Chapter 17

Chew Ling said that she had called Serene “missy” because that was how the older generation addressed nurses. Our River Valley High uniform looked like a nurse’s uniform with the all-white combination and the white cotton belt. She claimed that since Serene always gives others nicknames, she should give her one as well. Now Chew Ling called Serene “Marlboro” as she had also smelled the smoke on Serene’s uniform.

Our class splitted into five groups during lunch break. Christ and Wendy, a newly emerged couple, were in a group. Serene and five other girls who wore expensive watches and sports brand bags were in another group. Another two girls from RGS glued together. The other eight guys mingled together, always pointing fingers at different girls as if coming to JC was to look at girls. Chew Ling and I hung out together. Actually, it was that Chew Ling hung out with me.

Chew Ling applied to be a Student Councillor. According to some of the seniors, the Student Councillors in NYJC had a commanding standing. They would be responsible for organising concerts and events such as Lunar New Year or National Day. Due to the overwhelming number of people applying to be Student Councillors, the College has a system in which all the students had to go online and vote for the potential Student Councillors.

“I’m going to print flyers to advertise myself.” Chew Ling told me during a subject known as “Project Work”.

Project Work was something new to me. When I was in Secondary school, all the subjects that I took were academic: English, Additional Mathematics, Physics and such. Our Project Work teacher, Miss Choo, looked less than thirty years old and seemed to be the type who would often argue with the Principal for her skirt’s length.

“In the life outside the walls of NYJC, you’ll need to work on a lot of projects. You’ll need to team up with strangers, people you don’t like and people who don’t work, to manage a project. It’s a reality.” Miss Choo was saying. “In this subject, you’ll team up with your classmates, think of a topic that you think you are skilled in and then at the end of the year, hand in a detailed proposal and give the class a presentation. I’m sure some of you are specialists in some topics, right?”

“It costs two cents to print an A5 black and white flyer. So expensive.” Chew Ling said in-between two coughs.

“You, the small girl in glasses.” Miss Choo pointed in my direction. Chew Ling straightened her back immediately. “Maybe you can tell the class what your expertise is?”

I kept quiet and thought of some words. Perfectionism? Impression?

“Actually, Miss Choo, I think I am a Jack of all trades, but Master of none.” Chew Ling said. “I know a lot of things, you know.”

Miss Choo smiled. Kenneth – the guy sitting two tables in front of us – yelled: “So who won the English Premier League in the 2005/2006 season?”

Chew Ling stood up like she was some primary school student being called out by the teacher. “2005 to 2006 season? That would be Chelsea Football Club, with a total point of ninety-one. Manchester United Football Club was second. Kenneth, The New Paper is peppered with news of the EPL everyday, it’s almost hard not to notice.”

She had said that without battering a cough, which was impressive. Upon that, she sat down and winked at me. Somehow, there was a feeling growing in my body; relief or proud, I had no idea.

Miss Choo laughed a little. “Good, now-”

“Chew Ling, what’s the Gulf Stream?”

“The Gulf Stream is an ocean current that starts in the Gulf of Mexico. You got any tougher questions? Like the current GDP of Singapore or the current HDI of Singapore?”

“Okay.” Miss Choo cut in and then took over the talking. She continued to give us an introduction to Project Work and got us to think about the range of topics that we could cover.

Chew Ling was staring into blank space throughout the whole lesson. Although she had not said anything, I knew she must be feeling proud that her research had suddenly come to use today.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The reason why I had met up with Zinc regularly for chats was because he was the only one who knew everything about me. Somehow, I felt no pressure when I talked to him; it was like talking to a wall that could nod.

On one Thursday, after school, Zinc stood near the gates of NYJC. He wore a buttoned shirt that was so body-hugging that the buttons could flutter any moment. “Sunny!” he shouted the moment he saw me and Chew Ling stared at him for a few seconds.

“Well, hi there.” Chew Ling said, coughed and passed him a flyer. She had printed a few thousand copies of the flyers to promote herself. The flyer was a picture of a smiling her, with a speech box on the top right hand corner with the words “Vote for me to be the Student Councillor and I promise you that your time at NYJC will be the best in your life!”

“What?” Zinc held the flyer and read it.

“I know you can’t vote for me because you’re not a student here but what the heck, you greeted me and I’ve got extra flyers so you might as well keep it. Okay, you take care!” Chew Ling strolled towards me and smiled. “I call this self-promotion.”

“Sunny!” Zinc shouted and threw the flyer on the ground. “Want to drink coffee?”

When Chew Ling realized that Zinc was actually talking to me and not her, her cheeks turned so red that her pimples seemed to disappear for a few seconds.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“No wonder you asked me about Down Syndrome a few months ago.” Chew Ling said.

I had invited Chew Ling along to Junction 8 for an afternoon snack. As usual, Zinc offered to treat but I paid for the two coffees and a tea.

“You want me to tell you more about Down Syndrome?” Chew Ling told Zinc.

“I know already. I got extra thing in my cell. Why you always cough?”

Chew Ling wiped her mouth and sipped her hot tea. She was coughing less but still more than enough for Zinc to notice. “Asthma, I think. But I’ve been doing lots of research since two years ago. My symptoms do match asthma but none of my family members had asthma before. My great grandmother died of lung infections, though. Although scientists had not figured out if a certain gene is responsible for the outbreak of asthma in human, I think it is. Just that the gene is not discovered yet.”
“You talk like television.”

“I’m a walking encyclopaedia and an offline wikipedia. Ask me anything and I’ve got the answers. Come on, test me.”

I laid back and wondered if they knew I was here. It was interesting seeing the both of them holding a conversation; Zinc, who had always been the listener, and Chew Ling, who had always been the talker.

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