Chapter 3

“Hello.”

When I heard the familiar masculine greeting behind me, I jumped. What happened yesterday morning refreshed in my mind instantly: The greeting, the run to the MRT Station and the screaming at the MRT Station platform.

It was six in the morning and I had not expected that guy to appear again. He smiled when I turned to face him. This time, he was wearing a tight “AX” t-shirt that was obviously unauthentic. I stepped away from him.

“Hello, you beautiful. Do you want me to marry you?”

The bus came. Three people stood forward towards the bus. It stopped at the traffic lights.

“Can?”

He started to reach for me- fabricated – perfect.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-reached out to me - something like that? - forced himself onto me –

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I ran. Again. And again.

The bus was just about a hundred metres from me but still, I ran away from the bus-stop. This morning’s air seemed a lot fresher; when I reached the MRT Station, I was not panting heavily.

I studied the MRT Station before I went to the gates. There was no sight of the guy. After washing up in the toilet, I went towards the gates, tapped my Ez-Link card on the reader and went up the escalator, with fresh sweats still dripping off my forehead. And up there, standing near the end of the escalator was the guy. His t-shirt was loosely hung out.

“Hello. I also ran here.”

When will it end?

I closed my eyes and unleashed my special power again: I screamed at the top of my voice.
Will my voice sound different ten minutes from now?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The journey from Bukit Batok MRT Station to Serangoon MRT Station took about an hour: For the whole journey, I cried and I really wondered if I had broken the Guinness World Record for the longest cry at one go.

When Chew Ling saw my reddened eyes, I almost wanted to run away from her.

“Oh my god, Linda, your eyes are bloodshot red!” she said. I was still trying to think of a way to shut her up. “You know, red eyes are usually caused by illnesses, injuries or other conditions. What happened to you?”

“Saw a naked cat on the road just now.” I said. Stupidly.

Well, a stupid answer to a stupid person.

“That’s a sty, which is different when you see naked people. I’ve done lots of research on eye illnesses.” She took a deep breath and three knocks of cough. “If it doesn’t heal in a week, go see a doctor. I can recommend-”

“I’m going to the toilet.” I started for the toilet.

“Count me in! I’m a toilet goddess. Toilet is my second home. Always spit at the sink. Anyway, that doctor’s name is Doctor Liew…”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Do I have a choice?” I asked. Mrs. Tee had approached me after our flag-raising and said that she wanted to talk to me. “Can I reject your offer?”

Mrs. Tee said in her Starhub-operator-style voice: “It’s not about acceptance or rejection.”

I shook my head and looked around me. Chew Ling ogled at me and then went off with the rest of my OG mates. I was still rooted to the ground. “But we’re going to Sentosa today, Mrs. Tee.”

“Ten minutes. The bus will wait. We’re Singaporeans, remember?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I was led to that air-conditioned room again. I had mentally changed the name of the room to Hell Room: The room where Mrs. Tee, the gatekeeper, will seek food like me.

“You were crying this morning, right?” Mrs. Tee said.

“I wasn’t.”

“Someone called the school. She said a RV student yelled out loud at a MRT Station.”

I dug my hand into my pocket, feeling my Nokia. They really can’t recognise the voice after all. Idiots. “Good try. I am wearing my RV uniform. Why will someone call NYJC when they see a RV student yelling?”

“It puzzles me too. I don’t know who called, but I’m sure you’re the one at the MRT Station.”

“Why?”

“The Discipline Master doesn’t usually allow that.” she pointed to my Adidas sports sweatband that ringed around my wrist. “But after I told him what I believed is beneath that sports band, he agreed not to catch you for wearing that. Until it heals. I know a trendy girl like you should know that sports band like these are very, very passé.”

I dropped my head and took a fleeting look at my sports band. It was white; those type that tennis players often wear to wipe off their forehead sweats with it. I grabbed my green jacket and wrapped it over me, covering my arms with the long sleeves.

“It will be interesting to see you wearing a jacket to Sentosa. So maybe you can tell me what happened.”

The guy. I can tell her about the guy. It doesn’t matter, does it? She just wants me to tell her something because she is paid to listen to problematic students like us…

I told her about the guy in the morning, how he had disturbed me yesterday morning and this morning. Mrs. Tee listened with an amazing attentive manner: She would nod when I expected her to nod and go “oh” when I said something that was not a pleasure. After about ten minutes, I had finished my story and waited for a reply.

When Mrs. Tee was in thought, she tapped the tip of her pen on her lips repeatedly, like some bored student in a lecture. The silence lasted for about five seconds.

“He does seem to be suffering from some kind of mental retardation. No normal person will say that to someone in the streets.”

She did not ask me a question, so I merely nodded.

“So far, he’s harmless… if he tries to harm you or touch you, yell loudly again. Call the police. Or just kick his balls.”

Everything in Hell Room seemed weird all of a sudden. A chair seemed to move by itself, the air seemed to stop moving and Mrs. Tee, a teacher-counsellor, had just asked me to “kick his balls”.

What the hell?

“Kick his balls…?” I did not need that kind of advice. I continued to nod. And nodded. And just nodded. Maybe she just wanted some recognition. Or maybe she was just sick of her work and was giving some sick advice.

“Call someone if he stalks you.”

I curved the right side of my lips up and said, “I’ll just kick his balls.”

“Linda, you know I’m just kidding, right?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On my way back to my Orientation Group, I finally bumped into her: Serene.

Serene was one of my classmates when we were in River Valley High School. Wherever she went, she would be “escorted” by several of her good buddies, who I would prefer to call “boots-polishers”. She has a kind of special air around her, as if the world exists because of her. We seldom talked and because of that she would often glare at me when we walked pass each other, as if not greeting her was my sin.

The only main memory of her was when I just got into River Valley High School. She was the top student and I had wanted to take her spot. I challenged her vocally and she claimed that she was already at the top. In one of the lessons, she lost her temper all of a sudden and overthrew a table, stunning all of us. Before she was escorted into the Teachers’ Room, she gave me a fierce glare which is still embedded in my mind.

I was expecting Serene to get into NYJC. She used to live in a bungalow at Bukit Timah, which she boasted as “Good-Class Bungalow”. When we were in Secondary Two, she moved from Bukit Timah to Kovan, which some of my friends said she “downgraded”. Those who talked about her were punished personally by her: Bags ransacked, wallets lost, numbers scattered in every playground.

She had just came out of the toilet and when she saw me, I could see her jumping a little, as if she was watching a horror movie and I was the surprise. We were wearing the same uniform – the infamous River Valley High uniform with a Chinese band on our shoulders. It was almost a rare sight to see Serene alone. In fact, I had never seen her alone before.

I had to decide whether to smile or not within a second.

“Hey, Shih Tzu.” she said.

Shih Tzu?

“Hello.” I said. I must have stepped on her tail. She was greeting me.

“You know what a Shih Tzu is?”

“A dog.”

“Yes, a dog. A pet. Just like you: a teacher’s pet.”

I clenched my fist. I was not prepared to make enemy with a student here, especially her.
“It’s not a joke, Shih Tzu.” she leaned towards me and that was when I smelled it: The aura of cigarette stink in her breath. “You never see me coming out of the toilet.”

I glanced at the toilet and back at her. She had the kind of model-like figure that was friendly to all kinds of clothing: T-shirt, spaghetti strap or just a polo-tee.

“You just smoked?” I said. Wanted to retract the words back but it was too late.

“Shih Tzu, you never see me coming out of the toilet, you hear me? If not, the whole school will know about your sweet past.”

My heart almost skipped a few beats. That was why I had been avoiding my ex-schoolmates: I did not want my past to be revealed. I nodded. Serene had put one of her hands into her pocket.

“Say after me, Shih Tzu. I never see Serene walking out of the toilet.”

I gritted my teeth, blinked quickly for a second and said: “I never see Serene walking out of the toilet.”

“Good. Now, remember what you’ve just said. If not, the topic of all NYJC students will be about a young girl called Linda.” She then walked off.

Don’t offend her, just don’t offend her…

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