A high school drama student was suspended for dressing up as a homeless man about a month ago.

Senior Michael Bodomov had an assignment to dress up as a character for an entire day. He impersonated a homeless man, wearing “a couple layers of coats and some sweatpants.” Bodomov also wore fingerless gloves, mismatched shoes and plastic bags for socks. He smeared ink on his face to complete the look.

When Bodomov arrived to school in the morning, the doors were locked. A teacher saw him, and came to ask what he wanted. Bodomov mumbled that he “needed to talk to some people.” Dedicated to the project, he tried to discreetly let the teacher know that he was a student without falling out of character.

Trying to prevent confusion, Bodomov showed the teacher the inside of a garbage bag he was carrying. His backpack was stowed there, but empty plastic bottles were as well. The officials only saw the bottles, and were further convinced of the homeless man’s deviousness.

“It’s not like this entire time I wasn’t trying to let them know I was a student,” Bodomov said. “It was pretty funny to me.”

Things started getting out of hand when the police arrived. Eventually Bodomov explained his predicament, and was suspended for insubordination and for not identifying himself to an administrator when asked.

“I definitely think they overreacted,” Bodomov said.