Isn’t Hypothetically Getting It

(I’m in a choral class as part of a culture program at my school. Some kids take it for an easy A, and therefore think they can get away with stuff they couldn’t in a regular class. We’re about to take a quiz on musical terminology. The teacher is also the boys’ soccer coach.)

Student: “Hey, yo, Coach. I got a question.”

Teacher: “Yes, [Student]?”

Student: “I know you said we can’t use our phones during the quiz, but, hypothetically, if I wanted to text someone after I was done, could I do that?”

Teacher: “…well, hypothetically, school policy is ‘if I see your phone, you can’t keep your phone.'”

Student: “Yeah, yeah, I know, Coach, but hypothetically if my phone was gonna be on silent and I just wanted to check for texts, could I do that while I was waiting for everyone else to finish?

Teacher: “Hypothetically, no.”

Student: “But HYPOTHETICALLY—”

Teacher: *cutting him off* “NO, [Student], you are not allowed to use your phone at ANY time during my class.”

(The same student’s phone was confiscated for the weekend in another class a few days later.)