I went to school with my heart in my throat the next day. The mundane architectural design of the school seemed foreboding for the first time. I could imagine all the prefects turning against me upon entering the school. Rebecca assured me that there would still be prefects who want FRansformed to be executed successfully. She was right. I was thinking too much. I decided to speak to Li Xuan before we left for our duties.

“Can you do me a favour after I leave?” I asked her.

“Why do you always go for your duty so early?” she asked with a chuckle.

“So the students can go into class early! It’s about Vivian. Do you want to go outside to talk?”

Li Xuan agreed and we went out of class to continue our conversation.

“So, we decided to call the string of projects FRansformed. Capital F and R for Flowing River. I’ll just jump straight to what happened yesterday. We were having an online meeting on Google Docs to make a proposal for our new project called Pegasus. Two of the committee members kept arguing then Vivian suddenly left. I don’t know why I am scared. Someone quit the committee after some online argument last term,” I said.

“Wow! You guys are starting on a new project when Project Phoenix only started?” Li Xuan asked.

“Yes. That Daniel Lim Jia Jun wanted everyone to plan for a Teachers’ Day programme too! I don’t blame him, but I feel not everyone has the time to plan for it and Project Pegasus as well.”

“You want me to tell Vivian something?”

“No, watch him and see if he is different from usual.”

“He doesn’t come that early, so maybe you can ask someone else?”

Li Xuan had a point. I wanted to ask Vera but she had to go for mentoring so Sonia was the next best alternative at that time. Fortunately, she agreed.

I bumped into Elise on my way to my duty venue.

“This is not looking good. Jerome and Darren were arguing last night and Vivian just left. I am afraid we will lose another member like the previous time. Are both of them in school yet? Did they say anything?” I said to her.

“Darren was talking about Phoenix and just left for it. Jerome seems quite depressed. Daniel’s the same,” she replied.

“Tell me how they are during recess. Where will Izumi be during recess?”

“Staircase 1. Wow you are finding someone new? Won’t someone feel betrayed?”

“Honestly, I have no idea what you are talking about. Just watch them.”

Why was I so worried? I was not even answerable to anyone for FRansformed, not even the teachers. I wondered if I really had love for the school. I wondered if I really had the pride to be an FRLite. Frankly speaking, I did not enjoy my experience in FRPS and wanted to graduate fast. My life there was simply monotone having been put in lifeless classes. What was the point of enjoying primary school life when I was merely a droplet of water in an ocean of students, unable to make a difference? Every day was just the same cycle. Only interacting with CCA and prefect friends outside of class would be fun but time for those was obviously limited.

After assembly, I went back to class and Sonia told me that she did not notice anything different with Vivian. I thanked her and decided to observe for myself - no difference. I took the chance to ask him before I left for my Chinese class next door.

“Are you alright? I saw you leaving the meeting early last night,” I said.

“Sorry about that. I went for an early sleep because I was quite tired,” Vivian replied.

“Are you sure you are fine? I was quite scared you will be the next Ariana,” I said.

Vivian chuckled. “I won’t. I have made it a point that I will learn to manage my time. I’m still trying but didn’t succeed yesterday, sadly. I feel we should not start a time management project when the committee members have trouble managing their own time.”

That was a very good point raised by Vivian. We should not expect one who had difficulty managing one’s time to impart time management advice to others. The issue was with Darren’s insistence on commencing the planning of Project Pegasus. What was so difficult about explaining to the teachers that we were not able to execute a new project? The teachers should be understanding enough to know we were young and inexperienced in life and as such unable to help others with time and stress management. I needed opinions, urgently.

When I entered 5A for Chinese, I noticed that Jerome was the last non-Higher Chinese student to leave, as he was still packing his bag. He looked dejected.

“Hello! Is everything fine?” I asked him.

He gave the same response - signaling me to go away. I looked up and saw Daniel signalling me to wait. Daniel had a point - not everyone would be willing to talk if he was depressed. I ended up going to my usual seat beside Xuanyu.

“Did anyone tell you about what happened last night?” I asked her.

“Darren only told me that we are very slow and need to hurry up,” she replied.

Willis added, “Because the teachers are waiting and we have two more projects upcoming.”

“What? Two?” Xuanyu began shrieking and jumping on the spot. “I didn’t even touch the calendar!”

“Two new projects? Teachers’ Day and?” I said.

“The cleaning project, I think,” Willis replied.

“We have a cleaning project?” Xuanyu asked.

“Aren’t we doing Pegasus first?” I asked.

“Exactly! We are supposed to do that first! I don’t know why Darren was talking about starting the cleaning project! Talk later!” Willis said as our Chinese teacher walked into the class.

After the lesson, I briefly told Xuanyu and Willis about the meeting and asked if Jerome was alright. Willis explained that Jerome was quite sensitive and easily triggered so we should avoid bombarding him with questions when he looked upset. Both of them seemed uninterested in Project Pegasus, with Xuanyu not having the mood to continue updating the Google Calendar.

During recess, I felt I needed to rant to my group of friends.

“Things are not looking good in FRansformed, really. Everyone is losing interest in planning for the projects. When we meet online, people will start arguing and the meeting ends without us doing much,” I said.

“So? You expect me to care?” Joey said, rolling her eyes.

“It’s the future of our school! We need to work with everyone to improve our school!” I said.

“Can you people even do it? I heard about how your project is failing!” Graham said.

“It won’t fail!” I protested.

“Why do I feel you’re on Daniel’s side now?” Clarice asked.

“Am I?” I asked.

“You said people say both of you think alike!” Vera said with a chuckle.

“I am not on his side. We just have the same hopes for the school somehow,” I clarified.

“So both of you can make great friends!” Clarice said.

“Yes!” Vera added.

“Daniel is not even the issue now, it is the FRansformed committee. I’m afraid it’s falling apart. If you think about it, we spent so much time discussing, planning, advertising and presenting. If this committee were to really fall apart, time and resources would have been wasted. Yes, spending our 1.30 lunches discussing may not be a lot of time but we did spend our nights discussing online,” I explained.

“Yeah! Good that you know that! Do you know that almost every recess and lunch you have to abandon us and meet your prefect friends?” Joey asked.

“And you have to drag Vera with you!” Clarice added.

“No! I am not abandoning you! I need to talk to them about important things. You won’t understand because you chose not to be interested in the Prefectorial Board. I am sorry because I have to do it more now.” I turned to Vera and said, “Do you want to join me later with Elise and Kok Weng like we usually do?”

Vera shook her head, “Uh...another time.”

“See? No one cares!” Graham said.

“I have to do this. In fact I will be going to a new location tomorrow, which is Staircase 1. All of you can come with me if you want to,” I said.

I had no idea why I had no sense of guilt for prioritising the prefects over my group of friends. With the exception of Vera, I did not find myself having a connection with the other three. All my time in 5B, I just felt like grabbing Vera and running out of the school. I did not do that, because I did not want to leave my other friends.

“Emergency,” I said as I approached Elise and Kok Weng.

“What’s happening?” Kok Weng asked.

I glared at Elise, then said, “You know the answer and I believe you can explain to him.”

“Jerome was a bit better after Chinese lesson, but still quite sad. Daniel and Darren were just talking about other things just now. How is Vivian?” Elise said.

“Vivian? He’s good! I’m so relieved. He’s still trying to learn to manage his time but he will make sure he helps us. Now, we need to know what Daniel and Darren are up to. Do you mean they don’t care about FRansformed at all?” I said.

“They care a lot. Nazreen doesn’t like it when Darren keeps hurrying us, so she told him not to talk about FRansformed too much. Actually, Darren doesn’t talk about it that much in class, it is only with the prefects when he starts to rush us,” Elise explained.

“Stuart doesn’t even talk about it in class,” Kok Weng said.

“Alright, the problem here is that people are less interested in the project now, and the teachers are hurrying us with our next projects. Willis was saying Darren said we needed to rush the cleaning project too. Hello? Since when did we all agree to start planning that?” I said.

“Wait, what are you guys supposed to do now?” Kok Weng asked.

“Darren and Willis are the ICs for Project Phoenix. The rest don’t do anything yet because we are not involved in the mentoring. Daniel then dropped the idea of a Teachers’ Day programme, which we are supposed to plan. Then Darren told us to start the proposal for Project Pegasus, because the teachers need it urgently. In case you don’t know Pegasus is supposed to be a stress and time-management project,” I replied.

“Teachers’ Day and Project Pegasus? You guys should just do one at a time, unless you can get the whole school to plan for you,” Kok Weng said.

“Exactly! I don’t like how we have to plan three projects at one go! The camp planning was tough and quite messed up!” Elise said.

“True. I need to talk to Izumi about this tomorrow. I need opinions,” I said.

Elise began to smirk. “Wow what an unfaithful person!”

“Unfaithful? Who am I unfaithful to?” I asked.

“Your girlfriend!” Kok Weng replied with a chuckle.

Elise laughed. “Yeah! Don’t break her heart!”

“Are you kidding me? It must be Kok Keong telling you that I am interested in Xuanyu when I am actually not! Recess is over...I need to talk to Izumi tomorrow. See you!” I said.

How naive of Elise to believe that I was actually interested in Xuanyu! I did not understand why people would start teasing when one seemed to be close to a friend of the opposite gender. I favoured Xuanyu as a good friend - someone whom I enjoy hanging out with and someone who would be willing to help me (out of the multitude of students) improve my Chinese standard, not someone whom I would pursue a romantic relationship with. The same went for Vera, whom many thought I was dating. My siblings would get teased the same way too. Well, let those people think the way they wanted to.

I hurriedly gobbled up my food during recess the next day so I could have more time to talk to Izumi. Again, Joey was not happy. She even said that Vera stopped following me when I met the prefects because she was angry at me for doing so. Such nonsense! I did not fully trust Joey even though she was in my group of close friends in class. I made a beeline for Staircase 1, which was near the side gate.

“Hi!” I said as I approached Izumi.

“Hi! Project Phoenix is quite fun! But the kids are always distracted!” Izumi said with a chuckle.

“Yes I saw,” the other prefect on duty said. “I am not a mentor but I was just there yesterday and today. Willis told me to go so I just went, of course I had my teacher’s permission.”

“Oh you are from 5A as well. You are Muhammad Khairul?” I asked.

“Yes, nice to meet you Jordan!” he replied.

“What brings you here today? I know you usually hang out with Elise at Staircase 5,” Izumi said.

“Firstly, do both of you know what’s going on with the other prefects in your class?” I asked.

“Yes, but those not in the committee were told not to openly discuss the problems. Since you’re part of it, I’ll tell you what I know. There was this online meeting without Daniel in March and everyone started disagreeing. The most heated part was when Darren sent a long list of agendas and Jerome was saying that it was too much and needed more time. So, Jerome vented his anger in the chat and then ended the meeting. Something you probably didn’t hear about - the argument got carried to our class chat, not the committee chat. A lot of random classmates got involved and made things very complicated, so that was why Ariana did not want to stay in the committee,” Khairul said.

“Do you know anything about Darren?” I asked.

“He’s quite enthusiastic about the projects and likes to say things like ‘We need to finish fast, or else the teachers will be mad at us!’” Khairul said.

“Yeah, he tells us a lot of his ideas too,” Izumi added.

“How about the other committee members? Xuanyu?” I asked.

“She will complain that she is tired quite often nowadays. She and some of the other committee members don’t really talk about the projects much, so I can’t really tell you more,” Izumi said.

“I see. I guess I have to stop asking about your classmates because all I get is the same responses. The main point now. Do you agree with Darren that we should do so many projects at one go?” I said.

“Of course not! I already warned him that everyone will die if we are doing three projects this term. The Pegasus project is simply too difficult and we should just focus on Teachers Day this term,” Khairul said.

“I wonder what Daniel thinks about this,” I said.

“He doesn’t want to argue with Darren and he is quite positive that we can do a good job if everyone cooperates. Oh and he has food poisoning so he won’t be in school until tomorrow,” Izumi said.

“Awesome,” I muttered.

“You are so happy that he is sick?” Khairul asked.

“No, it means I can finally talk to Elina, the other prefect on duty at the garden. I need to talk to her about this,” I replied.

“Is it the one who does morning and recess duties? There are quite a few having two duties,” Izumi said.

Recess ended before I knew it. Khairul was right - there was no way we could cope with three projects in a term. A couple more opinions would suffice - preferably students from the performing arts, since Teachers’ Day performances involved them greatly. Elina was a suitable choice, as she was in Drama.

The next day, Vera decided to come with me to talk to Elina.

“Hello! How’s your duty?” I asked her.

“Great! It’s quite fun with the P2s around. Daniel is not around today so they are sad they can’t hear his stories,” Elina replied.

“That’s why we came today to ask you about something. We decided to call our list of projects FRansformed, with capital F and R. Daniel’s suggestion for Teachers’ Day is that the prefects can plan an event. As someone in the performing arts who’s performing, what do you think about doing more for the teachers other than the performing arts performances?” I said.

“Doing more? What is the plan so far?” Elina asked.

“No plan yet, but what do you think about doing more for the teachers? Will it be too much?” I said.

“Depends on what we’re doing,” Elina replied. “I don’t think we can have a carnival like Children’s Day, but maybe we can make gifts for the teachers.”

“Yes, that’s what I am thinking. Now, the committee is a greater problem than Teachers’ Day. Most of the members are less interested in planning for the projects and we have a lot to do. If this carries on, our committee is dead. We have done our presentations and we cannot just leave our ideas floating in the air,” I said.

“The teachers shouldn’t be expecting so much from all of you. All of you are busy and don’t have so much time to plan for your projects,” Elina said.

I turned to Vera. “Darren is not making sense! Everyone agrees that it is impossible to plan three projects in just one term. People need time to prepare for exams next term.”

“Are you going to tell them? You haven’t had your afternoon meetings,” Vera said.

“Communication is so poor now that we can’t even hold afternoon meetings. Forget it! I’ll see if there’s anything next week. I don’t want to make anyone stressed over this FRansformed we put our hearts into,” I said.

Meanwhile, what could I do? Forge ahead with my own plan for Teachers’ Day? I would not have enough intelligence to plan and execute an event completely on my own (in fact, no eleven year old can do that). All I had to do was to explain to Darren the downsides of having three concurrent projects, but I did not want to get into an argument with him. As prefects, I believe we should get along in harmony and not have turbulent relationships. Anyway, should leadership not include peacemaking?

I just returned to school the next week without adding anything on the prefects website or documents. I was waiting for an opportunity to speak to some of the committee members.

Before Chinese lesson started, Xuanyu whispered to me, “Next Wednesday is Daniel’s birthday. I will pass you a paper one of these days for you to write something for him.”

“I’m not against Daniel, but why do I have to do this?” I said.

“I’m sure you know why,” Xuanyu said.

“Why are you asking me to write something for Daniel for his birthday? Nobody has ever asked me to do such a thing. Why is it only Daniel that I have to write for? Why don’t you ask me to write a birthday note for yourself? For Jerome? For Jia Jie? For Elise?” I said.

“When’s your birthday? I can write a card for you,” Xuanyu said with a giggle.

“That’s not important at all!” I protested. I turned to Leo. “Don’t say,” I whispered to him.

“Why isn’t your birthday important?” Xuanyu asked.

“What I mean is the focus shouldn’t be on the person, but instead the person’s mother. I hope you get what I mean. Daniel gets all the attention on his birthday while there are others who don’t have any attention. Is this fair?” I said.

“Just tell me your birthday. If you tell me yours, I will tell you mine. I promise I will get you something for your next birthday,” Xuanyu said.

Willis spoke, “Xuanyu’s birthday is the 25th of Fe-”

“No! Don’t say until Jordan says his,” Xuanyu said.

“Vera, when is Jordan’s birthday?” Willis asked Vera.

“I forgot...or I don’t know,” Vera replied.

“Wow you don’t even know your best friend’s birthday!” Willis chuckled.

“That’s not important! What’s important is that we’re still best friends no matter what!” I rebutted with a smirk, then looked at Xuanyu. “25th of February. Hey hey hey it’s a beautiful day.”

That was something I had trouble understanding. Popular people would always get all the attention on their birthdays. That was why I kept my birthday a secret. Suppose you were to tell your friends your birthday and no one would celebrate it or give you their wishes, what would the point be? Life could still go on even without anyone telling anyone their birthdays.

Xuanyu and I continued our conversation before Chinese supplementary that afternoon.

“If you really need me to write a note for Daniel, what am I expected to write?” I asked her.

“Anything you like, like the Christian stuff. He’s fine with nonsense on the paper too,” Xuanyu replied.

“Do I have to? Is the whole school writing for him?” I asked.

“Jerome is getting all the prefects to write for him. You still don’t like him?”

“I never disliked him. I just felt danger when I am around him. It’s getting better now. I’m starting to see he isn’t as bad as I thought. He really does a good job in our committee, I have to admit.”

“I know you are scared he is like the Joseph who bullied your sister, but we are sure he doesn’t bully people.”

I had no idea how to describe my feelings towards Daniel. He might be the outspoken and charismatic popular kid who gave off the Joseph Adams aura, but I saw the passion he had for serving the school and his friends, which was truly inspirational.

I decided to rant to Clarissa during recess the next day.

“This world can be so funny!” I said to her.

“Yeah! You haven’t come here for quite a while,” she said.

“I had other things to settle. Yesterday, Xuanyu told me to write a birthday note for Daniel.”

Clarissa began to laugh hysterically.

“Thanks for agreeing that it is funny, but that’s not the main point. Why did Xuanyu only ask me to write for Daniel? Why didn’t she ask me to write for the other prefects? I know you will say that the other prefects’ birthdays are later, but it’s already July so it’s impossible for Daniel to have the earliest birthday. People like Daniel will get remembered on their birthdays while others don’t. This is how unfair the world is, honestly.”

“No! You don’t even get what I mean! I am laughing because you had to tell me you were asked to write a birthday note for Daniel!”

“I’m not talking bad about Daniel. I just don’t like how we have to do something for his birthday but nothing for the others!”

“When’s your birthday?”

“I can’t tell you!”

“Why? It’s just your birthday!”

“I already explained just now. It is pointless telling you.”

“Ahaha, I see! You’re so cute!”

“Excuse me? Please don’t say that. You’re the cute one, not me.”

“Uh...anyway my birthday is 10 December. How is Project Phoenix going?”

“Willis and Darren say it is a bit tough for them to watch over all students and they have to keep moving between the rooms. They got Khairul to help them and they want more prefects to help out. Can you help?”

“I won’t be teaching right? I really can’t teach. My father leaves the house at the same time every day so I always reach school at around 7.10.”

“We have enough mentors so you don’t need to teach. Is there anything wrong? You told me before that you can’t teach.”

“Okay, I trust you with this. I know you won’t spread it. I’m a kid with special needs. I have dyslexia. I have problems with reading and writing so I can’t teach others the wrong things. It’s so annoying when people ask me to learn music and Japanese because I seriously can’t! Argh!”

“I understand. You did nothing wrong. Don’t feel bad for having dyslexia. Do your classmates know?”

“I only told a few. The rest don’t even care why I have extra time for my exams.”

“Ah that should help. What do you want to do in future?”

“I want to study Medicine.”

“Wow! I’m sure you can do it!”

We actually did not have sufficient time to discuss the latest developments in the FRansformed committee. Our conversation seemed aimless, but I felt honoured that Clarissa trusted me with her secret.

Again, there was no meeting that afternoon. That was the scary thing, as I did not know what was going on with the prefects in 5A. Would they have made plans in a smaller group? As I thought about it, the more unlikely it seemed. I highly doubted Daniel would do that. I had no idea why I thought that way, but I felt I understood him better. There was no evidence that he had bad intentions, which meant I was thinking too much. Yet, there was still something which prevented me from accepting him completely as a friend. There was something I needed to do. There was no way we could stall in uncertainty.

During recess the next day, I was gobbling up my food again.

“You’re eating so quickly again! Who are you meeting today?” Joey asked.

“Don’t disturb me for the next few minutes, please. I need to think of who to meet,” I replied.

“I’m thankful I’m not a prefect. I don’t have to be stressed about the school besides my studies and piano exams,” Graham said.

“Nobody is forcing you to be in the FRansformed committee even if you are a prefect. You can even tell the teacher not to choose you for exco next year,” I said.

“Are you going to be in the exco next year?” Clarice asked.

“I can’t decide for the teachers whether I will be or not. I hope I can. Elijah didn’t even care about it last year,” I said.

“Do you know how much time you will be wasting if you are in the exco?” Graham said.

“He was busy the whole of last semester and still got first in class,” Vera pointed out.

“Doesn’t mean he will still be the first,” Joey said, then turned to me. “What a loser! You don’t know how to enjoy life! You are just trying to be a principal when you are only a student.”

“You are saying that because you don’t know how good it feels to have a voice in the school,” I said.

I found it hard to take Joey seriously. I did not really like how she would slot in expletives frequently in her sentences (which are obviously left out in this book), yet I was still able to get along with her most of the time. I decided to have a chat with Xuanyu after finishing my food. I walked to the table she was sitting at and put my hand on her shoulder, meanwhile greeting Alicia seated near her.

“Hello,” Xuanyu said in a shocked state. “Do you want to sit?”

“It’s fine. Anyway you’re almost done eating,” I replied.

“Oh you need to tell me something? Wait a while.”

After Xuanyu finished her food, I told her to come with me and we ended up loitering around the fitness corner.

“Is it about Daniel’s birthday?” she asked me.

“No, but we can talk about that if there’s time,” I replied. “We need to talk about FRansformed. I am honestly concerned because I heard nothing about it these few days.”

Xuanyu furrowed her eyebrows and folded her arms. “All you care is that. Elise is supposed to tell you that we are taking a short break, but you didn’t go to Staircase 5 today, so I’m telling you.”

“Whose idea was it?”

“All of us. Darren wanted to continue but the rest of us told him we need a break.”

“What did Daniel say? I am just curious about his opinion on this.”

“He hopes we can continue as well but he understands all of us are busy and can’t only do projects all the time.”

“That’s true. Good that he understands that. I want to tell the committee that I have spoken to some others and they agree we should only do the Teachers’ Day Project this term. That, plus Pegasus and the cleaning project is simply too much. I forgot to ask, can you tell me why you pushed all the leading to me during the camp? I’m not angry at you, but I’m concerned about whether you have your difficulties.”

“I just knew I would be tired if I led anything, and I was quite scared too. I saw how you can do presentations and lead so easily so I thought you could do a good job alone.”

“But you are making me feel guilty for not letting you lead! Sorry, let’s move on. When will you be giving me the paper to write the note for Daniel?”

“I think during recess tomorrow.”

“I want to say...I realised Daniel actually isn’t bad. He really is a good committee member and leader, but I don’t like how he enjoys all the attention from everyone in school. This is Planet Earth. You’re looking at Planet Earth. This world is just imperfect and we should just accept it the way it is, just be nice to others.”

I was still contemplating whether I should contribute to the birthday notes for Daniel. The more I thought about it, the more inclined I was to write. No doubt I might have a prejudice against him, but I still should treat others the way I wanted to be treated. There was no harm in giving someone else my blessing at all.

“Yeah. I am not someone who has a lot of friends, but I do like being with my classmates.”

“Wow! Classmates! I wish I like being with my classmates. Like what I told you before, I can’t get along with a lot of people in my class besides Vera, this girl sitting beside me and some of the prefects. You may see me with Graham and two other girls but I don’t find myself getting along with them very well. I don’t know why but Huayi has been nasty to me ever since this year. I used to complain to him about Daniel but I don’t anymore. I don’t know what’s happening. I just want to get out of this school fast.”

“It’s okay. Isn’t Li Xuan in your class? She’s from my CCA as well and she’s quite nice.”

I was relieved. Xuanyu was not actually uninterested in our projects, but was only tired and unconfident. I understood how she felt. It was particularly nerve-wrecking for one to come up with desirable plans for the school whilst juggling other commitments. As for her lack of confidence, I linked it to the time I was presenting with Li Xuan. Could there be a way to help Xuanyu gain confidence too? Weirdly, the word ‘unity’ came to mind. Indeed, we needed unity to help one another in a team - Daniel was stating the fact.

That week, the selection results for assembly leaders were being released. Assembly leaders were basically prefects who had to lead the school every morning in the singing of the national anthem, reciting of the national pledge as well as the delivering of announcements. Our batch of prefects had to take over the P6s in assembly leading starting the next week, as the P6s would spend more time preparing for their examinations. How were such leaders chosen? What was generally believed to be the choosing criteria was good oral skills and early arrival in school daily.

I was glad that I was being selected, as public speaking would give me the opportunity to build confidence. As expected, Daniel, Jerome, Jia Jie, Khairul, Vivian and Sylvia were among those selected. Darren was the puzzling one. He was quite outspoken during discussions and had amazing presentation skills. Why was he not selected? I thought about him needing to oversee Project Phoenix in the morning, but the contradiction was Khairul being selected even though he oversaw Phoenix too. Something was amiss.

On a sidenote, Choir members also had the opportunity to lead the school in the singing of the school song every Monday....and I would be the first P5 to do so. All the best to me.

Things were dull as usual, until the next Monday when we finally had another lunch meeting.

“Hey Jordan! Good job for this morning! Were you trying to sound like David Bowie?” Daniel said.

“Was I? My voice hasn’t broken yet so I have no idea who I sounded like, but it’s true that I was trying to sing in low notes,” I replied.

“Yeah you sang really well! I didn’t get to see you but your voice was awesome even through the speakers!” Jia Jie complimented. “You must really have a lot of love and passion for the school!”

What exactly was Jia Jie trying to imply? I was only trying my best to sing and me having love and passion for the school was a complete myth! I did want to contribute to the future of FRPS, but not because of my love for the school.

“You are an assembly leader too, right?” Jerome asked.

“Yes, I cannot remember the full list though,” I replied.

“Is Ariana on the list?” Nazreen asked. “I think I heard her saying it will be her turn next week.”

“Are you sure? Who was she talking to?” Darren asked.

“It is true,” Jerome said. “Cynthia told me that Ariana is taking over Xin Jie, who is unwilling to take up the role.”

What was I hearing? How did Ariana make it on the list as a replacement? From what I observed when she was still in the committee, she was a rather soft-spoken person and not the type who would daringly announce her views. Elise was definitely more outspoken and confident than her. Anyway, I should be happy for her. I should not judge based on my incomplete understanding of how Ariana behaved in class.

“What? Ariana accepted the offer?” Darren hopped out from his seat. “I wanted to tell Mr Sinnathamby that I was willing to be a replacement!”

“You already have your Phoenix to look after, why do you need to be an assembly leader?” Vivian asked.

“What’s wrong with being an assembly leader? Khairul is also overseeing Phoenix in the morning and he gets to be one!” Darren said.

“You need to calm down, bro,” Daniel said with a chuckle. “You are already doing a lot for the school, being the awesome middleman between teachers and students.”

“I guess we must start now. We have spoken to every one of you and our conclusion is that we will only plan Teachers’ Day this year. I have spoken to Mrs Edgeworth and she said all is good. She doesn’t want us to have too many things on our hands,” Jerome said, raising his eyebrow at Darren.

“The performing arts students will be busy on the day so the things we plan cannot be too hard,” Stuart pointed out.

“Wow, most of us are in performing arts!” Jia Jie remarked. “There’s me, Kok Keong, Daniel, Jordan, Stuart, Vivian. That’s it? Around half of us.”

“The question is how many prefects in performing arts are there in total?” Kok Keong said.

“A lot,” Elise replied.

Daniel muttered, “Let me think...Isabel and Joash are also in Band. Khairul and Hui Wen are in Dance...never mind for now. Does anyone have suggestions?”

“I’m sorry but I have to say this. The teachers are older than us and probably won’t like it if we sing and play modern songs,” I spoke, and the others began laughing.

“It’s not funny,” I continued. “I like how the Choir has a ‘tradition’ of singing Stand By Me every Teachers’ Day. Good song choice, but it is not nice to repeat the same song every year. So, we can have songs played through the PA system in the morning, requested by the teachers.”

Xuanyu said with a chuckle, “I haven’t even listened to two of the many songs you wrote on my textbook during Chinese! Now you want to do it to the teachers!”

“Woah! What have you guys been up to?” Kok Keong asked.

“Educating her on what good music is!” I said with a smirk.

“Jordan, I don’t see the meaning in your suggestion,” Willis said.

“I think what he means is letting the teachers have their jamming session with songs they like, a way to let loose from the pesky little children. Did I catch it correctly, Jordan?” Daniel said.

“Yes you did. I’m not sure if it’s possible but we can try to play the songs in the staff room if everyone really doesn’t want them played throughout the school. What’s wrong with classic hits?” I said.

“Nothing wrong! Don’t take the criticisms of your taste in music too hard,” Daniel reassured me. “Okay, looks like we have to go for our classes soon, any other quick suggestions?”

“Each class can write a card and make a goodie bag for each teacher,” Vivian said.

“Cliche, but good idea,” Jerome said.

I was elated after that meeting. There was finally progress! I had no idea why I came out with such a corny idea. We did have a good laugh, but I felt better when Daniel told me not to take the criticisms of my music taste too hard. Why was that so? There was no way I could find myself having chemistry with him yet. The Wednesday that week was his birthday and I happened to have CCA in the afternoon. During lunch time, there was a rather large celebration for him, consisting of a whole lot of random people. Stuart was willing to accompany me out of school for lunch before CCA.

Over that week, more ideas came out. Daniel mentioned that the teachers would have an annual ballroom dinner after every Teachers’ Day celebration so it would be good if the prefects could help out there. As there would still be lessons on the day of the celebrations, Darren and Elise suggested reducing the number or cancelling all lessons so it would be easier for alumni to find the teachers. That was a splendid suggestion in my opinion. I had not heard of any school with lessons on Teachers’ Day other than mine. The teachers deserved a good break on that day.

Within a flash, it was already the fourth week of the third term. On Monday, we had a discussion to decide on which course of action to take.

Darren said, “The teachers asked me what our plans are so far, so I told them about the card writing as a class, the playing of music, the cancelling of all lessons and us helping out at their dinner. Guess what? They said the playing of music is a bad idea!”

“Kind of,” I said. “I didn’t know what I was thinking when I suggested that, but never mind.”

“Doesn’t matter. The teachers don’t really like the idea of cancelling lessons, but I’ll try to persuade them. Writing cards and making gifts for the teachers is perfectly fine, same for helping out at the dinner,” Darren said.

“They still want to teach? Are you sure?” Kok Keong asked.

“I mean, it involves changes to the timetable and lesson plans so it may not be easy to implement. If you looked at the responses from the students, there are complaints that school life is too dull, so that’s why we need more events like these,” Darren explained.

“Yes, Darren. Any idea what we can do for the dinner?” Daniel asked.

“I can’t go!” Nazreen said.

“Wow you made plans that early! If you can’t make it, don’t force yourself. There’ll be a way out!” Daniel said.

“Maybe we can do a performance for them,” Vivian said.

“Good idea, but what song?” I said.

“Sing your dinosaur songs yourself please. Don’t make me sing it with you,” Jia Jie said.

“How about...you play the erhu in the background while I sing?” I said.

“Nah! I don’t feel like performing!” Jia Jie said.

“Jordan, just perform! Sing something!” Jerome urged me.

“I honestly don’t mind. Do I need a band to play with me?” I said.

“Up to you,” Daniel replied.

“Get your girlfriend to sing with you!” Xuanyu said, and Elise laughed so hard that she nearly fell off the bench.

“Can you repeat what you said?” I asked Xuanyu.

Xuanyu, trying to hold back her giggles, said, “Get your girl-friend to sing with you!”

“Is it very funny?” I asked.

What was happening? Who was Xuanyu referring to? Looking at the way she was saying it, she was unlikely referring to herself. What were the chances of her referring to the same person Elise and Kok Weng were referring to at Staircase 5? The only person I could think they were referring to was Vera, since the teasing had been ongoing since P2. Even some of my friends had teased us at least once before, including Kristy, Alicia, Sylvia and Willis. I was quite certain Vera would not be willing to sing on stage with me, due to her severe stage fright. I recalled her escaping backstage halfway during our speech and drama performance in P2.

Planning went rather smoothly that week. It was confirmed that I would be singing during the dinner. I chose Don’t Give Up On Us, as it would encourage the teachers to not lose hope on their students. The committee encouraged me to sing a Chinese song, so I chose Childhood, a catchy Mandarin classic. Usually, parent volunteers would host the dinner but we agreed to have two prefects as emcees that year. Elise and I were asked to appoint and allocate manpower. The cancellation of lessons was still unconfirmed, but our brainstorming for the goodie bag distribution made progress, with a list of goodies already being made.

The next Monday, before my siblings and I left for school, Rebecca received a message from Elise. I was supposed to meet Elise to talk about something important before going for our duties. I hesitated leaving home, but it was too late - Rebecca already agreed on my behalf.

“What has happened?” I asked Elise on seeing her.

“Yesterday, Kok Keong called Daniel ten times but Daniel did not pick up because he was in church,” Elise said, panting.

“Calm down, what is wrong?”

“Argh! I don’t know what I’m saying! The story starts with an anxious Darren. Yes, Darren. He called Kok Keong in the morning and the ringtone woke him up. Darren was telling Kok Keong that the teachers are curious about what plans we have for the dinner, so he asked Kok Keong to create an online form for the teachers by yesterday evening. He just went back to sleep because he was too tired.”

“Is it even that urgent? What time was that? Kok Keong could have just texted Darren first.”

“Exactly! It was around 6.30 when it happened. Darren likes to wake up early on weekends but Kok Keong doesn’t. Kok Keong wasn’t even free to do up a form that day so he wanted Daniel to help him, but Daniel was at church, so he called Jerome, and Jerome wasn’t free! So Kok Keong started spamming the group chat.”

“Darren could have just done it himself, since he can contact the teachers directly. I understand he wants to split the work but what he did was just wrong.”

“Yes! Willis told him to do it himself after Kok Keong was spamming the chat. Darren then said he was busy and wanted others to help him. Willis was free but he had no idea how to create the form, so he refused to help. I think Kok Keong is going to quit again. Jerome came and started to scold Kok Keong for spamming and for making a fuss over this, because Darren was being unreasonable. Darren then explained himself by saying we need to contact the hotel fast so the staff will know whether the ballroom will have seats for us, and how the planning process is more complicated than we think so we must accomplish as much as possible.”

“I’m actually curious about how Daniel reacted.”

“He wanted to discuss everything nicely today, but Kok Keong said he is very tired dealing with all these, so Daniel said we did a lot last week and deserve a break this week.”

Like Darren, I was genuinely worried that we would not be able to finish our planning. We were trapped in a vicious cycle of enthusiasm and breakdown. I knew I had to talk to the committee members during my breaks that week, but whom?

“I kind of don’t like the school rule which only allows eating here,” I said to my group of friends while rushing my meal during recess.

“Are you going to do anything about it?” Graham asked.

“Prefects don’t have that much power, and I see why having the rule will help the school greatly,” I replied.

“Who are you going to meet again this week?” Joey asked with a frown.

“Prefects. You seem very concerned about who I meet,” I said.

“Good that you know!” Joey snapped. “All you care about are the prefects from 5A. You’re going to be the top in class. Just transfer to 6A next year and have all the fun you want!”

“The prefects have serious stuff to settle, and I don’t think he will want to leave us and see Daniel Lim all the time,” Vera pointed out.

I was tempted to drag Joey into the projects so she would understand our pain. That recess, I dragged both Jia Jie and Xuanyu for a chat.

“Are both of you aware of what happened yesterday?” I asked.

“Yeah, Darren’s too desperate. He changed a lot after becoming a prefect this year, but I see he truly cares that we don’t get into trouble with the teachers,” Jia Jie said.

“Thank Daniel! We have another week of rest! I don’t have to worry about this project,” Xuanyu said.

“You don’t feel worried that we cannot finish in time?” I asked.

“Nope,” Xuanyu replied.

“I find that you are very anxious. If Daniel says we can rest it means our progress is good,” Jia Jie said.

“I may conclude that Daniel isn’t a bad person, but who is he such that you must trust everything he says? He might be saying that because he gave up and doesn’t know what’s better to say! I must talk to him tomorrow. Do any of you want to follow me?” I said.

“I can,” Xuanyu replied.

The next day during recess, Xuanyu and I went to the garden to talk to Daniel.

“Sup!” Daniel greeted both of us.

“Alright, I’m here to talk about something serious. Is pausing our discussions the best way to solve the arguments going on?” I asked him.

“Okay, you see, if there is no harmony, can we continue?” Daniel said.

Xuanyu shook her head.

“Don’t worry about this guys. I understand Kok Keong’s troubles. I’m already very happy that he is willing to be part of our committee,” Daniel said.

“What happened to him?” I asked.

“It will be best if you don’t know for now. Just be grateful and enjoy your lives...good to care for others too!” Daniel said.

“I am concerned about our pacing,” I said.

“In week eight, Vivian and Jia Jie will be having a meeting with all chairmen and vice-chairmen to brief them about the goodie bag distribution, so don’t worry. The ballroom dinner is quite free and easy,” Daniel said.

“Ah...see you another time then! We’ll find Elise!” I said.

“What? So fast? I thought we will be here until the end of recess,” Xuanyu whispered to me.

“We have other people to talk to,” I said.

“Who? Oh...your girlfriend!” Xuanyu said with a chuckle.

“Who is that girlfriend you are talking about?” I asked.

“She’s at the aquarium. You don’t know?”

“Tell me!”

“Clarissa!”

“Honestly, are you kidding me? Out of all my female friends you have to say it’s her? Are you alright? Anyway, we can talk to her first before finding Elise!”

“Heyo!” Clarissa greeted us while Xuanyu lifted her from the ground playfully for a moment.

“How is Kok Keong in class?” I asked Clarissa. “I heard from Daniel he has troubles.”

Clarissa’s expression changed as usual. “I don’t know. I don’t really talk to him about those stuff. Did something happen in the committee?”

“Yeah, and Jordan wants you to sing with him for Teachers’ Day dinner!” Xuanyu said with a chuckle.

“What? What songs again?” Clarissa asked.

“Don’t listen to her, I didn’t ask you to sing with me. I’ll be singing Don’t Give Up on Us and Tong Nian,” I replied.

“Not the Cantonese song you like to sing?” Clarissa asked.

“I don’t even know all the lyrics! I’m not fluent in Cantonese, but I can learn the song and sing it when the teachers are not around on that day,” I said.

After some small talk, Xuanyu and I proceeded to Staircase 5.

“We went to look for her,” Xuanyu said to Elise.

“Oooh! Is she singing with you?” Elise asked me.

“No, really, what’s the issue with both of you? I am not dating Clarissa!” I said.

“Aren’t you interested in her?” Elise said with a chuckle.

“I am not! What makes you say that?” I said.

“Because we saw with our eyes!” Xuanyu replied.

“I can send your sister the picture of both of you holding hands!” Elise said.

“Did we hold hands before? Oh! My sister is not stupid enough to think the picture shows we are dating! She knows we played that game during the camp!” I explained.

Indeed, the world could be so funny. Elise and Xuanyu could simply start a prank out of the blue, expecting me to fall for it. Anyway, I was surprised that I wanted to talk to Daniel that day. The conversation put me more at ease, as I knew we were not lagging, but what happened to Kok Keong?

During our free time at home that week, Elise and I would frequently text via Rebecca’s number to discuss the manpower matters. We decided to appoint two emcees for the dinner first. Elise wanted to appoint Daniel, but I strongly objected because it would deprive others of the chance to hone their public-speaking skills. After countless persuasions, I managed to urge Elise to be one of the emcees, since she was not an assembly leader. We agreed to appoint Stuart to be the other emcee, but he refused.

It was Week Six. Daniel randomly approached me in the morning to find out how the manpower progress was, so I told him. He offered to help ask around for a second emcee and also mentioned that his classmates were quite busy so meetings had to be suspended for another week. Well, what could I do? I could tell that Daniel was somewhat stressed about it too, just that he was trying to stay jovial.

It was an ordinary Tuesday, the Tuesday of Week Seven to be precise. I went to the toilet during recess and was surprised to see a familiar face waiting for me outside. It was Hannah Tham - my classmate from P1 to P4 who went to 5A. She was one of the few whom I interacted with more frequently and was also one of those who teased me and Vera.

“Jordan! It’s been a long time!” Hannah said.

“Hi! We actually do see each other a lot!” I replied.

“Yeah, so a bunch of us have agreed to help your committee because we know you guys can’t handle everything by yourselves. Jerome has asked me to tell you and Vivian.”

“Who are ‘a bunch of us’?”

“Me, Zoey, Xin Yi, Alex, Ethan Tay and Lawrence. The prefects not in the committee are in too. More might join.”

“How about Ariana?”

“Erm...not confirmed...she seems happy as per usual when we don’t talk about prefect stuff.”

“I see. How do all of you plan to help?”

“We are helping to buy the materials for the cards and goodie bags on Friday after school. Do you want to join us? We can go for dinner as well.”

“Sounds good! I’ll check with my parents first. The whole committee is coming right?”

“I know Daniel has to go to church every Friday evening so he can only join for a while. Alex has tuition. We can ask the rest. Why not?”

“That means I can ask Vera too! She has been wanting to help the prefects!”

“Aw, that’s nice! I see her at Phoenix too!”

I was elated! I could not believe it! Such good Samaritans existed in school! Hannah and her group of non-prefects might not be student leaders, but they exhibited great leadership in how they took initiative to help us. I checked with Vera and Leo whether they were willing to help, but they were not keen, with Vera mentioning she loathed parties and big dinners.

We would end school at 3 pm every Friday, since it was a CCA day. I encouraged Stuart, Alicia and Raju to join the shopping. Raju was not interested, while Stuart and Alicia were not free. Jia Jie met me outside the Chinese Orchestra room. She told me that Kok Keong and Megan were unable to join that day, but Megan was willing to help out with the dinner itself. Both of us proceeded to the foyer to meet the rest.

“So where are we going to buy the items?” I asked Hannah.

“Erm...anyone has ideas?” she said.

“What? Nobody has a mall in mind?” Darren asked.

“Maybe somewhere that’s near your church, Daniel?” Jerome said.

“There’s no need to accommodate me, but if the city area has suitable shops we can head there,” Daniel said.

“Shouldn’t we welcome the newcomers today?” Ethan blurted. “Hey guys! Let’s welcome…”

“Newcomers? They were always with us! Jordan and Vivian. They’re from 5B but they are really good in our committee!” Elise said.

Did Elise really think that highly of the both of us? We were just doing our job. Anyway, I really enjoyed myself that day during the shopping. The 5A students were really fun to hang out with. Most of them were friendly and nice to me and Vivian, that Vivian agreed that he would rather be in 5A. I further understood Elise’s description of Ethan. He was extremely loud (same for Xin Yi) with an obnoxious laughter but was indeed friendly. Zoey Hamilton was another of my old classmates whom I got to connect with again. Lawrence Lian was another new friend I made.

The next week, Elise and I were supposed to continue with our manpower allocation for the dinner. It was confirmed that the dinner would be buffet-style. Usually, parent volunteers would be the ones serving the food, but that year, the students would do it (with some supervision of course). Zoey pointed out that FRansformed could help lighten the load of parent volunteers too, since many of them were working and would be tired to help out at a ballroom dinner in the evening. Elise suggested that the taller students would help better with the serving, so we did not appoint students such as Clarissa, Lawrence and Megan to be food-servers.

Unfortunately, not many prefects volunteered to help out at the dinner. Special mentions: Clarissa, Megan, Li Xuan, Rayana and Viktoriya. The best was Eng Soon. Despite Huayi’s attempts to brainwash him into shunning our initiatives, he still made an effort to volunteer. I just did not understand Huayi. If he found himself so ‘great’, why did he not start a rebellion himself?

The day of the Teachers’ Day celebration had arrived. Unfortunately, I was caught up with the Choir performance so I had no idea how the distribution of gifts went, but I was excited after Alicia told me she could help out that evening. There were three other 5A students who spontaneously volunteered - Roshita, Varunya and Abishek. We had a short meeting after school that day regarding the dinner.

“Before anyone forgets...what’s the meeting time?” Daniel said.

“5.30!” Alex replied.

“That’s right! Where’s the meeting location?” Daniel asked.

“Hotel JEN?” Stuart said.

We burst into laughter.

“The dinner is at Hotel JEN, but we are meeting at Attenborough Station first, then walk to the hotel together,” I clarified.

“Oh right, I forgot,” Stuart said.

“Xuanyu, can you wear shorts later?” Daniel asked.

“No, I’m wearing a dress. I don’t always wear shorts,” Xuanyu replied.

I was excited. I was finally going to sing on stage solo! I had to recall the lyrics to Drifter’s Song at the eleventh hour, thanks to Clarissa who reminded me, and myself for telling her that I would sing that for the prefects after the dinner. The number of parent volunteers that day were half the usual number, according to Daniel. The prefects and 5A volunteers were in charge of registration, ushering and food serving...not fun for most of us but at least we were willing to try.

That evening, all of us met at Attenborough except for Darren. He actually went straight to Hotel JEN and ‘welcomed’ us when we arrived.

“Guys! Is Elise the only emcee for today?” Darren asked.

I turned to Elise. “Did we forget to get a second emcee?”

“Gosh! I totally forgot to ask! What do we do now?” Elise whispered to me.

“I’ll just do it with you,” I said.

“But you didn’t even practise! And you are singing…”

“Elise! Who is the other emcee?” Jerome asked.

“I...I...forgot to ask,” Elise said.

“Do you have a script?” Zoey asked.

“Yes, one of the parents gave it to me but I only looked at it once,” Elise replied.

“What? Only once? What have you been doing all this while?” a frustrated Darren said.

“Since you guys don’t let the short people serve food, I’ll be the second emcee!” Lawrence voiced up.

“Bruh, you haven’t seen the script,” Hannah said with a chuckle.

The truth was - Elise was uncontactable most of the time when I wanted to discuss the manpower with her over text. I had no idea why. We did not even allocate manpower for registration and ushering. All of us and the parents volunteers just stood at the entrance of the ballroom, in a state of confusion.

“Elise! Do your job!” Alex Peh hollered.

Yes, that was the same Alex Xuanyu liked to talk about. He was one of the noisy students in class and like what Xuanyu told me, he enjoyed pranking others and was touchy with others.

“What am I supposed to do?” Li Xuan asked me before Alicia asked the exact same question.

“Am I helping with the buffet?” Varunya asked.

“Jordan! Get four people to do registration!” Daniel called from the other end of the crowd.

My mind was in a bedlam. Who should I answer first? Subconsciously, I indirectly responded to Daniel by announcing aimlessly that four volunteers were needed. Rayana tapped my shoulder and told me she could look for three more to help. She called Li Xuan and Xuanyu but I already allocated them to serve food. Fortunately, Eng Soon, Megan and Roshita agreed to help.

“Dude!” Darren emerged in front of my face. “Four is not enough! Don’t forget dinner is not provided for us and we have to rush our dinner before the teachers eat. Get another four for another shift!”. He then turned to Khairul who was meddling with his phone. “Hurry up!”

“Wait, wait! What’s KFC’s phone number? I can’t remember!” Khairul said frantically. Darren growled and snatched the phone Khairul was holding to dial the number before returning it to him.

“What are you waiting for?” Darren glared at me. “Get four more!”

Just then, Clarissa nudged me. “What’s my job?” she asked in her usual high-pitched voice.

“Do the registration for the second shift,” I replied.

“But I don’t know how! Can you teach me?” Clarissa said.

“I’m sorry I need to ask for more volunteers. You can ask the four of them,” I replied.

I turned around and noticed Rayana trying to explain to the other three what to do. That was impressive. After spinning right round like a record in the crowd, I managed to get Vivian, Viktoriya and Izumi to help Clarissa with the second shift. Not long after, I heard weird noises coming from inside the ballroom…

I went in and saw Elise and Lawrence pacing around, trying to master their lines. The weird noises were actually Ethan and Xin Yi fooling around when testing the microphones.

“Khairul ordered burgers for all of us, remember to eat them before the teachers come in,” I told them.

“Do you want to practise singing? I can give you the mic now,” Ethan said.

I wanted to say yes but Clarissa came in and nudged me. “I’m bored,” she groaned.

I was constantly bombarded by questions and orders, thanks to Willis who told everyone Elise and I were in charge. Willis himself was not even helping out but chatting with his classmates.

“How about, when the KFC delivery truck comes, get those not doing anything to give the burgers out. You can stand there with Khairul and Darren to look out for the truck,” I said to Clarissa.

“Can I stay with you? Darren is scary,” she said.

“Sure! Yeah, all Darren does is tell us to hurry up and that the teachers are waiting. A pity. He might have topped the mid-years but not personality,” I said.

Within a few seconds, I heard Ethan shouting. “Guys! While waiting let’s do a cheer!”

“Class cheer?” Alicia asked.

“There are students from other classes! The school cheer of course!” Jerome said.

It was weird cheering in a hotel for no apparent reason. Before the cheer started, some parent volunteers already silenced Ethan before a ruckus could occur.

“The burgers are here! Those who are not doing anything can help bring them up!” Darren announced.

Clarissa and I were standing in front of the staircase and a few students ran towards us, nearly sending me rolling down. There were two huge bags of burgers. Alex grabbed one of them while Willis grabbed another.

“Let me help you!” Abishek said to Alex.

“Go back up! Your hands are just adding weight to the bag!” Alex growled.

“Alex, you are just holding the bag wrongly, that’s why Abishek is adding weight,” Daniel said with a smirk.

In the end, the number of us who went down to collect the burgers went down for nothing...but Darren was enjoying the air-conditioner while chatting with those in charge of registration. Since there were no teachers yet, I told the four at the registration table to eat first. I was happily chatting with the four of them, Xuanyu, Clarissa and Viktoriya, totally oblivious to the arrival of the first teachers…

“What are you doing? You let them eat while doing registration? That’s really bad manners!” Darren chided me, while he was ironically eating himself. “Those who are not eating please help with ushering!’

Every single student was eating, even the emcees, so parent volunteers had to temporarily do the ushering. I was so stressed that I could not even eat quickly. The buffet was about to commence and we students were just a bunch of confused folk. The second shift of registration volunteers did not even have a chance to do anything. Elise and Lawrence were trying to do a good job with hosting the dinner, but they seemed unconfident and distracted. I was glad we did the allocation for food serving beforehand, as I could take a breather.

There was a performance not long after, with Daniel’s father on guitar and lead vocals, other parents on other instruments and Daniel on the drums. I asked Jerome to record a video of Daniel to be sent to Rebecca so I could compare his drumming skills with Leo’s. The performance was enjoyable, because the songs performed were Knowing Me, Knowing You and Ain’t Nobody. For Daniel...I was speechless. He could play the drums like a professional having only picked them up around a year ago?

“Good luck Jordan!” Hannah said moments before my turn to go on stage

Alex hugged Hannah from behind and said to me, “Why do you like old songs?”

“Because they make you feel good,” I replied.

Daniel said, “Okay Jordan, it’s normal for Alex to do that. Don’t get the wrong idea.”

That reminded me of Rebecca. She liked to hug her male friends she was close to. I had no idea how close Alex and Hannah were.

Within a flash, I had finished my performance. It was really fun! Not many of the students were in the ballroom, as some of them were loitering outside because they simply had nothing to do. Clarissa wanted me to accompany her for a walk around the hotel’s garden.

“Are you singing the Cantonese song later?” she asked.

“If I have the chance to. I couldn’t learn the full song in time,” I replied.

“Are you okay? You must be very tired.”

“I’m better now. I think it’s really a bad idea to have kids manage this dinner. Look at everyone! I understand we want to lighten the load of our elders, but if we mess up, we make them worry.”

“Yeah, it’s really nice of you to think that way. I want to tell you something.”

“Same. Thank you for being an encouragement when everyone else is so discouraging. I appreciate it.”

“You are special because of how you see Daniel differently and how much you love the school!”

“Let me make this clear. I don’t dislike Daniel. I don’t find anything wrong with him. I don’t like how he gets all the attention. I don’t love the school. I do the projects because I love helping people!”

“I have a crush on you!”

“Who has a crush on me?”

“I repeat. I have a crush on you!”

“Hahahaha. I’m not falling for your prank! Am I a joke to you? Do you think it’s very fun to team up with Xuanyu and Elise to prank me?”

We walked back indoors and Clarissa grabbed my wrist.

“Do you want to meet up next week?” she asked.

“I’m not at the age where I can go out with friends whenever I like! I’m sorry for being rude, but I have to say we’re too young and shouldn’t have romantic relationships,” I said, patting Clarissa’s head.

My eyes popped. Xuanyu appeared holding a phone, with Izumi following behind.

“Waow! How loving!” Xuanyu said.

“I need my phone back,” Izumi said to Xuanyu. Had Izumi known too?

“Really, this prank has to stop!” I told Xuanyu firmly.

“It’s not a prank, even Li Xuan knows,” she replied.

After the dinner ended, Darren told us to stay behind for area cleaning. Clarissa told me to go up on stage to provide background music while the rest cleaned up, so I went to sing Drifter’s Song, but got criticised by Alex. Since I could not remember the lyrics to the full song, I got off stage in less than a minute.

“Why are you standing around? Look for dirty spots!” Darren yelled at Stuart.

“Bro, it’s okay,” Daniel said. “If there isn’t, there isn’t!”

“Yeah, the teachers were really nice today. They cleaned up their own mess,” Alicia said.

“Darren, if Kok Keong came today, both of you will argue a lot!” Jia Jie pointed out.

All of us were so exhausted that we did not have a debrief session. Anyway, I was glad that the 5A students volunteered to help us with our projects. I felt there should be a way to get the remaining prefects involved, but who would know the optimal way? As for Clarissa, I had no idea what to say. Had Elise and Xuanyu known about it beforehand? I did not want to probe further, as I wanted to maintain my friendship with Clarissa.

To ‘reward’ us, the prefect teachers told us to take a break for the next term, until our examinations ended. Why was Darren in such a rush?