Story!

This is my first attempt at typing out one of my old stories, written when I was in Sec 2. Yes, I was quite a prolific writer then, often writing about my friends, who brought me so much joy. Some of the characters are based on real friends, some are from my imagination, combined with characters plucked from books I've read. I must apologise for the Western names and setting. Back then, very few Singaporean fiction authors were around (maybe Catherine Lim and Adrian Tan? But I hadn't read any of their books yet), and my staple consisted of mostly American and British authors. So anyway, I shall be uploading parts of the story as I go along. I am hoping to transfer all of my pages into soft copy, and hopefully continue the story I left off in JC 1 and give it a proper ending :)

CHAPTER ONE

Sharon Loh gulped as she stepped into the classroom. They were receiving their Year 1 examination results that day and she already felt like she wanted to go to the toilet.

In the classroom, everyone was as rowdy as could be. Boys shouted and laughed, girls giggled and chattered excitedly. She couldn’t believe it.

“Hi!”Julie Ong, her best friend, suddenly appeared out of nowhere. “You look ghastly!”

“Of course, I almost couldn’t sleep last night worrying about my results,” Sharon said. “Why isn’t everybody nervous?”

Julie laughed at the expression on her face. “Not everyone’s like you, Ms Brainy. Now you’ve got to hear about the party. It sounds like a fireball of fun.”

After the long, hard examinations, her class was organizing a party to enjoy themselves and they were planning to make it a school celebration. Almost the whole Junior College was invited and they had even asked the school principal for permission to occupy the school compound on the day of the party. As far as Sharon knew, the principal had granted it. But she knew she wouldn’t be able to think about the party until the results were out.

Just then, Mrs Ho strode into the classroom with a huge stack of papers. Sharon gulped again.

“Good morning, Mrs Ho,” droned the class, standing up.

“Good morning, please be seated,” Mrs Ho took out a hanky to wipe her face. She was a plump lady with a bulbous nose and a warm smile, well-liked by her students. The students sat down with much scraping of chairs.

“As you know, you will be receiving your papers back today, and I will be pleased to tell you that though none in this class has got outstanding results, all of you passed and did well on the average.”

That was not what Sharon wanted to hear. A chatter rose among the students, but soon subsided when Mrs Ho started giving out the papers.

Sharon clasped her hands together and hoped. She was so nervous she could scarcely breathe.

When Julie received her paper, she shut her eyes for a second, then looked. She stared at her paper for a long time. Before Sharon could ask Julie her grades, she received hers and her heart nearly flipped. She took a long time calming herself before looking at the results.

She had an A for everything except History and Art. She heaved a sigh of relief. The weeks of studying had at least paid off. But Sharon knew she was not going to get away from a nagging session. Sharon’s parents had high expectations of her when it came to her studies.

Meanwhile, Julie was still staring at her paper. Sharon had the sudden thought that Julie had somehow scored all A’s and felt a poisonous pang of jealousy. Julie suddenly swirled around. You couldn’t imagine a wider grin.

“I can’t believe it! I scored a B for my English essay! I’m in heaven!” She flung her arms around Sharon in an impulsive hug. In fact, she looked so gleeful that Sharon could've kicked herself for being so small-minded.

Picking up Sharon’s paper, Julie gasped. “Eight As! Wow! That’s super! Congrats!” She pumped her hand enthusiastically. “Come on! Let’s celebrate!”

Gary Teo, who sat behind Sharon, giggled. He was a boy who was definitely on the round side. Giggling was one of his favourite pastimes , usually at nothing. He got along quite well with Sharon and Julie.

“Stop jumping around, you look ridiculous,” he said between giggles.

“Oh yeah, that’s because you’re jealous you can’t do that without causing a mini-earthquake,” Julie teased, still grinning her head off.

“Stupid Charlie,” Gary said quite pompously, wagging her finger at her. He called anybody whom he didn’t like Charlie. That was another of his little habits, which as usual, made no sense.

Sharon smiled at their teasings. They never got tired of it and could never spend a day without snapping a saucy remark at each other. Sharon usually joined them and ended up laughing her head off, but today… She sighed again, glancing at the offending grade sheet. All because she had been best student last year. If she wasn’t, she wouldn’t have cared how may A’s she got. One of life’s ironies.

The bell rang and Mrs Ho dismissed the class. There was an air of gaiety everywhere. Students packed their books, talking with one another. Chairs were pushed in and someone cleaned the blackboard, bringing out clouds of dust.

“Lunch?” Sharon asked listlessly, dawdling over her books.

“Of course, I feel like a Botak Jone’s Supreme Pepperoni Deluxe, chicken wings, cheesy nachos, not to mention a root beer float!” Julie always developed an usual appetite when she was happy. “How about you?”

“I’m not hungry, why don’t you go first?”

“No problem, call me later ok?” Julie bounced out. Sharon smiled at her friend. She always seems so easily happy. While me, I’ve got so much and yet I’m not satisfied. I’m sick.

Feeling all the more miserable, Sharon stepped into the corridor and just started walking. I feel like I could use a Mickey Mouse right now, she thought.

“Sharon!” Someone called her from behind. She turned.It wasn’t Mickey Mouse. It was someone better. It was Winston Chia.