I was Primary Four (P4) in 2013. The good news was that Joseph Adams had graduated from primary school! The bad news was that he chose to go to the affiliated Flowing River Secondary School (FRSS) and would occasionally come back to visit his friends and the even worse piece of news is - Rebecca was no longer in the same school as me. She went to FRSS and thankfully in a different class from Joseph, but I missed the common recess breaks we had together.

I also made more friends in class. I would not say I am or was an antisocial person, since I actually enjoy hanging out with people. I had hardly more than two friends in class in P1 and P2 mainly because Vera and I spent our recesses with Rebecca, her friends and Leo. You know, teachers were more particular about making sure nobody talks during lessons in primary school, so I dared not take the risk to talk to other classmates. Even though the teacher was not around, I would always have Vera to talk to.

I was glad that more students were opening up to the both of us in P3 and P4. There was Willis Chia, who was also interested in Geography, so we had something in common to talk about. One more person joined the Vera and Me duo - Kristy Joel.

I behaved well in class, respected others and participated actively in group discussions. As a result, I was pleasantly surprised by my form teacher issuing me a form - nomination to be a Junior Leader (basically P4s before promoting to prefects). I was astonished. I did not expect to be nominated, since I never had the opportunity to lead in class. Elijah, due to his excellent job as a class chairman, got nominated and managed to be promoted to a prefect. Me? I never contributed much to my class as far as I knew. Perplexed, I decided to approach my form teacher.

“You definitely deserve it! You consistently ensure your work is done, take initiative to keep your friends quiet and keep the class clean. The other teachers don’t find you an issue. I also heard you are very helpful to the P3s who just joined the Choir this year.”

I got a clearer picture then. I was still contemplating on whether my decision to join the Choir was a mistake. I would surely say I loved singing, but my music taste did not really suit many of the songs sung and I felt awkward singing them. These were fortunately not as bad as the vocal training we had to go through, which I absolutely loathed. I also dreaded being a Tenor Two, as there was no way I could convince the teachers to let me be in the (non-existent) Baritone Section. Worst of all, my siblings were both in Environment Club and I was alone in Choir. Nevertheless, I got to meet many awesome friends whom I was closer to than many of my classmates. Of course, Nicole and Cuthbert were two of them. There was also Ann.

Back to my nomination, five other classmates besides me and Willis were nominated too, namely - Vivian Ho, Chew Huayi, Sylvia Chisaka, Elise Wong and Viktoriya Kozlovskaya. We all accepted the offer and went for the interview. Unfortunately, we were not grouped together so I could not be with Willis and Elise whom I was more comfortable with.

Nervous, I sat down behind a boy who was chatting away with a girl from another interview group. After a few moments, he turned to me.

“Yo! Nice to meet you! I’m Daniel Lim. What’s your name?”

“Jordan Lee. Nice to meet you,” I replied.

“Jordan. You are in the Choir? I remember seeing you sing on stage. I am from the Band, the percussion section. You are in 4B right? Vivian’s class… oh there he is with my classmate Nazreeen! Woah, Elise is nominated too? That’s good, that's good.”

“You and Elise know each other?” I asked Daniel with a confused expression.

“Yeah, it was last year. Your classmate, Chester was my classmate in P1 and P2 and one day I was eating with him and I got to know Elise. Oh, Raj and Naomi too.”

So that was Daniel Lim! I remembered a student from 4A who was extremely talkative and would sometimes come to eat with some of my classmates during recess. How would a person like him get nominated?

“You seem to have a lot of friends from my class,” I said.

“Really? Maybe…oh! Hi Hui Wen! You’re in Group Five too?” Daniel suddenly greeted a girl who joined our line.

“Guys! Sit closer! Let’s talk about life!” he said enthusiastically. “Alright for some of us we might be seeing each other for the first time, so let’s introduce ourselves. We can share our name, class, CCA, what you like to do and other stuff you want to share. I’ll start. My name is Daniel Lim Jia Jun. I am from 4A. I am in the percussion section of the Band. Besides playing percussion instruments like the triangle and xylophone, I like to play the piano and guitar too. Oh and I really love singing and I want to start a band.”

Daniel nudged me.

“I am Jordan from 4B. I am in the Choir. I play the bass. I don’t really know what else to say so I will say I wanted to get into 3A last year but my teacher said I was a few marks short. I hope to be in 5A next year.”

‘It’s okay man! I believe you are hardworking and I’m sure you’ll make it,” Daniel reassured me.

The self-introduction continued until a senior prefect ushered us to proceed to our interview station. We were being asked a few questions before we had to do an activity, that was to build a structure using the given materials that could support five Chinese textbooks for a minute without collapsing.

I was in awe at Daniel the entire time. He was being very encouraging and ensuring each of us in the group had equal opportunity to contribute. In the end, we succeeded. On the flipside, his interview responses were ridiculously long that our group took a longer time to complete the interview, making me worry about being dismissed late which would make my siblings, who were having their Chinese supplementary lessons, wait for me longer. No doubt about it, Daniel’s responses did show a degree of maturity in his thought. He brought up many points and personal experiences which I did not think about.

While leaving the interview venue, I all of a sudden established a link between him and Joseph Adams. They were annoyingly talkative students and meanwhile good orators. Perhaps I should not jump into conclusions having only met Daniel in person for the first time.

I was really afraid Daniel was the next Joseph Adams, that I tried to avoid him for the next few days.

“I don’t really like where we usually sit in the cafeteria. Where is a good place to move?” I asked Vera and Kristy.

“Why do you suddenly want to move? You seem fine at our usual seat.” Kristy replied.

“How about those benches near the secondary school canteen?” Vera suggested.

“No! Don’t get me into trouble please. I am waiting for my junior leader interview results,” I said.

“Oh sorry! I forget that was a rule,” Vera giggled.

“You know what? Just sit behind the sinks over there,” I said.

It was really stressful trying to hide for an entire week. I kept peeking over during my meals, which made Vera and Kristy suspect greatly. I also avoided walking past the 4A classroom.

“What’s wrong? You are avoiding someone right?” Vera asked.

“Erm..no! I am just tired of the same things every single day,” I tried to cover up.

“Come on, don’t lie. We can help you with the issue,” Kristy reassured.

“Fine. It’s about someone from 4A. Do you know Daniel Lim?”

“Wait, is it the guy who sang and played the guitar for the teachers during Teacher’s Day last year?” Vera asked.

“I cannot remember who that person was but this Daniel is a very annoying person from Band!” I ranted and slammed the table.

“He isn’t annoying. He is a nice and friendly person,” Kristy said.

“What? Don’t be tricked! This kind of person shouldn’t be nominated to be a junior leader!” I protested.

“How did he annoy you?” Vera queried.

“We were in the same group for our interview and before it started, he just kept talking and getting us to introduce ourselves. Then, his interview responses were so long and wasted our time. He didn’t only annoy me. He goes from table to table annoying people during recess!” I rattled.

“You don’t even know him well so you shouldn’t say that,” Kristy frowned.

Kristy was right. I might be thinking too much. I should not jump into conclusions having only met Daniel once. I felt I should ask other classmates about their opinion of him, but I was afraid they might criticise me.

It was the Friday of the ninth week of the first term - three days before we knew whether we would take on the position as junior leaders. I did want to take up the role, even though I would no longer have the freedom to wear whatever I like to school every day. The outfit was green in colour, coming with a badge that comprises the school logo and the student’s name. The boys’ outfit comprised a buttoned shirt and shorts (I did not like wearing shorts to school), with a tie for P5 and P6 prefects and a vest for executive committee (Exco) members. The girls’ outfit was just a one-piece sleeveless dress, with a sleeveless bolero jacket for exco members.

I plucked up courage to approach the nominees in my class to ask them about their opinions about Daniel.

“He’s really good! Do you remember what he did during Teachers’ Day last year? He sang a song for the teachers on his own and made his classmates give out biscuits to the teachers. He’s really polite and always greeting teachers and students, even those he doesn’t know,” Willis said.

“Oh I’m friends with him. He talked to me during the Band trial last year. I didn’t join in the end but he still greets me and asks how I am doing whenever we see each other,” Sylvia said.

“Funny and cool kid. My cousin has a crush on him. He’s the kind who will make you happy when you’re sad,” Huayi said.

“He’s in Percussion section. He is the P4 who can play the most instruments there - chimes, triangle, xylophone and marimba. He said he is learning to play the drum set now and wants to switch to Woodwind section next year. I don’t know why. He is quite good at the percussion instruments and I don’t see why he wants to switch. He sings so well! Very well! He should join the Choir but I don’t know why he joined Band,” Vivian said.

“Hmm.. I don’t really pay much attention to him but I guess he is quite outspoken? I don’t really know,” Viktoriya laughed.

Now I came to Elise and decided to get more information from her, since she got to know Daniel through a friend.

“Nah! He’s not a nasty guy like you think. Why don’t you get to know him more? He is quite a friendly person. He cares for others. Do you see other students giving small gifts to the cleaners and general office staff? No right? He has a really big heart for people. He wants to make everyone happy by entertaining them. I understand he might be a bit forceful when he is too excited about meeting a new friend. I am sure he is not a bad person. I never heard anything about him wanting to be nasty to others or just acting like a goody-two-shoes. He won the Character Award last year. So, just take some time to understand him.”

Wow! I did not hear anything negative. How far should I trust these one-sided opinions? Not yet. I was still very skeptical.

The day had come. After morning assembly, the announcement requested for all junior leader nominees to report to the lecture theatre.

“I’m so scared! I need this position!” Sylvia groaned.

“And I have to wear shorts every day if I get in!” I added.

“You don’t like shorts?” Vivian chuckled.

“Yes. Can we just wear the shirt and not the shorts?” I said.

“Woah. I like shorts so if I get in I will need to get used to wearing a dress every single day,” Elise sighed.

We entered the lecture theatres to see other nominees chatting nervously, as well as the exco prefects who were sorting out the outfits that would be presented to successful candidates. The teacher-in-charge made a short speech before flashing the list of nominees and whether they were accepted, starting with 4A. Daniel’s name was second on the list and he no doubt was accepted. Students were clapping and cheering loudly, including some of the exco prefects. Was he that deserving? I was too nervous to look at what happened next, only hearing the teacher read out the names one by one..

“Chew Huayi!” the teacher read.

I instantly looked up at the screen and saw that all seven of us in 4B were accepted! I thanked God. I could finally be a student leader! I exchanged hi-fives with Elise and Sylvia.

“Good job Jordan!” Daniel shouted from where he was seated when I walked to the front to receive my new attire from the school captain.

He actually remembered me.

On Wednesday that week, we were called back to the lecture theatre to settle our duty allocations, which would take effect the next term. There were both morning and recess duties, where those doing morning duties would have to keep the lower primary classes in order, catch latecomers or lead the assembly; those doing recess duties have to ensure order in the various school facilities and ensure no one goes up the staircases back to their classes before the end of recess. Sylvia, Elise and I decided to take up morning duties, where we were attached to a lower primary class, with our senior prefects to guide us. Sadly, the class I was allocated was not the same as Elijah’s, so I could not do my duty together with him. After the morning duties were settled, the teacher asked if anyone doing morning duties did not mind doing a recess duty as well. I looked around and saw Daniel put up his hand.

“I’ll take it!” he said with much confidence.

“Do you have any preference on where you want to take charge?” the teacher asked.

“I would like to be in the school garden, but if anyone wants to take it very badly I’ll give it to him or her,” Daniel replied.

No! He had to take charge of the school garden! It had been my favourite spot to hang out with Kristy and Vera! Not exactly our only spot, as we had the school aquarium to hang out at too. I silently hoped someone objected, but no one said anything.

Willis chose to take charge of the staircase near the foyer, Viktoriya chose the field, Huayi chose another staircase near the laboratories while Vivian chose the library.

The Friday of that week was inter-class games, which I loathed and found a complete waste of time. It was compulsory for everyone in class to participate, regardless of how physically unfit or unwilling to play one was. What was the purpose of these games? The principal said it was to ensure class bonding and unity. I begged to differ. Anyway, I learnt new things from that year’s games, because I decided to divert more attention to a particular class rather than talk to Vera and Kristy the entire time.

Vera, Kristy and I chose to participate in the link race. Sylvia chose it too. We were supposed to form a line of ten of us interlocking our arms and run a required distance. If anyone broke away, we had to stop. Guess what? 4A was one of our opponents…and Daniel had to be one of the ten participants of his class. I managed to notice what he was saying before the relay started.

“Winning or losing is not important now! What is important is that we have?” Daniel’s loud voice rang in the air.

“Fun!” his classmates replied in unison.

“That’s right! Hey 4B! Hey 4E! All the best to you! F-R-P-S go go go!”

I was very irked at that moment. Who on earth would care about this annoying kid who just wanted the whole school’s attention?

“We are from 4A and we’re on our way! To do our best and seize the day! Though hardships and troubles may come our way! Nothing can take our hopes away! Ad Alta!”

Really? That class had to do cheers? That only added on to the level of annoyance Daniel possessed. I had totally no mood to participate in the relay. I was still in a daze when the horn was sounded. All I heard then was the cacophony of “Let’s go 4A let’s go!” .

I just advanced according to my senses as well as the guidance of Vera and another boy, until I heard, “Go Daniel!” My feet instantly became numb and I accidentally tripped over Vera’s foot, causing me to break off from the chain.

“Ow! Jordan!” Vera shrieked.

“I’m so sorry! Quick! We need to win them!” I said as I got back up.

As expected, my class ended up last and the winner was obviously 4A. I was angry. How did such annoying people deserve to win?.

“Guys! Don’t go! Let’s shake hands with the others!” Daniel shouted to his classmates and all of them began shaking hands with us and telling us we did a good job.

“Hey Jordan! That was great! How’s life?” Daniel said when he approached me.

“Good! I just don’t like playing with others like this,” I replied.

“I see. We all have our different interests but it is a very good chance to work together with your classmates outside of the classroom. Alright, see you around. Oh and enjoy your Choir Camp later!” Daniel continued.

What was his purpose for all those? I observed his class from then on.

“Who is going to lead the cheer for the next game?” a boy from 4A asked. A girl instantly pointed to a boy who was sleeping on his bag.

“Wake up!” another boy kicked him.

“What?” the boy who was asleep put on his glasses and sat up.

“Do you want to lead the next cheer?” Daniel asked him.

“What? Me again? I’m tired! Can I sleep?” the boy groaned.

“Come on! You can do it!” Daniel and other students persuaded him.

“Okay...but which cheer?” the boy asked.

“Any one you like,” Daniel replied.

“Everywhere we go! People want to know! Who we are! Where we come from! So we tell them! We are from 4A! Mighty Mighty 4A! Pretty Pretty 4A! Ad Alta!”

How nasty of Daniel to gang up with his classmates and force that boy to lead the cheer! Then, I had the sudden thought that I would stop working as hard as I wanted so I would not enter 5A the next year and be stuck with Daniel. I just needed information about how Daniel usually performed in class.

After the event was over, I went over to 5A to meet Elijah who was talking to Xavier and Ann. I immediately complained to them about what Daniel was doing.

“Just ignore him if you feel irritated. There’s no use observing him,” Xavier advised.

That was a good piece of advice. I wanted to ignore him. I wanted to stop bothering about him. It was just so difficult, as his voice and appearance would inevitably hover around my brain and my vision.

After chatting for a few minutes, Elijah and Xavier left with Dylan and Maybelle. They were going for lunch with our mothers and thereafter Aquarius Water Park. Rebecca and Kai Le would join after they ended school. I was sad. I wanted to have fun with them but I had to go for my CCA camp. I left with Ann to put our bags in the Music Room. I kept questioning myself why I landed in Choir. I detested most of the songs we sang. The teacher flashed the groupings for the camp on the screen, and I desperately looked for my name.

My group was not too bad after all by looking at the names. Harlan was our vice-president and also in the tenor section. He was quite patient with guiding our section. Chi Chen (we call her Qizhen) was the head of the mezzo-sopranos who was rather quiet but committed. Ivan was quite nice and funny, but liked to crack dirty jokes.

As for the two batchmates in my group - Alicia Tan and Vernice Chin, I had yet to know them well, especially Vernice. I had not spoken to her, as she was with Chloe Liew and Natsuko Wantanabe most of the time. As for Alicia, she was a jovial and friendly person, and was also my closest batchmate in Choir. She would occasionally come over to talk to me during recess and eat with me before our afternoon CCA sessions. However, I spent most of my time with Ann and other seniors during CCA which made it seem I had no friends in my batch. Moreover, I avoided going over to 4A talk to Alicia because someone was in her class - Daniel Lim. I did not want Daniel to notice me, so I felt it was best that I avoided approaching anyone from his class.

There were three juniors in my group - Kok Beng, Jeremy and Clarabel. Kok Beng was someone I could relate to due to his interest in The Who. Jeremy was in my section but was very reserved. Clarabel on the other hand was extremely disruptive and frequently complained to others about how difficult her homework was. Nonetheless, it was quite amusing to see her doing so and we would have a good laugh.

We proceeded to the cafeteria for our catered lunch, where we played some games at the same time.

“So how’s life guys?” Ivan asked.

“Don’t ask me anything about school please. Everything is so hard!” Clarabel complained.

“You’re just not working hard! We have free time later, right? Take out your homework and do them!” Ivan replied.

“Bro, do you think anyone brought their homework today?” Tiffany chuckled.

“Of course some will bring them because it is too boring to watch the games throughout,” I commented.

“Don’t tell me you were studying the entire time,” Ivan shook his head.

“I wasn’t. I mean the P6s. They have to work extra hard this year so what is the point of wasting their time watching boring games?” I added.

“I’m not a nerd, but you are right. I did see some P6s studying,” Harlan said.

“Hold up! None of us have answered Ivan’s question yet. Why don’t you share, Vernice?” Qizhen interrupted.

“Bad. My holidays are just going to be full of tuition classes,” Vernice grumbled.

“Tuition? Oh no! I hate those! My parents want to sign me up for those! Help me! I don’t want tuition!” Clarabel complained.

“They are to help you! With tuition, my English improved a lot,” Qizhen explained.

“I don’t wanna study!”

“What are we doing today?” Alicia asked.

“Facilitators will come to lead the games and in the evening we will go out to the city for treasure hunt as mentioned in the consent form and then watch the Songjoy concert, then come back, shower and sleep,” Qizhen said.

The games were so boring that I felt like sleeping. The only thing that kept me awake was talking to Alicia and Kok Beng. I repeatedly questioned myself why I joined the Choir.

When we set off for the city, I sat with Vernice on the bus.

“So, how’s the camp so far?” I asked her.

“Boring. I want to sleep,” she replied.

“Same. Oh! What kind of music do you listen to?”

“Can you let me sleep first?”

“Erm… alright.”

There went my opportunity to get to know Vernice, but of course, I still had time during the treasure hunt. When we alighted, Vernice instantly went to look for Natsuko and Chloe.

I turned to Alicia. “Hey, do you know what kind of music Vernice likes?”

“Nope. Let’s join them!” Alicia walked forward. “Hey guys! Can we join you?”

“Yes! Come!” Chloe replied.

“What kind of music do you like?” I asked them.

“Do I have a kind I like? I listen to anything!” Chloe chuckled.

“Yeah! Anything that’s popular!” Natsuko added.

“Same,” Vernice said.

“This guy loves old music!” Alicia said.

“Wow! That’s special! I think Songjoy has some covers of old songs, you’ll enjoy the concert,” Chloe told me.

We assembled in our groups to commence the treasure hunt. Ivan was the one giving his usual corny ideas. Alicia tried to contribute too. On the other hand, I could not focus, as I was caught up with the Daniel issue. I was also looking forward to hearing the classics Songjoy would perform later.

I could not seem to appreciate the concert, although Songjoy performed songs I actually like such as The Longest Time, Beautiful Sunday, Nights on Broadway and (Just Like) Starting Over. Daniel and what he did that morning was still hovering in my mind. I needed to talk to someone about it, but whom? The best person would be Alicia, since I was quite comfortable talking to her. I decided to sit with her on the bus on our journey back to school.

“Is Daniel Lim very irritating?” I asked.

“My classmate? I actually had a classmate in kindergarten called Daniel Lim too. How should I answer your question? I think he is irritating when you can’t hear what he says but he is not when you can hear what he says,” Alicia replied.

“Er…that means it won’t be irritating when I am actually paying attention to what he is saying?” I enquired.

“Something like that. Why are you asking me that?”

“That person just makes me uncomfortable. He reminds me of someone...someone who..”

“Huh? Don’t tell me he bullied you!”

“No he didn’t do anything bad to me but I am afraid he is going to be like the previous school vice captain!”

“Joseph? He’s good!”

“No! Please don’t believe what those people say! He is not a good person at all! He should not even be a prefect in the first place! I’m not kidding. My sister and her friends were bullied by him so badly! If you start becoming friends with him I’m sure you’ll die! Oops. Sorry. I’m too mean.”

“It’s okay. You seem worked up. Drink some water and calm down for a while.”

“Thanks. I am very serious about what I said about Joseph. Please tell me you are not cheated by him.”

“He hasn’t done anything bad to me or my classmates yet but there was once he invited a few of my classmates and me to some party. I didn’t go. I think Daniel was one of them who went.”

“See? Daniel mixes around with these kinds of people. I don’t think he is a good person. From what I saw this morning, he wants people to notice him and to like him. He was also nasty enough to gang up with your classmates to force someone to lead the cheers. When someone is unwilling to lead the cheer, it would be better if he just leaves him alone.”

“Did he?”

“Obviously. Your classmate was having a good sleep on his bag and Daniel was one of them who woke him up and forced him to lead the cheer!”

“Ace? He’s my boyfriend!”

“What?”

“Forget it. Not exactly a boyfriend, let’s talk about Daniel before I tell you about Ace. Daniel started the class cheers this year to hype up the class spirit, not because he wants everyone to notice him. We have this identity cheer: Everywhere we go! People want to know! Who we are! Where we come from! So we tell them! We are from 4A! Mighty Mighty 4A! Pretty Pretty 4A! Ad Alta! Yup, I know we did not write it ourselves but it’s quite fun. And this one: Fight! Fight! 4A let’s fight! Let’s ride the tides and make it right! Ad Alta’s our motto and we’re gonna see the light. Let’s work together and make our future bright! And this one: We are from 4A and we’re on our way! To do our best and seize the day! Though hardships and troubles may come our way! Nothing can take our hopes away! Ad Alta!”

“Oh I just remembered hearing them at the P4 camp. What else did Daniel do?”

“He’s our chairman and is always trying to make sure we are united. Not easy, but he makes sure no one is lonely.”

“Does he even try? He keeps irritating my classmates during recess.”

“He talks to more people during recess but that is after he makes sure our class has no problem. He is not a bad person. He gets us to write cards and buy gifts for our cleaners. He performs at the orphanage and old folks home and does charity work. I don’t know how but he can hype the very quiet classmates up. A lot of girls have a crush on him, including those who are older.”

“You said similar things to others. Is he dating someone right now?”

“If he is, would he have time for so many friends? Right now I can’t tell who his best friend is, as if he never had one before. I have two classmates who wanted to date him but he explained very nicely that they are too young and blah blah blah.”

“And why are you dating someone?”

“Long story. I wouldn’t say I am actually dating Ace, it’s more like semi-dating.”

“What’s that? I don’t think you can semi-date a person. It sounds wrong!”

“It was last year. Our Math teacher punished about eight of us for not completing our homework so we were made to stand at the back of the class. It was the first time Ace got punished and he was very scared. Then I looked at him and he looked at me. I held his hand. He seemed to be less afraid and whispered to me that he wants to hold my hand forever. Sounds weird but both of us were good friends before that happened, it wasn’t magic of course. During recess that day, I asked him what he was talking about. I knew what he meant but I just wanted to be sure. He asked me if I wanted to be his girlfriend. I was so happy when I heard that. I had been waiting for that day. I immediately said yes. It was the best day of my life, and the day after April Fools. So, after that we talked and hung out more often. I wouldn’t say we are really dating because we are keeping our relationship a secret to our families and quite a few of our classmates think we are actually not a couple.”

“I think both of you are just close friends. Why did you even hold his hand?”

“No! I’m sure I like him and he likes me. The feeling is different when I am with other close friends! I held his hand because I knew both of us were very scared. Before we got together, I was quite jealous of older kids who are already dating and wondered when I’d be like them.”

“Oh. How are Daniel’s results?”

“Better than mine. I was second last in class last year. Ace is helping me right now and I think I am improving. Hope I can stay in 5A with him next year. I don’t know how exactly he did but I remember he cleared the Gifted test last year. He didn’t go to a better school because he wanted to stay with us. Three of my classmates transferred out.”

“Two of mine left. Do you know how well Daniel does for each subject?”

“Not very sure. I know his Chinese isn’t that good and our teacher is saying how he can’t take up Higher Chinese if he continues to do this badly.”

That is clearly a lack of information to determine how hard I should study that year to secure a decent score yet be unable to be promoted to 5A. I did not have issues with the Chinese Language and was aiming to get into Higher Chinese. I hoped Daniel’s Chinese would not improve to the point where he qualified for Higher Chinese.

We got ready for shower after returning to school. While queuing up, some of the seniors were talking about the Sonjoy concert.

“We should just sing acapella with one of those songs,” Harlan said.

Our president, Ah Heng, said, “Or I can write songs!”

“You’re going to step down soon and you still want to write songs for us?” another boy said.

“I don’t have to write them this year!” Ah Heng said. “I plan to call myself Mr...Ah Heng!”

“Nice name indeed. If you want to cover songs, I suggest you cover those classics Songjoy performed just now. And I’m very happy Chiquitita was chosen because it's a great song. We should have more classics as our performance songs. We need to know good music,” I said.

“It’s not us deciding the songs most of the time, sadly,” Harlan said.

While waiting for our hair to dry back in our assigned classroom for sleeping, Stuart randomly asked me, “You and Alicia were talking about Daniel Lim on the bus just now?”

“Yes. I need to know what nonsense he has been up to,” I replied.

“Nonsense? He’s a godsend!” Stuart protested.

“Why do all of you think he is so good?” I frowned.

“No, really-” Stuart wanted to continue.

“You mean the guy from the boarding house?” Jeremy interrupted.

“Yes he goes to the boarding house,” Stuart replied. “He’s really a miracle. One day, I forgot to bring my pencil case to school and there was a test that day. I was very scared because I didn’t know how my teacher would punish me. Suddenly, Daniel came and told me to stay happy and hopeful. How? How did he know I was secretly calling for help? He then lent me a pencil and eraser. Oh and I am going to his church in two weeks.”

“Which church is he in?” I asked.

“Genesis. I am from Rubosia Christian Centre. My brother and I wanted to invite our neighbour to church. I told Daniel about it and he said his father had a book he could give my neighbour,” Stuart continued.

“My friend is from his church!” a boy commented.

“But he is a very irritating person!” I protested.

“Do you want me to call him right now and tell him that?” Raju said while taking out his phone.

“No! He’s going to kill me! He is not a good person. He is Joseph Adams!” I blurted.

“Huh? What do you mean? The guy from swimming last year?” Kok Beng asked, looking up from his book.

“You’re right that Joseph isn’t a good person, Jordan,” Stuart said. “He’s a pedophile! Last week I saw him talking to the P1s in a very weird way and my brother saw him taking pictures of the girls Swimming team having their training!”

“That’s normal for Joseph to do. Thanks for agreeing with me that Joseph isn’t a good person. Now do you think he deserved to be a prefect?” I asked.

Stuart shook his head. “Don’t ask me how he got in. It was a big mistake the teachers made. Which class are you taking for your morning duty?”

“1G,” I replied.

“I’m taking 2F,” Stuart said.

“I don't understand why Alicia thinks Joseph is good,” I signed.

Raju chuckled, “That guy is different to different people. I didn’t really care about him.”

“Wait… Alicia told me she is dating someone,” I told Raju.

“Ace? He’s from Drama. Some people say they are a couple and some say that they are not. I don’t really know whether they are a couple or just best friends. Alicia has a lot of photos of them together on Facebook. What’s your phone number? I can send them to you,” Raju spoke.

“I don’t have a phone,” I replied.

“Oh that’s okay, I’ll show you her Facebook photos,” Raju said and showed me many pictures of Ace and Alicia together.

“Wow, they take so many pictures together and I don’t think I see as many of her other friends. She told me they are semi-dating, even though I feel there’s no such thing, so that means they are a couple,” I said.

“Oh nice, good girls will always get taken first!” Raju exclaimed, winking at Stuart.

“What? I didn’t say I like her! She’s just my good friend!” Stuart frowned.

Without thinking, I linked what Raju said to Daniel, “Good girls will get taken first. Daniel is not taken, so this means he isn’t a good boy! Ha!”

Kok Beng laughed.

“Ha ha ha. Girls already like him. It is just his choice that he doesn’t want to date, Jordan,” Raju rebutted. “Let me show you his Facebook account.”

What I saw was pictures of Daniel with a whole lot of random people. Nothing stood out to me besides his excessive popularity, which I wondered why everyone seemed to know things regarding him while I just had a different perception after meeting him at the interview.

“Wait a minute Jordan, aren’t you dating someone?” Stuart asked.

“The girl I hang out with most of the time? Don’t get the wrong idea. We are just friends,” I replied.

Soon, we all fell asleep and the next thing I felt was someone tapping on my hand. I was actually amazed that I managed to sleep without any dreams… but it was only two at night when that happened.

“Vernice is looking for you,” the voice whispered.

Was I hallucinating? Why would Vernice want to look for me in the middle of the night?

“Wake up!”

I finally recognised the voice. It was Stuart. Apparently, Vernice wanted me to help her recall the lyrics of Chiquitita. That sounded strange. We had not even started practising the song and she wanted to master the lyrics? I admired her excellence in that but it was simply strange that she would look for me at an ungodly hour just to recall song lyrics.

I took eleven hours to sit up, followed by eleven days to stand up and eleven weeks to walk to the door and out of the classroom.

“Oh, hi. You’re here to ask me to help you recall Chiquitita’s lyrics?” I asked.

“Yes. I asked Alicia just now but she said she couldn’t remember the tune, and told me to come to ask you,” Vernice replied.

“I can’t remember all the lyrics. It is more like when the song plays I am able to sing along to it. I can try running through part of the song? Probably the chorus?”

Within a second, I heard loud coughing and I was back in my sleeping bag. Does that mean that was all a dream?

It was, to my surprise. Anyway, the dream sort of gave me the urge to lead everyone in the bunk the singing of Chiquitita’s chorus.

“What are you guys doing? You are already practising the song now?” Harlan popped by at the window.

“Oh hi. Last night I had a dream of Vernice coming over to ask me for help to remember the chorus of the song, so I thought we better do it before it’s too late,” I replied.

“I love your passion man! You’ve got to help Tiffany. I have a feeling she will have great difficulty with this one,” Harlan chuckled.

“I only know the chorus. I can’t remember all the lyrics to the verses,” I admitted.

“At least you know it best among us!” Ah Heng popped up beside Harlan.

That was really encouraging. I was always doubting myself with my decision to join the Choir. It seemed like only my taste in music could motivate me. Well, I should not complain about the song choices and instead hone my leadership and social skills.

We proceeded to wash up and head to the cafeteria for breakfast.

“So Jordan, would you like to tell us your dream?” Harlan asked.

“Why not? So, I dream that I woke up in the middle of the night and a voice said that Vernice was looking for me. I went out of the room and she said she needed help learning Chiquitita, so I helped her,” I explained.

“Yes I really needed help,” Vernice said.

“He was training the P3 and P4 boys when they just woke up just now,” Harlan added.

“Wow, that's nice!” Qizhen said. “Future exco member?”

That camp felt satisfying at the end. I managed to lead and my seniors saw potential in me.

The second term came, and so did the mid-year examinations. I decided to tell Vera about my strategy.

“This year, I will only study Chinese and nothing else. I want to get into Higher Chinese and hopefully get a level position of around 45. That will be safe.”

“I can’t imagine you doing that! I thought you care a lot about grades?” Vera questioned.

“I used to. Now I realise that safety is first, and it is better to do badly now than to do badly next year because of the danger around you,” I replied.

“Is this some Daniel Lim escape plan?” Vera asked.

I nodded. “And we can be together too. I am only doing that this year. I’ll make sure I work the hardest for PSLE the next two years.”

Vera actually supported my plan in the end, as she felt she would not be able to integrate into a new class all by herself, given the fact that Kristy was very likely to return to New Zealand after that year. With some assurance, I proudly told my siblings about the plan. Rebecca talked about how it was a huge gamble to forgo my grades just to avoid a particular student, whereas Elijah told me not to be too afraid of Daniel, as there was absolutely no evidence to prove that he was a bad person. I have always trusted my siblings but I was still quite insecure about having Daniel around. This was especially so when the June holidays had two events for the prefects - an adventure course at Aqueris Ridges and a two-day leadership training course which involved FRSS and FRJC.

The adventure course came first. It was not compulsory for all to go, but we were highly encouraged to. I had always wanted to try the adventure course and also bond with the other junior leaders in my class, so I signed up. I saw it as a good opportunity to tell them my plan. I sat with Sylvia on the bus while Elise and Viktoriya were behind us.

“Jordan, what’s your class position?” Sylvia asked.

“Eighth, and my level position is 39th. This is dangerous. I studied a little too hard,” I sighed.

“Wait, wait, wait. You were in the top five last year, but now you’re worse, and you just said you studied too hard? What?” Sylvia asked with a shocked look.

“That means I beat you!” Elise said from behind. “I got seventh in class!”

I shook her hand. “Congratulations! Keep it up. My plan is succeeding. I just need to deprove by two more class positions at the end of this year.”

“Wow you are so nice! You want to give everyone the chance to do better than you?” Sylvia laughed.

“You aren’t wrong. My main plan is to be in 5B so I can avoid Daniel Lim. My plan is to not study for anything except Chinese. I heard Daniel’s Chinese is bad, so there is no way he should be able to take Higher Chinese next year, so I can take it without him in class,” I whispered.

“Oh man! That’s so mean!” Sylvia chided.

“Is he in this bus?” I asked and scanned the bus rapidly. “Oh great, he isn’t.”

“Don’t do that to yourself. You shouldn’t do badly just because you want to avoid him. What if you do so badly that you can’t even be in 5B?” Viktoriya warned.

“Exactly! I told you so many times that Daniel is not a bad person,” Elise frowned.

“I just can’t be in 5A. That person just gives me chills,” I protested.

We then had a friendly argument about the topic until we reached our destination. After I got out of the bus, I felt someone twist my head.

“Look!”

It was actually Vivian who wanted to tease me by making me look at Daniel, who alighted from the other school bus. Huayi was laughing at my reaction.

“Stop! You are teasing me off! Don’t get me into trouble!” I tried to reprimand Vivian.

“We will prove to you that Daniel is not a bad person. It’s your problem that you are stubborn,” Huayi smirked.

“You hear that?” Sylvia raised her eyebrow.

I did not want to argue with my friends anymore. I was very tempted to spy on Daniel that day.

“Daniel! Go for Pro Level!” I heard a girl telling him.

“Why not? You’re coming along?” he replied the girl.

Vivian nudged me. “You didn’t want to observe him just now, and you are observing him now. Really?” he said.

“I’m giving you a chance to prove you are right,” I replied.

“Oh. Can I call him and tell him to come here?” Vivian asked.

“No, not that. Let me observe him from here. I think I will choose the pro level. Let me wait for my brother,” I replied.

Elijah was there too with Dylan. Elijah and I decided to choose the Pro Level, which had the most challenging obstacles. Vivian came along too. Elijah and I kept an eye on Daniel. We noticed he was with another boy who was talking and laughing very loudly.

“Do you know those people Daniel is with now? Especially the very noisy boy beside him,” I questioned Vivian.

“I think that guy is called Ethan. He is good friends with Corey. I think he was the guy who always led the cheers during P4 camp?” Vivian replied.

“Wasn’t that Daniel?” I asked.

“Daniel did too, but this Ethan is a lot noisier than Daniel. I hear his voice a lot next door during lessons. I don’t know how he got nominated to be a junior leader. I heard people say he is annoying. He sometimes pops by the back door to talk to Jasmine during our lessons,” Vivian rattled.

“If this Ethan doesn’t deserve to be a junior leader, why would Daniel?” I protested.

“It is more complicated than you think. We don’t see them all the time,” Elijah pointed out.

“Yes. I didn’t realise that Ethan was actually that annoying but Daniel still gets on my nerves,” I said.

“We don’t understand a lot of things. I think it is the teacher’s style of choosing junior leaders. I always thought the teacher would choose the well-behaved ones but looks like the 4A teacher is different. Maybe you can ask Alicia about how her teacher chooses junior leaders,” Elijah said.

“Yes, I'll ask someday. Like what Rebecca said, the prefects in the secondary school are bad. Looks like this is beginning to happen here too,” I added.

That day just left me thinking even harder than before. Not even my siblings could give me a concrete answer about who should be selected to be a leader and who should not. I hoped the leadership training would give me an answer.

As expected, I got allocated in the same group with students I never knew before. The group consisted of students from FRSS and FRJC too. My batchmates in the same group as me included Jerome Koh and Li Xuanyu from 4A as well as Megan Teo from 4E. Jerome arrived before me and greeted me.

“Hi bro, I’m Jerome.”

“I’m Jordan.”

“I’ve seen you around in school before. How’s your holiday? Was the adventure course fun?”

“Oh yes it was fun. I want to try it again. Do you know the others in our group?”

“Xuanyu is my classmate. I don’t know Megan yet.”

“Hi!” Xuanyu popped by.

Jerome introduced me to her and her to me. Soon, Megan arrived.

“Xuanyu and Jerome, both of you are in 4A right? Can I know how your teacher chooses junior leaders?” I asked.

“Tough question,” Xuanyu remarked.

“Yeah, it’s a tough question. I have four older siblings. They were all prefects. Two of them are P5 now. Yes they are twins. They said the teachers will pick those who know how to behave, but not those who are too quiet. I don’t quite agree,” Jerome said.

“Yes. My sister said some of the prefects are just bad. If you remember the vice captain last year, that guy is a big bully!” I continued.

“Joseph? He is quite a friendly and nice person,” Megan commented.

“He’s okay,” Xuanyu added.

“You’re just tricked. He is so bad that he bullies my sister’s friends and bullies many other girls,” I replied.

“Jordan makes sense. What I heard from my older siblings is that Joseph acts a lot in front of the teachers. He bullied my brother so much that he left for a worse secondary school just to avoid Joseph. He ditched his friends just to avoid Joseph, and he is much happier in his new school. Good for him,” Jerome explained.

That sounded very familiar. It sounded almost like me avoiding getting into 5A to avoid Daniel.

“That’s very smart of him. I think for our batch, a whole lot of people will do the same as your brother,” I said.

“Why? Who’s so bad in our batch that we must avoid?” Xuanyu enquired.

“Your obvious classmate,” I replied.

“I can’t think of anyone in our class who is that bad. There is some bullying and teasing here and there but most of us can get along quite well,” Jerome said.

“Watch out for that Daniel Lim. He seems good but I feel he is a dangerous person. Really. I don’t feel comfortable when I am around him. I have this bad feeling that he will be the next Joseph,” I protested.

Megan and Xuanyu began to giggle. I was frustrated. How could people be so simple-minded?

“Daniel? He’s my good friend. What bad things did he do?” Jerome asked.

“Annoy my classmates and act like a Joseph,” I replied.

“I’m sure both of them are quite different,” Jerome explained, “Daniel has a lot of friends, but he doesn’t act. He is quite kind.”

“I am not friends with him but I see he is actually quite funny and nice when he talks to my classmates,” Megan added.

“It’s just your imagination! A bunch of us are meeting at my house next week. Do you want to come along? Oh yes, Megan, you can come too!” Jerome said.

“Why? To meet Daniel?” I questioned.

“To play and have fun. I can show you that Daniel isn’t bad,” Xuanyu replied.

I declined the offer. I was still skeptical at that point. Anyway, a takeaway I got from the course was that a leader must ensure everyone is treated equally and no one is left out. Based on the descriptions of Daniel heard, Daniel seemed to fulfil the above quality of a leader, but obviously not Joseph Adams. Joseph was only nice to those he deemed likeable, while nasty to those he disliked, and made use of his threatening to prevent victims from slandering him.

My duties went quite well that year and I was glad to continue serving as a class buddy. As for my plan, it did succeed. My level position was 43, meaning I missed 5A by two positions. I topped my class for Chinese too and was accepted into Higher Chinese.

Vera would be following me to 5B too. Unfortunately, Kristy indeed left for New Zealand. Vera and I wondered if we should broaden our circle of close friends in our class. Vivian, Huayi and Sylvia were promoted to 5B as well but they were in different cliques which made it hard for Vera and I to decide whom to join. Viktoriya was posted to 5C while Willis and Elise were posted to 5A. I was disappointed that the junior leaders were all split, as they were the ones I would be comfortable with besides Vera and Kristy. On the last day of school that year, we had a short orientation for our P5 classes. I took the chance to warn Elise.

“Next year, just watch out. If you feel Daniel is up to no good, watch out. Don’t fall for his tricks. If you see him do anything bad, report him. You will meet this girl called Alicia. Befriend her. She is very nice. Oh and Jerome too. He is a junior leader.”

Elise was sick of hearing my negative opinions about Daniel but she just agreed and told me that we could still meet at the staircase she carried out her recess duty at (she signed up for a recess duty slot nearing the end of the year). When we were gathering outside our new classes, I tried to make eye contact with Alicia, who had agreed with me earlier that she would signal to me Daniel’s level position. On seeing me, she formed the number ‘7’ with her fingers, indicating Daniel was seventh in level. I promised myself that I would work harder in 2014, in academics and leadership.