Thursday, October 11, 2007



Joseph - 'Haha, Linus got headache.'
Me - 'I'm going to massage Joseph's face with a crocodile.'

The fresh morning scent that blows as I walk to school. I stride across the zebra crossing, the road, the mini-pavement and hop over the long pipe that the school security guard unfailingly uses every morning to water the beautiful bushes along our school fence.

I skip up the stairs, and the radiator suddenly blasts on with its deep menacing growl. I glance right at the third floor, and I see the corridor brightly-lit, the bench filled with Band people. Up to the fourth floor, the contrast is sharp. The corridor is dark, the little alcove leading to the auditorium quiet. Walking through it is almost surreal as I anticipate what happens when I slip out of my shoes, and pull upon the door.

The door is open,and the bright yellow lights greet me. Alphonsus, Wen Jun and Vincent sit around a lone green table, books out as they pore over them. Wei Liang is there, answering questions as I pull up a chair and slide into it beside them. The morning announcement soon comes on, telling us where Assembly is held. It's 7.15, and we make our way out of the room, where many happy memories still linger, floating around, diffusing into every inch of the room.

Up to the Parade Square, there are little cliques already sitting down. I see several threejayrians, the prefects at the flags, Secondary 1s and 2s just beginning to stream in. I drop my bag on my foot, and ease it onto the ground. My classmates already there have their textbooks and notes out, studying and reciting the formulae to themselves in a last-ditch effort.

The prefect takes the microphone. Is it Yang En or Chang Da or Syukuri or Wilgene or Wilnard or Anthoni or Shawn or Davis or Li Zhi? I don't know. In our hands we still clutch notes and formulae lists, and as we sing the national anthem and recite the pledge, only fragments of revision work fill our mind.

We sit down, and our eyes fly unabashedly back to our notes. Why not, everyone's doing it too. Mutters murmurs and questions all around. Formal letter block to the left? Area equal sum of parallel sides times perpendicular height? Mass over molar mass is it? Moments equal force times area right? The questions fly left and right and even as we trudge down to the hall, the questions still persist.

We shake hands, each wishing the other good luck. We flash thumbs up, we clap each other on the back and say all the best. Behind the smile, we all wish he will make a mistake, and we will do better. The multitude of jackets, sweaters and cardigans flash, red blue yellow green black gray white.

I sit at my seat, the ever prominent register number twenty-one, the solitary seat in a row all by itself. People pass me by, friends that flash me the fake smile and I shamelessly return it.

The paper is over, and the buzzing starts. The teacher asks for silence, and it is long before it comes. We are dismissed, and we stream out of the hall, questions already ablaze. The irony of having more questions after the exam than before is lost amongst the rapid-fire of how-do-you-do-this-questions.

Downstairs at the three rooms, we bemoan that we are screwed and that we are going to fail and that we need to go study for the exam tomorrow. The first class people quickly go back to study the rest linger around to chat and to study together.

The bus journey back is filled with dreams and nightmares and I manage to wake up before my stop. I swing my bag up and walk down the stairs. The bus stops, I get off and begin the walk back home. It is sunny and scorching, and beads of perspiration appear almost immediately as I leave the dark bliss of the bus stop.

The long road up seems far, one step one step one step one step and I pull open the gates. The jarring sound of the gate creaking irritates, but it soon passes. I open the door, and ask for water to take my medicine with. I come upstairs, turn on my computer and hear the dreaded trio of beeps. Sighing, I switch it off, turn on my old laptop and the internet connection. I bathe, and the water is cold and refreshing, the perfect opposite of the desert outside.

And today as I sit down.
I wonder why I never noticed all this before.