The Kid Who Cried “Virus!”

Once upon a school day, there was a kid named Sam who loved computers and had a very big imagination.

Sam discovered how to send messages to the school’s tech team. At first he asked real questions, but then he started sending pretend alerts.

“Help! There’s a virus on the school website!” he typed. The tech team rushed to check. Nothing was wrong.

Sam snickered. The next day he wrote, “Emergency! The homework folder is infected!” Again, the tech team checked. Again, nothing.

Day after day, Sam sent fake warnings. The tech team grew tired. “It’s probably another prank,” they said. Teachers began to ignore the alerts, too.

Then one afternoon, a real problem arrived. Computers froze. Files vanished. Students couldn’t open their projects. A virus was truly spreading!

Sam saw the red error messages and felt a twist in his stomach. “This time it’s real!” he wrote. He called the office. He told his teacher. But everyone thought it was just another joke.

By the time the adults realized it was serious, the virus had reached many devices. It took days to fix, and lots of work to restore the lost files.

Sam apologized to the tech team. “I thought it was funny,” he said. “I didn’t know it could cause so much trouble.”

From then on, Sam used his skills to help: he learned how to spot suspicious links, how to report problems clearly, and how to tell the truth the first time, every time.