When Sally Met Sally

(It is sophomore year, in honors US history. We have a student teacher who, while a good teacher, sometimes misses the details. A classmate and I share the same first name. Our teacher is handing back an assignment, late in the semester. For the sake of this story we will call ourselves Sally.)

Teacher: *hands me other Sally’s worksheet, graded*

Me: *to other Sally* “Oh, this is yours, Sally.”

Teacher: “But you’re Sally.”

Me: “Yeah, I’m Sally [My Last Name]. She’s Sally [Other Last Name].”

Teacher: “But there’s only one of you. Wait. We have TWO Sallys in this class?!”

Other Sally: “Yes. I’m Sally [Other Last Name]. She’s Sally [My Last Name]. You had no idea there’s two of us?!”

Teacher: “Wow. No, I guess I never noticed…”

Us: “How have you been grading our work?!”

(The teacher walks away, changing the subject. Fast forward a week later. I’m called down to the dean’s office for ‘ditching class,’ which I had never done.)

Dean: “So, you missed US history two weeks ago. Care to explain why?”

Me: “Oh, Sally [Other Last Name] was absent that week. Our student teacher just realized there are two of us. She probably marked the wrong one down as absent.”

Dean: *prolonged silence* “She… what? She didn’t realize there were two of you?”

Me: “Seriously. Check Sally [Other Last Name]’s attendance. I bet she was marked absent all day except US history, the same hour as me.”

Dean: *slowly looks up her attendance sheet* “I… Well… You’re right. I’ll have to talk to her. I guess that’s all I had.”