed down the assignment on our desks. I tried to pick up the packet, too heavy. The staple, barely keeping its grasp on all the pages winked at me noticing my discomfort at the amount of pages. I attempted to open the first page but quickly dropped it after feeling the sharp pain of a paper cut on my pointer finger. Fine, stay closed I whispered to the paper, and that is exactly what it did, deep inside my binder in the abyss of my backpack. The gruesome details of the assignment had been passed down from the upperclassmen that have already graduated to the next years seniors. Everyone knew what it consisted of; reading four boo