Thursday, November 24, 2005

Chapter ? : In which a secret is revealed ; A brief introduction of the protagonist ; Terrorist at work ; Tears of a maiden ; And K sucks. Really.

K, being a primary school smartass, never bothered to study and engaged in all sorts of mischievous endeavours as young, playful boys of his days would. The usual spider-catching, plain catching, pepsi cola 1-2-3 and the oh-so-beloved-hopscotch.

Girls were a species to be made fun of, to engage in arguments with and to play the old hit-n-run game. (Of course as they approached upper primary, hit-n-run was replaced by kick-n-run as the more subtle differences between boys and girls were noticed, for fear of a hit being mistaken as a touch.)

K couldn't remember whether it's Primary 4 or 5 (K : safe to assume should be 5) when he noticed that the girl sitting beside him in class was in fact a girl, S. The usual small lover's quarrels resulted and they became enemies in the stock of those that find pleasure in poking fun at each other and usually (at least in drama serials) end up a couple. But become a couple they did not.

K faced with the pure boredom of lessons, spent his time talking to S a lot, making silly jokes and sharing incredible facts, "Do you know what's oral sex?" Don't be surprised. K and S practically talked about sex all the time in class. After all, it was a very interesting and funny topic. But I pray remind you that it was but all purely theoretical discussion and lewd jokes.

You'd be surprised to look at S. She wore glasses and looked like a nerd. A cute nerd (Editor's note : Really darn cute) at that. So the class always teased K of 'corrupting' S everyday with cardinal knowledge when it was, to be fair, but mutual education and a common sense of humor.

The next year the teacher-in-charge inevitably placed them beside each other again. Or was it that they chose to sit together? (K : Surely not!! We were mortal enemies!!) Anyway, this convenient sitting arrangement allowed them to continue discussions of their favourite subject (P.S : Not Maths) and to engage in their little quarrels.

Here, K would like to mention that two other classmates also sometimes engaged in their talks. A boy and a girl sitting right behind them. (Editor : Witnesses and Evidence of such existence is non-existential at time of publishing.)

Before we continue, we must talk about the seating arrangement of the two as it is of some importance to the story. K was seated right beside the windows. S was seated outside of K, therefore for K to assume his seat, S would have to give way.

The teacher went downstairs to get some books that day. K as usual spent that time running from his seat to engage in conversation with his fellow peers and was returning to his seat when he couldn't resist making his usual snide remarks at S. S was offended and leaned back with her chair against the table behind to prevent K from entering.

Something burst inside K. Perhaps it was the effect of the laksa he had for lunch. Perhaps the lack of sleep from watching Shawn Michaels kick Razor Ramon's behind for the WWF title.

Anyway, K did something really naughty. No, not naughty. More like mean and nasty and ill-conceived. (In his defence, K : "I was only trying to scare her to let me in!! Honest!")

K took hold of S's chair and pushed it hard. The result was that the table behind was pushed backwards and S's chair (with S still on it) without the support started falling down. Imagine what comes next. Not very pleasant.

Witness A : "It was faster than the Flash."
Witness B : "I was just about to close my eyes..."
Witness C (K : "CYNIC!") : "He was lucky."

K reacted with superhuman reaction to grab hold of S's chair and pulled it back upright. (K : "My heart jumped out of my mouth.") S had a look of shock and blankness. As if she had been stunned by a Magic Missile (Refer to DOTA 101).

And then the precious droplets trickled down her flushed cheeks. She teared and teared and K was at a lost. It did not help that the classmates were saying things like, "Orrhhhhhhhh....You make her cry...Mrs O** coming back liao...You Die..."

He tried to pacify her but what does a terror know about the fine art of comforting a lady in distress? So in a state of panic, K took a red pen and said, "I'll drink the ink if you stop crying." Of course, S still being upset gave a defiant "Hmmph!" and continued crying. K unscrewed the pen (A Red Leaf. People remember the oddest details.) and broke off the main stalk of ink.

He then placed the opening on his tongue as the ink reluctantly flowed and he had to entice S to watch at the same time. When he finally sucked and swallowed it (K : "Tasteless. Or it could be my tastebuds died."), S gave a short smile,a curt laugh and K knew everything was going to be alright.

K took some tissue from his peers and offered them to S who wiped her tears and the episode was successfully concluded without the teacher noticing. A few points to note are that the teacher did not notice the telltale signs that S had cried and that the teacher was gone for quite a long time considering the events. However, these do not detract from such an interesting episode. Rather, Fate must have played a part.

Years passed and the last K saw of S was on the bus he took to ACS(I). Sometimes they ended up on the same bus together as S made her way to River Valley. (K applied for RV but was rejected.) They never talked but always gave each other a knowing smile.

K (after drinking an inappropriate amount of Vodka) : "She was a really cute girl. Especially with her glasses off as she had these really cute and bright sparkling eyes. And I must be a sadist or something. But when I think back to that fateful day, I see her flushed pink cheeks with tears rolling down. Her eyes sparkling more than usual with those very tears. Her cute helpless demeanour which made me want to give her a hug. At that very moment, I knew I had seen the prettiest girl I ever saw. But what's over's over. I can long and sigh and cry to the heavens, but I never ever realised that I actually liked her while I was in Primary School. It only hit me when I saw her on the bus those very few times in my four years in ACS(I). But I somehow knew that we could never be more than friends. One of the true regrets of my life."

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home