They called me to the principal’s office. Thought I won the essay contest.

I felt good. They seemed worried.

“Was everything you wrote about your uncle true?”

Lying would save us. So I did.

“No, it wasn’t true. Just fiction.”

I hadn’t won. I stopped believing in right or wrong.

K. Joffré is a married gay latino living in New York. He is a Slate contributor and has had fiction published in ContemporaryQueer.com. Slide into his DMs at @meanhood.