Wow - this is your advice to a teenager? Lying to people IS a big deal. If you get into the habit of lying to to anyone, like a teacher, it can start to make you think that lying to anyone, even people you love, is not a big deal either. You shouldn't be telling a 14 year old that lying to anyone is ok. It's not. Honesty, not hiding things, is always the better policy. In this situation it would have been better for him to be honest with his teacher from the start that the assignment made him uncomfortable and explain why. I'm sure the teacher would understand because they see bullying every day and wouldn't want to bring it on a student. He could have avoided all of this by just being honest from the start.