Why I Lied About My Homework Being Done

So there’s this thing that happened at school last week. It started out innocent enough, I was just really stressed because my dad’s been laid off, and on top of that, we found out grandma is in the hospital. Then my older sister got her braces tightened, which she hates. She’s not herself these days, so she let me copy some homework answers from our notes to make up for missed classes. I was like ‘Sure, no problem,’ because it’s just one day of copying a little bit of work. But the next morning, my teacher Mrs. Jenkins came over and said something about missing assignments catching up with us. That made me nervous, but then she specifically asked if anyone had missed anything last period. Of course, I’m in trouble for not turning in my homework, even though it’s technically all there. I feel bad telling her a white lie, but I don’t want to snitch on myself or my sister, she’s already stressed enough without this. Plus, she gave me an extension last week when I was out sick, and I thought maybe we could just split the work somehow. But now it seems like a bigger deal than that. Thinking about it, if someone copied homework, wouldn’t they be nervous too? Like, I guess I shouldn’t have lied to cover for my sister, but what am I supposed to do now? The problem is, I don’t know how much she needs me, she’s been so quiet lately. But at the same time, maybe it's better to admit my mistake and try to make things right instead of adding more lies on top of lies. So, here’s what I’m wondering, is being a good big sister worth lying for? And is it ever okay to bend rules just because you feel bad about something else going wrong in your life? It feels like there should be some middle ground somewhere, but maybe that's too idealistic. Now I just have this tiny problem on my mind with no clear way out.