Something that took place in my school
Today, school seemed to last forever; this memory will forever be etched into my mind……
Nicholas, Syed Shafiq and me. Standing outside the staff room like surrendered troops waiting for their execution. We look at the phone beside the door. None of us want to make the call. The solution: scissors, paper and stone. I lost. Great, why me? I picked up the phone and dialed the numbers 425 – Mr. Quek’s extension number. “Hello Sir, We are outside the staff room.” A cold voice answers. “Is Regan here?” I looked around. He wasn’t here. Then, I see him, sauntering to the staff room, his ‘squarish’ haircut sticking out like a lantern. A really bright lantern. “Yes sir, he is here.” “Good, wait there for
Approximately 22 hours ago, Thursday. It was 12:15pm. Me and my classmates were all gathered at the science lab, watching Mr. Liang, our physics teacher demonstrating experiments. Due to the lack of time, we could not attempt the experiments ourselves, so we had to watch Mr. Liang instead. My head was spinning, bored from the constant droning of the billion physics theories encompassing us. I looked at Nicholas – his face was an exact replica of mine. We were both very annoyed: Regan, the person sitting in front of us, was blocking our view of the teacher, using his overly right-angled head. I’m not kidding. Even after our constant and sincere pleas, he refused to budge. Then, a smile grew on Nicholas’s face out of the blue. “Uh oh.” Warning bells rang in my head; he was about to do something mischievous. I was right. Grasping a blue gel-pen, the held it steadily at Regan’s shirt. Then, slowly, mimicking Chinese calligraphy, wrote the letter ‘R’ on his shirt. I looked at him quizzically. Next, he wrote the letter ‘e’. Upon realizing his intentions, I tried hard not to laugh out loud. The letter ‘g’ followed. We were both doubling in silent laughter. Regan became suspicious. Turning around, he said, “What are both of you doing?” “Er…nothing, serious.” Nicholas said in his most innocent voice. Regan turned back to the lesson. In ten minutes, Nicholas’s masterpiece was complete: on the back of Regan’s shirt lay the word ‘Regan”, proudly executed in blue ink.
“Ha-ha… this is the joke of the century!” I whispered to Nicholas. My stomach was beginning to
hurt from all the laughter. He was also laughing. “Wait, he needs a number on his shirt, then it will be like a soccer jersey!” Having said that, Nicholas wrote the number ‘77’ on his shirt. Oblivious to the graffiti on his shirt, Regan continued staring intently at the teacher (his head still blocking us). Nicholas was wondering what to draw next while laughing at the same time. I wonder what I drank during recess; I was getting crazy. Taking up my black pen, I started to draw on Regan’s pants. As soon as the pen touched the cloth, I woke up. I immediately withdrew my hand, leaving a tiny dot there – only an idiot would get involved in this. Jokingly to Nicholas, I suggested, “I know what you should draw, a dartboard. That would be useful!” Again, we roared in silent laughter. Then, the moment of madness came. “Let me draw.” A voice came from behind. It was Shafiq, holding a black pen……
About fifteen minutes later, I looked at Regan’s shirt. I was horrified. I quickly told them to stop drawing immediately. Sensing the urgency in my voice, they complied.
This morning, Mr. Quek, our assistant form teacher, called us out of the class. Regan’s Parents were so furious upon seeing his shirt that they took photos of it and e-mailed it to Mr. Quek. I was implicated too – even the tiny dot that I drew in a moment of folly on his pants could not escape the eagle eyes of his mother. “Meet me outside the staff room at 2:00pm.”
So that was the reason for our visit to the staff room. We were given three hours detention , on top of having to pay $13 for a new shirt. After apologizing sincerely to Regan and handing him the money, we trudged off monotonously, cursing our bad luck.
After reflection, I realise that it had nothing to do with bad luck. It was because of the small dot I made in a moment of folly. This proves that no matter how small a bad thing is, it is still a bad thing – hence I had to be punished. Also, I was guilty of association: even if I had not drawn anything on Regan’s shirt, would still be punished for not stopping them. I really regret encouraging Nicholas and Shafiq to continue their mischievous behavior, instead of stopping. Guys, if you ever read this post, I just want you guys to know that I’m really sorry, and I promise this will never happen a second time. (song - sorry, blame it on me) by Akon
Today, everyone had something on - my parents went shopping, my brother had CCA training, and my sister went to her friend's house......Perfect; the whole house was mine, muahahaha! I was finally free of the constant chattering encompassing me. Time to do what I liked best: playing chess. Ok, it sounds unbelievably lame; I guess if you were in a situation like mine you would probably jump to the computer and burn your eyes on it, or maybe the television. That's what my brother would do. And, I bet you're also wondering how I'm supposed to play chess with myself, since nobody else is in the house. Weird huh? Actually, I don't really play chess against myself (I've tried a few times and got really frustrated ) , instead, I lay out my chessboard and practice what my coach had taught during CCA training ( yes, I'm in the chess club), repeating the moves over and over again until it gets drilled into my mind. It may be boring, but it really helps improve my game. Although I'm not gifted in this hobby, I make it up with loads of practice
, keeping me at the same standard of my other team members.
noring the prefect's order to tuck in my shirt. i ran up the stairs, one by one. The Parade Square was at the 5th floor. I made it just in time, a minute later and i would have been late. The rest the next 4 periods passed without incident. 'RING!' It was recess. Like my classmates, I dashed out to be first in the queue. I was the first. Then I realised that my wallet had disappeared. I went hungry for the rest of school.
10 minutes later, I was ready, dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt with a water bottle slung over my shoulder. “Let’s go!” Bobby and Kate said enthusiastically. Having been deprived of my beauty sleep, I wasn’t really keen. “Ok, I’m coming! I shouted to them.” We got into the car and my father drove to the Singapore Island Country Club (SICC). We began our walk at a sign showing the direction. I glanced at it: Route D – 5.7km. “What! 5.7km?! You’ve got t
o be kidding!” I turned around. They had already begun the walk and were way in front of me. “Hey! Wait up!” I immediately dashed up to them, not wanting to get separated.
As we ventured deeper into the forest, the trail became tougher, the slops were steeper. It was then I started to look around. I felt surrounded by nature. It was so serene. Then, Kate shouted: “Look! It’s a Lizard!” I dashed to the spot. It was indeed a lizard, although it was way bigger than the normal house lizards that we commonly saw. “I know what it is,” my father said. “This is not an ordinary lizard. It is a small Komodo dragon. I have heard they are endangered animals.” “Let’s go,” My mum said eager to get away from the ugly lizard. We trudged on. Soo
n, we arrived at the Treetop walk – a giant free-standing suspension bridge spanning Bukit Peirce and Bukit Kalang, the two highest points in Mac Ritchie. I was so excited.
I gingerly stepped on the bridge, half expecting it to collapse. It stood firmly. I was more relaxed after that. I was amazed at the beauty of nature at this vantage point. We all stopped and took pictures. After crossing the bridge, we saw that the route was filled with wooden stairs. “Finally, an easy walk,” My mother said. She was wrong. Indeed, the stairs proved even harder to climb; by the time we finished to whole walk, our legs were all burning with pain. Then we turned back to SICC, using a shortcut. We were there in less than 10 minutes. Apparently everybody did not want to walk the whole distance again. After a shower there, we went home.
I have learnt many things from this activity. I now feel humbled by nature, a tiny fish in the big ocean. I realise that we Singaporeans are extremely lucky to be living in