7th grader strikes deal with teacher after classmate does zero work on group project, sabotaging their school presentation: 'I got a 98% on the project, and [he] got a big, fat ZERO'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Jan 6, 2025 8:00 AM EST

Most straight-A students do not have the ability to stop themselves from putting in most of the work on a group project. It's as if it's part of the curse of being a hard-working student. Of course, it doesn't have to be this way. Hardworking students could also assert limits and boundaries, but that takes a kind of emotional maturity most adults don't even possess, let alone most seventh graders.

Group projects are a curse for this kind of personality who will go above and beyond for a perfect grade, even if it means allowing other classmates to do next to nothing while they bend over backward to get everything completed in time. Of course, I speak from experience, as I was this type of student in middle school. 

Keep scrolling below for the full story and for this type-A student's petty revenge. For more stories like this, check out this post about a 17-year-old's family drama.

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10450310400
    via Unsplash+ (Ahmet Kurt)

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Before we get into the details, let's also take this opportunity to give a shout-out to this awesome teacher, who recognized how hard this student was working and how much the other kid was slacking. Kudos to teachers like this who refuse to penalize the good eggs because of the lack of follow-through and drive of the bad eggs. Now, to the story!

  • 02
    My project partner didn't do anything for the project, so I made sure he was held responsible for it.
    via Draycos_Stormfang
  • 03
    When I was in 7th grade, I was at a private. school, and for a project for one of my classes, I got paired up with the WORST person in my class. Over the weeks of the project, the PowerPoint presentation that we had shared with each other was only touched ONCE by him, and all he did was create a new slide (left it blank). I. Was. Pl ED.
    via Draycos_Stormfang
  • 04
    Cheezburger Image 10450310656
    via Joshua Hoehne

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 05
    For the first time ever, I absolutely refused to do all the work. My idiot of a partner thought I was doing all the work for him and smiled at me every time classes started, looking smug. He never even bothered to check the PowerPoint. Little did he know that I had already informed our teacher, and that teacher gave me his blessings to just present my part, and I would be graded on that alone.
    via Draycos_Stormfang
  • 06
    The day to present came, and we were to present our projects to the ENTIRE SCHOOL. Before the presentations started, he came up to me and asked if he could see the PowerPoint so he could prepare to speak his park. I just glared at him so hard he visibly paled and went back to his seat, where I continued to give him the stink eye the whole time until it was our time to present.
    via Draycos_Stormfang
  • 07
    Luckily, I was in charge of the first half of the PowerPoint, so I started things off. I knew I hit it out of the park, based on how our teacher was nodding his head from the back of the room. At the end of my last time, I turned and looked at my partner, who had gone pale despite all of his freckles. "Alright, (insert partner name here). Ready to present your part?" I didn't bother waiting for a response and just clicked the
    via Draycos_Stormfang
  • 08
    clicker. A blank slide showed up on the screen, exactly what he had contributed to the project, and then the PowerPoint ended. It took a few seconds for people to realize it was over, and there was the general hubba of confusion.
    via Draycos_Stormfang
  • 09
    Finally, the PRINCIPAL stepped up and asked my partner what was going on. Mr. Freckles looked away and mumbled something about it being on a flash drive
    via Draycos_Stormfang
  • 10
    left upstairs in his backpack. He was allowed to leave the room to go retrieve it. I stood there, in front of the whole school, SMILING to myself, for TEN MINUTES. The idiot still hadn't returned, so my teacher suggested we move on with the presentations. A couple of teachers left to go find my partner, who was quickly found hiding in a closet in one of the classrooms upstairs.
    via Draycos_Stormfang
  • 11
    I got a 98% on the project, and the idiot got a big, fat ZERO. He ended up failing the class and had to redo the year. Before I left the private school and went back to public schools for HS, he had managed to get kicked out of the school program, and I never heard from him again.
    via Draycos_Stormfang

  • Several members of the community chimed in with their feedback on this petty revenge. Check out what they had to say about it all!

  • 12
    CoderJoe1 5 hr. ago You made your power point.
    via Draycos_Stormfang
  • 13
    Somerset76 4 hr. ago My son did this too! He was in high school and had a terrible partner. He actually made 5 slides that started with "nick, this is your part" Ending in "Nick, you are a lazy ****. The principal laughed!
    via Draycos_Stormfang
  • 14
    Silly_Dragonfly4 · 3 hr. ago My daughter is a senior in HS and just experience this. I have always worried she was a big push over but she stood up to her project partner (who is a fair weather friend) and my girl put her in her place in front of everyone after friend was bragging to others in class saying she did most of the work. Nothing better than a public shaming like this when someone does these things.
    via Draycos_Stormfang
  • 15
    Draycos_Stormfang 3 hr. ago I think a public shaming is exactly what some of these people need. Having their reputation tarnished is bound to make a few changes!
    via Draycos_Stormfang
  • 16
    ArreniaQ 4 hr. ago another collaborative learning FAIL.
    via Draycos_Stormfang
  • 17
    The_Raji · 4 hr. ago This is amazing. Pretty crazy that you had to do a presentation in front of the whole school in 7th grade! I don't think I'd be able to do that.
    via Draycos_Stormfang
  • 18
    Draycos_Stormfang 3 hr. ago To be fair, it was a school of about 30ish students, so it wasn't any worse than presenting to a normal classroom full of kids.
    via Draycos_Stormfang
  • 19
    Play_Tennis - 2 hr. ago Y'all had some nice teachers. Mine always told me I would need to find a way to complete the project as a team because that's how it would be in the real world when I got a job. I'd argue that they would be fired in the workplace. Little did I know, there are people who get by in the workplace the same way they got by on these projects lol.
    via Draycos_Stormfang
  • 20
    • Stopher 1 hr. ago Group projects are annoying in general. Sometimes lazy people don't contribute. Sometimes perfections don't let you contribute. It's a nightmare.
    via Draycos_Stormfang
  • 21
    Xuan-Wu 1 hr. ago . I posted how I played my part in a similar situation. I gave the lazy his sheet of papers. But it was a HUGE COINCIDENCE none of his pages were marked nor were the graphs, pictures etc. unlike mine or the teachers'. He only had to present the central part of the project.
    via Draycos_Stormfang
  • 22
    He stumbled on every new scientific word, couldn't fine (too bad isn't it?) The documents his text refered to, while I smile evilly. We were the only group with people having differents grades. (17m I think at the time)
    via Draycos_Stormfang

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