We've all been in this little girl's shoes. You wake up most mornings and the last thing you want to do is spend the entire day in school. You know the 'rents aren't going to let you have the day off if you just 'feel ill' - why do they always want evidence?
You usually need to take matters into your own hands, grab a few things to chuck down the toilet to represent 'sick', soak a towel in hot water and put it on your head before complaining of having a 'temperature'. Maybe you could even draw on 'chicken pox' with a permanent marker, which is what (ironically named) Lily Schooley did.
Lily noticed that some of her classmates were taking days off for chicken pox and decided to try her luck. She's not daft, is she?
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Well, maybe just a little bit because the six-year-old used a permanent red Sharpie to 'do her homework' but instead drew on 'chicken pox'.
When she ran downstairs complaining of a rash 10 minutes later, mum-of-two Charlotte Schooley, 34, and husband David turned the lights on to check. They were soon struggling to hold back the laughs.
After being told she'd need to go to the doctors by quick-thinking Charlotte, Lily ran upstairs to start trying to scrub her spots off in a bid to make a 'miraculous' recovery.
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But she was soon forced to come clean when the permanent marker wouldn't wipe off and even her mum's own attempts with body wash, soap, baby oil and eventually hairspray wouldn't shift them.
Instead, mortified Lily was left trying to convince pals she wasn't infectious when she was forced to wear shorts and t-shirt in PE the next day - revealing the prominent red spots.
Charlotte, from St Austell, Cornwall, said: "The house is always full of laughter with Lily. She is very witty. She had a spelling test the next day that she didn't want to do. A few of the children in school had come down with chicken pox and she's had it before so she knew she stayed off school for a while.
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"She came down and said, 'I just need a red pen Mummy, I need to do my homework'. Then she came down 10 minutes later and she was stroking her arm. She said, 'oh mummy, I'm feeling a bit itchy. I've think I've got a rash'.
"We turned the light on and she was absolutely covered in it. Me and my husband were aching with laughter, trying not to let on that we knew. I asked what the matter was and she said, 'I think I've got chicken pox, I can't go to school'. She'd been sat on the bathroom floor drawing dots on herself."
The little prankster thought she had got away with pulling a sickie until her mum and dad suggested she'd have to go to the doctors. But when she rushed upstairs to wash the spots off, she realised she had used a permanent marker.
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Charlotte said: "She was deadly serious about it until we said, 'oh gosh, it's come on so quickly in 10 minutes. We're going to have to see the doctor'. She quickly disappeared and we went upstairs to find her trying to rub them off with a flannel.
"She said, 'I can't go to school Mummy because everyone will laugh'. We had to send her in with a letter the next day to say they weren't contagious or real and we just couldn't get them off.
"We used body wash, soap, hot water, baby oil, alcohol wipes. I think it was hairspray in the end that got it off - after four days. Everyone was looking at her like she was contagious. We had to tell everyone she wasn't.
"She had PE that day as well and had to wear shorts and t-shirts. The teachers thought it was hilarious. Luckily this happened on a Thursday night so she only had one day [in school with the spots]."
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Charlotte believes her daughter had taken inspiration from a light-hearted video on YouTube, as she explained: "She watches a lot of YouTube and she'd apparently watched a video called '10 Ways to Get Out of School' - so there'll be another nine to come.
"She's always dressing up the cat and pushing her around in pushchairs. We've had all-sorts with her. Lily came down with a cut on her leg. She decided she needed a 'bleed patch' and went out with a pad on her leg."
We can't wait to see what's in store next.
Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News and Media