Anyway, the day started normally with Morning Duty and so on and so forth. But when we did our duties and made our way to the back of the New Audi to gather 'round, we were informed that we were going to cheer in front of the school. *gasp* We were suppose to show the students what cheering's all about, so I guess this would be interesting. After being told which cheers we'd be cheering, We were sent to the side of the Auditorium where we waited for our que to come on stage.
I ended up at the front row, where I could clearly see the entire student cohord, and what made things extra special was that the Senior Admin was at the front seats! And what made things extra extra special was that my class was seated just behind them! And what made things extra extra extra special was that many of the sec 2 Canoeists were just behind them! And what made things extra extra extra extra special was that the many teachers who I knew were all standing up, so they could clearly see me! And that includes Mr. See! I know I should be embarrassed by now, but in my insides I was just laughing at the senario! I mean, it's so coincidental and hilarious! The irony of it all! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!
So anyway, after smiling back at Toj, Eugene, JKit and many others who were waving at me, I heard the command and joined in the cheer:
"ACS, ARE YOU READY?!"
"Yes/No!" was the response we got back, but nevertheless we cheered on. After each cheer, we applauded each other before starting again on the next cheer. Then after three or four cheers, we finally stopped and took our exeunt after Peter (Or was it Kevin? Couldn't see from where I was standing...) gave some final words of encouragements and comments. We then took our positions at the exits of the Auditorium to perform Uniform Check. Once done, I had to go back to the Boardroom to put up the cans for Food For Thought before making my way back to class for History. A good thing this is the last week of the project - I don't think those cans could last another day more in their present state.
When I setled down in the class, I noticed that the class was doing a mini-test on the notes Mr. Ang gave out on the Malaysian Merger. When Mr. Ang came to my table, he asked me where my tablet was. I told him that Mr. Bongard instructed all Prefects not to bring their tablets today due to cheering, so he excused me. Soon, Tim and Pete arrived in the class with the new school socks that were created to destroy the dicipline case of ankle socks. How nice.
Well, I thought just one History lesson without a tablet wouldn't be harmful, but then I didn't realise that the next lesson was Computer Science! But by the grace of God, the teacher wasn't here so for the rest of the free-period, Tim, Kirby, JKit, Faraaz were beating up the cardboard box that held our school socks. Boxing day! I helped them hold up the board for them to punch/kick/smash because no one else was brave enough to do so. I guess faith that the Lord's protection is on me helps a lot, yeah.
After this was recess, where I met up with my cousin! And Ka Fu! Long time since I saw Ka Fu! So we chat around - my cousin with family affairs and Ka Fu with the promoting of Hao Qing - until we finished our meals, and then we dispearsed to the different directions we needed to go to.
When we came back to class, Tim brought back a report to the class that would send them all screaming with joy. Mdm Kavita was absent! Everyone started to celebrate and began hugging each other! A ver funny sight, although Mdm did leave a message to do some work. Ah, well.
For Maths, we started on Linear Graphs! Yay! Navigation!
Then there Art, where the fear of abandonation came back to haunt me again. It started later in the lesson, but first there was the part where Tim got angry at ZRong for irritating him, later calming down and appologising to him. Not a surprising sight for me, but I just kept quiet. Then ZRonglater asked me for a recomendation on where he should place his light source. I asked him for the message he wanted to convey in his picture, and he replied, "Shit." Wanting to to show that I was serious in asking him for the message, I sarcasticlly commented that if he wanted to convey 'faeces', then he'd have to place the light source somewhere at the top of the drawing.
Matt, who was just near by and wh0 was listening to the conversation, came in and asked what happened to me and what went wrong, saying that that was a really perverted statement. But before I could say, "I just want to be serious." and re-ask Zeng Rong for his real message, Tim came in and said, "Y'know what went wrong? He joined the Prefects."
Matt then went along telling me how the prefects had corupted my mind. So from then on throught he rest of the lesson, I was being given 'prefect' comments on how I've been turned evil and the sort. Not wanting to raise a debate, I just kept quiet and continued my work. But the more they teased me, the more I was reminded on what happened to me while I was in Primary 3. The year where almost everyone in my class was against me.
The final straw came when I asked the table I was in if I could borrow an eraser. "No," was the reply, along with, "Because you're a Prefect." I responded with a soft, "k." before quickly moving to the next table. I was reminded too uch of my horrifying past, and if I had heard another comment of me being 'separated' from the people and that I wasn't allowe dto mingle with them, I might have cried. All the hurt and sorrows I had to go through back in P3 flowed into memory, and I softly did my drawing while busily trying to rebuke the bad feelings away. I kept forgiving my classmates (who reminded me of the pains) and the ex-classmates (who gave me the pains in the first place) and kept my emotions between God and me.
Once we were dismissed, I tried my best to keep my distances from the class while making my way to the classroom as quickly as possible. Looking as pale as ever, I kept my prayers high and did all I could to relax myself from the memory.
Once at the class, a notice on the front door said we had an early dismissal since the class was going to do CIP for today. But since I had cheering, it just meant that I had a longer lunch before my throat would be put to the test. After collecting my bags and changing into the Board Shirt, I went down to the SAC and bought myself a couple of Tou Sar Baos, walking around while eating until Michael K caught me and discussed with me aout the details on what was to happen for the Fund Raising Committee.
Apparently, a small portion of the class was seated at a table in front of us, and Tim turned around to find me in the new Board Shirt. Noticing him, I wanted to wave at him and say a small, "Hi!". But when I notice closely, he wasn't smiling. In fact, he was giving the same face a guy I once knew made at me many a times. The last thing I wanted to be reminded about P3 was that person, but seeing Tim that was, I just had to remember. Marvin Sim, the person who hated me the most in that period, appeared to have been staring at me like in the ol' days. The equivalance of Reuben to Justin, Marvin was to me. I panickly kept my mouth shut and lowered my hand, turning back to Michael and listening to what he had to say.
Once done with the small briefing, JKit and ZWei then invited me to the table, so I went over and sat at the edge of the table, clutching the paperbag and nibbling slowly at my baos. I mentally prepared myself for more 'prefect' comments, and sure enough they came. This time, they kept blasting me with so many of them, I was literally being pushed away from the table.
This one now reminded me of the night of my P6 Camp, where my class was scolding me for making friends with the geeks of the class. It was something like what Matt would call a 'Civil War', and I was at the borderline. The minority of geeks at one side, and the majority of the class that hated them on the other. The class was chasing me around the hall, threatening me that if I didn't join them in hating them geeks, I'd be hated along with them geeks, while the geeks themselves, fearful as they were, never gave me any bargain. When I couldn't take the shoutings anymore, I knelt down and cried, saddened that I had to choose between friends instead of being allowed to befriend everyone.
But back in the SAC, I just kept smiling, kept quiet, kept forgiving. I knew they didn't mean to hurt me, but I was just being constantly reminded of the things in my past. So when I had to help take down the Food For Thought cans, I hurriedly made my exit before hearing the words, "You see, this is what they do to us..." or something like that. I held back my voice and plainly did my work, unknotting the wires that held down the cans and transporting them to the Boardroom for safety storage before helping fellow prefect carry the food and drinks we were going to sell at Rugby on board the bus.
Sitting along with Michael on the bus, I listened to the many funny conversations that were onboard, from a couple of guys singing along to an iPod in a crazy manner (Smack That, My Humps, Ain't No Other Man, ect.) to another pair speaking shuffled randomness! Once on the expressway, Ben Sim found out we actually left behind Ryan! Serious a situation as it was, we laughed at the mishap and Ben tried to arrange for other means of getting him to the venue. Half-way along the ride, Mike offered me an ear piece to his iPod, of which I accepted and listened with him to a series of songs which were moderately entertaining for a shadey afternoon. Slowly but surely, I was forgetting about the reminders I went through this afternoon and was being filled with joy again! And being reminded of God by the rain, I prayed that the rest of the day be an adventure worth being involved in. And was I to be surprised...
Once at the venue, the Fund Raising prefects brought down the cargo and carried/shouldered/dragged/kicked them to the breachers, where Ben Sim, Kegan, Bryan, Alex and I set up a small stall to sell the stuff. Helping them out to fill up the cooler boxes with ice and water, prying the cartons of can drinks, dunking them into the cooler boxes and preparing the change floats, I asked God for a great time in the sales. And apparently, nother two schools were competing for the time being, so when their students saw us there announcing that we're open, we were suddenly bombarded with tonnes of customers wanting drinks and Pringles!
Once all ten cartons of Pringles were sold out, Ben Sim quickly told us to shut down the shop before all the supplies get sold out before ACS(I) arrives. He also asked Bryan, Michael and Kegan to fetch a cab back to school so they could collect all the reserved supplies left in the Boardroom and transport them here for selling! Praise the Lord for such success! I mean, 10 cartons of pringles is 60 cans of pringles in total, and since they were sold for $2.50, we already collected $150 dollars! And that's just the pringles: what about the drinks?! A dollar each, but still! Glory be to God!
So when ACS(I) finally arrived, we signalled to them that we were selling stuff, sothey slowly came and buisness was smooth. For an hour or more, the only phrases I ever said were "One dollar.", "What'll you like?", "Change!", "Notes!", "Coins!", "In my pocket!", "Open!", "Close!", "Ben!", "Alex?" and "Thank you!". At least now I've got a feel on what the market's like! Very adventurous! And soon enough, the replenishing supplies arrived and we sold more pringles and drinks! We also had our faces painted the traditional ACSian way! Cheese!
I was more or less multi-tasking as I 1) Sold drinks, 2) Kept the big notes in my pocket for safe-keeping and 3) Watching our school trash the Saints, with a sub-additional 4) Cheering whenever someone starts a cheer, but it was altogether fun and exciting! And when the match was over, it was facinating being involved in the crowd that runs off the platforms and straight to the winning team to shout victory and congradulate each other! An adventure indeed! Once everyone settled back to their seats, the prize presentation was being played, followed by the final cheering of "Hip-hip-hooray!" trice before the closure of the event, of which our Rugby team performed the traditional New Zeland dance thingy which New Zelander soccer/rugby teams always perform before and after a victorious match. How tribal!
When the masses went back home, we prefects had to stay back for a final debrief, where we were congradulated for our great efforts in cheering (which was impressively able to be supported by the school for once), fund-raising (which raised about $650 or so) and support (for the players themselves came to us and thanked us for the encouragements)! We them celebrated with the remaining cans of coke and strepsils before helping to clean up the stadium and taking down the banners before loading the remaining cargo back onto another bus heading back to school. During the trip, I had to help Ben Sim, Kegan and Mr. Bongard count the money again to make sure everything was accounted for. Mr. Bongard's a nice guy when you know him well. He's really a nice guy!
Once back at the school, we brought the banners and remaining drinks to the Boardroom and the banner stands back at Project Desertstorm before heading to our homes for a nice bathand dinner. Mike offered to drop me off somewhere closer to home via his Gong Gong's car, and so I accepted the offer. Knowing that I had my high respects for him, I guess it would have been concidered an honour to ride along with him, now wasn't it?
And by the grace of God, Gong Gong's car over-drove the 75 just in time, so the momment he dropped me off, I could just walk to the bus since it was blocked by the car! Ha ha! Praise the Lord! So for the rest of the journey, I continued grooving along to a small tune playing in my head! Groovy!
Finally at home, I took a short dinner before dunking myself in a shorter shower, then got out my Bible to read a verse or so to end of the day. Well, Romans 5:11 and 17!
All is forgiven to the many people who've hurt me, whether unintended or on purpose, so God bless y'all!!! God's Love!!!
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