The showing signs of depression was part of the prank (and all you can get from this greentext is he shouted "I can't take it anymore" before cracking his neck). Getting suspended after learning it was a joke and he was not really in danger seems fairly logical here. You don't joke about that shit and it was also extremely disruptive to class.
Would be funnier if he accidentally made himself quadriplegic and was just lying there in terror as everyone else was laughing and it took a good while before someone realised.
Reminds me of the British comedian who had a heart attack on stage and died, while the audience laughed, thinking it was all just an act. Cant remember his name, but at least he died doing what he loved.
Tommy Cooper. A bit old school these days but a funny guy. He specialised in doing magic tricks badly for comedic effect, so when he died people really thought it was part of the show.
In middle school I had a friend who would get nosebleeds fairly often. I don't remember exactly why nor how, but we somehow got into an argument with this really religious kid who was a little shit. So like the next day he felt a nosebleed coming and ran over to the kid and said "Hail Satan" and exhaled hard to make a ton of blood come out. Well the kid fainted and my friend got detention for the day
Could they have stolen the story? Yes. But they could have equally had a similar experience, it's not that implausible. I've known people that have nose bleeds like that, it's not some incredibly rare condition, and saying hail Satan is the kind of thing tons of edgy kids/teens would do.