9
The Start of A Start
(Please remember, this is only a story, OKAY?)
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Ever heard of a love equation? Well, a love equation isn’t something like whatever you learn in Chemistry or Math. However, it is unpretentious, easy to annul, and hard to preserve.
A compound of love. Like any other compounds, a love compound MIGHT just break apart after heated. The bonds between just break-snap. Unless, the bonds between are just too strong and stable. Like oxides and some Silicons. Heh. High force of attraction.
In other words, the compound of love doesn’t break and shatter, even through hard times or in hot water. Occasionally, some love equations come out terribly off balanced. Take for example, ML and FE. Male and Female.
ML = FE, but FE not equal to ML. Magnets? North is attracted to South, but South repels North.
I tell you, love equations are vastly different than any Math or whatever stuff you’ve ever learned. It’s a simple-but-complicated equation. An intricate paradox. Hah.
Doesn’t make sense? Confused? Nevermind. It’s common. You can never really understand it unless you have really gone through a real experience. Hmm. AnYway, enough of sidetracks. Back to the main story…
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In the azure blue of the break of dawn, the sun casted beams of orange and yellow, across the Genting Highlands, across the Emerald Hills, across the country of BCH; expelling the veils of mist in the school, revealing the students falling into formation outside their class… 3 Ikhlas.
On the whiteboard, in a teacher’s handwriting, wrote a note:
Untuk KH hari ini, kelas Pn. Johana dan Pn. Asiah akan digabungkan.
Combined? Oh, it is gonna be so noisy, when half-and-half is put together in the same KH room. Oh well, if we must, we must.
Normally, the class would be separated in teo different bengkels, or workshops. But today, all 36 students are going to be cramped in the first workshop.
Up above the KH workshop, Mr. Jay was teaching add maths to his Form 6 students.
“You take this sigma and bring it to the other side, invert it, and it changes to the powers of -13…”
One student scratched his head. “…then you replace the unknown with a third-degree constant of…” Another student yawned sleepily.
“…OK? Understand? And you take all the following—” Sir Jay stopped and frowned. He looked around at his Form 6 students. The students immediately sat up pole straight and put on a fresh & alert countenance, despite their inward confusion and sleepiness.
Sir Jay placed his hands akimbo. “What is that noise? Do you hear it ah?”
The dazed Form 6 students nodded their heads simultaneously.
“What a noisy school. Disturb saja lah. I wonder what kind of class it is.” Sir Jay strode out of the classroom and looked down at the ground floor. Voices of multiple students echoed around his ears.
He focused his sight at the KH workshop and rolled his eyes at what he sighted.
= = = = = = =
“Cikgu tak masuk kelas!” announced the monitor Amir Syed.
The students of 3 Ikhlas were having the time of their lives, chatting and laughing, enjoying the free period. Spots and groups of ‘rajin’ people sat quietly at the tables, scribbling away in their notebooks. Others were all talking at the same time. Go on, try to guess who said what…
“I want that lah!”
“How to do this question ah?”
“Eh, I am not gay okay?!”
“Dey, come here a while,”
“When to pass this up ah?”
“You know ah, there’s this Korean movie ah, the actors inside handsome gila oh!”
“What time is tuition at JG today?”
“Stop playing wih my tie!”
“Dey, Manchester United rocks lah!”
“NO lah,
“Hey let me see that Michael Jackson Magazine!”
“Dey, you no balls lah!”
“This singer more handsome than that one lah!”
“Neh, my Grade 8 examiner lah! So fierce one,”
“Naruto Anime is nice, okay,”
“Don’t touch my—”
Suddenly the class became dead quiet. Dub-dup-dub-dup, heartbeats where the only sounds available.
“Dey, Miss Suzanny lah. Let go off my—”
Miss Suzanny, the KH teacher from the next KH workshop placed a foot in the workshop. She raised her eyebrows in a scary way.
“Hari ini, Puan Johannah dan Puan asiah tidak masuk kelas,” she looked around at the students. “Kamu semua, kalau belum siapkan kerja kayu lagi, pergi siapkan sekarang juga. Yaing lain pula, siapkan folio awak dan JANGAN buat bising.”
Whispers flew everywhere.
“Tunggu apa lagi? Pergi ambil kerja kayu dan siapkan.”
Half of the students dragged their feet to the cupboard. Moments later, quite a number of people were inspecting their incomplete wooden models while Fitri Azril pushed out a trolley-full of carpentry tools.
Bang! Slam! Shrak-shrak-shrak! Bang! Ting! Tong! Tiang!
The workshop sounded like a carpentry indeed.
“Oh shoot. I nailed the wrong piece down…” mumbled Harvin Nard quietly.
“Dey, wonderful luck,” chuckled Yang Ngui Sui while sawing a piece of stubborn wood. Ngui stared at the piece of wood. The wood stared back at him defiantly.
“What the F*** lah. This saw is damn cacat. I’ve been sawing for aeons and this wood is still intact.” Ngui sawed harder, faster, HARDER, FASTER…
Yap Connie yawned as she finished the last A4 page of her folio. She looked around at her classmates busily tending to their craft work. Suddenly,
Clang! A saw dropped on the floor noisily. “Shit!” Connie heard someone at the table behind hiss angrily. She glanced behind and saw a mini-comotion.
“Do you want a plaster?” asked Jia Jing Chin.
Oh, thought Connie. It was Ngui. In his effort to split split the ludicrously stubborn piece of wood, he had sawed of a wee bit of his thumb’s skin. Ouch indeed. Luckily, the cut didn’t go through the bone or what, otherwise the poor thumb would be crying on the floor. Ouch indeed.
Ngui bit his lip to numb the pain while Jia Jing fished out a large plaster from the first-aid box that was just behind her.
“Should I call teacher?” towered T-Bone Tan above the others.
“No need.”
At the other end of the workshop, where Yimay, Kate Kong, Ellie, Ling Phang Yi and Xing The was cramped at the small KH table, Yimay instantly became alert and looked around.
“I’m thirsty. Where’s my water bottle?... What’s that smell?”
“There’s no smell whatsoever,” retorted Kate.
“There IS some kind of smell.” Insisted Yimay.
Xing The and Phang Yi glanced at Yimay with a you-are-something-wrong look. Ellie poked Yimay’s shoulder.
“Eh grandmother, there’s no special smell lah. I only smell wood and dust… and wood…”
Yimay rolled her eyes and growled. Wait! Growled or groaned…? She stood up and strode off to the back of the class where the mini-commotion was. Ellie was confused.
“Where are you going? You haven’t finished your folio yet lah!”
= = = = = = = =
Ngui finally had his thumb wrapped up and sterilized. He sat down on the chair and released a long “shit” word. JJ looked on with concern.
“It… uh… okay?” JJ asked.
Ngui flashed his mischevious smile. “No worry, it won’t drop off,” Jia Jing melted. Inside, and not out. She returned a smile and proceded to pack up the first aid box.
Connie snorted and returned to her folios. Oh well, oh well.
Yimay went over and picked up the saw that had fallen to the floor. She inspected the saw thoroughly. Her eyes lit up as she saw a small line of red stuff at the edges of the jagged blade.
Hmmm. It smells nice. Shoot! Cut it out! But… Yimay stared at the saw stupidly, It smells so nice! She was about to touch the little line of blood when the saw was snatched away from her.
“Dey, that’s MINE!”
Yimay was stunned. Jhinani held the saw in a way as if it was made of gold. Yimay blazed.
“Hello madame, I got it first!”
It looked so ridiculous, two girl prefects fighting over a rusty saw... or maybe say, the line of blood on the saw.
Yimay stretched a hand to grab the saw. Jhinani leaped backward, knocking Bavani who was behind her. Bavani complained angrily.
“Dey, what lah you? See lah, now all of the nails are on the floor. Now I have to borrow Ellie’s magnet to pick ‘em all up.
Jhinani took no heed to Bavani’s complain. The only few terms that were floating around her head was Yimay. Red-thing. Must. Saw. Take. Smell. Nice.
Yimay made another lunge at Jhinani. Halfway through, she stopped abruptly. Miss Suzanny was just beside Jhinani! Instantly, Yimay’s brain was relieved from the “weird” feeling and the uncontrollable lust.
Shoot! What am I doing?! Yimay thought. Miss Suzanny! When did she come here?!
Miss Suzanny frowned at Yimay, then at Jhinani. “You should know well enough not to play with saws. It has the potential to make you injured and bleed. Give it to me now. It’s the rule of this KH workshop.”
Bleeeeeeed. The word struck an echoing chord in Yimay & Jhinani’s mind. Miss Suzanny looked at Jhinani sternly.
“Please give me the saw.”
Jhinani’s eyes blazed. If you want it, come and get it, she thought.
“Please give me the saw. Sekarang juga.”
Jhinani made a low growl at the teacher.
“Ah…?” A surprised look crossed the teacher’s face. She folded her hands. “Excuse me?!”
Bavani sneaked behind Jhinani and whispered urgently into Jhinani’s ear. “Dey! Miss Suzanny lah! You want die ah?! Snap out of it!”
As though struck by a horrible lightning, Jhinani’s jaw dropped and her eyes grew big. Oh my gosh! What AM I doing?! I’m am SO gonna be fired as a Prefect! The ‘wild’ look vanished from her face.
Miss Suzanny was losing patience. “Please. Give. The. Saw. To.
Jhinani feebly handed over the saw and forced a mini-smile. The teacher took the saw, snorted, and walked away. Jhinani retreated hurriedly back to her seat.
Yimay, who was still standing on the spot, looked around. It was only then that she noticed that the class was DEAD SILENT. And her other classmates was staring in shock and surprise. Their faces portrayed various emotions.
Suddenly, Yuw Men Wong sneezed. The small sneeze pulled everyone out of their trnace-of-shock.
“What actually happened there?” Izzati asked Nabila Shafifah. Nabila merely shook her head. “Tak tau lah.”
“Eh, Cheh-Cheah, what you do lah?” Kok Lam asked as he passed by Yimay carrying a few hammers. Yimay’s eyes narrowed.
“Mind your own business lah, Lam,”
Krrringgg!! The school bell rang away noisily. Yap Connie slapped her pencil box in frustration. I can’t even finish my bloody folio in 3 periods. Sigh! She thought. And the reason why she couldn’t finish? She was utterly distracted buy the playbacks of the Ngui-finger-injured incident in her mind.
As Connie packed up her papers, books, and pens, thoughts crowded her mind. I wish I had the courage to offer help to Ngui. I wish I had been braver… Ah ya, I wish I— Her thoughts were disturbed as Sue Anne Tee approached her.
“Connie! You look so dazed! What’s going on in that complex brain of yours, huh?” joked Sue Anne.
“I… uh… nothing,” Connie blushed. Sue Anne looked at Connie in surprise. After so many years being good friends together, this was the first time she saw Connie blush. And REALLY blush.
“Come on, let’s go,” Connie hurriedly pulled Sue Anne’s arm and headed for the workshop’s exit.
Having a friend study her face intensely was something felt uncomfortable with, for the moment.
(To be continued...)