4E1 - The Gathering

In an unexpected move, classmates of my former Secondary School Class, decided to visit teachers who taught us in Hai Sing in view of the Chinese New Year. Having recovered from the episode a few days before, I decided to join Cedric and the rest. It was, afterall, an event that took longer to organise than probably the Olympics.

When Cedric and I reached school, the friendly security guard ,who looked like he was sharing the same shelter as the cleaning equipment quite happily , stopped us and exchanged our I/Cs for visitor passes.

A few of our former classmates were already waiting in the Canteen.

As Wei Chieh, Mong Wei , Siting and I waited for the rest, there was a copious and often energetic exchange of Army Talk, most of which concerned a certain sniper corporal who was due to get his sergeant rank several months leading us to the conclusion that he was indeed the first NSF to be condemned by his superior.

Like most girls reading the last sentence, Siting must have been (CLICHE) bored to tears. Abandoning her failed attempts at trying to relate to the same frequency as us, she turned to me instead.

" What Uni are you in?" She asked, above the cacophony of what sounded like "cannot make it", " no marksman somemore" and " bloody hell " .

Apparently I heard the word "Uni" as "Unit" and proudly told her:

" 3 Signal Battalion."

Realising my blunder when they bescreeched me not to sign on in the Army , I told her:

"NUS"

After waiting in vain for the organiser who ironically just woke up, we found ourselves infront of Ms. Mariana . Something told me she was going to accuse me of being a stalker the other day I tailed her "without even saying Hi"- which she did earnestly. In what seemd to be her last ditch attempt to get us off her back, she took her to class and introduced us as the "pride and joy of Hai Sing".

Being the shy guy that I was , I took to smiling while while the rest decided to put on an a great show of acting shy as well. Pupils it seemed, are not all that impressed with smiles.

"Nice legs!", someone thundered from the back of the class.

While we struggled to make our way out and at the same time dragging the guy with the nice legs out, he shrieked, fists shaking in the air:

" I'll kill him!"

Looking for our Biology teacher was a little more tricky. Finally finding him by peering into every classroom on each level, most of them greeted with cold, hard stares ,we sat at the bench outside his classroom.



We camped there for precisely 17 minutes , mini I-Pods , handphones and Digital Cameras out waiting for something to happen. In the end , we chose the teacher's darling , Eugene to convey the message that we were at the canteen eating our lunch.

I never realised school food was so deliciously cheap.

Mr Njoo found us, in the foyer somehow and had a quick chat with us before he went about his duties.

Wei Chieh drove the rest to TPJC in his father's car, which Cedric cleverly triggered the Alarm to by opening the door . He seemed to be rather proud of the accomplishment.

Joining my tuba section, I conducted some sectionals and idled the rest of the time away with some shots.



Suddenly in a mad rush for time, Cedric decided to leave a little earlier. Happily I followed - until he realised that our I/Cs were still with the security guard.