✉
Instead of seeing khaki, all I saw was a school canteen that did not know what it wanted to be. Did it want to be a community-created canvas or just another experimental prep-room? Well, on the other hand, seeing all those white uniforms made me realise how common it was for Singaporean secondary school boys to wear them.
I looked down at the round gold and red badge that hung from my breast pocket. I bit my lip, realising that I was indeed out of the East.
Even the journey here seemed so familiar yet unfamiliar to me. The CTE was something I had heard of but never thought about stepping foot (or should I say…wheels) on. Heck, the whole neighbourhood was like a weird labyrinth. The lack of sea air only added onto this alien realm.
But oh well. Some comfort zones needed to be destroyed, I guess. I remembered my uncle telling me that sometimes, life was like choosing a spouse. Chase after the one you love or your neighbour?
"So, Alb, you're coming for the TSD qualifying test later, ah?" asked Greg.
"Yeah. Wah. So shag sia. TSD today. ELL tomorrow. KI tomorrow too," I said as I stepped forward after the person at the front of the queue left.
"Well, at least you'll get to brag about that weird subject combi of yours," he joked.
I pressed my lips together and shrugged. Damnit, VJ. Why didn't you offer ELL? I glanced at my OG's table again. Not a single face that I knew nor recognised. This was no longer home turf.
Or so I thought. A chirpy, boyish voice caught my attention. I turned around. No. That little 'ano'. It was coming from the nasi lemak stall.
"Satu nasi lemak. Set ikan. Terima kasih, Mak!" said Minori as he handed a $2 note to the Mak Cik.
The Cat High boy after him placed his hand on his shoulder and gave a thumb up. Man. They weren't kidding when they said those shorts looked ridiculous. Still, just the sight of Minori was enough to make me want to step out of the queue for fish soup.
I watched as he retreated back to his OG's canteen table, settling down his cutlery and plate of nasi lemak. He turned to the direction of the Cat High boy and patted the seat beside him.
I bit my lip. At least he had already found some new friends.
♛
"Wah, Sam. It's only the first day of school and you already got a new bromance," joked Lynn.
I dug into my nasi lemak and watched as Nori mixed the sambal with his rice. He did not say a single word. Well, I could not blame him. That was a really awkward way for the school to know him and me – on our first day at that.
The coconut rice was fluffy. Heaps better than the one at Cat High, but not as good as the ones back home. But hey, nasi lemak is nasi lemak.
"Aiyah, it's not a bromance lah. I've just adopted a new little brother. That's all," I said as I brought my other arm over Nori's shoulder.
His cheeks were all puffed up and red. His shoulders were incredibly stiff. I frowned a little and released him. Maybe everything was getting to him too fast.
He gulped down whatever he ate and cleared his throat.
"Actually, I don't mind. I've always wanted an older sibling and…I don't know anyone in this school so…I'm happy to have made a friend," said Nori.
He was still blushing and was almost as red as the Nike shoes that he was wearing. But maybe that was just his demeanour. He did seem like a shy person but at the same time, it was genuinely hard to tell what was going through his mind.
"So…you accept me as your abang?" I joked.
He turned to face me and nodded his head, his smile revealing his somewhat misaligned teeth. Damn. He was adorable.
"So, bromance confirmed?" joked OG Sam.
"Well, maybe a budding one lah," I joked back.
Our OG mates put their hands together, welcoming this very unlikely partnership between a Cat High boy and a VS boy.
OG Sam pressed his hand against his cheek and asked if any one of us was going for the various placement tests that day and the next.
I raised my hands and declared my intention to do KI.
"How about you, Nori? You seem like a very KI kind of guy," said Olivia.
He looked down at his half-empty plate of nasi lemak before staring straight up at the ceiling again.
"I don't know. Even if I take KI, I'll still have to do math, right? Oh well. And besides…I'm thinking of doing Lit anyway," he said.
Cue some claps from our group. Somehow, I just found myself smiling at his strange earnestness.
Then, a bunch of students marched into the canteen.
"Come join the student council!" they cried in unison.
I put my fork down and looked at the details. Earnestness. But would it work? Everyone knew about that incident. Still…somehow. Maybe this was my chance to change myself.
☁
"Wah, your future campus is damn nice sia," I said as I looked at all the glass-lined sky bridges, the art studios, and art installations that dotted Laselle.
"I know, right? Aiyah. It sucks that NUS and NTU don't have arts management courses. SMU's is only a minor. So, this is my only choice lor. No regrets though. It's so damn pretty and state-of-the-art," said Irma.
A single balloon floated up towards the ceiling, the LaSelle insignia printed on its pink surface. I wondered if some naïve members of the public would consider that as art.
"So, have you decided what to do while waiting for poly to start?" asked Irma as she accepted a bag of free popcorn from one of the open house booths.
I held my hands out too, thanking the Uncle Ringo guy for the free food. I munched on the popcorn whilst trying to ruminate over what she said.
"You got life so easy because you already got an internship. I don't even know where to find work. Giving part-time tuition sounds pretty boring. Besides, I don't want to feed the industry. Hey, you think I can take up one of your illustration courses here?" I joked.
Irma pushed me to the side before bursting into laughter, her mouth opened like she could eat up the full moon.
We paused to catch sight of a modern dance troupe. Irma stood still, her eyes transfixed on the way their bodies were like fluid, flowing with the rhythm of Dance of the Pearls' remix. With Parkview Square providing the backdrop behind the newly made stage, it seemed quite surreal.
I imagined the gigantic bronze sculptures of those men coming to life, dancing with those light orbs as though they were pearls. I giggled at the thought of them becoming backup dancers. Or maybe they were part of the set design.
Parkview Square. I blinked. Why had I not thought of that before? No. That was beyond ridiculous. Putting the Divyane Corporation on my CV would only invite employers to stir up more questions. At the same time, how else could I differentiate myself? Year 3 would be though thanks to Pharmacy's cutthroat competition.
"Hey, Irma, what say you if I took up an internship at Divyane for the next three months?" I asked.
She made a dramatic turn towards me and just stared with wide eyes.
❀
That was just day one. Thank goodness the next day was Friday. I promised myself that I would lock myself in the house over the weekend. But then, Monday would come by again. My shoulders slumped at that thought as I walked on the math formulae-laden pathway out of the SJC.
Regular classes would begin another two weeks. No, Luqman. Think positive. At least next week would be the start of the actual learning with all the lectures. At least the obnoxious cheers would come to an end.
My ears picked up on the conversations coming from the stream of students who walked out with me, their voices piqued with excitement over their new friendships. Those clad in the same uniform on the other hand spoke of reunion or finding their seniors.
With that, I found myself out of the school gates. The sun hung high above the sky, but with a dimmer light. Evening was drawing near.
I took my handphone out and texted Nenek, informing her to save some food for me that night. Tomorrow was going to be another big day. At least I had made my choice already.
Another step forward, only to find myself colliding into something. I rubbed my forehead. Had I bumped into a lamppost or streetlamp? That really hurt.
I opened my eyes again and found myself silent. I placed my hands against…no. Why was I trapped in this glass cage? I pressed my hands against the panels, banging my fists against them. No. I know Bishan was unfamiliar to me but…since when was there a cemetery outside of school?
"Astaga! Aku di mana?!" I asked myself as I stumbled backwards.
And just like that, the glass cage dissolved. I fell on my bum, groaning as some bits of mud stained my white pants. I placed my hands on the dirt and tried to stabilise myself as I stood up.
What greeted me was an overly eerie sight. A few seconds ago, the sky was a bright shade of azure, albeit with some grey clouds. The sky before me though was entirely grey and instead of high-rise HDB flats or a park that was under construction, rows and rows of turtleback tombs lined each mound of earth.
No way. Had I travelled back in time? Or was orientation just a dream and the reality was that I was still fast asleep, dreading the actual orientation itself?
A gigantic crow of glass swooped down towards me, prompting me to duck down and do a tumble roll down the hill. My whole body was being stained with mud. I took off my backpack and decided that the first priority was to find an exit of sorts. For a dream, I had surprisingly full autonomy over my actions.
But the urgent chanting of Buddhist sutras only hastened that urgency to get out of here. I did not even want to see where that chanting was coming from. Or maybe…I had already done so.
Terracotta Sikh guards and lion-dogs of glass came close towards me, their steps following the beat of each percussion instrument. Where was I supposed to run to now with all these glass creatures following my every move?
They chanted something…was in dialect? The Sikh guards had their free hands extended towards me, as though they wanted me to hand something over to them.
My feet propelled me again. I thought I was victorious for a moment, but I found myself tripping over something. I looked at the blood that seeped through the white fabric. Thank goodness this was just a dream otherwise Nenek would faint upon seeing how badly dirty my school uniform had become.
But what loomed from above the knoll in front of me was even more terrifying than what had chased me. A gigantic Chinese opera mask – also made of glass – became the sky. Its surface reflected those ovular portraits that were embedded on the graves. The eye sockets were empty.
I brought my injured knee closer to my chest, not caring that the gaping wound was hurting. I cried for someone to save me. For my eyes to open so that I could wake up on my bed again.
"To…Tolong!" I cried, caving into that need to have someone help me for once.
Strange vines made of light emitted from the spot where I was seated. They creeped up towards my knee and covered the gaping wound, coiling around it and sinking into it. And just like that…it was gone, though the hole in my pants remained.
But who was going to save me from this creature? I stared at it with wide eyes, somewhat transfixed by the animated images that it comprised of. People on their deathbeds. A speeding car.
And in a blink of an eye, a lilac shooting star collided with the mask, creating cracks within it. It somewhat began to make sense. Each shard contained final memories of the people who were buried here. I watched as they rained down on the floor before disappearing.
And another arrow of lightning darted straight towards the forehead, sending shards falling from the sky. The terracotta guards and glass lion-dogs looked up and retreated. I picked up one of the fragments nearby and watched as it exploded into millions of sparkles in my hands.
Another blink of an eye and I found myself outside the grounds of SJC again. It was slightly darker than when I first left it, with the streetlamps already turned on. I stood up and grabbed my backpack, wondering if I had just hallucinated everything that had happened.
I turned around and saw a TKGS girl, all dolled up in the green pinafore, standing before me with…a staff in her hands. The star-shaped centrepiece was still glowing, as with the amethyst gems on the rim.
"You okay?" she asked as she stepped forward, looking done at the tear in my pants.
"I…I don't know," he said.
A golden thunderbolt zoomed between us before hitting that poor banyan tree nearby. We turned our heads at the source, eyes meeting a pair of very vivid emerald ones.
Another girl, clad in Cedar's blue and grey getup, was still in her prone position, holding out her bow as though she was ready for another strike.
"Hey! What was that for? You could have killed us!" the TKGS girl screamed as she got her staff ready, aiming it at her.
No. I did not want any of this. I did not know what the right thing was, but I lunged between the two of them, holding my palm out. That oddly familiar tingle crept towards my heart. It was like that time when my injury was healed.
Green light seeped through my eyelids. I gasped, seeing that I had made…a shield of light with leaves and vines decorating it. And the vines shot out of the shield, tying the girls' hands as they dropped their weapons.
"No! No more…magic! I just want to go home. No. All of you go home! We've had a long day at orientation. It's getting late!" I cried.
I put my hands down and adjusted my spectacles. The orbs on the shorter TKGS girl's staff turned faint. I had a much clearer look at the girl with emerald-green eyes. With her golden curls tied up into two pigtails, she most certainly was Caucasian.
She took aim at the other one, prompting me to point my finger at her (how inappropriate!) to command the vines to restrain her once again.
"She's already surrendered, and you still want to fight her? My goodness. What's wrong with you?!" I cried again.
"I was supposed to kill that Umbra! Not her!" she said, her French accent thick.
"What? How did you expect me to know that you were supposed to kill it? I just did it because this guy could have been killed!" the TKGS girl protested back.
She bent down to pick up her staff, but I simply showed her my left hand. I could not let this escalate any further.
"What do you need to kill that thing for?" I asked as I turned to face the French girl.
But there was no one in sight. In her place was a heap of golden dust. The TKGS girl ran towards it and took a little pinch, marvelling the way it glimmered under the faint sunlight. I crouched beside her, asking her if she knew what it was. She shook her head.
"This…this is my first time seeing magic. Or maybe I'm just tired," I said as I surrendered and sat on the ground.
"For a first timer, you seem quite natural," she said as she collected some of the dust using a pen cap from her pocket.
I looked at my hands and stared at them. The life lines and heart lines stared back at me. Did she just say…I, I was a magic user? A warm light glowed through my shirt over where my heart was. I blinked. This was just a dream. This was just a dream.
"This is just a nightmare. I'm going to wake up from this dream. Magic doesn't exist," I told myself.
"This…this isn't a nightmare. This isn't a dream either. Pinch yourself and look at your pants," said the girl.
I closed my eyes again and decided to pinch myself on the left arm. I let my fingernails sink into my skin. Then, I opened my eyes. She stood in front of me in her petite glory, with wide, bespectacled eyes. I looked down at my pants and saw the thin line of blood against the white and the patched-up skin that rested beneath the torn fabric.
"Ya Allah. How am I going to go home now?" I asked myself, tears falling from my face when I realised that this was not a dream.
"Come follow me. I'll help patch the pants up," offered the TKGS girl.
With that, I followed her back to the bus interchange. I stared back at the mound of glitter that was left behind as we left the area.
"Hey, thanks for saving my life. I owe you one," I said.
"No. Thank you, for saving mine. You can call me Mei," she said.
"Oh…no worries. I'm Luqman."