7
The Newcomer
(Read previous chapters 1-6 if u haven't)
******
Monday, 7.30am
The students gathered at the school carpark to prepare for the Weekly assembly. Amir Syed and a prefect came up on the stage. Clearly, they were the emcees for this week.
“The students are required to letak bag di sisi,”
“Sekarang saya ingin menjemput Muhd. Akmal to say a word of prayer,”
A boy came up the stage. He cupped his hands and started his prayer. “Bismilahirahmanirrahim..” and he went on.
“Now I would like to start the assembly by singing the national anthem, state song, and school song.” Music emitted by the loudspeakers filled the carpark.
Negaraku, tanah tumpahnya darahku…
Duli Yang Maha Mulia…
Bersama warga S-M-K-T-D…
“Now I would like to invite the head prefect to membaca ikrar,”
A stocky, tall, big prefect came up the stage. He raised his right hand.
“Up! Maka kami, rakyat M’sia, berikrar, akan menumpukan, seluruh tenaga… … Down.”
“Now I would like to invite the teacher in charge of last week to give her report.”
A teacher came up and gave a wonderful, inspiring lecture on the classroom’s cleanliness then went down.
“Sekarang saya ingin menjemput pengetua SMKTD, Puan Hajah Zaqiah bt Isa, untuk memberi ucapan beliau.”
Miss Zaqiah came up, gave her speech, and went down.
“Guru yang bertugas pada minggu ini ialah Encik Ganeson,” announced the prefect. Amir Syed translated the phrase.
“The teacher in charge of this week is Puan Ganeson—” The whole assembly roared into laughter. Some teachers snorted. Amir Syed hurriedly corrected himself.
“Eh, eh, I mean SIR Ganeson. Humans make mistakes every minute, every second, every time,” the assembly of students cheered and clapped. “Dipersilakan,”
Sir Ganeson ascended up the steps and onto the stage. “Now students, you may return to your classrooms. Prefects, please take your places.”
The prefects lined up in a long row, and filtered out the untidy students without ties, uncut nails, and messy hairstyles.
*******
Later, at class 3I
Miss Zubaidar entered the class for the Malay period.
“Bangun semua…”
“Ah tak payahlah, cikgu ada hal yang perlu diselesaikan, so buat latihan KOMSAS muka
The students of 3I groaned. Miss Zubaidar got up and walked out, carrying a bunch of files. Seconds later, the noise level in the class increased drastically.
“See la, you skinny skinny no muscle lah,” Kok Lam ‘mencari pasal’ with Shan who was doing his homework at the corner.
“What no muscle?”
“Come challenge me lah!”
“Ok.”
Shan and Lam sat down, folded up their long sleeves and started their arm wrestling.
“Woh, Lam loose lah…” said LK Jon.
“Shaddup, lah,”
They arm wrestled. At first both were equal. Then Shan began to loose strength. Obviously, Shan was going to loose. His knuckles were about to touch the table when Miss Zubaidar walked in the class.
“Bising!”
Everyone scrambled back to their places, except Shan and Lam, whose hands were clamped together. Miss Zubaidar continued on.
“Today, there is a new student that is going to join 3I,” she gestured to the door, “Masuk lah.”
A boy around T-Bone Tan’s height walked in the class. A Chinese boy.
“Eh… My name is Ian Cheng Jing Kwan,”
“Damn kacak,” whispered Nabila Sharh.
“Damn ‘yeng’,”said Yeinn Ng.
“Damn NOOB,” hissed Kok Lam angrily. Now I’ve got competition. While Kok Lam was busy thinking about his new ‘rival’, Shan took the opportunity and focused his strength on Lam’s hand. Against all odds, Shan won the arm-wrestle. But Kok Lam didn’t notice this. He was still studying the newcomer.
“Hi, all. Just call me Ian,”
“Cari tempat duduk,” ordered Miss Zubaidar.
Ian walked over to an empty seat and sat down. Did I mention? The empty seat belonged to Kate Kong, who was absent that day. And also, the empty seat was right behind Kok Lam’s seat.
In front of Ian, Lam sat there fuming. How dare he challenge me? We’ll see, Mr. Cheng, who is more handsome! Lam got up and approached Miss Zubaidar.
“Ah cikgu, bolehkah saya pergi ke tandas?”
Teacher nodded.
So Kok Lam went out, and down the flight of stairs. He entered the boys toilet at the end of Block B, the toilet with no doors. But wait, instead of going to pee, he went to the mirror, and did a very silly, or say, childish thing.
“Eh hem,” Lam cleared his throat, adjusted his blue tie and gazed at the mirror in front of him. Then he started singing…
Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who’s the most handsome one of all?
Me or Ian, Ian or Me?
Cool and handsome, all in all
Suddenly a stranger, dressed in a black top stepped in the toilet and frowned at Kok Lam.
“Did you just say the name Ian?”
Kok Lam jumped, startled. “Eh? No.. Yes… ah, no. Ah ya, yes lah. He’s the new student in class.”
The stranger’s eyes narrowed. “I see,” and he went off.
Kok Lam released a sigh of relief. He had not anticipated a sudden conversation with some stranger. But more, he was downright glad the stranger didn’t ask him about the song he was singing. Why? Because the song was malu-fying. As Kok Lam stepped out of the restroom of Block B, one question encircled his head.
But why did that weird stranger ask about Ian? Is he Ian’s dad?
Out of curiosity, Kok Lam decided to take a peek at the stranger who was walking down the corridor of Block A. The stranger walked past the ‘Bilik Disiplin’, went up to the Dental Room. Now Kok Lam’s sight was blocked by the pillar. Kok Lam approached the Dental Room and frowned.
What? This door is padlocked from the outside! But I saw that freak go in… and padlocked himself in??
Kok Lam peeked into the dark dental room. Nothing, no one. Where did that stranger go? Kok Lam let his imagination fly, due to the action movies he’d just watch. He must be up to sinister stuff. And if he knows Ian, Ian must be also in some plan. Evil. Who IS that man? Robber? Drug-seller? HM-assassinator? Terminator? Terrorist? Hah.
Kok Lam turned and headed for the stairs to return to class. Before he even passed the Bilik Disiplin, he heard something that made his Goosebumps rise. Inside the dental room, someone was singing in a low voice filled with sarcasm…
Mirror, Mirror on the wall,
Who’s the most handsome one of all?
Me or Ian, Ian or Me?
Cool and handsome, all in all?
Kok Lam’s face reddened; then he frowned. That voice sounds like Ian’s voice… But isn’t he in class?
Lam retraced his steps backwards and peered into the dark room again. And what did he see? He saw Ian sitting in a corner near the dental chair, arms folded, smiling away. And that kind of smile is one kind of cheeky smile that makes people want to give the smiley a punch in the face. The stranger was no where to be seen.
Kok Lam scoffed and continued back to class. Wait till I tell cikgu that you ‘ponteng’ class. When he entered class, he saw Ian seated at Kathleen’s desk, flipping through the KOMSAS book.
A vein pulsed on Kok Lam’s forehead. He sat down at his place next to Amir and turned behind.
“What are you doing here?”
Ian gave an innocent look. “Doing the latihans teacher gave?”
“Hey, I saw you downstairs, so don’t pura-pura okay?”
“But I didn’t even go downstairs,” Ian replied. He cast a glance at his temporary partner on the left. “Isn’t it, Sue Anne?”
“Yup. Lam, you lost a screw? He was here all the while lah,”
Amir gave him a playful, hard ‘whump’ on Lam’s back. Kok Lam turned to face his KOMSAS book on the table, muttering away angrily.
But I DID see Ian at the dental room! How on earth did he get back to class so quickly? Huh, I must be dreaming… What crappy stranger and all sorts… Sigh, just a dream, a dream…
If only Kok Lam knew he wasn’t dreaming...
(Sigh, okay, the chapters after this is still under construction. So ,Wait. May take time u noe.))
2 comments:
LOL~ lam's jealous.. so funny~ XD
haha .. i hate da part he scold me la .. make me scold him mah =p
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