🦜-Nora

The school’s ICT portal said that I was allocated to 11S24. The school hall was no longer a splash of colour like it was a week and a half ago.

I bit my lips, wondering where this odd discomfort was coming from. This plaid-patterned skirt? Seeing unwanted faces? I looked down on the floor in search of the placard for my class. I was near 11S18. It should be a few rows behind.

The row seated beside the placard for my civics group was the opposite of what I saw at home every day. Or maybe that was a good balance. A classroom full of girls, and home full of boys.

“Nora!” cried a familiar voice.

There he was, teeth showing through his bright smile and his hair still uncombed. I gave the widest grin I could as the blood rushed straight towards my cheeks. So, he was here in SJC with me! Minori had his hands behind his back while giving his best smile. He peered over my shoulder and his chubby cheeks turned red again.

“Crap. So, it is true that I’m the only guy in class,” he whispered.

I glanced at the class’ demographics. I shrugged and nodded my head. Wait. Was he referring to my class? Without knowing, I beamed back at him and we exchanged high-fives.

“Well, looks like you won’t be the only ‘guy’ now,” I joked back.

We laughed to ourselves and took our positions, cross-legged against the hall’s wooden floor. His face was still red though.

“Let me guess. You’re still too used to boys’ school,” I said.

“Wah! How did you know?”

“The moment you saw all the girls, you started looking very panicky. Well, don’t worry. It’s a change of scenery for me too,” I assured him. “Andi had the same reaction once he entered the JC section of RI.”

Nori’s eyes widened. He placed his hands over his mouth and chuckled. And then his face fell. He scanned my body from the top of my pixie cut to the soles of my blue Adidas sneakers.

“You…you’re still fine, right? No injuries? No…bruises?” he asked.

I blinked, trying to figure out what he was referring to. I slapped my palm against my forehead, eyes shut tight. That incident on Friday.

“Frankly, I don’t wish to talk about it. But thanks for checking up on me,” I said with a smile.

I hugged my knees to my chest, not caring that my PE shorts were being exposed. Nori sat with one knee propped up as he tried to familiarise himself with our other classmates.

“What’s your subject combi by the way? What CCA are you planning to join?” he asked with his chirpy voice.

“Bio, Chem, Math, and KI. I’m planning to run for council. If that fails, I’ll just stick to netball. How about you?”

Or perhaps Friday’s meeting was not so bad after all, even if I did want to erase those memories from my head to make way for legit examinable content. The doors were easier to pry open.

“I’m taking the same as you but Lit instead of KI! I’m in guitar. By the way, I know somebody else who’s planning to run for council. Maybe I can link you up with him if you need a running mate!” he said.

“Really! That’d be great! I haven’t been able to find one since my OG’s all scared of applying for SC. Can you introduce me to him?” I asked.

🖍-Kenny

Our class was probably the smallest class in the Physics consortium. Not too surprising. How many of us actually took H2 Art with H2 Physics? Not many of us, probably. I looked around and felt myself turning from kueh tutu to ang ku kueh. Wah sia. There were so many girls! Then, all of the colour in my cheeks flushed out again after scanning the room.

The crazy ang mor with the lightning powers was here in my class. She caught sight of me and turned away, like she knew I saw her that night.

“Chew Keng Swee, is there something bothering you?” asked Mrs Chong when she realised that I was a bit too focused on Éclair.

“Oh, nothing!”

“Well then. Would you like to do the honours of being the first to introduce yourself to 11S12?” she asked.

Wah piang eh. This was so sudden. What was I supposed to say again? My name, three things about me…CCA. Right? I stood up and turned to face the rest of the class, back facing the whiteboard. Wah. It was so weird to see girls in a classroom after years of being in a boys’ school.

“Hi. I’m Keng Swee, but you can call me Kenny. Three things about me? I self-taught myself illustration from borrowing library books. I love cats and playing street soccer. I’m in J-fire,” I said, bringing my left arm to a pumping motion.

I should be paying attention to the names of my new classmates. I mean, I was going to spend the next year and 3/4s with them. But actually, I only paid attention when Éclair spoke up. All eyes were on her, as expected.

“Good morning. I’m Éclair. Before moving to Singapore, I was in Shanghai, so I can speak fluent Mandarin. I play the harp and I hope to be able to acclimatise myself to Singapore with you all. I’m a member of the Dance Society’s Professional Squad,” she said before sitting right back down.

How was I going to break the news to Luq and Mei? That the psycho who almost killed us was in the same CG as me? What if she killed me for knowing about her own secret identity?

“Alright. Your class is pretty special since you’re the only full PCMA class. Most of you are part of the AEP, some aren’t, but it’s okay. I hope you’ll be able to share resources and take good care of each other,” said Mrs Chong.

When Mei, Luqman, and I went to convene in the library in our private nook, the first thing I did was slam my hands against the table. Mei shot straight up, wondering what I was being so dramatic about.

“Yah sia, Kenny. What’s wrong?” asked Luq.

“You won’t believe who’s in my CG,” I said.

Mei put her highlighter down and leant in closer. Luq gritted his teeth. It was like he knew what the answer was. I looked out the window to that stunning view, only to find myself stumbling backwards when I saw her tiny figure through the faint reflections.

“Éclair. The crazy ang mor who almost killed us that day,” I said.

The discussion room turned quiet. Too quiet. The three of us huddled close together, arms on each other’s shoulders as we dived into a strange discussion circle. Our faces were about to kiss the table liao.

“So, how now?” asked Mei. “And you don’t have magic to protect yourself.”

I hated hearing that, but she was right. Luq let go of us and placed his thumb on his chin, staring into his diagram of cellular structures.

“Mei, do you have some sort of tracking spell that we can use on both Kenny and Éclair?” he asked.

She nodded. I brought my hands together, rubbing the palms against each other like I was a super villain. More magic? Bring it on.

🐯-Samuel

I wondered if there was a student in class who had a piece of raw meat that he really needed to keep in school for some reason. Share some with me, leh. The classroom was like a fucking freezer. No one told me that Plato or Diogenes ruminated in Siberia levels of cold.

“Ah. Samuel, right? You’re late,” said the KI tutor.

There were just about…what? 17 students in that classroom. They had already arranged the tables and chairs into a sort of circle where they could all face each other.

“Anyway, this is the first time, so I’m letting you off. But for subsequent classes, please come early. Otherwise, I’ll have a nice word with your CT,” he said as he folded his arms.

I took my position beside a bespectacled boy with a fauxhawk. I looked at the name scribbled on his foolscap. Albert Lau. I scanned the seminar room to get a glimpse of the people who would join me for the next year and a half…or half assuming they get retained.

Man, they weren’t kidding when they said KI was a sausagefest. What? Six out of seventeen? The teacher headed for his desk and grabbed his attendance sheet.

“Well, welcome to Knowledge and Inquiry. The 17 of you went through a cut-throat placement test to get in here. 43 applied. Only 17 made it in. Give yourselves a pat on the back,” said the guy.

“I am Mr Khai, by the way. Anyway, KI is no walk in the park. This is a very rigorous course. I understand that one of you here is also doing Theatre Studies. Good luck to you,” he said as he stopped at our area.

He leant in and gave Albert a very stern gaze. He returned a sheepish smile instead and stared back at his foolscap instead.

“Since there’s only 17 of you, I expect all of you to support one another with your assignments, forum submissions etcetera. With that, I shall take attendance. Albert Lau,” he said.

Albert raised his hand. He rose to his feet and cleared his throat.

“Hi. I’m Albert. I was from Victoria School, and now, I’m wearing this depressing uniform. I’m taking KI because I thought it’d go well with TSD, since it’s about the quest for truth and all. Yeah,” he said.

He sat back down. Mr Khai then turned to the next person. Brandon Soh from Xinmin Sec. It was just deep voices after deep voices. They had finally reached the first girl on the list.

“Noraliah,” he called out.

Now that was one tall girl. She brought her hands hovering over her chest and glanced at all of us again.

“I’m Noraliah, but please call me Nora. I was from Anderson Sec. As someone who wants to pursue a research career, I thought that KI would be a natural fit for my JC journey,” she said.

When she sat back down, she turned to face me with a knowing look. I nodded back. No wonder why I felt that she was familiar. She was the only girl in my council interview group. At last, it was finally my turn.

“Hi, everyone. I’m Sam and I’m sexy, chill…and yeah. I’m taking KI because I want to do something that isn’t just exam-based and a lot different from what the regular subjects can teach you. Yeah.”

Mr Khai nodded his head and pursed his lips.

“An interesting way to distract people from your late-coming, eh? Going in with a bang and all,” he said.

I pumped my fist over my chest and let the next girl takeover. Alb scribbled something down on his foolscap. His cursive handwriting was a pain to read through. My exasperated eyes made out ‘That was a bold move’. I wrote back: I know, right.

That was one way to leave an impression on my electorate, I supposed. Sure, it was just 17 people and they were still sorting out our CGs, but who cares?

I smirked. This was just the start of my personal revolution.

⚡️-Eclair

“He’s in the same class as me, Lisias. What if he goes around telling others about our existence? About magic?” I asked as I paced back and forth in his living room.

He pressed the butt of his cigarette hard against the oak coffee table and discarded it in the ashtray. He stood up and gestured at me to do the same and follow him. I straightened out my plaid olive-green skirt and followed him towards the kitchen.

He knelt down and pushed the carpet aside, revealing a hatch that was built into the wooden planks. I gulped, knowing that cellars were half-the-time bad news. He grabbed the ringed knocker and pulled the door out, revealing a dimly lit stairwell.

“Ladies first,” he said.

I pinched the hem of my skirt and stepped in. I freed my left hand and held out my index finger, watching as the sparks crept up towards it until that slender finger turned into a beacon in the darkness. His footsteps followed close behind me.

With a click, the lights flooded the cellar. I was blinded for a while, overwhelmed by the sudden fluctuations in brightness. When my irises adjusted themselves, I broke into an ear-shattering scream and stumbled backwards, not caring that I had bumped into Lisias on accident.

He placed his scrawny hands on my shoulders and told me not to worry. The man in the cell had his eyes glued to a laptop while his wrist was chained by a glowing magical bind. Then, my eyes shot straight to the people behind him.

How long had they been slumbering for? How long had they been away from their families for? Could this have been my fate had I not accepted his deal? To become a living relic in this containment tube? I sank to my knees and covered my mouth.

“Wei-hsien, how’s the data coming along?” asked Lisias.

“See for yourself,” said the younger man.

He was pretty much reduced to skin and bones by now. His eyebags were so heavy, I started worrying for his drooping facial muscles already. A plate of untouched instant noodles sat beside him.

“Lisias. Why are you keeping these people down here?! Why?” I cried out.

The other man stopped typing. He faced me, then stared back at Lisias.

“You two are the only other Elementals I’ve found who could of be of some use to me. But now, I need you two to help me with one final task. Then, and only then, will I free you from your contracts,” he said with his hands on his hips.

“And why should I trust you? You took me away from my wife. My children. My parents and sister. I’ve lost fucking count of the days I’ve been put here, mining data and creating programmes for you,” said Wei-hsien.

When he tried standing up, the binds wrapped themselves around his wrists even tighter. His face contorted as he struggled through the pain.

“Wei-hsien, you’ll get your due compensation after Éclair finishes this one task, okay? Then, you’ll get to be with your wife again. Now, Éclair. You want this man and yourself to be free right?” he said as he walked out of the cell.

He inched closer towards me until I hit the wall. My hands grasped at anything that I could hold, but the bricks chipped my fingernails away instead.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked.

“I need to find two more specimens for my research. Once you finish this, you and Wei-hsien over here won’t have to be my guinea pigs anymore.”

Wei-hsien clutched the bars tight, mouthing words that I could not understand through his thin lips. Lisias lifted my chin with his hand and clicked his tongue.

“I need you to retrieve that Elemental Messenger for me. Not only that, I want you to find out more about that boy we met at the town centre. While you’re at it, you might want to find ways to get rid of that new classmate of yours too,” he said before walking away.

My eyes grew larger. The only thing I could do was lean against the brick wall and stop hiding those tears. How? How could I do such things to Minori and Kenny?

“You don’t have to do this,” said Wei-hsien.

I looked up and found him staring at the monitor again, his eyes listless.

“Yeah, I miss my family. I’d love to go back to Taiwan just to tell my parents that I’m fine. Or not. But if you’re going to hurt people just to free yourself and me, it’s not going to be worth it.”