The first seven weeks of the fourth term was just continuous studying, uncertain whether I could maintain my top position in class. Rebecca pointed out that with my studying method, I would only perform well in secondary school. She was not wrong, as I often proceeded to read up on Astronomy and advanced Geography while doing my homework. After the examinations, prefect duties resumed, but it was also the period of suspense...selection of prefect exco.

Why was I so worried about the exco selection? Did I really need an exco position? Rebecca already warned me that the exco position would mean nothing in my portfolio because no one would look at my primary education details in future. Elijah mentioned my batch would be a tough one to select exco members from due to the large number of enthusiastic prefects, but he felt I stood a chance.

Two days after the last paper, the P5 prefects were called for a morning meeting. As I anticipated, it was indeed the exco selection.

I turned to Li Xuan, “Why am I so scared?”

“I don’t even want to be in exco, too stressful,” she replied.

The teacher began to read out the names. “Ariana. Daniel. Xuanyu. Khairul. Nazreen. Jia Jie. Vivian…...Jordan.”

I was so relieved! I was shortlisted!

“Rayana. Elliot. Kok Keong. Hui Wen. Xin Jie. Stuart. Priscilla.”

What did I just hear? Were those really the shortlisted exco members? Without a doubt, Daniel and Vivian were naturally exco candidates. Why were Jerome’s and Darren’s names not read out? The teacher allowed those whose names were not read to attend the interview if they were keen.

Darren was whispering to those around him, “How is this possible? Am I that bad of a prefect? Jerome! Go for the interview with me!”

“It’s okay, I don’t need to be in exco. Me not being chosen means I’m not suitable,” Jerome said.

“But Ariana! How did she get selected? She didn’t-”

“Your bottle is going to leak if you don’t pick it up!” Elise said.

“It’s not leaking. Khairul? He got nominated this year and got selected?” Darren continued.

“Priscilla too! You just need to calm down. FRansformed is not going anywhere,” Daniel said.

“Just admit defeat,” Huayi told Darren, then turned to Eng Soon. “What a sore loser.”

We then took turns to go up to indicate our preferred interview timeslot.

Huayi said to Eng Soon, “See? I was right. Most of them are up there.”

“But not all, so you are wrong,” Eng Soon replied.

“I think I know what you have been trying to do all the time,” I said. “You want to get into exco so you want to stop people from helping out with FRansformed?”

Huayi could not answer me. Had I guessed correctly?

“Good job! I knew you’d be selected!” Clarissa complimented.

“Thanks! Go for the interview! I believe you’re good in exco!” I said.

“No...but I’ll still help with the projects.”

Anyway, I chose the interview slot the coming Monday, as I wanted to be done with it. My siblings were glad to help with my interview preparation, but I was distracted by who the other candidates were. Ariana left the FRansformed committee and strayed herself from many of the prefects, but why was she selected? Jerome was a really good leader in my opinion, why was he not selected despite his passion and effort? As for Elise and Willis, I felt they had potential too. Kok Keong? Apparently his issues were not resolved and he still got selected. I liked Clarissa’s enthusiasm to help others, but it was a pity she was not selected.

How about Darren? He was arguably the most dedicated to FRansformed with close contact with the teachers. It seemed he was the natural candidate for the next school captain. However, he was not even nominated. I could guess why - he was trying to do most of the work by himself and would hurry everyone even if they were busy. A school captain should not do that.

On Monday afternoon, I went pretty much unprepared for the interview. Daniel, Ariana, Jia Jie and Xuanyu were there too. It had been a long time since I talked to Ariana and I had no idea what I should say to her, but I was truly concerned.

I approached her. “Hi.”

“Hi,” she replied.

“How were the exams?”

“Fine...wow I’m scared.”

“I’m not even prepared!” I said with a chuckle.

“Do you think it will be a group interview?” Jia Jie asked.

“It’s individual, verified by the P6s. They said it is not that bad and everyone will be accepted, but our responses will affect the position we get,” Daniel said.

“Our responses affect our positions?” Jia Jie said.

A 5C prefect called Yap Xin Jie spoke, “The captain is Daniel! Everyone in my class says Daniel will be the captain. He’s a teacher’s pet, that's why.”

“Don’t be too quick to conclude!” Daniel said. “Things may not be what you guys think. I know you guys are nervous. Some tips! It’s good to talk about your experiences as a prefect so far, the good and bad times, what you have done well and how you plan to make it better. Talk about things like stress and time management, and how you can contribute to the school with limited time because of PSLE. Most importantly, relax and be natural!”

Ariana was the first to be interviewed, followed by Daniel. They were not allowed to leave the room to prevent discussion of answers with those not interviewed yet.

Before her turn, Xuanyu said, “What position do you want?”

“I’m not too sure, maybe the class buddy section leader? I’m happy with vice,” I said.

“Same. Okay, watch me die in three...two...one,” she said and disappeared into the room.

Why did Daniel tell us to relax and be natural? I found it so hard to do so! Anyway, I got to talk about how I enjoyed interacting with juniors during my morning duties, how I built rapport with the FRansformed committee and how much fun it was being in the committee despite the difficulties coordinating with everyone and managing time. I also mentioned how I hoped the other prefects and the committee would be more united and enthusiastic in improving the school - totally repeating the points raised during the numerous presentations and possibly repeating what Daniel would say, boring the teachers to death. I did not really care what the outcome was, as what Daniel said about all getting positions was supported by the number of nominees.

Darren was planning to have a committee meeting on Friday that week after CCA but majority of us had other plans. We literally had two weeks left in school and it would be hard to meet up during the holidays. I had a chat with Hannah that Wednesday.

“I heard you got selected to be in the prefect exco, how was your interview?” Hannah asked.

“No comment. P5 is ending next week, wow time flies,” I said.

“We have thought of having an outing for the Project Phoenix helpers. Do you want to plan with us?”

“Of course! Who else is planning?”

“Daniel brought it up yesterday. Quite a lot of my friends are helping to plan. I can add you to our Whatsapp group if you want.”

“Wow Daniel, and I don’t have a phone.”

“Yeah Daniel is super. He will be the next school Captain for sure. He’s just the one for it.”

“You’re not the first person saying that. Now, let me ask a tough question. Who will be the two vice captains?”

“That’s really tough! Maybe Khairul? Jia Jie looks like one too.”

“I’ve always thought Darren has a very high chance because he is always communicating with the teachers so they should know him very well.”

“Uh...that’s not true. Isn’t it quite obvious why he wasn’t selected? Ariana has information. I can get her to tell you if you want.”

“Are you sure she wants to talk to me?”

“She’s not angry at you! She told me.”

What exactly did Ariana know about Darren? How serious was it? I just had to wait.

Week Nine was just a usual boring week. On the Monday of Week Ten, the exco candidates were called for a meeting in the morning. Darren was the only non-nominee there because he was dying to try for a position. The teacher first made the atmosphere less tense by talking about lighthearted topics. Pindrop silence was the outcome after a set of slides were flashed...thankfully it was only the introductory slide. I could hardly breathe. I had qualms that I would somehow get rejected. I just had to face the truth...

CAPTAIN

DANIEL LIM JIA JUN

5A

VICE CAPTAIN 1

LEE SHENG EN JORDAN

5B

VICE CAPTAIN 2

ARIANA KHINE MINH THANT

5A

SECRETARY

STUART LOW KAY POH

5D

SL ASSEMBLY

WONG HUI WEN

5C

VSL ASSEMBLY

SIM JIA JIE

5A

SL CLASSES (BATCH 1)

GOH CHIN ENG ELLIOT

5C

VSL CLASSES (BATCH 1)

LI XUANYU

5A

SL CLASSES (BATCH 2)

NAZREEN NANDITA PRANAV MAHENDRA

5A

VSL CLASSES (BATCH 2)

PRISCILLA THIRLYNN COLLINS

5E

SL STAIRCASES

MUHAMMAD KHAIRUL B AHMAD ISMAIL

5A

VSL STAIRCASES

POON KOK KEONG

5C

SL FACILITIES

RAYANA ALIYEVA

5B

VSL FACILITIES

HO WEI REN VIVIAN

5B

My eyes literally popped. Vice Captain? What had I done to deserve that? I looked at Darren. His face was red.

“Alright you win, Daniel! All the best!” he said, trying to sound nice.

“No no! This is no competition bro! You won’t be missing out on anything, really. FRansformed isn’t going anywhere!” Daniel said.

Xin Jie put up his hand. “What is my position? I don’t see my name up there.”

“I’m sorry, but we have enough positions,” the teacher said. “Your friends are very nice! They have a lot of projects coming up and I’m sure they will ask you to help!”

Xin Jie slumped on his chair with his hand covering his face.

I said to him out loud, “Don’t worry! Not being in exco doesn’t make you less important. You are still a part of us and we’ll definitely ask you for help.”

Daniel stood up suddenly. “May I ask for permission to do something funny, teachers? I believe someone else has the potential to take on the role of School Captain.”

“What are you doing?” Jia Jie asked. “You’re the one for it!”

“Right!” Khairul added.

“I have accepted the role as President of Band, don’t you think I am depriving others of a chance to be the School Captain if I accept this role? Ariana. Jordan. One of you are welcome to swap our places,” Daniel said.

I was shocked. That was unexpected of Daniel.

“No please! I can’t!” Ariana said.

“Okay. Jordan! You have great potential! I believe you’ll do a good job!” Daniel said to me.

Should I be the captain? I knew it would be tough. Even being a Manpower IC was tough. I had already accepted Daniel. I knew he had no intention to be nasty. However, the feeling of overpowering the most popular kid in school was good, so I agreed to be the School Captain. I was not too comfortable with telling my friends that I would be the next School Captain, so I told everyone in the room to keep the swapping of positions a secret from the rest of the school. There was no harm, since everyone believed Daniel would be the next Captain. Ha!

But, the problem was - how should I go on from there? What new responsibilities would I get? Fortunately, the teachers would run through with us later that week.

During recess, I ate with my group of friends.

“Jordan, you seem very happy today!” Clarice remarked.

“Oh! You got into exco?” Vera asked.

“Yes I did! I’m really shocked! I thought my answers during the interview were bad!” I said.

“Are you the class buddy section leader?” Joey asked.

“No...I am the School Cap- Vice Captain!” I replied. That was a close one.

“Woah!” Joey and Vera said in unison.

“Are you sure you can do it?” Graham said with a snort. “You can get ready to lose your first position next year.”

“Stop, really,” Vera said.

“Graham can be right!” Joey said. “You’re going to spend every single recess talking to the prefects, but you’re the Vice Captain so you may even talk to them after school and have no time to do your homework.”

“Excuse me, you are saying that I won’t have time to do my homework even if it’s just two hours?” I said.

“You’re smart so you say that!” Clarice said.

Meanwhile, Hannah came over and told me, “Ariana can talk to you later.”

I began to increase my eating speed.

“You’re meeting someone again?” Joey raised her voice.

“Why not? I have important stuff to settle!” I said.

“What?”

“I can’t tell you!”

“Urgh! Always busy. Do you guys want to go out during the holidays?”

“Lazy,” Graham said. “They had to choose me to be Vice President of Band so I’m going to die.”

“I can’t answer you now, because I may have plans with the prefects. Daniel wants to have some outings and I need to plan with him,” I said.

“Wow, both of you are working together now!” Clarice said.

“You were totally hating on him at the start and now you are planning outings with him? Who have you been hanging out with? Why is it that you got closer to Daniel and not us?” Joey said, her eyes becoming red.

“See what you have done? You’re making Joey cry!” Graham said.

“Jordan has a crush on one of the prefects!” Clarice said.

“I don’t!” I replied.

Indeed, being the School Captain would incur losses, but I saw the gains outweighing the losses. I had no idea why I would rather have fun with the prefects than my classmates. Anyway, having fun with the prefects was essential, as I needed to build rapport with them as their head.

“Where do you want to talk?” Hannah asked me.

“The fitness corner,” I replied.

Hannah signalled at Ariana and we made our way to the fitness corner.

“I heard you are very interested to know the story behind Darren Gore?” Ariana asked.

“Yes please. He really puzzles me. I always thought he would be the Captain because he has the most communication with the teachers. That’s the sad truth of how leaders are selected,” I said.

“You’re wrong. The teachers made the right choice this time. I’m happy his name wasn’t even called. The whole time, he was making use of the FRansformed committee to convince the teachers to give him the School Captain position. He was only nominated at the beginning of this year, so he wasn’t a junior leader last year. He was very happy that he got nominated, and gave a lot of ideas when Daniel was thinking of the projects. He volunteered to be the one to update the teachers about our ideas and update us about their feedback. You know this is his role, but he did more and told the P6 exco as well. He made his own timeline and planned his own projects. He even showed them to the teachers and P6 excos, telling them that was what all of us would be doing, but it wasn’t true. That’s why he spams a lot during online meetings and hurries us all the time. He wants us to follow his secret plan. Even worse, he is very nosy and always wants to help the P6 exco and teachers with their personal things.”

“Isn’t that what Daniel does?” I asked.

“Urm, Daniel is very helpful, but Darren is crossing the line. He doesn’t know most of the P6 exco well and wants to help them with a lot of things,” Ariana replied.

“Definitely too much of him! Thanks for sharing. How did you know all these?”

“My Soccer teammate is in the P6 exco. She asked the teachers.”

“Does anyone else know?”

“I can’t tell you who else knows. Please keep it a secret. Daniel knows, but don’t talk to him about it.”

“One more thing. I know it’s hard, but...will you come back to FRansformed?”

“I’ve been struggling with that. Thank you for asking. I know it’s not worth it to leave because of some people.”

“I understand. We’re not angry at you.”

“During the camp, I was very quiet because I didn’t know how to say how touched I was by all of your efforts to make life fun for the prefects. All of you had to wake up earlier to meet and discuss stuff. Even though Darren was shouting at latecomers, I could see all of you were trying.”

“Wait! That was you? I remember someone watching us that day! When I went to check, the person ran away!”

“Yes! Sorry for that! I didn’t know what to say to you.”

“It’s fine, but you will have to explain to Willis, because he has made that a ghost story.”

“He had too many of those Scout camps. I was talking to Daniel just now. He says we will rethink the FRansformed committee. We still need to plan our outing.”

Darren was actually so manipulative! I was triggered, not because of Darren’s deeds, but the fact that Joseph Adams who was obviously more manipulative got to be Vice Captain. Talk about fairness! Daniel was a literal role model - he could totally be nice to someone doing all the wrong things in the committee. I understood how his forgiving and easygoing nature was an important contributing factor to his charisma.

I hardly had a chance to chip in the planning of the Project Phoenix outing. The 5A students were so enthusiastic that they already confirmed we would be exploring Turquox Canopy Walk the next Monday. Xuanyu and Zoey designed the flyers together and distributed them on Tuesday. Xuanyu handed me four of the flyers for myself and my classmates. Besides Vivian, I had to give the flyer to Vera and one of Vivian’s close friends who was a volunteer for Project Phoenix. I had a hard time convincing Vera to go for the outing.

The prefectorial board had a handover. Choir had a handover too, on Wednesday afternoon.

“Heard you’re becoming Vice Captain? Good job!” Alicia congratulated me.

“Thanks, but I hope they don’t make me President of Choir,” I said.

“Same, I was quite shocked when I saw I am the Secretary. This will be tough. Oh, Daniel asked me if we can have lunch together on Thursday after school. The four of us, including Ariana,” Stuart said.

“Oh yes, why not? Are we meeting the rest of the exco too?” I asked.

“He said we can have an outing next week. The lunch on Thursday was mostly Ariana’s idea. She wants the four of us to discuss the more important things first,” Stuart replied.

“I don’t think I will get any position, unless it’s a case of Daniel being both School Captain and President of Band,” I said.

“Off topic, both of you,” Raju said. “So, who will be the next president of Choir?”

“You!” Alicia replied.

“I think it’s you and I am serious,” I said to Alicia.

“What? Why me? I think it’s you!” Alicia retorted. “Speaking about Daniel, he’s obsessed with dancing recently.”

“I think Vernice or Natsuko might,” Stuart said.

“Vernice? No way! She can’t lead!” Raju remarked.

The moment had come. The teacher started with announcing the president and vice president - Chloe and Vernice. I felt happy for them, and meanwhile disappointed for Alicia. Raju was selected to be the secretary and Natsuko the student conductor. Alicia was assigned Soprano section leader. What was I assigned? Assistant Tenor section leader! Stuart was my main leader.

“Meh,” Alicia said. “I don’t care. I like not being a president.”

“Being a president is good, but I can’t have two presidencies in school!” I said.

“Should we have a CCA outing someday?” Alicia said.

“Yes!” I replied.

“The whole CCA? How is that going to work? Ask Daniel to help?” Raju said.

“Hmm...just our batch. I’ll talk to the other girls. Jordan, Stuart, check your email as often as possible,” Alicia said.

If we were to have a Choir outing, I would have a total of four outings with schoolmates that holiday, including the Project Phoenix, prefect exco and P5 prefects outings. That would be an eventful holiday! There were also potential outings with my siblings, their friends and Vera. Vera was looking forward to the outings with my siblings and others such as Nicole and Kai Le, but was reluctant to go for the Phoenix outing. She felt she would not be comfortable with many of the people. I tried to convince her that many of the 5A students were nice and would befriend her, and finally succeeded after I told her we would go to the arcade if she went for the outing.

The next day was the last day of school. In the morning, the prefect teachers met me, Daniel and Ariana to brief us on what to expect the next year. They commended us for taking initiative to start projects even at P5, and told us not to get too burnt out. I would be the Captain of the school the next year, that was going to be fun!

Later in class, there was the annual nomination of Character Award recipients. Vivian nominated me, also thanking me for nominating him the previous year. Wow, my promotion came with an award too!

After school, I met Daniel, Ariana and Stuart at the main entrance.

“Jordan! First in class? Congrats!” Daniel said.

“Thank you! How did you do?” I said.

“Not bad! I got ninth. Managed to maintain my top ten in level. I think you can join the top ten soon! You have great potential!”

“I hope so...my sister said that with my studying method I will only do well in secondary school.”

“Oh wow...that’s relatable, because I like the secondary school syllabus more!”

“Why are you looking at it now?” Stuart asked. “We have PSLE first.”

“It just interests me. Oh! We should decide on a place to eat! It’s the last day of school. I don’t mind travelling far. Over here we have Hyacinth Plaza, Hyacinth Square, Gentian Point, One Shamrock, Lakeridge Point. If you want to go further we can go to Westvale Mall, Chiang Village, Nova Place…” Daniel said.

“Erm, can we just eat nearby? I want to go home early,” Stuart said.

“How about ramen at Hyacinth Plaza?” Ariana asked.

“I don’t mind!” I said.

Stuart turned to Ariana, “I forgot what we are meeting for.”

“Just to plan things for next year? And chat!” Ariana replied.

“Of course!” Daniel said. “It’s to build some rapport and chemistry among us too! It may be a small group of four of us today but it’s a good opportunity to think of ways to connect with the rest too!”

Daniel then went on rattling about his upcoming holiday trip to Japan and how excited he was to meet his Japanese friends and dance with them (seriously, he had friends in Japan too?). He also talked about the outings and activities he would have with his bandmates. I asked him whether Graham would attend them, and found out that Graham refused to attend at least half of them.

Ariana said, “Wow you have been talking a lot! Don’t you need a break?”

“I’m not tired as long as I’m with people!” Daniel said.

We soon arrived at the restaurant.

“I’m so tired!” Stuart said as he sat down. “Why am I the secretary when I cannot even do things properly?”

“Yeah, I don’t even know why I’m the Vice Captain!” Ariana added.

“We may not know the reasons behind them. You guys are given the role, so why not make the best use of it?” Daniel said.

After ordering our food, Ariana took out her laptop and handed it to Stuart.

“Oh right, I am supposed to type out everything we are going to discuss. I think my sorting and tidying work in the committee was fine, so that’s why the teachers chose me, even though there are better choices,” Stuart said.

“Who?” I asked.

“The whole of 5A and 5B,” Stuart replied.

“Stuart, you can create a new Drive folder for the exco only,” Daniel said.

“Who else is in exco again? I know Jia Jie is. Nazreen is in too. Willis too..” Stuart said.

“Willis is not,” I pointed out.

“I can do the sharing for you,” Daniel said.

After chatting about random topics for a short while, I spoke, “Alright. We should set some goals for today. Anyone?”

“I’ve recently talked to some seniors who were prefects in FRPS before. We can address some of their thoughts later. Next, our outings. The exco outing takes place next Wednesday and the P5 prefects outing next Friday. FRansformed has to be re-studied too. We must also think of ways to engage our batch of prefects, engage our soon-to-be P5s and empower them. If possible we can rethink the entire Prefectorial Board,” Daniel said.

“The entire board? No way!” Ariana said.

“Not impossible. You probably planned today’s meeting already,” I said to Daniel while our food arrived.

“Not wrong!” Daniel laughed. “You can suggest other stuff to discuss if we have time. Oh guys! You know what? My friend almost got stung by a Portuguese man o’ war yesterday! She said the tentacles were right beside her when she was lying down on the beach! We can start with our seniors’ thoughts. Do any of you guys remember Eliezer?”

“Eliezer? I might have heard that name before,” I said.

“Eliezer Koh. He’s Sec 1 this year and was Section Leader for Assembly last year. He, like the rest, agrees that the exco is quite useless. All he had to do was help with the scheduling for assembly leaders and he would just go back to his latecomer duty. His vice, Jayden, apparently didn’t do anything. Guys, any thoughts?” Daniel said.

“I cannot multitask. I’ll just type. If I have thoughts I will type in after my nap later,” Stuart said, while trying to eat.

“I think we can create new assembly duties,” I said.

“How? Do we have that many prefects?” Ariana asked.

“It can be done. This brings us to Zi Shan’s comments. She was a former assembly leader. She talked about how the Captain and Vice Captains just stand around in the PA room every morning, so we can probably do more work next year, since we are no longer class buddies,” Daniel said.

“How is this fair? I still have to be a class buddy,” Stuart groaned.

Daniel went on talking about the comments by other seniors, hardly touching his food.

“Are you going to eat? I asked him. “I have finished half of my food and you barely started.”

“Same,” Stuart added.

“Oh! Thanks for reminding!” Daniel chuckled. “Wait, let’s take a selfie for Tricia!”

“Why don’t you let me type so you can eat?” I said to Stuart.

“I can! I am the fastest here so I’ll help!” Ariana said.

In general, the comments Daniel raised were mainly about prefects being useless and are just positions to show off to friends. We decided that each day, one of us would oversee the assembly while the other two of us would be elsewhere, such as Project Phoenix. Daniel told us to keep our ideas on hold until we have consulted the other prefects.

“I’ve asked Darren to send out Google Forms. Those in exco will receive a second form for our Wednesday outing. Yes I know Darren isn’t in exco but our aim is to let every single prefect use his or her potential to the fullest. We’re starting with Darren. Stuart, you can collate the survey responses and attendance. Feel free to drop a comment if you need our help,” Daniel said.

“Wow that’s a short form!” Ariana said while scrolling through the form on her phone. “Climb Ender’s Peak, woah! I’ll choose that!”

“Yes I’ll choose that too. It’s been a long time since I went there!” I said.

“What? Climb Ender’s Peak? Someone will have to drag me up next week,” Stuart said.

“We should let Xin Jie do something too,” I said.

“Yes, I promised him I will give him something to do this holiday. We can think of it along the way,” Daniel said.

Next, we talked about revamping the FRansformed system.

“There is something really not right about our current FRansformed committee. I began to have that sense after you left, Ariana. What do you think?” Daniel said.

“You and Jerome were right the whole time. When we meet, all we do during our meetings is discuss the projects. Zoey said the make-up of the committee is weird, because almost everyone is from 5A,” Ariana said.

“That’s why I don’t feel like going for the meetings most of the time! I’ll tell you the truth - I wasn’t busy most of those days!” Stuart said.

“We don’t blame you,” I said. “It’s the end of the year. You should be happy you’re in the actual exco now. Now, we just have to do something about the FRansformed committee.”

“Let’s analyse this. I remember we gave an open invitation to join the committee during one of our level meetings. This committee is very likely to be a way the teachers can determine who can be in exco or not, because we actually do more work, so that’s why Huayi dislikes our committee. It actually seems unfair. We really need to talk to our other prefects about this and get their opinions. Oh wait! We need to arrange more outings this holiday! Those next week should be for bonding only. Jordan, remember not to talk about our missions too much, focus on friendships first,” Daniel said.

“I don’t mind more outings, but I need to study too,” I said.

“Who doesn’t need to study?” Daniel chuckled. “Don’t worry too much about PSLE. Did I tell you? My friend didn’t study for half of last year and was even playing right before the papers. She ended up with 269. Those outings are to get to know our prefects better and to chat about FRansformed and other plans for next year. Wow! We have a lot on our FRansformed plate! Project Pegasus, the one for cleanliness and the one to love the school.”

“Can I say something? I don’t love the school. I repeat, I don’t love the school. I love helping people, not the school,” I said.

“That’s why we need the project! Our long-term goal is to make everyone love the school. Yes it’s hard, given the plain lack of unity now, but it’s not impossible,” Daniel said.

“For the extra outings, can we split into small groups if we are discussing our plans?” Ariana asked.

“Yes! We can also meet them one-to-one next year so we can know each of their hopes for themselves and the schools more clearly,” I said.

“Are you sure one-to-one is a good idea? It’s more fun and pumped-up if it’s a bigger group!” Daniel pointed out.

I was quite amazed by Daniel’s ability to lead the discussion. I felt guilty that I could not match up to his ability, but I knew I would do better. Although we did not delve into any details, we confirmed that consultation was key in ensuring our ideas were feasible. We seemed ambitious in wanting to revolutionise the Prefectorial Board, but was it that simple to do so as long as we had unity?

The assembly area the next Monday was relatively near my home, at the western part of Middletown. I arrived early and met Jerome and Darren.

“Hey! So how’s exco?” Jerome asked.

“We haven’t really done anything yet,” I said. “I had a meeting with Daniel, Ariana and Stuart last Thursday. Not many plans, but we believe that we need to build relationships with all of you first.”

“Oh that’s nice. Daniel said every single prefect will have a chance to be empowered next year. I’m really looking forward to your initiatives,” Jerome said.

“Your? No, all of us!” I said.

“Ah yes that’s good! The teachers were telling me about how good our batch is. We’ll create a better Prefectorial Board together!” Darren said.

“I hope...anyway, can I see the attendance list for today?” I asked.

“Give me a moment,” Darren said while taking his phone out. “The turnout was worse than expected. Most of those able to make it are from 5A as expected. Your class has you and Vivian obviously, Gladys and your sidekick Vera. 5C has three. 5D has one besides Stuart. There are only four P4s. Totally not surprising at all. I don’t know everyone. Xin Yi is marking attendance.”

“Is Abner one of the P4s? He is quite interested in our projects,” I said.

Jerome said, “Yes that guy’s good!”

Moments later, Xuanyu appeared in front of us, showing off her new phone.

“Nice phone! When are you going back to China?” Jerome said.

“I’ll be there from second December to after Christmas,” Xuanyu replied, then turned to me. “Why did you choose Ender’s Peak? I will die if I climb it and all of you need to carry me up!”

“We’re in this together, so don’t worry!” I assured her.

“Do any of you know what happened to Kok Keong?” I asked.

“Ask Jia Jie. She must be the one Kok Keong talks the most to,” Xuanyu replied.

Jerome chuckled. “Oh yes oh yes. I heard something happened at home, so he will not come today, but he will come on Wednesday and Friday.”

“That’s good. I think it’s because Jia Jie rejected him!” Darren said. “When I checked the form for Wednesday responses this morning I saw that one person hadn't submitted. I think it’s Priscilla.”

Others arrived. Daniel and Jerome were doing their usual socialising. Vera and Vivian then arrived together.

“I really came!” Vera said to me.

“That’s good. You will enjoy meeting these awesome people,” I said.

“No, because you forced me to come today when I want to wake up late and play my games!” Vera said.

“Yeah, don’t bully Vera,” Elise said.

“It’s okay,” Vera said.

“You can stay with Gladys today. She’s your classmate right?” Darren said.

Vera whispered in my ear, “I don’t talk to Gladys at all. What do you want me to do?”

“Just wait,” I whispered back. “Today I guess you can talk to Izumi, Khairul, Hannah, Zoey, Lawrence and Varunya.”

Vera gave me a startled and disgusted expression. Anyway, we began our journey soon.

“Jordan! You’re the best at directions here! You will be a good guide!” Willis said.

“What? He can help me! But Darren made me the tour guide!” Ethan said.

“I can lead with you! I did my job already!” Xin Yi added.

While we made our way to the entrance of Turquox Canopy Walk, I was talking to Vera about my upcoming prefect outings and how excited I was for them. On the other hand, she talked about how she could not wait to go home to play The Battle Cats, which she recently downloaded. She also told me that I would be missing out on the outing she would have with Joey and Clarice that Wednesday.

Khairul said to me, “Why are both of you always together in school?”

“Why not?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah! Dating right?” Ethan said with a chuckle.

“Always together does not equal to dating!” Vivian said, then turned to me. “You can talk to the rest, I’ll accompany her.”

“Yeah! He likes someone else!” Jia Jie said.

“Show me the proof!” I said. “You better not join the Elise and Xuanyu prank.”

“Haha! You just said your crush’s name!” Jia Jie said.

“Stop it!” Xuanyu, who was walking with Abner, gave Jia Jie a slap on her neck.

Vivian told me he would take care of Vera, so I caught up with Xuanyu and Abner. Soon after, Hannah approached Vera and they somehow began talking about Minecraft. That was nice of her.

“How do you feel being the Vice Captain?” Abner asked me.

“Great! I can’t wait!” I replied.

“Oh wow! What’s Daniel doing?” Abner asked, pointing at Daniel.

“I don’t know why, but he has been dancing a lot,” Xuanyu said.

“Daniel! Why are you dancing?” Abner asked.

“Dancing is a really good form of exercise. I’m not sporty myself so I picked up dancing to keep fit. I’m trying out Para Para and J-pop dances. You should too!” Daniel said.

“He’s really good,” Abner said to Xuanyu.

Hey! When are the two of you going on your first date?” Alex asked me and Xuanyu, before making an accurate jab into Xuanyu’s navel (she was wearing a crop top again).

“Ow! Stop!” she snapped at Alex.

Abner held Xuanyu’s wrist. “What are you doing? Don’t hurt her!”

“Don’t touch me!” Xuanyu shrieked.

“You don’t have to be so angry, unless you want to steal her!” Alex said with a chuckle, then bounced a few steps before hugging Xin Yi from the back.

“What’s his name again?” Abner asked. “I’ve heard things about him before.”

Xuanyu replied, “Alex. It’s normal for him to do those. He got punished before. There was even once when he went into the female toilet to talk to his friend! You don’t like me right?”

“Erm...not that kind of like of course!” Abner said.

I turned to Xuanyu. “Are you free next week?”

“Yes. Why?” she asked.

“You’re going on a date with her?” Abner asked.

“Please don’t be another one. We have things to settle. You will probably meet the other prefects in your batch a lot during the holidays next year,” I replied, then turned back to Xuanyu. “I feel we can’t settle everything on Wednesday, so we need more days to meet.”

“I see these things are very important to you,” Xuanyu said.

The outing was quite aimless. We were merely following the trail without a goal in mind. I spoke to Nazreen and Vivian. Both were fine with having additional outings. We were still walking at noon, so I decided to clarify with Hannah.

“Where do we end the walk? Are we having lunch nearby?” I asked.

Hannah just glanced at Daniel.

“The outing may be my idea, but we have let you guys do the planning. If you can’t think of places to eat, I don’t mind suggesting,” Daniel said and began dancing.

“You have a lot of energy,” I commented.

A P4 spoke, “What? We are having lunch together? Nobody said so! My mother wants me to go home for lunch!”

“Sorry. Those who need to leave can go now. Those who want to have lunch with us can stay,” Zoey said.

“You can’t chase them off like that!” Jerome said and raised his voice. “Guys! We really appreciate the time together today! We hope you had fun and we look forward to another outing again! May I have a show of hands, who is keen on lunch?”

Most of the hands raised came from 5A students, as expected.

“We do encourage all of you to join us if you can. It’s a good opportunity for us to get together as a project team,” Daniel said.

There was an awkward silence for a moment (except Ethan talking to Abishek and Lawrence).

Vera said to me, “I can’t come for lunch. Joey hopes you will come on Wednesday. Tell your mother to tell her mother if you’re coming.”

I tried persuading her, then I realised I should not do so, as I was unwilling to go for Joey’s outing. Besides the 5A students, Vivian, Abner and I joined the lunch.

While walking to the lunch venue, Darren said to Hannah, “What were you doing? When you plan an outing you must factor in meals!”

Daniel tried to calm him down and commended Hannah for her good effort in organising the outing.

“Why are you here?” Alex asked Abner.

“Isn’t everyone encouraged to eat together?” Abner said.

“Why are you still clinging on to the Vice Captain’s girl?” Alex asked.

“Alex, if you keep teasing Jordan about a girl, it means you’re desperate!” Izumi said.

I let Abner continue talking to Xuanyu while I went to talk to the rest. During lunch, I sat at the same table with Xuanyu, Abner, Ariana, Xin Yi and Jerome.

Xuanyu instantly rested her head on the table on sitting down.

“Xuanyu! Are you okay?” Jerome asked.

Abner tapped her repeatedly.

“Don’t touch me,” she groaned.

Xin Yi pulled her head up, telling her to order her food.

“So, how was today?” Jerome asked.

“Fun!” Abner replied.

“Nice! Thanks for taking this big step to join us for lunch. I know it’s not easy when you’re the only P4 here,” Jerome said.

“It’s okay. Those of you at Phoenix are quite nice and I really enjoy talking to all of you. I’m also quite interested in your new projects. I heard one called Pegasus? I’m excited about the new changes coming up!” Abner said.

“Daniel!” Xin Yi shouted, pointing at Abner. “Next School Captain!”

“Are you actually interested in being the School Captain?” I asked him.

“Maybe? I’ll see next year,” he replied.

“So anyway, we will have small group meetings with the prefects and junior leaders to have a clearer picture of what all of you want for the school and Prefectorial Board. It’s still under planning,” I said.

After that outing, I realised I completely messed myself up. I subconsciously brought the upcoming meetings up. I failed to ensure Vera was comfortable too. Throughout the outing, she seemed moody, which I believed was due to her reluctance to participate. At the same time, I felt bad for not using my role as School Captain to the fullest, since I only talked to my current friends.

Wednesday was the day I could finally meet the rest of the exco. Rebecca wanted to climb Ender’s Peak too, so she, Elijah, Leo, Nicole, Kai Le and Jing Xuan would be there too, just that they were going later. Somehow, I was the first to reach the assembly point. Daniel, Rayana and Jia Jie came together next.

“How’s the attendance? I forgot to check this morning,” I said.

“Full strength!” Daniel jumped and exclaimed.

“So, how are your holidays so far?” I asked them.

“So far? It just started, and I haven’t done my homework,” Rayana chuckled.

“Same!” Jia Jie added.

“I only did Chinese and English. I’m leaving Math for the last,” I said.

“I’ve finished mine,” Daniel said.

“As usual,” Jia Jie said. “Doing Math Olympiads?”

“Yes, playing music too,” Daniel replied.

“Kok Keong is coming, right?” I asked.

“Yes. But please give him some space. He hasn’t been good lately,” Jia Jie replied.

A boy with hearing aids joined us.

“Hi Elliot. Guys, this is Elliot Goh, our Class Buddy SL,” Daniel said.

“Hello, nice to meet you,” I said. “Your vice is Xuanyu?”

“I think so,” Elliot replied.

When everyone arrived, Daniel said, “It’s our first day out as the Prefect Exco Class of 2015. Are you guys excited?”

“Yes!” we all replied in unison, before Ariana told us to lower our volumes because we were in a train station.

I suggested continuing our talk outside of the station.

“The exco is not just for serious things, but for clowning around too!” Daniel said.

“Are we going to build a circus in school?” Khairul asked.

Everyone laughed.

“Are you willing to fork out your savings to contribute to its construction cost?” Daniel asked. “Kidding! I mean, we must also have fun together!”

“Yes,” I added. “Unity is important for us to work towards our goals.”

“For unity to happen, we need peace and harmony! Now, let’s all shake hands with one another!” Daniel said.

“Are you serious?” Jia Jie asked. “This is like church, wishing people peace.”

We did as Daniel said, and I interacted with Wong Hui Wen for the first time. I decided to spend the next few minutes getting to know her as we walked to the foot of Ender’s Peak.

She spoke before I could say something, “You and Daniel are so funny! Why must both of you swap positions?”

“Funny! Wait, you’re from 5C. That means Clarissa is your classmate. All of you like to laugh at me when I talk about Daniel?” I said.

“Oh yeah! Because Viktoriya says you like to complain about him. Now what’s even funnier is that both of you are playing around with positions. I didn’t tell anyone about it. I promise.”

“He wants to give me a chance, so why not? I don’t complain about him anymore. I know he’s not a bad person even though he is ‘up there’ in school.”

“He’s a really fun person! One day in P2, I got bullied by some classmates. I didn’t really have friends in class so I ate alone during recess because I was sad. Daniel came and gave me sweets. He also told me stories. That’s how we became friends. He’s friends with my classmates too.”

“Honestly, are you kidding me? Stuart told me a similar story? Is he the eye in the sky looking at us and able to read our minds?”

“Who knows? He is quite interested in dancing now, so I challenge him.”

Hui Wen was actually fun to talk to! At the foot of Ender’s Peak, we were deciding on which route we should take. Xuanyu suggested that we ride the tram. Vivian suggested the sloped route whereas Khairul suggested the difficult forest trail. We ended up using the forest trail. I approached Nazreen next. She was more reserved and I did not really have a chance to talk to her much despite the numerous meetings.

“How have your holidays been?” I asked her.

“Bad, a lot of homework. You?” she said.

“I managed to finish my English and Chinese homework so far. I’m quite excited for the outings! Wait, you have a lot of homework? How did Daniel finish everything?”

“He’s smart. He finishes his homework five times faster than me. He, Roshita, Varunya, Darren Gore and some others from my class are going to meet random people to do Math Olympiads next week.”

“Can’t relate. What homework do you have?”

Ariana popped in. “Some girls’ school’s Math paper, two Science papers, some human body worksheet, three English comprehensions and I don’t take Mother Tongue.”

“I’ll probably take more than a week to do those,” I said.

“What some people do is finish the whole stack once they get it,” Ariana said.

“I do ahead of the assigned homework sometimes,” I said. “Anyway, I’m curious about how your teacher selects prefects.”

Nazreen said, “I think she said before. She chooses both quiet and noisy people. Those selected must be able to lead, do all their homework and don’t be late for class.”

“I’m one of the quiet ones,” Ariana chuckled.

“Why did Ethan Tay get selected?” I asked.

“He’s quite brave and dares to lead. He does his homework all the time and is quite nice to the teachers and students. I remember our teacher didn’t want to choose him at first, because he cannot control his mouth. They let him be a junior leader first, but if he behaves badly they will suspend him,” Nazreen explained.

“But he became even crazier and didn’t do his duties well, so they expelled him,” Ariana added.

It was good to have a mix of quiet and noisy prefects - some form of equilibrium. This seemed true for the exco too, but the issue was that society would favour the loud and vocal.

Ender’s Peak is 213 metres tall. Although we had taken countless breaks, many of us were already exhausted before the half mark, with Xuanyu being the most exhausted.

“Jordan! Carry her up!” Jia Jie said.

“Why don’t you do it?” I asked her.

“Do it!”

“Need help?” I asked Xuanyu, offering her my hand.

“No,” she replied.

“I should have filmed this!” Jia Jie chuckled.

After a decade or so, we arrived at the eating house at the peak. We decided to pack our food and sit in a circle on an empty concrete patch to maximise interaction.

“How was it?” I asked.

“Good!” Hui Wen replied.

“Yeah it was fun!” Khairul said.

“I hope we’re not doing this again on Friday…” Xuanyu groaned.

“We’re not,” Daniel said. “Based on the responses it seems like we’re going to Turquox Karst.”

“Again?” Xuanyu said.

“It’s an awesome place. Shall we have another outing next week?” I said.

“I’m fine if it’s something relaxing,” Stuart said.

“I’m going overseas next week,” Priscilla said.

“Same!” Khairul added.

“I think I have a camp. Ariana, don’t you need to go back to your country?” Hui Wen said.

“I am an Aquapolian! I have never been to Myanmar!” Ariana replied.

“Thanks for today guys, but I’m afraid I can’t join anymore for this holiday,” Kok Keong said.

“What’s wrong? If you’re comfortable sharing,” Daniel said.

“Do all of you know I have five siblings?” Kok Keong said.

“Yes,” Elliot replied.

Kok Keong continued, “Jerome still has more than me. If you have read the news, you would know that two siblings were kidnapped and killed. They are my older siblings. Let me finish. My parents borrowed money in July but were unable to repay. So, the people kidnapped my older siblings to take revenge. They promised to release them if my parents paid back. My parents called the police but the kidnappers were not found. In October, they were found hiding on some island, and my siblings were dead. What really happened was that after kidnapping my siblings, the kidnappers drugged them so they couldn’t escape. They then illegally rowed a boat to the island and killed them. Thanks for listening. I appreciate whatever help you can give me but please don’t. I need to take care of my three younger siblings, and I always had financial aid, in case you don’t know.”

That was shocking! I was quite touched by how the other exco members offered to help him. I sensed the unity building up.

Anyway, Daniel decided to make macarons for all of us that Friday so he asked for volunteers to carry the bags of them from his home. The turnout was better than expected, with only five unable to join. I bumped into Ariana at the lift lobby of Daniel’s block and discovered we were the first to reach.

“You two are early!” Daniel said. “The macarons are just ready. Come in and relax!”

Daniel was living in an executive flat with two floors. He showed us the upper floor, where there was a hall with a lot of musical instruments and recording devices.

“I’ll be performing a Chinese song with my father at an elderly hub next week. I believe you know it. Gan Lan Shu,” Daniel said to me.

“Oh! That’s a nice song!” I remarked.

Daniel turned on his keyboard and began to play the harmony.

“What instruments have you been learning?” I asked.

“Keyboards, guitar, flute, saxophone, xylophone, drums and starting on the bass. There it is. Play something! I’ll help you to plug it in,” Daniel said.

I played a few tabs, then let Daniel try. He could play a couple of tabs quite well.

“Before I forget, I’m thinking of having a jamming session here next week. I think I told Leo about it before and he’s keen,” Daniel said.

“Playing instruments and music? Sure! By the way, Leo knows a lot of songs, a lot more than you and me,” I said.

“Daniel really knows a lot of songs,” Ariana said. “Who’s not coming today?”

“Huayi, Irfan, Joash, Felicia and Rei. It’s already quite good,” Daniel said.

“Huayi. For how long is he going to be like this?” I said, while the doorbell rang. It was Hui Wen.

“You’re early too!” Daniel said.

“I live in Forge Harbour too!” Hui Wen replied. “Your house is nice! What’s this music room? Did you watch the video I sent you?”

“Girls Generation? I’ll learn the dance tonight,” Daniel said.

“Will there be any groupings for later? I think we didn’t plan that,” Ariana said.

“Good point. Cliques. Cliques. Cliques...there must be more mixing around!” Daniel said.

“Groupings may not work. Let’s see later,” I said.

Rayana and Jia Jie came to help too. We then made our way to our assembly point near Nyan Trail. There was a hoard of us there so I had no idea who to talk to first.

Daniel said to me, “I didn’t bring my loudspeaker, so you, Ariana and I will split the briefing. Just tell them the purpose of the outing and get them to shake hands. Brief those over there.”

I had no idea what Daniel had in mind when he said ‘over there’, but he was pointing to a bunch of 5C prefects. I walked over to them.

“Hi!” I greeted them and ruffled Clarissa’s hair.

Xin Jie ruffled my hair in response and said, “How would you feel if I did it to you?”

“I’ll feel fine,” I replied, then turned away and called out, “Hello? Those over here please gather!”

Stuart, Megan and an unfamiliar boy came to me. Most of the others around me went to Daniel (as expected). Jia Jie had also taken initiative to brief a few.

“Thank you for coming today. Let me ask a question - what is the purpose of today’s outing?” I said.

“To do forfeits for Wayback Jordan!” Xin Ying said.

“Anyone else?” I asked.

Sylvia and Eng Soon popped in and I repeated the question to them.

“Daniel said it’s for bonding and having fun,” Sylvia replied.

“And do you think that’s the true purpose?” I asked her, while Viktoriya, Clarissa, Xin Ying and Hui Wen began giggling.

“I was just kidding! Daniel is correct!” I said while Xin Ying continued laughing hysterically.

“Let him continue!” Clarissa said.

“Thank you. Yes, we need to bond. This helps to build friendships and unity, which is very important for us to achieve our goals. First, we need to make peace,” I said.

Xin Jie spoke, “Daniel wants me to help with a survey for the exco because he promised me he will give me something to do.”

“Are you Xin Jie?” Stuart asked.

“Yes,” Xin Jie replied.

“Oh! I always thought you’re a girl,” Stuart said.

“You’re not the first one! My brothers have the same problem too. They’re Xin Yu, Xin Li and Xin Hui. My parents should have done it on purpose. Remember ‘xin’ for trust,” Xin Jie explained.

“I’m pretty sure Vivian experienced that more than you!” Sylvia said.

Daniel had asked Xin Jie to go around asking prefects to rate their experience as a prefect on a scale of one to ten, to get a sense of how much improvement was necessary. I gave a six, as making new prefect friends made my year better, but planning the projects was tiring too.

We began shaking hands afterwards. Eng Soon was hesitant. After some encouragement from me and Sylvia, he was willing to break the ice with others. I noticed the unfamiliar boy who was with us looked lost, so I approached him.

“Hello! What’s your name?” I asked.

“Novan,” he replied.

“Do you want to get to know the other prefects?”

“Who?”

“There’s Jia Jie...Jerome...Xuanyu...what class are you from? Are your classmates here?”

“5G. Farah is there. She’s my classmate. I know Darren.”

We had begun walking, and Jia Jie came to talk to Novan. I wanted to approach other prefects but Clarissa came over to me after she talked to Jerome.

“Did you know Jerome previously?” I asked.

“Yes! I knew him since P1 from the special needs programme!” Clarissa replied.

“Wait a minute! Special needs programme? I heard Jerome has autism, is it true?”

“Yeah. I don’t know much about autism. He told me about how his amazing God cured him or something. I had a crush on him last year.”

“Did you tell him?”

“No. When I wanted to, I had a new crush on my classmate! Jerome is quite good! He always helps people and fights for the right things. He invited me to his birthday party last year. He lives in a big house so he invited a lot of people. His parents banned him from having a party this year because there was a fight last year.”

The rumours about Jerome were actually true! I admired his confidence in leading despite having special needs. A pity he was not in the exco.

“Do you want to go somewhere next week?” Clarissa asked.

“Didn’t I explain to you before? And I don’t want to drag my family into this,” I replied.

“I didn’t tell anyone else I liked them. I only told you. I liked you for four months and I only liked the others for two.”

“Others. I can predict you will have a new crush by February! It’s not wrong to have crushes but seriously don’t date at this age!”

Jia Jie, Jerome and Darren caught up with us.

“Why are you talking about dating?” Darren asked.

“Uh...never mind,” Clarissa said.

“Where did Novan go?” I asked Jia Jie.

“Izumi is talking to him. The Chinese Paper Two is so hard! How did you manage to finish it?” she said.

“I forced myself to finish it, and I haven’t started on Math,” I said.

“If that’s the case, how did Daniel finish his Chinese homework that fast?” Jerome said. “His Chinese is worse than yours, Jia Jie.”

“I heard he is going to do Math Olympiads next week?” I said.

“A few of us are meeting his friends to do it and I’m quite sure he’s the worst at Math among us,” Darren said.

“He’s quite hardcore. He already finished the stack of Stellar worksheets after he got it so he reads books when our teachers let us do it in class. He’s already going to learn secondary school Science! Secondary school Science! And his notes are from Greenpeak Girls School!” Jerome said.

“Yeah, I think he’s actually smarter than Darren, but more playful,” Jia Jie added.

“No way Daniel is smarter than me!” Darren protested. “I play more than him and he can’t beat me!”

“Wait until the debate competition!” Jia Jie said.

“There is a debate?” Clarissa asked.

“Only four students from 5A are going for it. Darren and Daniel are two of them. He told me some of his points. They’re really good! Daniel works hard and plays hard. He’s very smart and reads like mad,” Jerome said.

“What does Daniel want to be?” Clarissa asked.

“He’s okay with a lot of jobs. I want Medicine!” Jia Jie said.

“Me too!” Clarissa said.

“You should apply for Tesla Institute. You’ll have a high chance of getting into Medicine. I’m going the Math route,” Darren said.

“Hey! We should split! Talk to more people!” Jia Jie said.

Xin Jie came over and handed me the clipboard with the survey responses, telling me to take over him because he did not know most of the people. I tried explaining to him that it was a good chance to get to know others, but he was not confident. I passed the clipboard to Megan, who agreed to help.

Vivian came to me. “I’m totally lost because I have no idea who to talk to now. We’re really in a mess now. I was with some of the 5A and 5C prefects and I don’t know who to join now.”

“Yes this is messy. Should we just talk to our classmates?” I asked.

“Yeah, and Daniel doesn’t like it when we are in cliques. During Band, he likes to tell us to mix around. Just telling you,” Vivian replied and we approached our classmates.

“Hello! How’s the outing so far?” I asked them.

“Fun!” Sylvia replied.

“Any idea why Huayi is not here?” I asked.

“He’s not happy with the exco,” Eng Soon replied.

“Why? I think the people in exco are quite good,” Li Xuan said.

“I talked to him about it. I even told him we’ll give him a chance. He’s still not happy,” Vivian said.

Jerome then came, asking us for our phone numbers to create a Whatsapp group. I was against the idea of it, as it would exclude me and those without Whatsapp. Jerome assured me the rest of us would still receive announcements via email and the Google Site, and the chat group would not be for spamming.

Moments later, Megan came back to me, saying she gave up on the survey too. Fortunately, Jerome decided to cover her. I was quite amazed by how he could handle the collection of phone numbers and survey responses simultaneously while having seemingly interesting conversations with the rest.

The outing was disappointing overall. I did not have a chance to talk to everyone like Daniel. Although the position switch was still a secret to the non-exco, I felt terrible for not being up to standard like Daniel. He had the upperhand, since he knew virtually all the prefects before the outing. Me establishing relationships with everyone would take a long time, and I had less than a year to do so with that being the only outing as an entire batch of prefects that holiday. Daniel was quite encouraging. He told me not to worry and the prefectorial board would be revolutionised in a matter of time.

That night, Rebecca received a call, and she passed her phone to me. It was actually Alicia who had gotten Rebecca’s phone number from Jerome. She said that the outing with the other P5 Choir members would be held the next Tuesday. She then told me the meeting location and time without saying where we would be heading to. Strange, but I was eager for it.

We were told to meet at Treviston, the industrial heart of Aquapolis. Only Alicia, Stuart, Raju, Vernice, Chloe and Natsuko turned up.

“So what are we even doing? All you did was tell us to meet here!” Raju said to Alicia.

“Wait, wait! I was thinking we can eat here!” Alicia said.

“Is there even anything to eat? It’s all factories!” Natsuko pointed out.

“There is a huge eco mall linked to this station. We can check it out,” I said.

We ended up eating in a cafe.

“Why are we meeting today?” Stuart asked.

“Nothing much, just to hang out,” Alicia replied. “What have you guys been doing?”

“Sleeping,” Stuart replied.

“Work, music. The same things. How much homework have you done?” I said.

“Nothing,” Vernice replied. “Tuition, tuition and more tuition. I will still fail PSLE even if I have more tuition.”

“You won’t fail! What can we do? We can only study and play at this age,” Chloe said.

“I haven’t started on my homework ahaha!” Alicia said.

“Chloe, do you have anything for us?” I said.

“Me? No? Wait, is this the exco? Are we supposed to have some exco meeting?” Chloe asked.

“I’m okay with one,” Stuart said.

“What’s the exco in Choir even? The teachers do everything! They don’t even need a president!” Raju said.

“Exactly!” Chloe remarked. “They didn’t even tell me what I need to do!”

“How about...we decide what to do together,” I suggested.

“No please! I don’t want extra work. I heard you, Daniel and Ariana have a lot of work to do,” Raju said.

“Yeah! Ariana said you guys have a lot of projects and interviews,” Alicia said.

“We don’t have a lot of interviews,” Stuart said.

“I think she meant the small group meetings,” I said.

“I brought Uno. Who wants to play?” Alicia asked.

“You ruined the mood, Jordan!” Natsuko said.

What did I do? Alicia organised an outing and it was the perfect time for us to think about how to improve unity in Choir. I was sure she wanted at least our batch to be more united. After eating, we headed over to Crystique-Aqueris Nature for a walk.

“I feel Choir is already very united, so we don’t need to do anything,” Chloe said.

“We must. It’s not good enough,” I said.

“Has Daniel possessed you? I’m not saying it’s a bad thing,” Raju chuckled.

“Choir is united only during CCA, but we don’t go out like this,” Alicia said.

“Did you go out with your boyfriend?” Vernice asked.

“Yes. We don’t want our parents to find out so we go out with other friends, but I usually meet him half an hour earlier. I go to his house sometimes,” Alicia replied.

I whispered to Alicia, “I heard from Xuanyu that Ace has anxiety problems.”

“Yes, don’t tell anyone. It’s not fair how he gets bullied and hated because of that. I’m very protective of him so if someone hates him, I’ll hate him too. I love him a lot. I don’t want to see him bullied,” Alicia whispered back.

“It’s puppy love. Anyway, go ahead,” I said.

I might not be supportive of underage dating, but I felt bad for Ace and Alicia. Having to go through bullying and ridicule was tough, especially if he had special needs. I wanted to help him, but I did not know how.

“Are we doing the exco planning nonsense?” Natsuko asked.

“Yes,” Stuart replied.

“I think during those break times we can play some games?” Chloe said.

“What kind of games?” Alicia asked. “We can’t bring card games to school or use our phones!”

“Why didn’t the rest of our batch come today?” I asked Alicia.

“I don’t know. I asked them. They said no. Chloe, any idea why Marlene didn’t want to come?” Alicia said.

“She didn’t tell me. She’s always with her friends,” Chloe replied.

“What? Isn’t your class united? Clarissa said being in class is fun,” I said.

“It’s not that united and I only talk to Marlene during CCA. There’s this annoying girl called Mavis,” Chloe said.

It was tough managing the Prefectorial Board and Choir simultaneously. The challenge was Choir. Throughout the outing, Chloe seemed reluctant to do any planning and Vernice seemed to be in another world. The Prefectorial Board had hope to be revolutionised, how about Choir? In my opinion, a leader is not someone who just ensures others behave. There is more to that.

That Friday, I went to Daniel’s house for his music-playing session. Familiar and unfamiliar faces were present. Leo, Vivian, Jerome and Jia Jie were there too.

“Who are all these people? Have we seen them before?” I said to Leo.

“I don’t know a lot of them. I think there are more in his music room upstairs,” he replied.

“Music room? It’s the hall that leads to his and his sister’s rooms.”

“Did he tell you why he’s inviting so many people today? Those people over there say he wants members for his rock band.”

“Sounds cool. I want to see how good he actually is.”

“Very good! Really! Remember the video Jerome took for me? He was good.”

“He is starting on the bass. He won’t be better than me. He plays multiple instruments while I only play one.”

Daniel allowed us to roam around the living room, the music room as well as his bedroom. Daniel, Jia Jie and some others were having fun with karaoke in the living room. Leo and I decided to go up to the music room, as the songs did not interest us. We saw Vivian trying out the xylophone.

“The Vice Captain is here,” Vivian said to a girl beside him.

“Oh, hi!” the girl greeted me and Leo.

She was Isabel Liew, a prefect from Band too.

“Do you play the xylophone in Band?” Leo asked them.

“I play the French horn and she plays the trumpet. Why didn’t you join Band? You’ll be good in the percussion section,” Vivian said.

“I like art a lot. I want to be a designer. I play drums for fun,” Leo replied.

“No one’s playing the drums, why don’t you try?” Isabel said.

Leo passed me his phone, asking me to choose a song for him.

“Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream)?” I asked him.

“Too hard! Pass me the phone,” Leo said and began scrolling. “Sunday Bloody Sunday.”

“What kind of song is that?” Isabel queried.

“It’s about a shooting which took place on a Sunday,” Leo clarified.

“You seem to know a lot about songs, like Daniel,” Isabel said.

“I’m quite sure he knows a lot more than Daniel, and you should listen to U2,” I said.

“Yes I know more than him. I listen to English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, German and some Hokkien,” Leo added.

“Both of you should have a challenge later!” Isabel said.

“What kind of challenge? I can’t sing!” Leo said.

“Guess the song!” Isabel replied.

“He wants to play. Let him play!” Vivian said.

After playing, Isabel cheered loudly, attracting attention from others in the room.

A boy turned over to Leo. “It’s quite noisy here but good job!”

“I just learnt this song!” Leo said.

“For how long have you been playing the drums?” Vivian asked.

“I forgot, but I was very young,” Leo replied.

“I want to learn the violin...there it is!” Vivian said.

“Since when did Daniel play the violin?” I said to Leo.

“He doesn’t. His sister does. She played it for us before,” Isabel said.

A while later, Daniel came up.

“There are fruits downstairs. You can have them if you want!” he announced to all in the music room.

“Show us your guitar ability!” a girl said.

Daniel immediately picked up his electric guitar while most of the people cheered. He then played a riff I have never heard before - probably made up or from a modern song. After that, he played the melody of a patriotic song. Rebecca played the guitar too, but she was slower in playing tabs than Daniel. Daniel was an absolute rockstar!

The room was just filled with deafening screams and I felt I was in a dream.

“Sing a song!” someone shouted.

“Pass him the microphone stand!” someone else added.

“Song requests! Anyone?” Daniel announced.

There were many voices shouting song titles at once, such that Daniel appeared confused. He turned to us.

“Leo! You said you know a lot of songs! Suggest one for me!” Daniel said.

“Play anything by Dreamtheater,” Leo replied.

“I heard of that band but I don’t listen to them. Another one?”

“FireHouse? When I Look Into Your Eyes?”

“Perfect! Adina, you take the keyboards?”

Daniel began belting out the power ballad. I was taken aback. Daniel was no average kid! He would make a perfect heavy metal frontman! He then proceeded to perform a ballad by Coldplay on the synthesisers. This guy could literally compete with Elijah! A prodigy indeed!

Afterwards, Daniel let others be in the spotlight. Leo and I decided to head down to the living room for some fruits.

“Do we have time later? I want to challenge Daniel. I want to see for myself how good he can drum,” Leo said.

“Didn’t you just see? You can tell how good he is already. We can ask him, but let’s first choose a song,” I said.

“Okay. Do you think he knows Sunday Bloody Sunday?”

“No. Maybe a fast hard rock song?”

“Livin’ on a Prayer. Everyone knows that. Tom Sawyer! Daniel won’t know it!”

“You’re right, he won’t. Even I haven’t listened to it. I want to see his reaction when you tell him to play the drums for that.”

“Let’s just choose a song he will know, so I can see how good he really is. Survivor! He likes that band too! We’ll choose I Can’t Hold Back?”

“Why not?”

“Guys! They’re playing ‘guess the song’!” Isabel called us from the stairway.

Leo and I hurriedly made our way up.

“I don’t even know these songs,” I whispered to Isabel.

“Both of you like old songs? Some prefects were talking about it last week,” she said.

“Yes, we can test you,” Leo said.

After a while, Jia Jie asked me to sing songs for the people to guess. My chance had come! I sang a few lines of I Am the Walrus. Daniel and another boy guessed it. I sang My Oh My. No one knew it.

“Can you sing something more modern? Uh wait...do you even know modern songs?” Jia Jie asked.

“Yes! Lemon Tree!” I said, while Jia Jie did a dramatic facepalm.

“You call that modern?”

“Isn’t it? I know Michael Learns to Rock!”

Many of the people were laughing at me. I did not bother. The nineties were modern to me. I let others play, until Daniel decided to have some mass singing. When it was Leo’s turn to select the song to sing, he chose I’d Love You to Want Me - Daniel surprisingly knew how to sing the entire song!

I felt I was stuck in a dream. Was Daniel that knowledgeable about music?

My turn came. “I Can’t Tell You Why, I Don’t Like Mondays, Voulez Vous, Baker Street, Play That Funky Music.”

I tried to be lenient by suggesting those more popular songs.

“Play that Funky Music!” Daniel said and went to pick up his bass, playing the bass riff of the song.

Was I hallucinating? Daniel was literally a beginner. How did he learn the riff so quickly? Did he foresee I would suggest it? We began singing while others watched.

“I said, I must go back there (I got to go back)

And check to see if things still the same

Yeah they were dancin' and singin' and movin' to the groovin'...”

I froze. I forget the next line!

Daniel went on. “And just when it hit me somebody turned around and shouted play that funky music…”

I could not continue. I had this uncanny feeling in me. I made a beeline for the toilet. I felt defeated. I thought I was going to be good coworkers with someone but it seemed to be going down.

Jerome appeared in front of me when I came out of the toilet.

“Are you okay? You don’t seem good,” he said.

“I’m fine, thanks,” I muttered, and Jerome stopped me from moving.

“You’re not. Is it related to Daniel?”

“What about him?”

“Your tone says it. I know Daniel is a phenomenon, but come on, you’re working with him, you’re friends with him. Just accept him.”

“Haven’t I been accepting him? What kind of person can predict what song I am going to suggest? He tricked me that he is new to the bass and he can play a riff better than me?”

“Am I being fake?”

“No. He thinks he can have all the power he wants? Let’s wait until someone exposes how fake he is.”

“Lately you have been working with him more than me! I can be fake too, but how do you know that I’m not? Walk by faith and not by sight!”

I went back up to the music room.

“I just played I Can’t Hold Back with Daniel. My classmate said I played better,” Leo said.

“Good! Make sure you become even better and can play any song better than him! I suggest you learn a second instrument,” I said.

Daniel randomly asked me, “If I were to audition for a singing competition, what song will you recommend?”

“Light My Fire, best if you shout the lyrics!” I replied.

What a bad ending to 2014! I thought the year would become better, but it did not seem so. I could foresee 2015 being more challenging, as I needed to stop that Daniel from overpowering me. He surpassed me in popularity, grades, leadership skills, music ability and now his bass-playing ability! He had to watch out.

On a sidenote, Joseph Adams got suspended from school in September! Ha!