Lovely Memories.

Friday, June 24, 2005

Friday, June 24, 2005

Many thanks to Kath who took all the trouble to write,compile n edit the chapters in our sec4 class journal(which somehow diden get published).

she sent us some chapters via email which made me reminiscence about some of the crazy times we shared back in 4Freakz.

Here's one of the most exciting entries:

Kent Ridge Secondary School

I suppose we were asking for it. Ritchell, Bridget, Eileen, Alice, Devlin, Aaron, Ee Chong and I were going to the Jurong Entertainment Centre everyday after school to have our meals together and basically waste time.

We went there after school on an almost daily basis to sample the various delicacies from Long John Silver’s, Delifrance and Macdonald’s.

But the greatest leisure event of every trip to JEC would be to go up to the skating rink and to play Photohunt at the machine booth there.

Today was different. After our meal, we went up to the skating rink. We found the Photohunt machine occupied by a group of students from Kent Ridge Secondary School. Ah well, so we set on the benches provided and waited for them to leave, watching the skaters in the rink in the meantime.

Things started becoming weird, however. Bridget caught one of the girls giving us the fish-eye, for want of a better way to describe what is commonly known as ‘diao’.

Then they started hogging the machine. After an hour’s wait, they were still there. We started getting more ‘fish-eye’s, and for no good reason. "That girl must be having constipation," Devlin remarked.

One of the girls walked past, giving us an entire galore of ‘fish-eyes’. "!" I was momentarily tempted to put her head in way of an incoming pair of ice skates.

"Wait. What did we do to them?" I asked, feeling outraged.

"They just , there’s nothing we can do, honey" Bridget replied.

Ritchell remarked dryly, "I think we have more reason for that. She looks like a pug."

Aaron went with Devlin to see what the group was up to. They came back to us with Devlin sniggering, "The girl said, ‘Ji Bai,’ when Aaron walked past." Alice started laughing, albeit apologetically.

"They’re going to change more money into 1-dollar coins so we’ll have to wait even longer! Wahl au!" Aaron exclaimed, trying hard to ignore Alice.

We continued the wait. Ritchell and Bridget decided to go over to check things out.

They decided to fabricate a conversation about French lessons and violin classes so as to give themselves a legitimately nonchalant reason to walk past them. Haha you see our superiority complex coming in.

They came back. "The girl said, ‘Lan jiao’ this time. Someone teach her how to use vulgarities, please. She’s simply throwing out whatever foul language she can think of!" RItchell said, clearly quite miffed.

"It’s ridiculous, they’re wasting their money just to spite us! What’s the point" Eileen shook her head in disbelief, frowning.

Devlin replied with his usual derision. "What did you expect, they’re from a neighbourhood school!" And we all snickered. Ritchell left for home soon.

"Let them spend all their money if they want, it’s not ours anyway," Bridget shrugged over the shoulder of Alice and Eileen, who were looking through their Bio TYS.

After another hour, we just decided to go home too. However the lift was conveniently situated beside the photohunt machine, where the Kent Ridge maladroits were huddling around. (Aaron: "Don’t they get sick of it after awhile?")

While waiting for the lift, the Kent Ridge students glared at us and made it very clear that they hated our guts. Alice and Eileen exchanged a look and shrugged helplessly, while Devlin slouched around looking completely unconcerned, and Ee Chong and Aaron just decided to ignore them completely. I tapped my foot impatiently waiting for the lift.

As soon as it arrived, we got into the lift, and the door was closing. However, before it had closed completely, Devlin just couldn’t resist. He shouted, "Kua si mi, si ba gow? "

The doors of the lift slid smoothly shut.

A babble of voices broke out in unison.

"Devlin!" Alice and Eileen yelled, exasperated.

"What? What was it he said?" I displayed my ignorance of dialect at the wrong time.

"Shit you, Dev! Wah lau! They’re going to whack you lah!" Aaron.

"Never mind, all of us here wear spects anyway - " Alice reasoned.

"Yep, they probably won’t misunderstand - " Bridget hoped.

"This is it. You’re always getting everyone into trouble, Dev," Ee Chong grumbled in frustration. "!"

"Precisely! What are all of you worried about!" Devlin yelled over the tumult.

"Can someone tell me the meaning of what Dev said?"

"All of us just keep calm."

"They’re going to come after us, I bet."

"Si ba gow means four-eyed toad!"

"So?!" Devlin.

"Oh, that’s just brilliant, Dev. Brilliant."

"Let’s just go home, alright?"

"Thanks."

Ding. First storey. We swept towards the entrance.

We had scarcely stepped out of JEC when the confrontation begun. Devlin was walking behind all of us. It was easy for the gang of four to stop him.

They had already surrounded him by the time I realized that he wasn’t behind me any longer. Ee Chong and Aaron had already stepped in between Devlin and the gang.

"Alice. Alice." I called sharply to the girls who were walking further ahead.

They looked shocked as they took in the spectacle and hurried back, looking worried.

"You insulted us!" One of the KRSS boys, with the unfortunate disposition to possess a beer belly, snarled as he shoved Devlin on the shoulder. There was a scuffle, and Aaron had to pull the boy off Devlin.

Devlin cocked his head and retorted, "Was I insulting you? Did you see me insulting you? How did you know I was insulting you?"

The KRSS gang looked disorientated for a second. I couldn’t help it. I burst into uncontrollable laughter. Eileen looked at me incredulously. No, I simply couldn’t stem the tide. What was wrong with me? It was getting hysterical, so I hid behind Ee Chong and tried to stop.

Meanwhile Beer Belly seem to try to get his bearings on the situation. Blinking in the sunlight of the square outside JEC, he growled, "You dare to say that you weren’t insulting us?" (Editor’s note: Dreadful, their English, I took the liberty of patching it up.)

"Yar. Si bak gow could be any one of us. What proof do you have that it’s one of you?" Aaron stepped in.

"You were insulting us!" Pug Girl reinstated. They sounded like they were trying to convince themselves.

"You think we’re stupid, is it?" The other boy was just giving us the gun to shoot him in both feet.

Stupidly, Devlin said, "Umm. Yes."

It took Ee Chong and Aaron to stop all four Kent Ridge students from jumping on him.

"Let’s just stop this. It’s ridiculous." I snapped.

Ee Chong stepped between them and Devlin and said, "Let’s just make peace. , ok? Like Caesar says, "I am as constant as the Northern Star", so we’ll just let this go alright?"

I could see the astonishment and confusion in their faces I already. I bit back a smile. In a most diplomatic manner, he set things in order, and we left for the MRT.

On the road to Jurong East Interchange, Ee Chong muttered under his breath, "Alice, Eileen. Walk in front of us." The boys walked at the back of the entire group.

Turning around, I realized why. The Kent Ridge gang obviously didn’t want to let the matter rest. They were tailing us. The rest of the journey was a tense one.

"It’s okay, good thing we all take the West line. We’ll stay together."

"Dev and Brid will be alright, they’re on the North-South line."

"Shit, Kat takes the bus!"

"It’s okay, I’ll take the MRT for once."

We were discussing plans as we walked.

Things came to a head when we reached the escalator leading up to the MRT station. Obviously not wanting to lose their target of pursuit, or at least, not without first getting back at us in some way or another, they grabbed Ee Chong’s bag just as he was about to leave. All of us heard the inevitable ripping sound as the fabric of the old bag gave way.

Ee Chong rounded up upon the culprit, who was Pug Girl. I could see her shaking, as he suddenly looked ferocious enough to breathe flames.

"Don’t think that I don’t dare to beat you up just because you’re a girl, "he glowered.

She let loose with a string of expletives which I’d rather not repeat here.

Then there was a shoving match between her and Ee Chong, and Beer Belly stepped in, followed by Aaron.

Somehow the entire confrontation had attracted quite a few passers-by, us being in school uniform and all. The conflict resolved with the Pug Girl spitting out spitefully, "Watch out," being unable to intimidate us in any other way.

All of us walked away and went on the escalator. When we next turned our heads, the Kent Ridge gang were nowhere in sight.

"Good one, you guys must have scared them off." I said, still feeling the aftereffects of the shock.

"I was scared to death when she ripped Ee Chong’s bag. I thought they really wanted a fight!" Eileen heaved a sigh of relief.

"Devlin! It’s all because of you!" Alice berated, while Ee Chong added, "Yar, the last time we were playing LAN, Dev also got us into trouble. If not for me, we would have never gotten out of it. It’s always Dev."

One of the most memorable and exciting of the RV3F days in my memory, I must say. Ritchell has always beaten herself up for going home early that fateful day.