Just 3
Intro
| Trinity | 
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Uni life| D.H.C
Just 3: 1998 – 2/5
Chapter 1 30/10/1998 Cheryl Lin
My name is Cheryl. It’s the day before my birthday, which is on Halloween. I was excited. This year, since Halloween fell on a Saturday, I knew my friends would give me my presents today. Well, at least I hoped there would be presents from them today.
I arrived at school at about 6.35am. As soon as I stepped into the classroom of Secondary 2/5, I spotted my friend Gracie.
“Hello!” I said cheerfully.
“Hello.” Gracie answered with a yawn. I laughed. Gracie, the night owl, was sleepy as usual in the mornings. “Oh yea, I’ve got your birthday present here!” After some thought, she added, “But I think I’ll wait for Mel first.”
“Okay.” I shrugged as I went to my locker to get treats for my friends. There are eight of us and we call ourselves the “Dao Huay/Chin Chow Club”
The eight of us mainly are great friends and do wacky things together. Naturally, our favourite desserts are “dao huay” and “chin chow”, which are Chinese names for “bean curd” and “grass jelly”.
When Mellissa finally came, the two – Gracie and Mel – got together and started whispering. After a while, Gracie came over and gave me her present for me. I opened it eagerly, generally forgetting my manners. But Gracie did ask me to open it!
I carefully peeled off the sticky tape holding the home-made wrapper together to find a book. It was entitled “God’s Little Treasury of Virtues”.
“Thanks, Gracie!” I said delightedly.
“I’d originally wanted to get you one on friendship, but they were out of stock.” She said apologetically.
“That’s okay.” I shrugged as I kept the book carefully in my bag. Just then, Mel told me to come see my present for which five of them had shared the cost of. She showed me a large square box.
“I thought you said it was 15 cm?” I asked, somewhat amused by Mel’s estimation ability—or the lack of it.
“Isn’t this 15 cm?” She asked sheepishly.
“It’s at least 30 cm!”
“Well, you can’t open it yet, though.” She ordered. “You’ll have to wait for the rest of them to come.”
=Ž
“… Happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.” Everyone in the school gym repeated in unison. Having said the pledge, everyone then filed out of the gym and back to class. It was then that I was finally able to open the rest of the presents from my friends. The aforementioned box turned out to contain the cutest bear I’d ever seen…
Chapter 2 2/11/1998 Grace Wee
“Scotch tape! I need scotch tape! Doesn’t anyone have any scotch tape at all?” someone screeched from the middle of the chaotic classroom.
“It’s already 6.50 and we still have yet to start anything!” another shouted over the noise, in vain effort to be heard by whomever the comment would concern.
It was Monday and there was the usual hustle and bustle of my class, 2/5. Only that today was noisier and more crowded than usual. Most of my classmates had come to school earlier than usual just to practise on a Literature play that we were to be staging that day. There was to be an inter-class Literature drama competition, and it was only natural that everyone class wanted to be the winner – my class not being the exception.
We were to act out a scene from the Literature book that we were studying – Animal Farm. The school had announced only days before that such a competition was to be taking place. It was unfair to us, really. We were unable to meet up with entire cast, even for one rehearsal. So, anything we did or said on stage would have to be impromptu. I could tell that the director, Janine, was under a lot of strain.
I’d never liked Janine. I have had to sit with her for the whole year. Having done so, I’ve realised that she could be a bit of a snob at times, which really ticked me off. On top of that, she was really long-winded, giving long “speeches” all the time, and each time expecting everyone to look up from whatever they were doing to listen to whatever she had to say. On the other hand, she could be sensible, caring and often ready to listen to your problems at other times.
That morning, Janine was trying to ensure everything was in order. Unfortunately, despite her attempts, our class was in total chaos. The play was to be staged after recess yet many of the “actresses” in the play still did not know what they were required to do.
I, along with Eileen, Audrey, Bernadine and Melissa Tan, were to be acting as sheep. Perhaps I should seize this chance to introduce myself. My name is Grace Wee. There is always one thing that makes me different from other people—I am short. Really, really short—barely even 1.5 metres. However, I think being so short is great. I mean, I do get teased about my height at times, but I never ever let anyone take advantage of my size. In fact, you can say that sometimes they are even afraid of me— I can be tough for my size.
Eileen, Audrey and Bernadine (also known as “Bernie”) are some of my good friends from the “Dao Huay Club”. There are 8 of us in the “Day Huay Club”, and we do almost everything together. Melissa has been my good friend ever since I knew her. In fact, we were best of friends in Primary 5. Even though we do not really “hang around” together any more, we are still pretty close.
The sheep’s costume turned out to be shower caps covered with cotton wool and 2 pointed cardboard ears sticking out. It looked really cute to me. The 5 of us then started practicing our only line in the performance.—“four legs good, two legs better!”
All of a sudden, Janine appeared in front of us and started to say, “so this is what you all must do: Firstly, I need to tell…”
“Janine, we already know what we have to do.” I interrupted her impatiently. It was true. One of my classmates, Grace Koh, had called me the night before to confirm things since I had not been able to make it to the last few rehearsals. I already had all my questions regarding the performance answered by her. There was little more I needed to know.
“Are you sure? You didn’t even come for any of the rehearsals except for the one on Saturday morning. Even then, you have had to leave early. It’s not only you either.” Janine said in an accusing tone as she glared at the rest of us. The Dao Huay Club, which consisted of Mellissa Seow, Genevieve Bong, Bernadine Lee, Audrey Poon, Cheryl Lin, Eileen Chee, Adeline Low and I, turned to stare blankly at her.
Cheryl, who had always had an eruptive temper, stood up and rebutted indignantly, “we did turn up for rehearsals, but all we ever did was sit around, look bored and watch the rest of you talk and laugh among yourselves.”
By this time, Janine’s eyes had turned red and watery with unshed tears. “Other people can make sacrifices to come but you all don’t even bother. Do you think everyone wants to come too? Do you really think I actually want to be the director? No!” She screamed almost hysterically back. At that, she stopped abruptly and stomped away with an angry and frustrated expression on her face.
All through the two outbursts, I had been sitting in front of Cheryl and Janine, yet I did nothing at all. Absolutely nothing at all. I had a lot to say too, but the words just did not —or could not— come out. I’m like that; I always hold back what I have to say, always afraid to offend or anger someone. In the end, when I finally do have something to say, I forget to say it.
After Janine had stomped off, I looked at the blank faces of my friends. We all looked stunned. I felt guilty for not speaking up to stop the angry exchange. Cheryl, on the other hand, looked relieved. She told me later on, “I felt as if a large load had been lifted from me. What I’d said to Janine had been what I’d been trying to tell her all along.” For me, fights are useless. I hate fighting, especially among friends. Bother parties often end up hurt in some way or another. What is there to gain in a fight?
Chapter 3 4/11/1998 Mellissa Seow
Hiya! I’m Mellissa. You can call me Mel too. We had our retreat today and it had lasted for a whole day! I was rather surprised, as our class turned out to be very united making me sad that we’ll mostly be split up next year. If anyone had told me that I’ll cry continuously today, I’d have said she was nuts. Naturally, I ended up crying the whole time, and was probably the only one who looked a mess. I just can’t seem to help it, though. I guess girls are just very emotional. It’s as if once we were switching on a tap—once we’ve started, we can’t seem to be able to stop!
Well, all in all, it was a very peaceful day despite the tear-jerking moments; at least it wasn’t as chaotic as the day before. In my opinion, the retreat on the whole brought out the best in us. Plus, I’d even managed to rekindle a friendship via a “forgiveness project” which took place during the retreat. Celeste and I kind of ended our friendship in Primary 6 and ever since then, we’d ignored each other—until today, at least. I’m really glad we made up. Courtesy of this, I now understand that it is very difficult to apologise to someone. Well, I’m still in Secondary 2, I have still have a lot of years ahead of me to experience new things and learn from others.
It’s the second last day of school for the year and because of that, the class was filled with autograph book after autograph book. If you thought this was bad, it will be even worse tomorrow. Everyone was seizing the chance to collect as many autographs as possible before the school was closed for the year, yet at the same time they were also writing autographs for their friends. It’s really disturbing the way teachers and parents alike think that being in Secondary 2, it’s taken for granted that we are mature enough to make important decisions that can affect our very futures. I don’t know about the rest of the Dao Huay Club members, but I’m really uncertain about which class I should have chosen to go to after Secondary 2. I’m not sure if I chose the right class or not. The very thought that my decision could change my future on Monday is really nerve-wrecking. Maybe I chose the wrong class, maybe not. Who really knows at this point in time? Everything’s so uncertain. This was what was on my mind all throughout the retreat. Part of me was crying because I couldn’t bear to part with my friends next year.
Despite all the tears, I feel our class learnt a really important lesson today—that is to never take anyone for granted. Sharon had announced that the next year, if we were to have another retreat, we would still get together to hug each other and still be the best of friends.
Perhaps it was rather childish to say that one person is my “best friend” or that we shall be “friends forever”. However, it gives me a sense of security, in a sense. I’d felt a sense of security, if anything, when I was being comforted during the retreat. It is somehow reassuring to know that you’ll always have a friend standing beside you, walking you through life.
I suppose this day was really quite a short one, thus bringing a closure to my entry—or chapter, for that matter. It was one of the most memorable days of my life. I just want to say this to anyone reading this right now—friends are for ever.
Chapter 4 5/11/1998 Cheryl Lin
“Hi, Cheryl!” Gracie said cheerfully, greeting me with a smile.
“Hi.” I replied, almost listlessly. It was our last day at school today. I dreaded it, yet looked forward to it. We had to clean up the school for most of the morning—after assembly to recess; after which, report books were to be distributed.
=Ž
After assembly, Mel and I, along with the rest of the Multimedia Club members, made a slow beeline to one of the two computer laboratories. I dragged my feet, knowing this part of the day would be dull.
The teacher in charge came with a list of things for us to do. Mel and I were delegated to clean up the Teacher’s Resource Room. It was not a pleasant job. It was a messy and dusty room. Dust was everywhere! Another teacher came in while we were attacking the dust. She started taking books from the shelf, intending to throw them out. She then instructed me to retrieve a large trash bag. However, she left out the one detail of where to get one. Running all over the level, I finally found a trash bag. Delighted with my find, I burst into the resource room to find the very same teacher dumping the books into another bag. That certainly burst my bubble.
As soon as the teacher left the room, Mel and I worked as hard and as fast as we could. We were soon able to reunite with the rest of our class… Only to realise we were just in time to help them with the cleaning up of our classroom.
=Ž
The sound of the school’s famous gong rang far and wide to mark the end of recess. All the members of the Dao Huay Club climbed the stairs with a tired air to await the distribution of our report books. Upon reaching our classroom, Mrs. Choo, our form teacher, immediately started to hand out the much dreaded report books. I flipped through mine with anticipation and then with excitement. I had improved in almost every subject! That was good enough news for me. Any worries I had were now out of mind. I then approached Mrs. Choo, who was in the front of the chaotic classroom, to ask for her autograph. She smiled in agreement. Having done so, everyone else came forward to pass her their own autograph books.
Because of that, almost all 44 of us were standing around her. A whisper was being passed around the room among us. It turned out to be “let’s sing our class song “At the Beginning” for Mrs. Choo.” I agreed that it was fitting to do so. As Mrs. Choo turned to leave with the large stack of autograph books, many of us protested, causing her to stop short.
“Hey, everyone! Gather around here!” Natasha commanded, her voice rising above all others. Slowly, everyone did as they were told.
Mrs. Choo stared sceptically at the lot of us. “This is not going to be dirty, is it? I haven’t any change! Please, no flour or water or—” She warned.
“No, Mrs. Choo.” We reassured her while Mel and I exchanged a look of amusement.
“Okay, ready?” Yvonne asked in a loud voice. Everyone quietened down. “One, two, there!” She announced, giving the cue.
We all faced Mrs. Choo with a watchful eye. Tears wet her cheeks as we sang as best as we could, the most meaningful words of the same song…
“We were strangers starting out on a journey,
Never dreaming what we’d have to go through.
Now here we are,
And I’m suddenly standing at the beginning with you…”
Chapter 5 6/11/1998 Grace Wee
“Grace, wake up!” the murmur entered my ears. I looked at the clock by my bedside. It was 6 o’clock in the morning.
It was the first day of the end-of-year holidays—a Friday—yet I still had to go to school. The whole Dao Huay Club, with the exception of Audrey, had signed up for a Literature workshop conducted by our school.
Groggily, I leapt down from the bunk bed I shared with my younger sister, Cheryl Wee, and headed for the bathroom.
=Ž
I met Stephanie on the bus to school. She was my good friend back in Primary 6. Even though we had just about lost tough with each other, I still feel this sense of closeness to her as we chatted about school. She was heading to school to collect her report book. I too had not been able to collect my report book the day before, due to some changes to be made to the comments in it, and hence had to collect it today too. Stephanie and I then planned to go out together soon to catch a movie with our old group of friends—with also included Sharon and Yvonne, who had also signed up for the same workshop as I did.
When we’d reached the bus-stop nearest our school, the two of us alighted together. We had been so absorbed in our conversation that we had not realised that it had started to pour. Luckily, we had each brought an umbrella along, which allowed us a relatively dry journey to school. As we were walking by Yvonne’s house, which was just outside the school, we called Yvonne and the 3 of us ended up walking the rest of the journey to school together. It felt just like the good old days, being together like that.
It was extremely painful at times to think about the times I’ve had in Primary 6. I missed those days terribly. My class of Primary 6 Honolulu was really united. Everyone would stand up for each other. On top of that, I had a wonderful group of friends who really cared about each other. We even told each other every single thing! On the other hand, even though we so loved each other, the four of us could also be quarrelsome. However, it is through these quarrels that our friendships strengthened. Even till now, I can still tell Sharon, Stephanie or Yvonne every single problem or secret I had. They, in turn, would always be there to understand and encourage me.
When the 4 of us were separated in secondary school (Yvonne and I ended up in the same class, but it still wasn’t the same), I then realised how I used to take our friendships for granted. An intense feeling of regret always came over me whenever I thought about it. The 4 of us had promised to go home together each day, but it was really difficult to do so. Eventually, each of us found our own individual circle of friends and comfort zones.
When we stepped into school that morning, the first thing on my mind was my report book. I rushed upstairs to the staff room to look for Mrs. Choo, our form teacher. I was dismayed when I couldn’t find her. I then made my way to attend the workshop.
However, all through the workshop, my report book was always on my mind. We had to sit in a circle. I sat between Genevieve and Yvonne. Cheryl was sitting with Mellissa. For the past few days, I felt as if Cheryl had been avoiding me. Sometimes I would give her meek smiles, but she would return my smiles with blank stares. I had called her the day before to ask if she was angry with me, but she denied it. Regardless of it, I still felt uncertain and insecure.
Sometimes I really wonder if my group of friends would really miss me if I was not there with them. I doubt they would even notice if I didn’t come to school one day. Perhaps I was being too sensitive. My mother always tells me that I cannot be fussy with friends. We must give and receive, and learn to accept one another. I accept my friends for who they are, but I’m unsure if they do likewise.
After the workshop, when I was walking beside Cheryl, I put my arms around her and asked, “Are you sure you’re not mad at me?”
“No! Really, I’m not.” Came the reply.
“Then why are you avoiding me?” I questioned.
Cheryl looked at me, and replied in a stunned tone, “I thought you were avoiding me!”
I couldn’t help but grin at her. I couldn’t believe that I had been worried for nothing. I think I can be too sensitive at times. Still, I do not want to take any friendships for granted any more. I want to thank God for giving me all my friends.
Intro
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Uni life| D.H.C
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