Class of the Hooligans

Chapter 9

2009-02-15T03:13:00.000-08:00

Upon hearing the signal, I tucked my head into the black suffocating and smelly balaclava. I grimaced at the musty odour which wafted up my nostrils every now and then, the smell was unbearable. Moving quickly, I shoved my short ebony black hair messily into the cap mounted on the top of my head and got ready to prounce out of the taxi. “Party,” I explained in a muffled tone seeing the driver’s perplexed and bewildered expressions. Strangely dressed kids always brought about many queries. Hearing that, the driver’s face brightened into a knowing smile and doubts stopped flowing through his head.
“How much is the trip?” Violet pressed as the driver glanced as the meter. “That would be five dollars and sixty cents,” he answered gesturing towards it. Violet stared at the large fifty dollar note in her lap and sighed, “Anyone here with small change?”I shook my head, all that was left in my pocket was a ten cent coin and I was pretty sure that wasn’t quite enough to foot the bill. Jian Ming shrugged his shoulders and shook the snoring Andrew violently, “Wake up, we have reached Yishun City Secondary! Come on and stop snoring!” Still unaware of his surroundings, Andrew calmly reached behind him and squeezed Jian Ming’s nose. Before any of us could react, we saw Jian Ming hammering Andrew with punches. Andrew muttered soberly, “Why isn’t the stop button on the alarm clock working.” Violet and I broke into fits of laughter as Jian Ming’s face turned crimson red, white mist could almost be seen streaming out of his ears. “Wake up you idiot!” he hollered while Andrew who was now semi conscious of his surroundings shrank back in shock. “I am awake,” Andrew scoffed peering at his surroundings and quickly pulling his balaclava over his head. “Er hem,” the taxi driver coughed, “will somebody pay the bill?” Jian Ming scorned at Andrew beckoning him to pay. After searching his pocket frantically, Andrew managed to pull out a pretty worn out ten dollar note, “Would this do?” The taxi driver nodded, although there was a smile on his face, the annoyed expression was still there. He accepted the note graciously and fumbled irritably for the change.
“You may keep the change,” Violet told the driver as she bolted out of the cab, I did the same. “Hey, that was my allowance for next week!” Andrew protested but Violet ignored him and wrenched him out from his seat. “Thanks for the ride,” she said before slamming the door. “How could you do that?” Andrew persisted. “I’ll get the professor to pay for the trip, ok?” Violet brushed off aggravated. That shut Andrew up at once. To resolve the tight tension among the group, I reminded them, “Remember guys, when we go in, high chance that Indian security guard will try to stop us,” I paused to gesture at the man in white uniform standing behind the gate from where I was hiding, “Me and Violet will try to distract him, Andrew, try to paralyze him with the paralyze gun we got from the Prof’s workshop. You know how to use it right Andrew?” “Upper, I attended the class you know?” he replied obnoxiously as always. “Ok, let’s put plan – catch the monitor into action,” I said, the words zipped out of my mouth without thinking. “It’s plan – catch the student counsellor, sotong!” the rest chimed in synchrony, correcting me. “Arrrgh! Whatever!” I answered a little flustered, why must everyone remind me that I am a blur queen?
We trudged into the school as the security guard stepped forward to stop us, “Sorry, no visitors at this time, I am afraid I can’t allow you to enter.” “But I need to pass something to my sister!” I reasoned, perhaps my story wasn’t so convincing because of the fact that I have a balaclava over my face. I didn’t want to wear it but Violet insisted that we did. “I am extremely apologetic but I can’t allow that. We security guards have been briefed very specifically not to allow visitors at such timings, the students are having lessons,” he explained. “Her sister really needs it, it’s for her next lesson,” Violet argued as well. “Sorry, but as I said, we aren’t taking visitors. Maybe you could leave the object to me and tell me what class your sister is in and what her name is,” the guard said apologetically. I had ran out of reasons to get us through the guard, we were going to need to use force. Talking of which, why hasn’t Andrew pulled the trigger yet?
“Eh Jian Ming, how do you use this dumbo huh, I press the trigger so many times but nothing happen leh,” Andrew requested innocently. “What on earth…”by the time the guard had realised that something was amiss, he was already out cold on the floor from the blow dished out by Jian Ming with the edge of the paralyze gun. “You then dumb, like this lah. Upper,” Jian Ming replied. “Then,” Violet finished. Jian Ming rolled his eyes. “Come on, we better hurry before our guard ‘awakens’ up from his slumber,” she reminded. “Why must we hurry?” I asked confused as usual. “Alamak! Why do I have to be grouped with so many sotongs?” Violet sighed. I gave a casual giggle looking at her sheepishly, “Because you’re the most levelled headed person?” “Arrrgh… I give in to all your idiotic antics. Let’s just carry on with the plan,” Violet fumed as I gave her a wide grin. “Only one question guys,” Andrew said. “What now?” Jian Ming scoffed turning his head around. “I thought the instruction menu said you were suppose to pull the trigger to launch the bullet?” Andrew mumbled baffled while the rest of us choked with disbelief.
“So where do you think the student counsellor board is?” Violet queried. “Beside the General Office?” I offered. “And where do you think the General office is?” Violet continued. “In the school, duh!” I replied and Violet was shooting me a murderous look. “I mean, WHICH direction do you think the general office is located at?” Violet repeated, her nostrils flaring like crazy. “We could ask the staff?” I blabbered hesitantly. Violet looked as if she was going to faint, “We are supposed to avoid them, not associate with them. They could call the police and we could be arrested!” “Oh,” I said timidly. “I know, we could split up to search for it, that way we will be able to find the board sooner,” Jian Ming suggested. “Hmm, sounds like a good idea,” Violet commented. “But the chances of us being spotted would be higher and we all know how klutz and blur Jennison is, she bangs into someone as often as she says what happened.” “Well, I came prepared,” Jian Ming replied dumping his duffle bag on the floor as a pile of clothes came sprawling all over the floor. “What’s all this? And whose bra is that?” Andrew beseeched astonished. “Are… are… you… a… SISSY?” he stuttered. “No lah! The bra’s part of my mum’s discarded jumble nitwit! They are to disguise us so we won’t be recognised nitwit!” Jian Ming practically hollered. “Ssshh, not so loud, we don’t want others to hear us,” Violet reminded.
“Ok,” Jian Ming said, then in a lower tone, “Jennison and Violet, get into these polo T-shirts and pants. Andrew, get changed into this.” “What? This mini skirt and blouse! I am not a sissy you know?” Andrew cried clearly horrified. “Well, you are so skinny you could easily be mistaken for a girl. Come on, for the sake of the mission,” Jian Ming persuaded. “But…” Andrew opened his mouth to protest but relented and took the bra with the blouse and mini-skirt reluctantly. “Now that’s a good girl,” I said to the grumbling Andrew. “Oh god, why me?” he moaned shaking his head as he made his way to the toilet while Violet and I lumbered there dizzy with laughter.
*****
I held on to my a-size-too-large beige Bermudas which had been generously donated by Jian Ming, I couldn’t help complaining. I looked horrendously obese in the oversized clothes. Violet had happily helped herself to the one and only belt leaving me only with my pair of hands to stop it from dropping. I scanned my surroundings hoping to spot my goal – the student counsellor’s board. Sadly, there was no such luck.
Out of the blue, I heard a yell from behind me, “Run, the police are here!” My heart pounded against my ribcage, the police? I stood paralyzed, rooted to the spot like a dumb block of wood. Cold swear streamed down my pallid face. What am I supposed to do? Run as told? “Freeze and raise your hands up in the air,” the voice of a stout police boomed in my ears. I took to my heels with my flip flops rubbing against the coarse floor. The wind caressed me as I scuttled with all my might. Drip, drip, drip, my sweat went. And then, with no idea how, be it either my anxiety or my sotongness, I fell, flat on my face. I could have gotten up, but I didn’t, I was too tired to carry on. With an air of despair, I willingly allowed the policeman to pin me down and handcuff me. Hot tears rolled down my cheeks, “How could this happen to me? I am still a kid,” I muttered as I was led into the police cruiser by two policemen.
Ahhhhhhhhhh! A glass shattering shrill pierced my eardrums all of a sudden as my vision blurred with each passing second. A question crossed my mind, what was happening to me?

Chapter 8

2009-01-28T01:55:00.000-08:00

I could feel my foot sag into the velvety grass with a loud squish as I scurried after the bully. After the lack of practice for running in a couple of weeks, I could feel my heart pounding against my ribcage and oxygen drawn out of me. I felt like a human tin can, numbed and lifeless. My muscles were taught and I was aching for a break. Not a positive sign when you are on a chase that’s for sure. And then I wasn’t sure how but my infallible friend Violet started yelling at me. “Move faster you sotong!” I was appalled not only by the fact that she could still keep up with the speed she was running at and still being able to talk, I was also astonished by the fact that she was asking me to hurry up. Wasn’t I fast enough already? I didn’t bother to reply, it was a hopeless cause. Reasoning with Violet was as good as talking to a choo- choo train. I quickened the pace of my clumsy lumber and brushed my fringe which was soaked in sweat aside gingerly.
“We need a plan,” Violet called out to me, I nodded my head in silent agreement. I was too breathless to talk. “Any brilliant ideas?”she added. I racked my numbskull for one but all that came to me was a message from my brain to gasp for air. Instinctively, I panted heavily as the whirl movement of legs came to an abrupt stop. Violet upon seeing me halt, lectured, “Move it Jen, or we’ll lose this guy like we lost the kidnapper.” I didn’t bother to budge, “I have an idea, how about I rest and rejuvenate here while you go on your wild goose chase with that fatty?” Violet considered the idea for a fraction of a second and replied, “If we lose the guy it’s your fault.” “Sure, no problem,” but my answer was unnecessary, she had already vanished from my sight. I shook my head, if she had bothered to stay, I would have shared with her another one of my ingenious plans. Guess that’s Violet for you. Whipping out my communicator, I messaged the boys, “Group gathering at ten minutes past four, we meet at the starting venue, I have a plan to propose.”
*****
Violet was sweating profusely by the time she arrived. “So did you catch our criminal?” I queried as she shot me a scornful scowl, I needn’t ask to know that she had failed the task. “It’s your fault he got away so easily. And to think I followed him all the way while you were seated here, happily shaking your leg,” she scoffed. “Corrections, I was busy washing my shoe,” I corrected. “Besides, if you had bothered to wait, you would have heard about my brilliant plan which didn’t involve the both of us running about like chickens.” Violet threw her hands up in despair and covered her ears, “No more of your brilliant plans! It always turns out to be something impractical and crazy and more than three-quarter of the time you get us into trouble because of them!”
“Calm down Violet, this one sounds pretty logical I have to admit,” Jian Ming supported. I did an inaudible cheer for myself, feeling grateful towards Jian Ming’s support. Violet looked at me with doubt written all over her face. Is it that hard to believe that sometimes my ideas can be pretty fantastic?
“I can’t…” Violet caught sight my grin and quickly broke off. “Forget about what I had just said. If your plan is so ‘great’, Jennison, why don’t you share it with me?” she said sarcastically. “No problem,” I started. “In case you haven’t noticed, our criminal here Mr. Fatty was wearing his school uniform and I’m absolutely positive he came from the school Yishun City Secondary.”
“How can you be so sure of it?” Violet queried. “Because the school’s name was printed in big and bold letters at the back of his uniform,” I replied casually. Violet rolled her eyes, “But there has to be at least a thousand students in the school and if I remembered correctly, he didn’t wear a nametag. How do you plan on locating him? It would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.” To her surprise, I broke into fits of laughter, “He was smart enough to remove his nametag, but he was dim-witted enough to leave another important clue pinned on his shirt. If I recall correctly, he was wearing a student counsellor’s tie and that shortens our list of suspects by a few hundreds.” “And I still don’t know how you are going to locate him, there are like a hundred students more left,” Violet challenged. “Simple, we check up the school’s student counsellors’ board,” I said smugly as Violet muttered the words ‘show off’.
“Ok, so this plan sounds reasonable but how are we supposed to do so?” she enquired relunctantly. I cast a glance at the boys giving them the cue to reply. “I’ve discussed with Jian Ming and Andrew and we decided that the best way to carry out the plan is to…” “Break into the school,” both the boys finished off. Violet pursed her lips and was staring at me with stunned expression.
“The plan sounds fine but… Break into the school? Have you people lost your mind? That’s would be the worst thing we have ever done before! Beside your idea on the strike but still, A BREAK IN? We could be jailed!” Violet preached. “We don’t exactly have to break in, we could enter as visitors you know,” Andrew said. Violet fumed softly. I could tell that she had already given in to my plan. “Alright, we will do the break in but if we get into any trouble, we will hold you ultimately responsible for it,” she finally uttered after five long seconds reluctantly. I clasped my hands together in glee, beside me, I could hear Violet’s self-protests, “Oh why did I agree to that raving lunatic’s plan?” And at that very moment as if in reply to her question, two splats of white pungent drips came searing from the sky landing on Violet’s yellow tee. The chirping from the birds overhead made it nonetheless clear what the splats were. I stifled a laugh, it was time for Violet to have a taste of her own – in this case ‘aromatic’ medicine.

Chapter 7

2009-01-18T01:08:00.001-08:00

“Go on strike?” there was definitely disagreement in her tone. Yi Ying and Lin Fang just gawked at the idea. “A four men strike?” Yi Ying queried. I shook my head, “I was thinking of involving the whole Primary 6 student body.” “How? Pass flyers?” Violet suggested with a hint of sarcasm. “I am afraid I have to award you zero marks for your ingenuity,” I said waving my finger as I pursed my lips to make a ‘tusk’ ‘tusk’ sound. “I was thinking of passing the message through lead.com by sending an e-mail to all of the Primary 6 students.” Lin Fang shuffled her feet and opened her mouth to protest, “But that’s so troublesome and wild. Can’t we just write a letter of complain?” “They won’t take it seriously,” I said grimly. “We could bring Brian’s parents along to testify,” she continued. “They don’t know their son is kidnapped remember?”Violet responded. “Then tell them,” Lin Fang retorted. Yi Ying gave a frantic look around and placed her fingers on her lips, “Shhh… not so loud, there are people around you know.” Lin Fang ignored her, “Anyway I still don’t think we should go on strike.”
“It was just an idea,” I muttered under my breath. “Yah, one which flunked its logic examination,” she uttered loud enough for my ears only. Violet sensing the enmity between us deliberated for a moment and remarked, “It wouldn’t work anyway, the police are skilled in dealing with such strikes. We would be led away in handcuffs before we know it.” The scene of us – a bunch of Primary 6 kids – being shoved into a police sedan in cuffs cavorted through my mind. I shuddered incessantly at the thought. Ok, so another incident at the police station isn’t going to look pretty on my not so squeaky clean record but I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing.
I was about to launch myself into objection when Yi Ying piped in, “Since none of you guys will give way to each other, why don’t we vote? Majority wins.” Violet and Lin Fang seemed to consider this idea. I shot a grateful glance towards Yi Ying. “Alright, we will vote. But it’s for a lost cause. Because Yi Ying isn’t voting and we two are voting against you,” Lin Fang happily pointed out. I let out a frustrated sigh and added, “Not between the four of us duh. It’s between the whole class.” I could briefly see the expressions on my friends’ face change briefly for a split second before regaining their previous smirk. “And how are you going to conduct the vote. You can’t just march up to the class in front of Mr. Lim and ask ‘whoever is in favour of having a strike on blank day…” “I was thinking of next Wednesday,” I interrupted before allowing Violet to continue. “Ok, having a strike on Wednesday, raise up your hands’ and then record the number of people in favour down. Mr. Lim will personally deliver you to the Principal’s office and give you a Beta form.”
“Didn’t I mention anything about lead.com? We could also conduct the vote during our stay back on next Monday,” I remarked.
“Ding dong, ding, dong, ding, dong,” the cliché ringing of the school bell chimed overhead signalling the end of our heated discussion. With a start, we grabbed the newspapers and lunged for the stairs, “We will discuss about this later,” Lin Fang said as she sprinted upwards gracefully, step by step. Violet and I gave a brief nod before we all headed for our classroom, agitated.
*****
School was never a breeze, multitasking by preparing for our PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examination) and at the same time doing crime fighting only made it more hectic. I stared at the humongous pile of worksheets stacked messily on my desk with my mouth agape. That was the main reason why I dreaded weekends: it wasn’t a short break from the chaotic school life, it was a intellectual torture season! To me, I felt like I was buried alive in tonnes of assessment papers, struggling to free myself but always unsuccessful. Like that wasn’t stressful enough, my communicator had to start beeping fanatically.
“Urgent, urgent, there has been sightings of gangsters loitering around block 201. Please head there immediately, we will be sending you back up,” the professor’s voice rang loudly as I quickly hid the communicator under my shirt. “What’s that?” my mum enquired upon hearing the message. I tried to compose myself and come up with a logical explanation. “That was my new ringtone, I got it from Yi Ying,” I reasoned with a smile. To prove it to her, I retrieved my handphone from the table and placed it to my ear.
“Err, hi Violet!” I chirped as I eyed my mum cautiously, fortunately, my mum had seemed to have lost interest and had looked away. But just in case my mum was still listening in on me, I continued my phony conversation. “What? Go back for extra science lessons? Ok, I will be there by three. Bye.”
Turning back to my mum, I quickly added, “Mr. Lim’s afraid we won’t be able to complete going through our worksheets so he wants us to go back to school by four.” She observed me with unhidden suspicion but eventually let it pass. “Alright then, do you need to wear your uniform?” “Nah, it isn’t official so he doesn’t find the need to,” I explained further. “Can I go to school myself? Please?” I pleaded. Mum considered for a moment, “But remember to call when you reach school ok?” I nodded my head frantically and rushed for the door. “Remember to call!” was the last few words I heard before I dashed in a bolt of lightning. I knew that the pile of assessment on my table was inevitable and that I would have to face them later, but right now, given the choice between catching gangsters or doing homework; I’ll rather catch gangsters any day of the week.
Getting to block 201 in a jiffy was no problem at all. All I needed was some luck and a wad of cash. Luck so that I could hire a taxi in less than ten seconds and cash so that I could pay the taxi driver when I had arrived at my destination. When I had finally reached block 201, I found Violet waiting anxiously for me at the void deck along with Andrew and Jian Ming.
“You took ages to come and now that you are here, can we get to work? I have got to rush home to babysit my younger sister later you know,” Andrew said obnoxiously. I pulled a face at him discreetly and turned to face them. “So what’s the plan?”I implored. “You guys find eyewitnesses or victims and gather info while we go patrol the area,” Violet decided. I cheered at the idea while the boys looked thunderstruck; that was a nice change for a start.
“What do we say to the aunties?” Andrew queried. Violet rolled her eyes and scoffed, “Hello, we have heard that there has been some form of bullying and forced theft by gangsters around here, so may I know if you have seen any of such people? It’s easy. Just use your common knowledge. Now if there are no more questions we can start.” The boys were about to leave when I immediately reached out my hand to stop them, “Before you leave, I would like to know if you guys are in favour of having a strike outside the police post on next Wednesday.” Without much consideration, both boys uttered the reply ‘xiao’ and walked away. Violet smirked at me and I could feel my face burn. But still I wasn’t going to give up just yet, no way. I am certain that someone will support my idea, I just had to persevere.
Walking along the void decks of the neighbouring blocks was mind-numbing. And because of the recent fact that Violet and I weren’t on speaking terms, the patrol seemed even more dreary and dull. “Err so what school do you aim to go to next year,” I piped hoping to break the awkward silence between the both of us. “Don’t know yet,” Violet replied shrugging her shoulders. That definitely didn’t help. If we were going to strike a conversation, Violet was going to have to be an active participant, after all, it takes two hands to clap. “So did you read the book Princess Diaries book eight? It was really disgusting,” I commented, probing her to answer. “Yah,” Violet agreed sullenly. I felt a sudden urge to kick her shins; couldn’t she see I was trying to talk to her? I was getting very annoyed by her cold shoulder attitude.
“Hey Jennison,” Violet started. “So you are finally talking huh,” I snapped. “No but I just wanted to inform you that you had just stepped on a pile of dog poop,” she finished pointing to the soles of my shoe. “WHAT!” I screeched in horror as the fetid smell wafted up my nostrils. I scowled at the messy sight of my poop covered sneaker. Violet advised, “You should find a bathroom or a tap to wash your shoes, as much as we are in a hurry, I can’ stand the smell of that.” I cursed the irresponsible owner of the dog which had did its business here and trudged over dolefully at the same time nodding my head.
Lifting my head, I scoured about looking for a cafeteria or a water outlet. Violet promptly picked out a tiny female washroom near the exit of an open-air hawker centre. I definitely wasn’t going to waste my time with a MacDonald’s toilet, one sniff at me, and they would send me packing. Even as I made my way to the toilet, I could see nearby patrons shooting me disgusted and scornful looks. The degree of hatred I could see in their eyes was a good gage of how my sneaker ponged. I waddled over towards the female toilet as gingerly as I could manage, out of the way from the disgusted patrons, I was thankful that no one had the mind to throw rotten eggs at my face… yet. I turned towards, Violet, only to see her whistling away. Frustrated, I gave her one of my ‘could you come here now’ glares.
“Who are you staring at,” she queried directing her glance at me. Then facing the patrons, she reasoned, “She has nothing to do with me.” Grumbling, I grabbed a whole waft of toilet paper and chucked it under the flowing tap. “Next time she becomes the portable animal toilet bowl, I am so not going to help her clean up,” I promised as I wiped the dirt of my sneakers. While trying to wash up, I couldn’t help but listen in on some conversations going on nearby above the buzz in the hawker. Most were commenting on my unruly and inconsiderate behaviour which I had gladly directed them to Violet and the owner of the dog. Another conversation that was going on was this, “You better give me the down payment, if not I’ll bash you up.” See, another conflict going on between two young teenagers. Seriously, what is the world turning into? I shook my head disapprovingly and froze, that wasn’t a line in a conflict, that was an obvious threat! I cast my attention towards the direction where the source of the boy came from where I was standing, I could distinguish a burly youth in a white uniform standing across a skinny and frail boy whose face was covered with freckles near the rubbish chute. I crept closer, edging towards them. It was an unfair match up, I was tempted to scream jump to the boy’s protection but a hand slammed across my mouth and tugged me back.
“Wait, surprise is a man’s best weapon, we should devise a plan and use it to our full advantage,” a voice which I immediately recognised as Violet’s sounded in my ears. “That boy needs help,” I protested. “We should take a photo first,” Violet said. I stamped my foot in irritation, “You take a picture and I’ll go help the boy.” A shocked look spread across Violet’s face and I recalled that I had never thrown my temper in front of her. I disregarded it, there’s always a first for everything. Right now, there were other things to think about. Evidently, I had stamped my foot a little too loud, the big burly youth I nicknamed fatty was now glancing in my direction glaring daggers down. I could hear him mutter the word, “Idiots!” before he went shuttling off in a flash. “Jennison! Go after him!” Violet hollered as she dashed towards him. I bolted after Violet with a wave of a fury. No hooligan was going to escape in my turf just yet.

Chapter 6

2008-12-31T20:03:00.000-08:00

“Jennison, I am so going to kill you for this,” Violet muttered as she peered at me from the side with a piercing stare. But under the close surveillance of the stern police officers, I bit back the urge of replying ‘bring it on’.
After making a few phone calls, the other police officer finally trudged over and plopped into the cushioned seat. “Now will anyone care to tell me why you people were out driving in the middle of the night?” he queried as we probed each other to answer. Derek stated in a fake grown up voice, “We were hoping to get…” “Help from the police. We were driving here to report an incident of kidnapping,” I butted in before Derek could blurt out the truth that we wanted to get on National TV. Thanks to the fine work of the doctors we had visited before heading for the police station, my tongue was neatly stitched and good as new, allowing me to speak clearly. “You could have used another alternative and took public transport instead,” he offered. “Bus service ends at midnight and we simply couldn’t flag down any taxis,” I said indignantly.
“I believe you are just coming up with miserable excuses to cover up the fact that you people wanted to drive the car for fun,” the policeman remarked. I gritted my teeth and squirmed uncomfortably in my seat, “Those weren’t excuses! (Okay so they were excuses, but can’t they just lap the information up?) It was our friend who was kidnapped! (So that was officially a lie, but that was a white lie.) We found the need to inform you about it immediately!”
“In the first place why were you all out so late at night?” the policeman pondered. D**n it, I haven’t thought of an answer for that question. I rummaged through my numbskull hastily for some excuses. Got it! “Richard had invited us over to his house for a humongous birthday bash. He was celebrating his lunar birthday! Of course he had discussed it with his parents before they left for overseas. We celebrated until it was very late. Richard offered to walk us a little further least we got lost!” I uttered as Richard and Derek nodded in agreement.
Both policemen stared expressionless at each other for a brief couple of seconds before facing us. “In that case, supposing what you told us was true, could your describe the vehicle used for kidnapping and make our life less miserable and describe the person while you are at it?” one of them uttered. “He was carried away in a van,” I stated. “What about the kidnapper?” I feel a lump of saliva stuck in my throat. How on earth was I going to answer that question? I wasn’t the one who witnessed the incident! I should have dragged Jian Ming along.
“It was too dark, we couldn’t make out the colour of the clothes they were wearing but there were two of them and one was burly. The other one was short and stout,” Violet responded. I shot her a questioning glance but Violet said nothing. Shaking their heads, the constables dismissed us. The sinking feeling inside me told me that the police weren’t taking us seriously. They didn’t even request for the name of the kidnapped kid. Pushing the thought away, I turned to face Violet, “How did you know what Brian’s kidnapper looked like?”
*****
“Flip! Leave no page unturned,” I instructed as the noisy sound of newspapers rustling filled the air in the school canteen. Hastily, I turned the pages of the Today newspaper hoping to spot an article on our ruthless act yesterday. However our attempt was fruitless, no such article popped up anywhere. I sighed despondently, “Anyone spotted such an article?” Lin Fang, Yi Ying and Violet shook their heads glumly. “We have already searched The Straits Times, the Newpaper and Today, we even searched the Chinese newspapers, you don’t expect us to read the Tamil and the Malay newspapers right?” Lin Fang implored. “The police are hopeless, we should lodge a complain. We can’t keep coming up with the excuse that Brian is staying over at Richard’s place to do a project to his parents, can we?” Violet pointed out agreeing with Lin Fang’s query.
“Alright! I have decided to put Plan B into action!” I proclaimed as hundreds of curious faces whipped around to face us. “Shhhhsh…”Violet snapped softly, “We don’t want the whole school to know that we are secret agents!” I stiffened for a moment and swept my gaze over the baffled sea of heads and grinned sheepishly, “Please go back to what you were doing, I was just discussing about my homework.” With an audible sigh of boredom, everyone turned their probing gazes back to their food or homework.
“That’s a relief,” I muttered. “What’s not a relief is… WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY YOU HAVE A PLAN B?” Violet practically hollered. “We aren’t going to let the case rest anyway so obviously I have a Plan B,” I said in a matter-of-factly state. Violet pressed her palm against her forehead as if she was going to faint. “I swear you will be the death of me! First you drag me out on a midnight stake out and now you tell me it isn’t over,” she cried in utter disbelief. “Don’t worry, this time my plan will work for sure,” I pressed. Violet sighed and faced Lin Fang and Yi Ying, “It’s always when she says don’t worry when I worry the most.” Both of my friends coughed to suppress their giggles. “I heard that,” I scoffed, Lin Fang eyed me with utmost curiosity, “So what’s your plan?” My face brightened instantly, I could feel Violet tense with anxiety, a drum roll had also erupted from somewhere which I immediately identified it coming from Lin Fang. I hesitated for a moment and declared, “How about we go on strike?”

Chapter 5 (Part 2)

2008-11-25T00:02:00.001-08:00

“Car F8762R, please pull over to the right,” a raucous voice travelled to our ears nearly blasting off our eardrums. In a moment of panic and fright, Richard released his footing on the accelerator and pulled the steering wheel to the left. “What’s… that?” Richard stammered.
The wailing of the sirens coming from behind told me that we had been spotted by the traffic police. “Police! Quick, move to the right!” I ordered. But apparently, Richard didn’t hear my order. The cars were now just a metre away from us!
Bang!
Two humongous airbags inflated from the front, keeping both Richard and Derek in their seats and not flying out of the window. I wasn’t as fortunate, my forehead banged into the bag of the leather seat and bit my tongue – real hard. Violet was still comfortably seated at the same area only looking a little distraught from the experience. After all, she did buckle up her seat belt – another one of her many safety precautions to take when sitting in a car. Yah, that is the price I paid for not buckling up my seat belt, especially when someone with wholly no driving experience was taking us on a road trip. I cast a distressed look at Violet as blood gushed out from my tongue.
Gross. Violet shook her head helplessly, muttering something under her breath, something like ‘see Jennison, I told you to buckle up’. Guess the old Chinese saying ‘don’t listen old man’s words, eat regret in front of your eyes’ (warning: this is a direct translation from the Chinese saying so please do not follow it) is true. I was starting to regret my actions. Only, I couldn’t, considering the fact that two police officers were heading our way with summons in their hands. If I was still in the condition to talk, I would probably scoff a sarcastic remark like, ‘great’, but all I could spit out was ‘ate’ and a little bit of blood. I had planned out a whole speech of lies and deceits for this very purpose only to know that I’m in no condition to talk and probably need to go to a nearby clinic to get stitches.
As the policemen approached, I could see their face being contorted with astonishment and disbelief. Who wouldn’t if they realised that it was a bunch of twelve year olds who were driving a BMW instead of a licensed adult? Violet unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car. All I did was seize as many tissues I could find and stuff them in my mouth gingerly, then bolt out of the car as fast as I could. “Teenagers, the source of all the trouble,” I could faintly hear one of the policemen remark. It wasn’t our fault that Brian was kidnapped either, not that any of us cared much. Right now, all I had to concentrate on was to apply pressure on my tongue and stop the bleed. “eathe in, eathe ou,” I muttered trying to pronounce the words as clearly as feasible (which made me sound like I had a block nose), in an attempt to calm my agitated and apprehensive self down.
“What are you teenagers doing here? Do you have a driving license?” the other policemen beseeched as I shot him a bloody yet goofy smile. “Answer me!” he warned, in a firm tone. “If you think about it logically, obviously no, considering the fact that we are only twelve,” Violet replied in a no fuss manner. “Then I’m afraid I am going to need to haul you four kids in for questioning and call up your parents to inform them,” the policeman uttered as he whipped out his handkerchief to wipe the trickle of cold sweat off is face. “And who does this car belong to? I believe his or her parents would be glad upon seeing their car having a beautiful dent on the sparkly bumper,” he added with a hint of sarcasm. Without hesitation, we pointed towards Richard. “Hey!” Richard scoffed, his eyes narrowed into a slit. “So I guess I’ll have to tell your parents about it first,” he said glancing at Richard. “You might want to consider calling in the tow truck first though,” Derek piped in hopefully. In perfect synchrony, we turned our gaze towards him, giving him a cold glare. Sensing the sudden change in the ambience, Derek excused, “The car might cause a traffic congestion.”
Violet shot me a praying glance saying ‘get me out of this mess’. I gave her a brief nod, I wasn’t about to do nothing. I was on the point of speaking when I suddenly remembered that I had a wounded tongue and hesitated. Perhaps I should just do nothing. Violet stared at me and gave me a hard kick in the shins, a kick which was meant as a cue to start talking.
“I’m af aid you can’t do iat, (I’m afraid you can’t do that)” I babbled, “Ou arents are o erseas. (Our parents are overseas.)” The policemen’s face darkened a little but continued to implore, “Then I would have to tell your teachers or guardians.” “You could call ou coun e lor ough, (our counsellor though) is num er is his, (his number is this)” I added before scribbling the professor’s number on the summons.
“In that case, we are going to bring you to the police station where you can tell us what you kids were up to,” he grumbled with a fake toothy smile and ushered us into the back of the police car. Fortunately, all four of us were pretty slim and managed to squeeze in without much difficulty. And as the traffic police car headed towards the station, Derek popped another of his ridiculous questions, “Erm… if it isn’t too much trouble, could you guys like tune the radio over there to station 93.3 FM and turn up the volume?”

Chapter 5 (Part 1)

2008-10-14T00:07:00.000-07:00

“Are you sure about this?” Violet uttered uncertainly. “Yup, I am absolutely sure about this,” I replied confidently. Violet stared at me as if I was a mutter. “You said that you had a brilliant plan and I expected it to be wacky knowing you but what are you thinking?” Violet shrieked at me. I waved my hand calmly, “It will work. Trust me.” I had worked out all the possibilities and was almost certain that the plan would work brilliantly.
“Are you two done squabbling?” Derek queried, stifling a yawn. “If we aren’t going to be on the road in five minutes, I am going home,” Richard complained as he twirled the car keys around his finger.
“You heard them, let’s go!” I exclaimed and lugged open the car door, settling myself comfortably in the backseat. “I have a bad feeling about this,” Violet muttered audibly before she plopped into the comfortable synthetic seats of the Mercedes Benz. “Who’s driving?” she implored. “Who do you think? Richard of course,” I answered without hesitation. Violet glared at me as if she going to eat me up.
“But Richard is underage! Not to mention a driving license! We could get into trouble. Perhaps Derek could do the driving. In the dark, people could mistake him for an adult. He does have the built and the size,” Violet preached.
“That’s the point. We are supposed to get into trouble. And Richard was the only one who knew how to drive expertly. Or so he says,” I explained casually. “I do know how to drive expertly,” Richard scoffed from the front, “Can we go now?” I nodded as rock music blared from the speakers and the familiar tingling sensations of the vibrating engine travelled down my spine.
Before Violet could spit out another word, we were already on the road, singing to our hearts content, or more like screaming in fear. As soon as we had left the parking lot, we banged into the lamp post and nearly crash into a tree. I swept a glimpse at Violet’s face. She looked as if she was about to explode. “Richard!!!”Violet shrieked, “Are you sure you know how to drive?”
“It was just a minor blip,” Richard reasoned, “I have got everything under control.” Yah, as soon as he finished that sentenced, the car veered off the road and was sent spiralling towards the kerb. Terrific control of the car he has. Realising that the situation wasn’t pretty, Derek tugged at the wheel, pulling us back on the road. I heaved a sigh of relief. But not for long, the next thing we knew, we were heading straight for a stretch of stationary cars. “Richard! Hit the brakes!” Violet hollered. “I know! I’m trying!” Richard complained as he pulled the steering wheel and stepped on the accelerator.
“No, Richard that is the accelerator ahhhh!” Derek pointed out in between panic squeals. Richard’s face was pallid, obviously thunderstruck on what to do.
“Bye bye mummy, bye bye daddy,” Derek sniffed as he braced himself for the sickening thud. “Ahhhhh!!!” Violet and I shrieked, facing the doors of eternal doom.

Chapter 4

2008-10-13T02:40:00.000-07:00

Life without Brian for a day sure was peaceful, I have to admit that even our form teacher Mr. Lim seemed relieved. Well, that was the problem, no one wanted to find Brian. In fact, some people were even harbouring thoughts of leaving Brian kidnapped. That was bad. Lugging myself towards the school bus, I took ravenous gulps from my strangely appetizing chicken bun. I hadn’t eaten since this morning and I was definitely famished. Back on the bus, my bus friends were quarrelling over some Anime character as the bus took off with the noisy ‘fish market’ in it.
“Aunty! Someone is eating chicken bun!” an obnoxious Primary Five boy yowled as I was prepared to take another bite. To heck with the boys. Can’t they see that I am famished and need to eat something least I faint? Guess they aren’t so compassionate. But that was the least of my worries. Arikei and Koir were in the midst of creating another bus war. By accident, Koir had licked Arikei’s finger and was desperately trying to rub the saliva off on Sienna’s T- shirt.
“Aunty!” Sienna screamed as the bus aunty whipped her head around in annoyment. “What is it now?” she spat in Chinese. Sienna crouched over to my shoulder, pushing me towards the window. Unprepared, I licked the glass wall, scowling and all. The very next thing I knew, Sienna had removed her shoes and was trying to retaliate if Koir was to do a sudden ‘attack’. The battle took a turn temporarily, the next minute, I was facing the wall, staring at a lady who shot me a ‘are you nuts’ look. Well, it’s time I participated as well. But apparently taking Sienna’s file as a shield wasn’t very erm… threatening. In the very next minute, I found myself staring intently at the soles of a pair of shoes. Yucks. Did I mention that I have yet to finish my lunch?
The bus had stopped to allow some pupils to alight but we were still at it. Some how, I had managed to shake off the pair of shoes and shield myself from being pulverised by a pair of stinky trailers. The bus engine went into a full roar and the bus had barely moved an inch when it braked setting off an overwhelming commotion at the back.
“My shoe!” Sienna cried as she lunged forward to grab it.
“My chicke…” I tried to yell as I banged into the metal pole, leaving my chicken bun to fall onto the floor. Good thing it had a plastic wrapper, that bun caused me a dollar!
“Koir! Get off my knee,” Arikei whined with a disgruntled look. Koir just stared at the front with a dazed look. Just then I realised that everyone else on the bus looked thunderstruck as well.
“I hate to break the silence but… What happened?” I recited my catchphrase. Koir turned around with anxiety written all over her face. “Haven’t you noticed? A sports car hit us!”
All of a sudden, shoes and chicken buns flying all over the place didn’t seem like a problem. “Was anyone hurt?” I enquired as Sienna wore her shoe. “Well, no one except for the bus aunty, she slipped and bruised herself,” Christine replied.
“Could you just get off my knee?” Arikei moaned desperately trying to get up. “Oh,” Koir realised with a laugh and fell back on the chair. “One thing’s for sure, the sports car uncle doesn’t seem too pleased,” Koir exclaimed with a shrug. I got up and pressed my nose against the window on the left side.
A black sports Honda car had collided with our school bus’s front rear. Its window had been smashed into smithereens and it was very fortunate that no one was seated at the passenger seat. A middle aged man got out from the car and stormed over towards our bus. He wore a grey T- shirt, matched with a pair of beige Bermudas. The first word I could think of to describe him was… short. And a little bit of a pot belly. Hey, I have my reasons okay? Firstly, he looks short, like around 1.5 to 1.6 metres; secondly, he really was on the plump side, or at least plumper than one of my classmates from TAF club. (If you read it the other way round, it would be read as fat, with a lot of emphasis. No offence to those TAF members though.)
From the look of Mr. Pot Belly’s face, high chance he wasn’t here to apologize. His face was flushed as red as a cooked prawn and his mouth was arched into a scowl. Scary. “That guy is giving me the creeps,” Sienna whispered, cowering in fright. “I don’t think he’s here to apologize either,” I added. Koir, Arikei and Sienna shot me a scowl. “What?” I blabbered as the others shook their head from side to side despondently.
Meanwhile, a heated argument had started between the bus driver and Mr. Pot Belly. My life sure is interesting. First, I get roped into gangster catching organisations, then, I get involved in a mini car –bump –bus accident, which by the way includes a grumpy and unreasonable Mr. Pot Belly. This is so not my day.
“Pose, Jennison,” Koir chirped, waving her arms frantically. I glanced ahead; Mr. Pot Belly was taking photographs of the vehicles that had collided. Trust Koir to come up with such wacky ideas during car ‘accidents’. Of course, the bus uncle didn’t step down, grabbing his phone, he took photos of the ‘accident’ as well.
“Forget posing, lets just write down the car plate number,” Sienna suggested as Airkei whipped out her handphone and recorded the number down. “G… 4… 4… 1… 2… C” she muttered as her fingers stretched to key in the numbers.
“It’s no wonder he is so unlucky,” I blurted out. “Why?” Sienna queried. “His car plate number has so many 4s and one C. In Cantonese, the number four means die. Obviously he is unlucky,” I reasoned. Sienna nodded her head knowingly.
“Ai yah, not fun already,” another Primary Five boy sighed audibly. “Why?” I beseeched. “They just exchanged phone numbers and the Honda car driver just drove off,” he explained. “I was hoping the police would come, I want to be on National television,” Koir whined. “Yah lor,” I muttered sadly.
Out of the blue, an idea thwacked me in the head. National television. Oh why hadn’t I thought of it before? My eyeballs rolled around in their sockets in excitement, I could feel adrenalin surge through my body. This idea was so crazy, it might just work! A smile rose from the corner of my lips. A plan had formed in my head.
“Are you alright Jennison? Why are you smiling all of a sudden?” Sienna implored. “Oh nothing, I was just thinking about a mean joke I saw on TV,” I replied. Yup, tonight, I am going to put this plan into action. And hopefully, get on TV.

Chapter 3 (Part 2)

2008-10-13T02:38:00.000-07:00

“I wonder how we are going to explain this situation to anybody,” Violet proclaimed. “Well, just tell them what Jian Ming told us. If not, get Jian Ming to tell them,” I offered. “I wasn’t talking about that sotong! I was talking about Brian’s parents,” Violet barked. “Just say that it was a kidnapping case,” I said, “Besides, it’s the professor who is going to do the explaining. Anyway, who cares about Brian?”
“His parents, duh!” Jian Ming and Violet hollered. “Ok, besides his parents?” I enquired. Silence pitched in. “Nobody right? I mean once everyone hears about this, it won’t have any negative impact on them right?” I added. Violet hesitated for a moment and nodded her head with agreement, “It definitely makes sense.”
“Hey! What took you guys so long, ahhh! Wh… wh… what happened to you!” Lin Fang exclaimed in sheer terror upon catching a glimpse of Jian Ming. “Got involved in kidnapping case, this was the result,” Jian Ming explained. Lin Fang looked around and questioned, “Where is Brian then?” “He got sucked down the toilet bowl,” I replied. “Just kidding, he was carried away in the van” I quickly added upon seeing Lin Fang’s bamboozled expression.
“You mean… he was Kidnapped!” Lin Fang proclaimed. “Yup,” we answered in synchrony. “That is the… Best Damn News Ever! Yeah!” Lin Fang cried out as her face brightened up and threw a punch into the air.
“Hello? Brian’s the least of our problems here! My parents will get a heart attack if they saw me in this condition!” Jian Ming hollered. “I’ve got a suggestion! Put on some make up to cover up those bruises!” I suggested enthusiastically. Jian Ming, Violet and Ling Fang stared at me with gawking expressions and groaned, “Forget it!”
“At least I gave a suggestion,” I grumbled to myself. “Well, can we head back to the ideal lab first? The others are waiting for us,” Lin Fang pointed out. “Sure,” Violet replied as we made a dash for the ideal lab.
“Ahhh! Monster!” Jamie shrieked as Jian Ming stepped into the room. “Perhaps I should consider putting on a mask,” grumbled Jian Ming as he ambled towards a chair. “What happened?” she queried as everyone gathered round to listen. “Brian and Jian Ming were involved in a case of kidnap and Brian was kidnapped,” Violet responded. Instantly, a spontaneous cheer went up from the back, girls and boys alike.
“See, I told you they weren’t bothered,” I smirked. Violet just shot me a ‘now’s not the time for your boring jokes’ kind of look.
“Since everybody is here, let’s go home already!” Dorothy exclaimed as everybody rushed for the door shovelling each other out of the way in an attempt to get out of the school first. “Hold on! There is a message from the professor saying that we have to stay back today a little while later to find Brian,” Richard declared, waving a crisp piece of paper in his hands.
“How did he know about it?” Jun Wei whined. “Well, I told him about it,” uttered Jian Ming. “If you weren’t my good friend I would have threw this chair at you,” Andrew spat. “I had nobody to report this to,” Jian Ming protested.
Cursing ourselves for such bad luck, we trudged out of the room and filed out of the school gates.
Oh bother, why did we have to be the d**n class who gets the special ‘Go Home Late’ treatment? Well kids out there, here’s a word of caution. If you ever thing that being a hero is cool and fun, think again. I would rather be buried in a good book by Rick Riordan anytime on my comfy couch than soaking in sweat salts under the blistering hot sun. You get the picture, it isn’t pretty unless you consider a human hotdog sweet. Besides that, you still have to schedule time for homework, revision, studying, etc…
Next time, if you ever see a man with a white sleazy beard, run as fast as your limbs can carry you cause you are going to regret it real badly if you don’t.

Chapter 3

2008-08-23T00:54:00.000-07:00

“Put that thingy with the blade down!” Violet ordered as she scuttled towards the guy. “It’s a weed whacker,” I corrected her as I scurried after her. “Whatever, just put that weed dasher or basher down!” Violet hollered as the guy looked up, flabbergasted. Immediately, he went on a running streak by making a dash for the HDB flats. We instinctively followed him like what cops would do.
“Stop running!” Violet yelled, nearly breathless as she continued running at a breakneck pace. I looked around; surely someone would have realised something was amiss when he or she saw three people running like mad dogs with a weed whacker in hand. The unfortunate thing was: even if someone saw it and thought something was amiss, they wouldn’t even step up to lend a helping hand.
“Perhaps we could chase him into a corner, I know this place better than you do,” I told Violet. “Fine with me, lead the way,” Violet agreed as she tried to get him to corporate by moving in the same direction. I headed for the mailbox near a HDB flat lobby.
Soon, he was cornered but unfortunately for us, that wasn’t the end of our adventure. Mr. Weed Whacker brandished a Swiss army knife and lunged towards us. We swiftly dodged to a side as he headed for us again. Things were getting a little too out of hand for my liking. How were we supposed to face a guy armed with both a weed whacker and a Swiss army knife? “We need a plan,” Violet suggested. “Plan A is that we both attack him together while Plan B-” Violet ducked to a corner and continued, “is that you distract him and I kick his butt.”
“Can I choose Plan C?” I enquired. “What is it?” Violet pondered. “RUN!!!” I exclaimed as I ran helter-skelter in all directions like some disorganised sheep searching for a place to graze on grass. “No you sotong, you are suppose to head for the enemy!” Violet proclaimed, seething with anger. I continued running in circles clearly ignoring Violet.
“Jennison, could you just stick to the plan?” Violet shrieked. “What is the plan?” I asked puzzled. “Attack the enemy!” Violet yelled as she thrust herself towards the guy, launching a punch. Mr. Weed Whacker ducked and manoeuvred his body to a side smugly. I guess I should lend Violet a helping hand. I walked over calmly, whipped out my water bottle, removed my shoe and slammed the muddy sneaker into his face squarely. Next, I took out my container containing wasabi and dumped the whole thing into my water bottle and shook the bottle to the best of my ability to dissolve the wasabi cream. Once I was done, I aimed it at the man face and gave him a dose of my wasabi cream mixture.
“Ahhh…” he yelped as the icy cold sensation flooded through his body sending chills down his spine. Instinctively, he dropped his weapons and cowered to a side clutching his face.
“Let’s just hope I didn’t make a sashimi out of him,” I muttered to Violet with a casual laugh as she got down to her feet and tied him up. Violet grumbled, “Now, would you mind calling the police?”
*****
“The moral of the story is to always have wasabi cream with you wherever you go,” I joked while all Violet did was to stand there and glare at me like I was someone who just escaped from the institution of mental health. She never gets my jokes, does she?
“Well we better find the boys anyway and report that there are no bullies around except for car thieves or people who smash car windshields for fun,” Violet said as she ambled towards the meeting place.
“Where were you?” a hoarse voice rang in my ears. I turned around and gasped in astonishment. There stood Jian Ming nearly beaten into a pulp, panting.
“What happened?” I asked, normally, someone would have called me a sotong or something to that extend but this time, it was no laughing matter. “Someone was kidnapped. We tried to stop them but they were too strong. We tried to contact you too but you guys didn’t respond. In the end, they took Brian! I was lucky to escape, I know that Brian can be a pain at times but we got to help him. He is part of the class no matter what!” Jian Ming explained.
“WHAT! That can’t be! We were stopping a guy with a Swiss army knife who tried to smash a car windshield with a weed whatever it is, that was why we didn’t here your call for help,” Violet reasoned. “We got to report this to the rest!” she added. I nodded my head in approval.
“Alright, what vehicle did they use to escape?” Violet questioned. “In a van, but in my haste to get away, I didn’t see the vehicle plate number,” Jian Ming answered as he shuffled his feet.
I cleared my throat, “Err… hem. Then what are we waiting here for? Let’s go!”

Chapter 2

2008-08-22T00:15:00.000-07:00

“Huh? What happened?” I asked as Brian repeated his plan once more.
“Simple, we boys, muscles of the pack, would do the patrolling…” “Of the toilet bowl,” Violet muttered cutting in on Brian’s speech in the same time leaving me in a fit of giggles.
“What’s so funny?” Brian enquired.
“The part about the patrolling of toilets,” I pointed out still laughing. Brian and Jian Ming stared at us bewildered.
“Patrolling of toilets, what on earth are you talking about? I didn’t say anything about toilets. Never mind, as I was saying, we boys would do the patrolling and you girls will keep a lookout. Okay?” he said, still quite puzzled about the toilet but obviously decided not to ask about it. Without further delay, we carried on with the patrol.
“Alright, let’s go,” Violet ordered.
“Go where?” I asked. The plan clearly did not state anything about us going anywhere.
“You really are a blur sotong aren’t you? We don’t have to follow the boys’ plan, we can follow our plan as well. Besides, we are better equipped than them. If all of us patrol, we might cover more space. Got it?” Violet explained, I shrug my shoulders. I had a sinking feeling that this expedition wasn’t one I wanted to have. But too late, Violet was already lugging me across the HDB flats and playgrounds.
“Where are we going?” I enquired thinking that I must as well go along with her. “To the market of course dummy. There must be people there who know about the gangsters. We could ask them about it, and once we get the info, we would have a higher chance of catching the gangsters,” she said enthusiastically. That makes complete sense, you definitely need knowledge or info to do or carry out something in a shorter period of time. It’s just like Violet to come up with something like that.
“Hey, maybe we could ask those aunties over there chatting,” I suggested when we passed by one of the coffee shops. Violet grabbed me by the hand and sauntered over.
“Alright, you ask them,” she said casually. I shot her my ‘me again’ look. She nudged my shoulder shoving me forward.
Reluctantly, I took a step forward and asked them. This would be what the conversation would be like converted into English:
Me: Sorry to bother you. We are doing a school project on bullies and rumour says that there have been cases of bully around this area. We were wondering if that was true. If yes, could you shed more information on it?
The aunties cast a glance at each other like before one of them replied (a little rudely).
One of the aunties: What talking you? Crazy is it? Ask us this kind of questions, what do you think we are? Gossip queens? Shoo, don’t bother us.
See what I mean? Typical of Singaporeans to say such things. I shook my head and trudged off to join Violet. “No information I guess, lets head over to the other tables,” I suggested as I pointed to the other tables but after half an hour of enquiring, we were still at the same spot we were half an hour ago- simply clueless.
“I guess we should find the boys, they might have better luck than us,” I sighed, depressed and weary. “I guess we should,” Violet finally conceded defeat. We headed back feeling pretty dejected. “Perhaps we should go back to the old times of having water fights. I’m starting to miss those,” I whined. “Yah, me too. In fact, I could do with a blast right now!” Violet proclaimed. “Oh, really?” I queried, a grin crept up the side of my mouth. Instantly, I grabbed my water bottle from my bag, uncapped it and squirted water at the unsuspecting Violet.
“What was that for?” Violet shrieked, annoyed as she brushed her hair backwards. “You said you wanted a splash!” I protested. “Not in that way, but still…”
Splash.
“Fun,” Violet finished with a laugh. I was drenched to the skin and my soaked fringe hung over my forehead gingerly as I pushed aside with a scowl.
“Hey, what’s that,” Violet queried. Thinking that it was just her ploy to distract me and then blast me, I ignored her. “Look, what is that guy doing?” I could sense urgency in her tone now. Wow, she is one good actor, that was completely natural. Perhaps I should introduce her to the drama club.
“Stop daydreaming, we got to catch that guy you sotong!” Violet hollered in my ears. Alright, that couldn’t possibly be a ploy. I turned around. Indeed there was a teenager with a weed whacker in his hands trying to smash a windshield of a car!

Chapter 1

2008-08-21T03:38:00.000-07:00

I need an escape route badly. I could hear footsteps heading my way and I could hear my pulse palpitating in anxiety. No time for anymore brilliant ideas, I got to counter back, those girls are so close I can even smell their…
Smack.
Sweat. The next thing I knew, I was eating grass in the school field and the ball was already halfway across my team’s goal post. I swore someone kicked me from behind and I thought that this was supposed to be a friendly football match. Well I should have seen it coming anyway. The very next thing I knew, Jolene was leading her team in a victory cheer. “How did the grass taste? Hope there weren’t any bugs,” Jolene said hotly as she passed.
“The grass was fine, no bugs,” I scowled. Usually, my team would be the ones leading victory cheers but this time, our best strikers were unfortunately on the injured list leaving our team one goal behind the opposing team. Sad wasn’t it. I got up sulkily, flicked the mud off my pants and trudged over to the bench.
“We need a plan, this can’t go on. We are so close in winning the best girl’s soccer award three times in a row. Zero to one, that’s our worst score ever,” Violet whined. Absolutely, the lowest we ever had was one to two and that was against a boys’ team last year. “Substitute Angie for me, I’m playing,” Violet continued. “I can’t bear to see the team lose.”
“I have a plan too, but we’ll need someone who doesn’t seem to be good in football, though. I was considering Yi Ying,” I told her.
“You must be kidding, a distraction plan?” Violet asked.
“Yup, it’s that simple. I just have to pretend I’m kicking the ball and they would follow me while you pass the ball to Yi Ying, got it?” I explained my plan. Violet gave a thumb’s up sign and called Yi Ying and Angie to approach. I could see her muttering something to the both of them and they both nodded.
“Our victory is in the hands of your acting skills,” Violet whispered into my ear beside me. I cast a glance at my surroundings and spotted a peach drink bottle and turned back to Violet to give a big grin.
“The Sun is so hot, the sooner we are done with this, the sooner we can get out of the Sun!” Jolene complained as she gulped down three big gulps of water. I ignored her, hid the bottle behind my back and walked towards my post.
Beep!
That was the cue. I followed Violet as she tried to get a hold of the ball. After a few seconds, she managed to get hold of it, and dribbled the ball skilfully to a corner. I nodded to her and ran towards the centre of the field; meanwhile, Jolene had begun tagging me and was finding a chance to strike. From the corner of my eye, I saw that Yi Ying was still doing her best to dribble the ball into the unguarded goal post. I had to distract them a little while more. My legs were already starting to give way under the stress of the heat but I persevered and continued dribbling the bottle further from their goal post. But before I could dribble further, I could see a shadow approach from the back and…
Smack.
I was eating grass once more but this time, I wasn’t feeling as sore as the last time. “How do you like our newest victory tactic?” Jolene enquired.
“I love it besides the fact that you tagged the wrong girl,” I said showing the peach bottle.
“Then where is the ball?” she queried, her voice had a mixture of fury and unsatisfactory. I gave a big grin, they found out a little too late. The ball was already soaring past the goal post and this time, it was their goal post. Violet and Yi Ying were busy doing the victory dance with Lin Fang and Angie.
“You know what Jolene, I read and article on mud, they said that mud was good for our skin. And since you love your skin that much, why, don’t you apply some on your skin?” I said as I got hold of a clump of muddy grass and flung it at her. Jolene ducked and threw a bunch at me, it missed me but Lin Fang wasn’t as fortunate. Mud stained her shorts and shirt. Enraged, she flung it back at her. The rest by now had joined in the game dousing their opponents in mud baths.
“6D what are you doing?” a stern voice rang in my ears as I turned sheepishly to the back. Standing behind the bench stood Mr. Lim, his face was contorted with anger. Oh why did he have to come by right now? The class was definitely going to be in hot soup. Mr. Lim was my class’s form teacher. A few moths ago, he had sent us to a counsellor when he found out that we were having water fights held in the classrooms. That was how we met the professor and learnt that we had a mission of stopping all gangster threats in Yishun. Later, when Tim injured his leg during a gang fight, we blamed it on soccer and ever since then, our form teacher had banned us from playing soccer or doing any forms of exercise. But that’s besides PE lessons. When the boys came back to class all hot and sweaty due to soccer once, Mr. Lim had them to stand outside the classroom for an hour. I wasn’t sure what he would do upon seeing us having mud fights.
“You girls were very well behaved after a counsellor spoke to you, do you need me to send you to a counsellor again? I was thinking of Mdm. Ng,” Mr. Lim told us. Violet cast a worried glance at me, partly because she hated counselling, partly also because Mdm. Ng the school’s counsellor was her father’s friend and she didn’t want her father to know about it. Who would want their parents to know that they are engaged in mud fights in school?
“Maybe not her, maybe I would have to ask Dr. Lee (aka: the professor) to come, Mdm. Ng isn’t as strict as him I suppose,” Mr. Lim’s change of mind was a relief to all of us but we continued with our act. Unknown to Mr. Lim, the professor was actually a secret agent on a mission to stop gangsters from terrorizing pupils and to stop crime along the way and a good friend of us. He might be a bit preachy at times but definitely not counsellor material.
*****
“Let me catch you girls having mud fights once more, it’s going to be the principal!” Mr. Lim warned. We hung our heads as Mr. Lim dismissed us.
“Man that was close, if he had stuck to Mdm. Ng, I would have been in hot soup,” Violet gave a sigh of relief. All of us nodded in approval. The professor chuckled upon hearing that.
“Your teacher seemed pretty serious, so try to keep out of trouble next time okay?” the professor told us. We rolled our eyes; why did the professor have to have such a bad sense of humour? “Besides, I was about to call you when the teacher called me over. It seems that there have been some cases of forced theft around street 22 to 23 which is pretty near here, so keep a look out if possible. Instead of mud fights, do something more beneficial like fighting crime for instance. I’ve informed the boys and they should be here in a minute or so. Tell them about the mission and form your groups of four. Richard will update you on that. I got to rush off for another meeting so bye,” the professor continued before rushing out of the school gate. Enthusiasm flooded through us, after a month of work, finally there was going to be some form of adventure, only maybe a little more than we wished for.

2008-08-04T02:46:00.000-07:00

I am going to use this blog to post some of my stories, sooo... hope you dun mind (hehe)