Chapter 5 - School Start 5
Malaysia had 14 states and Negeri Sembilan was one of them. Negeri Sembilan was located on the southwest coast of the Malay Peninsula. It was also well known for its nature parks and palaces.
The popular dish that represented this state was the Masak Lemak Cili Padi.
In Negeri Sembilan, there were many Professional Sports Clubs but only three of them were well known in the country. These three were also the biggest sports clubs in the state.
They were the Thorny Durian, Dark Green, and Cili Padi clubs. These three were the giants in Negeri Sembilan.
While other Professional Sports clubs in the state represented only one or two sports, these three had many teams for many sports. They had the Football club, Badminton club, Tennis club, and a few others.
The Cili Padi Club was located in Seremban, one of Negeri Sembilan's districts. Since it was located in this district, they had affiliated themselves to all the schools around the district to secure talents.
This club also managed to connect to some schools in the Kuala Pilah District. Be that as it may, only a few of them were affiliated to the club since Kuala Pilah district had its own Professional Sports Clubs representative.
The Cili Padi club was super well-known for its Football Club, Badminton Club, Sepak Takraw Club, and Volleyball Club.
Their Football Club was a normal mainstay in the Malaysian Football League, their Badminton players also represented the country a few times in the international competition and had a few sepak takraw's players in the national team too.
There was also another achievement in Volleyball and other sports but it was not too big. Still, Haikal and Badrul had never heard of them having a Shooter Ball club.
The Cili Padi Club had the Shooter Ball club for a while now but the duo never paid attention to it. Thus, they were oblivious of their presence.
"So… are we the Cili Padi Club's official member now?" Badrul asked.
"I think so? Maybe partially," Haikal spoke. He looked at the email. The email was informing them to come to the Cili Padi Sports District in Seremban for their co-curriculum activity on Saturday. They needed to be there at 8:30 am.
Haikal and Badrul knew the location. It was one of the most well-known places in Seremban.
As for the co-curriculum attendance, it was not mandatory but the students needed to go for a certain amount of time or they would fail their co-curriculum.
As the co-curriculum was important for the student's university admittance, no student was stupid enough to skip it. At least they would go for the required amount before they started ghosting.
"Will Shooter Ball be hard?" Badrul was a bit worried. He was not athletic and might cause a lot of problems in this sport.
"Even aerobic exercise is hard. Competitive sports like the Shooter Ball will be harder. Although it is a simple sport of throwing a ball to a target, it is still a competitive sport," Haikal said.
The duo chatted about it and some of their classmates came to join their chat as they had nothing else to do. An hour later, the class teacher took over the class again and started choosing the class representatives.
Haikal and Badrul did not get any position and they were relieved to not get chosen. Although the position would be recorded in their data, the job was a real hassle.
Time moved on and the school ended. Haikal and Badrul parted ways and went home. Since it was the first day of school, Haikal had nothing much to do.
They had not yet started, thus, there was no homework to be done. So, he decided to rest for the rest of the day.
The next day, the class officially started. They met their class teacher on the first day and met the other teachers starting from the second day.
The teachers did not waste much time with their introduction and immediately started teaching on that same day.
The third, fourth, and fifth days went on the same as the second day. Nothing particular or weird stuff is happening these days. As such, time passed by, and soon, it was Saturday where Haikal's first co-curriculum day started.
Saturday, 7th January 2051.
Haikal woke up early that day as usual. He did his Subuh prayer as usual and had breakfast at 7:00 am. It was Saturday and his mom did not prepare breakfast as early as the school days.
All of his family was at home that day. His siblings that were still in school were also preparing for their co-curriculum.
His siblings were luckier as none of them were in the sports club, thus, they could easily walk to school for their co-curriculum.
On the other hand, Haikal needed to take the bus or car to the Cili Padi sports district to attend his co-curriculum.
"Do you need me to send you?" Haikal's father asked while they were having their breakfast.
"I will take the bus," Haikal replied. Public transportation had improved a lot and there were many buses headed to Seremban and also straight to the Cili Padi sports district. So, Haikal would be fine.
"Hmm…" Haikal's father was thinking of something and then, he spoke, "Why don't you take the license? I will buy you a motorcycle after you get your license."
Haikal's eyes sparkled, "Okay!" He replied excitedly. His father had offered him that and if he refused, he was a fool.
His father treated him well because he could trust Haikal. Haikal was not a troublemaker, he was quite good in his studies too although not the best one in his school, he was still among the smarter students there.
His parents did not worry much about him and thus, could support him like that without much problem.
After breakfast, Haikal prepared himself. He wore a white t-shirt with a white tracksuit pants. It was a simple exercise attire. With his 172 cm height and slim body, he looked good in that outfit.
He also had a black backpack with changed clothes he would wear after the co-curriculum ended. He did not want to wear stinky, sweaty clothes while on the bus in the afternoon. So, he brought the spare clothes with him.
Other than that, he also brought with him a 1.5L bottle of mineral water to quench his thirst while doing the activity later. That water might not be enough but there were many refills available at the sports district.
Haikal wore his black sports shoes and went to the bus stop. After waiting for a few minutes, the bus arrived right on schedule. One of the improvements in the public transportation service was the schedule. The bus would always arrive on schedule unlike in the past.
He needed to drop at the Seremban Bus Station first before taking another bus to the Cili Padi Sports district.
After almost 45 minutes on two buses, Haikal arrived at the Cili Padi sports district. He got off at the bus stop outside the sports district with a few other students who seemed to be headed inside too.
Haikal looked at the Cili Padi sports district in awe. He did pass the area a few times in the past but this was his first time going in.