🧸 - FRANKIE

Stepping into Divyane as a mage in need of assistance was one thing. But suddenly, everything took on a much different experience that day when I stepped in for my internship interview. Everything around me was the same. The posters advertising upcoming events and workshops, the trophies and all. Yet, it just felt so different.

Or maybe it felt that was because I was wearing full-on interview attire. The last time I wore this was for Model United Nations last year. I rubbed some sleep dust from my eyes, letting it prick my fingers. When was the last time I woke up at 8am again?

The doors leading to the Research and Development Department swung open. Morgan stepped out, adjusting the loose curls from her forehead. I stood up and offered my hand to her.

“Good morning, Frankie. Ready for your interview?” she asked.

I nodded my head. She escorted me towards a small meeting room. My hands were probably shaking at the sight of Isadora’s greying head. Flanking her sides were the deputy director of my department along with a member of the HR personnel.

“What?! Why are all the big guys here?” I whispered to Morgan

“Hey, consider yourself honoured. You’re the youngest intern we’ll ever have, assuming you get recruited. They’re curious about you, you know,” she said as she grabbed the door handle.

When she pulled it open, I could feel that cold wind rushing towards us. God, this only made me even more nervous. I brought my fingers over my knuckles and walked in, greeting them ‘good morning’ with a formal bow.

“Good morning, Mr Fernandez. Do your parents know that you are here with us this morning?” asked Director Liew.

I nodded my head. Isadora had a copy of my resume right before her. She propped up her spectacles and looked through it.

“We don’t expect you to have a lot of working experience, since you just finished your O Levels. However, we called you up having seen your leadership and CCA track record. We’re pretty impressed to know that you started leading your cell group at only 14 years old. And at 15, you won the Best Delegate Award, beating out even trained ACS boys at last year’s MUN,” she said with her croaky voice.

And they proceeded to start off with the most difficult question of the day. Why do you want to take on an internship here at Divyane? Survival was not a strong enough reason. I knew the answer, but I didn’t know how to put it in spoken word.

“Aside from wanting something productive to do before I start my life in polytechnic, I want to find an internship that can fuel my curiosity. As a future pharmaceutical sciences student, I believe an internship at Divyane can satisfy that hunger, especially with the upcoming research projects on Anima Magi and its relationship with the human body. The human body is the main subject of pharmaceutical science in itself, so I thought this research position would be relevant to my studies as well,” I said.

And they jotted away on their notepads. Morgan’s perky eyes never left me. My hands were still hidden underneath the table, fingers tapping my lap.

🌟-MEI XING

It was as though all my senses were being attacked in one swift motion. Be it the outdated Justin Bieber song blaring from every speaker in this hall, the cacophony of colours from our school uniforms and the banners, the obnoxious cheering…it felt like I was thrown into a warzone.

I was so lost that I bumped into someone. Adjusting my glasses, I found myself looking straight at a boy clad in all-white with a fauxhawk. There was something familiar about those hooded eyes under his large-rimmed hipster glasses, but I could not pinpoint where I had seen them before.

“Uhm…I’m kind of lost. Do you know where OG Hecate is?” I asked.

Ohpochok! Why did I ask a fellow J1 where the orientation groups were when he was probably just as lost as I was? He pointed towards his left. I thanked him and made my way.

Painted on the banners of the different orientation groups were the names of gods and goddesses from pantheons all over the world. Susanoo and Poseidon were assembled near each other. I wonder if there would be a rivalry between Artemis and Guanyin. Somehow, I chose to amuse myself with the idea of having an orientation themed after philosophers from all over the world. Imagine Confucius fighting Voltaire or Plato and Marx battling it out.

I finally located my orientation group and tried to look for the emptiest spot I could find – a spot secluded from others. I settled down near the doorway, straightening out my green pinafore as I sat down.

Only then did I realise how badly I stuck out amongst this myriad of colours. I guess us Tanjong Katong girls really stood out. The only others who wore green were those St Margaret girls, and even then, it was mostly just the green polka dots and skirts. Was I the only east-sider here too? I would never know.

Satisfied with this relatively isolated area, I took out my copy of Rice Mother by Rani Manika and dived into a world that was physically very much like mine, yet so different from my everyday life too. Sometime into my silent reading, the teacher in-charge of my OG knelt beside me. She was really young and had her hair dyed into a warm chestnut brown.

“Hello! May I have your name, please?” she asked.

She brought the attendance sheet closer to me, letting me search for my name. I pointed at it and she nodded her head.

“Tan Mei Xing? Alright,” she confirmed.

“Please call me Mei,” I asked of her.

With a chirpy smile, she stood straight up and proceeded to get to know the next few students seated beside me. As I dived deeper into the world as seen through a Sri Lankan migrant making her way through a modernising Malaysia, I could feel the combined forces of a collective gaze, escalating music and the intrusion of space trying to grab my shoulders and pull me apart from this comforting isolation.

I began to dread those ice-breaker games, the matchmaking, the contact games. Even those subject talks and principal’s address seemed more exciting.

Did I have an opportunity to escape? I guess not. Yet, I just wanted to be alone with my book. It would not judge me or force me to say anything. I wanted to hide within the awnings of the stage. I wanted…

My feet were not as nimble. A force in my legs told me not to go. My heart wanted out though. The noise…the cacophony. I could not take it. I put my hands over my ears, rose to my feet and rushed for the washroom as the noise attacked my senses like a merciless meteor shower.

🖍-KENNY

It was damn weird to have the whole space to myself, sia. The library was like a ghost town. I grinned. Much better than sharing the same mattress with my sisters or being lost in that damn noisy school hall. I took out whatever drawing materials I brought with me from my backpack and stuffed it into the pigeonhole.

Where was the most secluded space for me to do this next commission, ah? No time for that. I heard heavy breathing. Like somebody had an asthma attack or something. I plopped my cardstock and pencil set down, wanting to search for this person. It was coming from the Southeast Asian Collection shelf.

Wah! Someone also decided to pon mass dance! She was crouched on the floor, leaning against the metal shelves in her green TKGS pinafore. The soles of my Bata shoes creaked, alarming her to my presence.

She looked up at me and at that moment, I wanted to draw her right away. Though her eyes were blodshot from crying, they were damn beautiful. They were large and the ideal phoenix eyes. It didn’t matter if her skin was a bit of a dullish tan.

“You…you okay?” I asked.

She rose to her feet and tossed her low ponytail back. She sucked in her peach-pink lips and nodded her head.

“Paiseh. Just got a little overwhelmed with all the noise in the school hall. That’s all,” she said as she hugged the book she had been holding tightly.

She was really short and barely reached my lips. But she had already walked off. I hastened my steps as I followed after her.

“You wanna sit with me? I’m kind of alone,” I offered. “Oh, I’m Kenny, by the way.”

The girl gave a weak smile and shrugged her shoulders. Okay, lah. Can see why she is a bit nervous. I mean, she was from a girl’s school after all. The same way I was from boy’s school too.

“You can call me Mei,” she said as we settled down in that little corner with the floor-to-ceiling windows that faced the in-construction Bishan Park.

I looked at the commission request that the guy sent over Instagram and nearly choked on my own spit. Wah piang eh! Confirm plus chop I would need a privacy screen. That was a lot of erotic content. No wonder why he paid me $80 for this.

Then, through the glass doors of this private study room, I saw the librarian glaring at the two of us with fire blazing in the reflection of her spectacles. Die lah. Mei groaned and said something in Malay under her breath.

“Alamak. Kena tangkap,” she muttered.

🌼-LUQMAN

There were about 22 pairs of eyes looking at me in that one instance. Three individually-wrapped Mentos candies in my palm. That meant I had to give three facts about myself. Why did I choose to be greedy at this worst possible moment?

“Hello. I’m Luqman. I’m from Queensway Secondary School. Three facts about me? I’m certified in first-aid. I like to cook. My grandma forces me to watch horror movies with her,” I said, sending my orientation group laughing.

Alhamdulillah. That was over. I sank back into my chair and watched as the girl next to me stood up and introduced herself. The good thing about coming from a school with a white uniform is that it would be hard to tell which school you were from because so many in Singapore used white for the boys.

Being in this new environment, surrounded by all these kids from atas schools like St Nicholas, Catholic High…these were the standards that I had to uphold now that I am here in Semangat Junior College. It was a different playing field altogether.

After all the introductions were done, our OG leaders collected the orientation fee money from us. As I took out the $15 from my wallet, a part of me started wondering why I had to pay to lose my voice, force myself into situations that I just did not want to be in, and dance mindlessly. Honestly, just the principal’s address, subject talks, alumni sharing, and mock lectures would do. I was certain I was going to become a wallflower again this year anyway.

I looked out the window and saw that the morning sky was streaked with ash-coloured clouds. The campus tour after this was bound to take on a different character altogether. So many thoughts and worries were flooding my head. Would I be able to cope with the competition? What CCA should I join? Would I be able to spend time with Mak and Nenek with an even more hectic schedule?

The screeching of metal against cement indicated that it was time to move on and start the campus tour. I slung my backpack over my shoulders and let the heavy air of the incoming rain press my shoulders down, relaxing them.

☕️-KUMAR

Oof. Day one of junior college and I was already late for school. I texted Sam to let him know that for once, he had won. That he was earlier than me for a change. Fuck. Who asked me to snooze my alarm again? Oh, right. Me. And I had to ignore Badass barking.

There were about twelve of us in this classroom, all clad in different uniforms. Make that fourteen when another two new entrants came in. One was a boy clad in the St Andrew’s uniform, and another girl in the TKGS green pinafore. Damn, I wished I had my jacket to cover my hairy legs. They were probably staring at this tall, lanky boy wearing dark green shorts. Why did we still have to wear shorts again?

“Since today is the first day of school for many of you, we will let you off just this once. Some of you might be appealing to Raffles or Hwa Chong later in the day so we cannot moot any punishment for you. For those joining us though, official disciplinary guidelines will apply to you next week. Did I make myself clear?” said the disciplinary head with her snooty voice.

Man, Sam was lucky he wasn’t here and for once, was actually early. On the other hand, I would have loved to see his imitation of her. We responded with a dull ‘yes, ma’am’ and headed out of the classroom. I gulped, wondering what I had missed earlier in the morning.

“I’m sorry I ran away from my orientation group. I’m terrified of crowds and had a bit of a panic attack. The noise, the cheering…it was all too much. Kenny found me and offered to comfort me,” the petite girl with a clear voice explained.

My eyebrows began drooping when I heard that. I turned to face her. The obese teacher was the one who listened to her concerns. I wanted to turn away, but couldn’t. Nobody should be punished or be treated like a criminal just because they wanted to make themselves feel safe.

Wait. I repeated that thought to myself again. I had let someone be punished just because they wanted me to be safe. No, this was getting too overwhelming. I saw myself out of the room and decided to search for my orientation group. What was it called again? Ah, right. Aphrodite .

Then, my handphone vibrated again. It was Sam, and he just had to send a barrage of emojis with their tongues sticking out. I rolled my eyes and groaned. This was going to be a long day.