DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT A PART OF THE PLOT!
Chapter 4 – HONOUR WITH TROUBLE ON THE SIDE
Torture. Today's Malay lesson was simply plain torture. Sometimes I could not stand LCL at all. I would admit I was a little cranky today, but she somehow made the day even worse for me. But today I manifested my silent protests of boredom quite passively, which was… dozing off. My head was like a fishing rod a fish had caught onto; when it drooped, I pulled it back up at once, rinse and repeat. I was too engrossed in reading comics and novels last night, and stayed up kind of late. Great, I just hoped the dark circles under my eyes would just go away and leave me alone.
I really could not be blamed, though. I had a weird habit; I could not sleep unless it was already twelve midnight or later. And I had a very good reason why, and that was because I always finished my homework regularly every day. I was less likely to postpone them until tomorrow unless I did not know how to do it, forgot about it or I was just being VERY lazy. That meant staying up until everything was finished.
Surprisingly, LCL did not even notice me dozing off at the back. She went on with her babble about common grammar mistakes. Finally, I decided that dozing off like this was not going to do me any good, so I took out my compasses that we used for drawing circles, held the sharp part and aimed it on my thigh. Three... Two... One...! Tickle time! No, I was not stabbing myself; that pain would be unbearable... Well, it was kind of stupid, but at least it kept me awake for the next thirty minutes or so...
I sneaked a peek at my watch. Three more minutes to Math class. What would we learn today? Hmm... Maybe ratios and proportions. But I liked linear equations more than that...
"KRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIINNG!" Finally! There went the bell. We had a five-minute free time, because Mr. Cloud needed to come over from the other block at the far end of the school. He was good at his job, and we shared a deeper bond than a teacher-student bond; we were more like friends. He sometimes claimed that he liked to teach in our class, because we were quick learners. Hehe…
He was cool, but he gave a lot of homework, which made us whine. Whenever Mr. Cloud showed us the solutions to some really tough questions, it was like watching a fantastic magical performance. His solutions were precise, short and sweet. Sometimes our solutions were way too lengthy compared to his. Wow… I swore we almost cheered that time when he solved a super brainy one that caused short circuits in our brains.
But, sometimes we were a major cause of his headaches. Firstly, every time he posed questions, all of us were either staring at him or answering one out of his three questions. Secondly, some of us were overly meticulous and analytical when it came to tough questions. They would ask endlessly as to why, why and more how's and why's, and he almost lost it. Haha, sorry, Mr. Cloud…
"Good afternoon, teacher…" We greeted the teacher as soon as he came in. And then it was time for troublesome homework: the double of the previous one! Holy Bananas… Help!
Being the good teacher as I had described earlier, he granted us twenty minutes for us to complete our work in class, after which we could do our own work, provided that we must remain silent. Yeah, he was the best… Alright, let us get this done over with.
All sorts of formulas were roaming in my head in the next five minutes, the problem was I did not even know which one to use! I worked my way through with my trustworthy scientific calculator. Everyone had one, and they used one finger to press the buttons. But I used two fingers from both hands to do the job, as if typing on a keyboard. Well, I blamed my dad. He repaired computers as his part-time job and he was the first person to teach me how to use a computer when I was little. Thanks to him, now I always used my calculator like my keyboard…
From my schooling experience, the last question from each assignment was always the most difficult. And today's work just validated my theory for about the zillionth time. I practically squeezed and twisted my brain and thought of everything, forcing my poor brain to the verge of explosion. Finally, I was done with it! Oh yeah! My first victory of the day! I peered over to Zexion beside me, and guess what? "The Phantom of the Opera" was what I read from the book cover. I guessed that he had already finished his assignment a long time ago.
The bell then rang once again and after we bid our teacher farewell, everyone in K2D except me rushed out of the class. I was left in the lonely and quiet classroom in just a blink of an eye. I sighed; forget it, time to do the cleaning duty. We were supposed to take turns cleaning the classroom every day. As the Head of Cleanliness of this class, I, sadly, had to do these excruciating jobs. And I meant EVERYONE'S job. No one would ever listen to my orders, anyway. Well, maybe except a few law-abiding students. I was forced to be a superwoman when cleaning the classroom. Why so, you ask? The following tasks I described below would show the answer. Firstly, I arranged the desks. I started from the columns near the walls, adjusting the distances. And then for each column (total was six), I arranged them according to the column before.
Next, I swept the floor, which was a total mess every day. I switched off the fans and lights to prove to the school wardens that we conserved energy (or else we would be fined) and to prevent the rubbish I swept from flying everywhere. I started to sweep from the floor where the teacher's desk was, because the school's sanitary wardens would always start checking the classroom from this spot. If I could not finish sweeping in time, at least they might not notice the rubbish at the far back. After the floor, I targeted the corridor. There were two corridors, namely the inner one and the outer one. Normally I swept the outer corridor first, then the inner one, although the inner one was always dirtier. But I must be really mindful for this task, because some irresponsible idiots would throw sweet wrappers in the corridor, so I needed look out for those. The teacher's table was taken care of, too.
Now, to clean the blackboard. I used the duster to wipe the areas that were badly stained with chalk and then wiped the whole board with wet cloth. I would recommend using a cloth with poor water absorption for maximum effectiveness. Fair warning; make sure to also wipe the region where the chalks were put, though, because if some very bored people grabbed a handful of chalk powder deposited on it and hurled at the newly cleaned blackboard… Sure, they had artistic talents in them, but it would not entertain you much in this case, would it?
By now, the sanitary wardens should be here. Due to the strategic location of K2D (it was the furthest away from the Sanitary Board Meeting Room), I was blessed with the extra time to empty the dustbin. Sprinting was essential in order to fulfil the task. If you happened to notice that the blackboard had been "polluted" once again for no apparent reason, do not ponder why. Just grab a chalk and write "Do not clean this" with a signature of the teacher from the previous lesson. Last step: clean your hands and leave the scene like a boss. Mission accomplished!
Additionally, there would be prefects or trainee prefects coming in to watch over the class and evaluate the discipline during recess. One would not simply joke with them or do something against the school rules right under their noses. Or else… Make up your own bad ending involving yourself with Mr. Saïx…
I passed by Axel's desk and I found his Math textbook and exercise book arranged neatly on the desk. I had never seen him do this; he was a bit of a slob sometimes. Out of sheer curiosity, I opened his exercise book and I almost headdesked: he drew a Keroro inside the unfinished exercise book. What the…
Some of Demyx's music sheets flew off his desk and I managed to pick them up before the wind decided to give them a tour around the school. I could not understand the notes written on it, but they sounded beautiful when played on an instrument. Roxas's table was the most organized out of the five of us. He even had a space for his mini laptop (approved by Mr. Saïx). And I could say that he liked checkers design, judging the major colour of his belongings. I was bored, so I decided to go out and take a stroll.
After a while, we were in a Geography lesson. Guess who's the teacher? Mr. Marluxia! He was… alright to be honest, but for topics on "plants" instead of "rivers", "mountains" and all that crap, he would enter "Overly Obsessive Mode". He would talk about his roses and other plants he planted in the school's garden or his personal garden or whatever. His pink hair was surely a good match for his obsession for flowers… Other than that, I was fine with him. Look on the bright side: we gained a lot of extra knowledge on flowers.
And then an announcement came in, "Minta maaf guru-guru, sila dimaklumkan bahawa satu perhimpunan akan diadakan pada 1:15 p.m. hingga 3:30 p.m. esok. Sekian, terima kasih." [Translate: Sorry (to interrupt) teachers, please be informed that an assembly will be held at 1:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. tomorrow. That's all, thank you.]
"Hey Zexion, there's an assembly," I whispered to Zexion. He replied, "Indeed." Our classmates were talking among themselves shortly after the announcement. Mr. Marluxia tried to regain our attention so he could continue the lesson. "OK students, let's get back to our discussion now, shall we?" After that, he wrote some notes on the blackboard.
"Do you think it's the promotion?"
"Most probably."
"Do we need the coat?"
"Nope, the coats will be kept in the meeting room. We will not need them for a while."
"Alright, this should be fun… *rubs hands*"
The five of us whispered instead of saying out loud, or else Mr. Marluxia would have his scythe on our throats for not paying attention. Whoa. I cherished my head, thank you very much. We were in such a good mood that every lesson we had seemed very interesting, even the boring old History class. Fast forward to the next day…
I woke up very early today. In fact, I could not sleep much last night. After a warm bath and brushing my teeth, I changed into my uniform. I was supposed to wear the usual school uniform to school and change into the new prefect uniform there when it was time for the promotion ceremony. But I still had to wear the usual one (but with a badge, name tag and tie) to school every day except for special occasions.
I was so excited after all this waiting. I cycled to school, taking my own sweet time, since I was not needed to be anywhere at the moment. The weather today was just fine, the golden sun shone on the pavement, white puffy clouds waltzed lazily in the vast blue sky. The soft but cool breeze caressed my face ever so gently while I cycled down the road. My mood could not be any better.
I passed by Roxas' rival and enemy, Seifer's house, he was stretching and doing his usual morning exercise routine. I guessed that he had not gotten over the fact that Roxas kicked his butt in the International Struggle Tournament, because he was so determined to beat Roxas one day, hence the routine.
Actually, I disliked him very much. He teased and picked on Roxas all the time, calling him a lamer. Sadly, all four of us happened to be Roxas' friends and were also addressed similarly. I did not mind, simply because Roxas was my good friend. But Seifer would be so sorry once I told him about our promotion. He might want to change his mind about messing with us.
A nasty plot made its way to my head again. I intentionally parked my bicycle outside his house, pretending to check its wheels. I saw him panting and finally sat down on the grass. He decided to take a rest. Here was my chance! I walked up and greeted him.
He saw me and he narrowed his eyes. "Hey, have you heard of the breaking news about the prefect promotion?" I tried to hide my smirk when I spoke. He looked at me with slight distaste, and said, "So? What's the big deal? It's not like you lamers are going to be promoted for anything. You people weren't even prefects!"
Oh, it seemed our secret identities remained a secret after all. So much for being in the same school, he did not have the slightest idea that he was picking on a prefect all along. Correction: prefects. I calmly took out the promotion envelope out of my school bag and waved it at him, saying, "I suppose that you recognise this logo, yes?" He scoffed and looked at the logo printed on the white envelope. It was the official logo of the Board of Prefects. He widened his eyes as realisation hit him hard in the head. He was speechless for five whole seconds, and then he stuttered, "S-so what? I'm not sc-scared of you even if you're a prefect!" Get it right: it was "even if you all are prefects"…
"Oh really?"
"Of… course!" "Pfft, your stuttering betrayed you so badly," I thought.
"Ok, but I will have to remind you something."
"What?"
"If there is a spot check in your class, do not ever let me find… *slight smirk*"
"Find what?! Talk!"
"Find… Wait, you have to promise me something."
"Ugh, WHAT?"
"Be a gentleman and no violence."
"… Fine! I promise!"
"OK, find… heaps of love letters meant for Fuu or some other random girl, if you know what I mean! *smirks*"
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?! Hold it right there, you twerp! Prepare to-"
"Ah-ah-ah… Hold it right there! You just promised to be a gentleman and NO violence!"
"You…!"
"What? If you hit me, I'm afraid that you will have to pay for this VERY dearly."
When his face was fuming with red colour like a tomato, I put on my trademark "V" smile, hopped on my awaiting bicycle and fled. Yeah, you would probably want to punch me in the face. But the expression on his face was so priceless. I wondered what the others would say if they saw this.
I reached school about seven minutes later and I headed for the Prefect Meeting Room straightaway. It was already noon. All new prefects were ready except that they had not changed into their prefect uniforms.
From what I heard from Demyx, we had to wait until all students reached their respective classrooms, then we could go and change into our new uniforms. We were not supposed to show up at where the students were waiting for classes to begin. Instead, we were to stay in the meeting room to help with the preparations.
We were very busy in our respective tasks. A few prefects-to-be and I were assigned to arrange the neckties, name tags and badges in trays. While I was working, I let my mind wander into the depth of my memories, when and where all of this started… [Entering Reminiscing Mode]
When I was in 7th Grade (Form 1), I envied those who already had obtained their own positions in respective clubs and organisations. I got this weird feeling, maybe jealously. Or perhaps envy? As if on cue, I inadvertently saw a notice regarding the extra recruitment of new helper prefects.
From what I surveyed from the notice, the school had just established a "Misconduct Prevention Club" or "Counter Crime Organisation" to investigate and curb any illegal and negative activities in the school. This enabled the establishment of Counter Crime groups consisting of four prefects and one helper prefect too, thus the extra recruitment. (For the terms and conditions required, please refer to the first chapter of this story.)
I pondered on this seriously for once in my lifetime. Actually it did not sound that bad; although that position was not as great as that of a prefect, it would not involve complicated tasks that I always shied away from. Hmm… OK! On! Sign up here I went~
So, due to my impulsiveness, I attended the interview for the helper prefects. I had to pass two interviews, whereas the prefects needed three! Holy Bananas, the interviews were not as simple as it seemed. (Simple and Clean! "I don't think life is quite that simple." Haha, randomness… I like this song, and no, I do not own it.) They asked EVERYTHING, no, it was ANYTHING, relevant or not. One was considered lucky to have answered them satisfyingly. Let me tell you a secret which had me scarred for life: the interviewers asked me (RP-style) what I would do if I happen to come across a couple… um… My god that was embarrassing… having "fun"… (I. Could. Not. Write. That… Seriously)
I was totally shocked and froze on the spot. I must have looked like a gawking idiot to them. Holy Bananas, I was already panicking since the beginning and they had to ask this! I answered awkwardly after gulping air anyway, "… I-I would warn them to, um, stop what they were doing or else… I would report to the Head of Discipline…?" I tried my best to hide the question mark hanging at the end of my sentence. "What if they threaten you not to say this to anyone else or they will beat you up?" One of the interviewers asked right after my voice died down. Now that was easier, at least. "I won't back off. Seriously, what was there to be afraid of? They were the ones who went against the school rules." That was the only answer I was very confident of in that crazy interview.
After three days, the results were out. I was lucky enough to pass the first interview. Then I realised that fifty 7th Graders attended the interview in the first place. But there were only twenty of them left, the rest were eliminated. Yikes, that was close. TOO close.
Quite surprisingly yet successfully, I passed the second (and last) interview. I… Did… It! And only six were left. According to my calculations, the number of students who passed the interview was represented by the ratio 5:2; two out of every five students were chosen. After more and more selections, the ratio turned into 10:3, which meant only three out of each ten candidates were chosen in the end. After the wretched announcement of the final results, I slipped to the restroom quickly without being noticed and silently wept inside.
The tension was kind of unbearable for me at that moment. I could not stand it at all. I thought I really did something that I really cared about in my thirteen years of living on this Earth. I normally did not give a damn if I failed in anything that I was not interested in (save for exams, because they were important anyway). Besides, I always tried to be tough subconsciously. I just never cried in front of anyone else, including my family and friends. I tended to keep whatever that upset me bottled up in my heart. In my opinion, I would rather not open up to people and spill out all my feelings. I would think of myself very weak, a failure and useless if they knew all about that and they tried to console me. If I were to cry, then I cried somewhere no one would see. I even perceived some of the consolations as a form of mocking. I… just did not want to feel useless.
After some silent crying and muffled sobbing, I felt much better. What a way to release stress. When I was about to come out of the toilet, I suddenly had the urge to retreat back into there again; bowel evacuation, if you knew what I meant…
In the next few days and weeks, I had the opportunity to tag along with my seniors when they were on duty. We could observe how they took attendance before class, maintained order and raised the flags during assemblies and attended marching training. If we were lucky, we could even witness a spot check.
A few months later, we were divided into our respective Counter Crime groups. I got the number '13' (P.S. There are thirty-six groups in total, with six groups in each grade). I waited patiently at a designated spot.
Soon, a lean boy a little shorter than me approached. He had slate-coloured hair and his bangs cascaded over the right part of his face, obscuring his right eye from sight. He had seemingly cold cobalt blue eyes. He only nodded curtly when our eyes met and he stood beside me, maintaining some distance. I nodded back in acknowledgement. I peeked at his name tag without getting noticed. It read, "Trainee Prefect, Zexion Illusione (Latin for 'illusion'), Class K1B". I was in Class K1F at that time.
We did not even smile, let alone speak, even greetings were not spoken. OK… The situation was becoming tenser here… After a while, two blonde boys headed towards us. One had wind-swept hair and sapphire blue eyes. He looked kind of awkward, I guessed I was not the only one who felt the tense atmosphere. The other sandy blonde was taller than the former. His hairstyle was between that of a mullet and a Mohawk. It was a little weird… but his sea-green eyes were good-looking, though. The shorter blonde only stared at us briefly and stood beside Zexion, also a little far away. The latter smiled warmly at us and hummed an unknown tune to himself while waiting for the last unknown member. Again, I peeked at their name tags. The shorter blonde was Roxas Lychnus (Latin for 'light'), K1G; the taller blonde was Demyx Oceanus (Latin for 'ocean'), K1D.
We all were anticipating the final member of our group. Who would it be? Then again, we were not kept waiting for too long…
The last one finally made his way towards the four of us. The newcomer had distinctively red hair. He was the tallest among us and had a well-built body. His eyes were light green (kind of like poison?) and had these two tiny upside down triangular birthmarks under his eyes. He looked a bit scary to me. Cold sweats seeped out of my palms slowly. Checking the tag… Axel Ignis (Latin for 'fire'), K1C. Okaaaay… Did the gods hate me? Why did I get stuck in a group with four boys and I was the only female? They did not look exactly friendly too… Those were my first thoughts when all of us were there.
We were having a staring competition. Some avoided eye contact while some let our sights to pause on the other one for a while before looking away. IT WAS FREAKING AWKWARD!
But, Mr. Saïx said that that was only an initial grouping, for us to meet our future partners, not the real establishment. Then again, if we could not pass the marching test next year or the remaining training, it was all done for. Everything we sacrificed during our time as trainees (which, otherwise, left us little time to study and stuff) would be wasted.
Therefore, every one of us was subjected to great pressure, it was kind of impossible to see smiles. If we managed to get promoted, the tension would be all gone for good. And that meant all the randomness concealed under that cold mask would break free.
The following days were like living hell. Besides marching sessions every day, we had to undergo inhumane training. What did I mean by "inhumane", you ask? Well, because we were trained to put on a poker face no matter what the situation was. The seniors would let us do our own work and they purposely joked loudly beside us. Worse still, the jokes were actually hilarious. They even used one of the many joke videos of Dane Cook (he was that funny, I almost died laughing when I saw them on YouTube). Despite the hilarity whatsoever, we still had to remain emotionless. I guessed the purpose was to train us to be serious when dealing with people who tried to joke their way out.
Holy Bananas! I could endure any crap they put me through but THIS?! NO. The problem was that I tended to laugh out loud at any jokes until I was dying on the floor. That was simply TORTURE to me. Every time I would keep entire sudden bursts of laughter inside my poor thoracic cavity, and after the training session ended, I would rush to the toilet and have my laughing fits until I was out of breath. That was unbearable!
Actually, the prefects had undergone even crazier and more brutal training than I did. Yikes, someone could have died because of this! Fortunately, this emotionless mask was only needed during our duties. We could laugh our heads off for the rest of the time if we want.
In my memory, being a trainee was still OK, but sometimes it got really bitter and scary. Those dark sides included scolding from the seniors without apparent reason and the terrifying marching test. Once there were a few, who I considered as unfortunate, being yelled at. From what I had known, they did not even know what they had done wrong. They just stood there, bearing the unreasonable reprimand. Their eyes were brimming with unseen tears when they left the scene. I shivered at the sight of it. Until now I still regretted passing by and witnessing that. Sometimes I thought to myself: you would not even know how you died.
After a year, I advanced to the 8th Grade. The pressure did not decrease. The marching test in March was the most essential part. It was now or never. The good part of being a helper prefect was that the difficulty of the test was lower than that of the prefects, in terms of complexity.
On the first day of school, guess who sat beside me? It was Zexion, one of my partners of our group! Yikes, and when I looked around, Roxas, Demyx and Axel were around me too! What a coincidence.
Not much tension could be detected in class; at least I could see the priceless smiles on our faces. But, the question was, could we pass the final test? Answer: Unknown.
The day before the marching test, all trainees were divided into small groups and most went for a sleepover at one of the trainee's house nearest to the school. Two reasons: 1) We did not want to be late; 2) We could motivate each other. Of course, I, Roxas, Axel and Demyx decided to go to Zexion's house for strategic planning. But in reality… except the first hour or so, all of us were doing random stuff unrelated to the test. I even had the nerve to borrow one of Zexion's books to read for the rest of the night! Demyx played his sitar and Zexion threw his notebook at him for making too much noise. Axel and Roxas were playing Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories on the PS2 they brought and Zexion's mini television in his bedroom. So much for test preparation.
The test was obviously even crazier and more inhumane than the training. Everything was strict to the core. The sun was blazing that morning and all of us were suffering while the morning was all in its glory. How ironic.
It took a few painful hours of waiting to receive the final results. Then the Head Prefect came out of the meeting room, announcing the results that determined the fate of all trainees. I paid attention and what I heard was-
"Nemixiljix. Passed." HOLY BANANAS! OH MY GOD! I FREAKING PASSED THE TEST! YEAH! Yes! Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes…! (These events happened sometime between the second and third previous chapters, so this is like a complementary)
The test was scary. Beneath the sun, everyone was sweating profusely like melting ice. If the weather was not hot enough to vaporise any liquid, I bet the marching venue would have overflowed with sweat! Yikes!
Forget it! The memories later were nothing better than the above! Let us just skip them for good! [Recall ended. Wow. What a long recall that was.]
Without realising, my work was done. Out of boredom, I went around to see if there was other stuff to do. Let us just say that I was preoccupied for the next ten minutes and I did not remember what I did…
Finally, the time had arrived. I waited for Zexion, Roxas, Demyx and Axel and then we lined up, ready for the promotion ceremony. We waited outside the left wing of the hall. We were very anxious and excited. We could hardly pay any attention to what the seniors were blabbering before us.
Axel seemed very attentive, but his eyes betrayed him. There was boredom in his green eyes. He was impatient after all. Roxas and Demyx were surprisingly calm. Except that Demyx was fidgeting with his hands and shifted awkwardly from time to time. Other than that, everything seemed fine. I could not blame them; I was nervous too. Our seniors were still droning on at the front. Although they were a little boring, we did not do anything.
About 1320 hours, I could hear footsteps and talking inside the hall. Also, there was pop music, broadcasted by the Resource Centre of the school.
Until now, I still did not get why they use pop music. (Stupid question, I knew that) I was not very interested in pop songs. Or rather, I was not very interested in singers to be precise. Instrumental music had always been my favourite.
It was hard to find someone like me (not even the boys fit that category). Well, everyone idolised singers, models, actors and so on. I was like an alien to my classmates. Even so, I was not that alone, I still had friends who were willing to accept me and my different personality. Consider me even weirder, but I liked to watch the stars and look for constellations in the night sky. This was one of my many interests. I once considered furthering my studies in Astronomy, but everyone just scoffed and said that it was stupid. Had some idiots looked down and humiliated your own dreams before, however unrealistic they may seem?
I did not want my interest to be humiliated, ever.
No time to talk among us now, we were almost there to the stage. My heart was going to pop out from my chest. I looked at Zexion, he also averted his gaze to mine. His expression told me that he was as nervous as us.
[*Authoress barging in* Wait a second! Hehe, was it too relaxing for you? No way, allow me to spice it up… Hehe…] Just then, a senior prefect appeared in a rush. He said, "Bad news! The script is gone! And the speaker had left due to gastric pain!"
"What?!" Everyone turned around and stared at him in disbelief. Hundreds of eyes (if glasses were included) landed on him and his anxiety worsened.
"What should we do?"
"We can… find a replacement."
"But the script is gone! Who can speak without a script?"
"But… What now?!"
While the seniors were panicking, the five of us engaged in a brief eye contact and moved to a corner stealthily. We discussed in whispers.
"Why don't we… [bla-bla-bla] You go and… [bla-bla-bla]"
"Will it work?"
"What if they reject it?"
"Any better ideas? This is all I got!"
"Then the speaker?"
"Find a… [bla-bla-bla] and… [bla-bla-bla]"
"OK, fine."
"Why don't you go and suggest it?"
"Why me?"
"Just try it and see. Does the word 'glossophobia' ring any bells?"
"Fine then…"
Five minutes later, we ended our discussion. Zexion walked towards the seniors and proposed our plan. But I never thought they would accept it without even contemplating! Whoa, panic-stricken, were they not?
The five of us were assigned to do the job. Let us pretend that this was the final training. Zexion gave out the orders: Demyx would search for the replacement; I would prepare the necessary clothing; Axel would stay here and wait for Demyx's return; Roxas would prepare any disguise required and he himself would wait and prepare the next order.
I sneaked past random people and arrived at the Prefect Meeting Room. I took out an extra coat and a prefect's uniform and I smuggled a name tag (Nah, not really. I just found it on the floor). The name tag was blank; a discarded reject. I wrote the name of the Head Prefect down on a piece of white sticker I found and pasted it on the blank name tag. My job was done, now I had to wait for Demyx.
Meanwhile, Demyx arrived at S5A, the top elite class in the school. He found some students staying back and revising in a study group. "That's great," he thought. He put on a coat as a disguise and walked into the classroom.
Demyx said, "Sorry to interrupt, but Miss _, the principal wishes to see you in his office. Please come with me." Let us use an unknown again. P stood up and exited the classroom with Demyx.
On the way, Demyx said, "You must keep this as a secret. I'm Myde from the Board of Prefects. I need your cooperation. Is that OK with you?" "Oh… OK, let's go." Halfway through the plan!
Roxas finished his work: a disguise mask. Axel was leaning on a nearby wall waiting for Demyx. What took him so long? He was not that slow, was he? We were practically breakdancing panic-style in here, and he had the nerve to take his own sweet time?!
When Demyx finally came back, I ushered the replacement to change into the uniform. Whoa! This replacement was already a look-alike of the Head Prefect, after changing into the uniform, she looked just like a doppelganger! Well howdy doo.
Roxas put the disguise mask onto her face, in case someone noticed the difference. She was like a clone. Axel took over the next part by giving mission briefings to the "Head Prefect". He told her about the rules, how the ceremony would go and what she should do accordingly and all that jazz.
Wow. I could not believe that Axel actually was a stickler of rules. I reckoned the junior he would be tutoring later would be successful, but in two resolutions: either very good or very bad. The good thing was that person would be as brave, responsible and decisive like him (one could only hope); while the bad thing was, that person would be overly brave; daring to challenge the people they should not mess with! Yikes.
Time was running out, but we made it. Everything was set. Wish us luck.
After singing the national anthem, the state anthem and all that, the principal delivered his speech. Here came the first climax!
"A very good morning to the principal, Mr. Xemnas …. (Blah Blah Blah! The text was way too long to read and understand, since the person was the champion in the International Speech Delivering Contest and used big words. If not envy, one would feel self-abased. We should skip it.)"
Holy crap, HOLY CRAP! Our crazy idea worked! I could hear people clapping their hands while the speech was delivered. One might imagine fireworks in the air too! Oh my god…
The prefects-to-be outside were literally dropping anime sweats. We just tried to look as innocent as possible. That was way off the wall!
"… That's all. Thank you." Finally, it was over! We were going up the stage now! I was nervous. The door opened before us and we walked in lines. There were three lines in total and one by one, we were called upon the stage to receive our own neckties, badges and name tags.
Our names were called in alphabetical order. The real prefects went first. "Axel Ignis." Five minutes later… "Demyx Oceanus." Ten minutes later… "Roxas Lychnus." Ten more minutes later… "Zexion Illusione."
… HELLO?! I was about to fossilise here! Are we there yet?! (This was only an inward complaint; I would not dare to shout, not at a time like this…)
"Nemixiljix Silva." (Latin for "forest") Oh yeah finally! I advanced nervously and received my credentials from the principal and got back in line.
I did it!
After the ceremony, we headed outside. While they were not looking, the five of us high-fived. Yes! We were then assigned to our own duties. I stood at the back of the hall and maintained the order. My life as a helper prefect started…
~ CHAPTER 4 FIN ~
TO BE CONTINUED
Wow. That took a long time! Sorry to keep you guys waiting! I had trouble with the translating again! The next few chapters are going to take a really long time to translate, so it may take me a while to finish the job. What do you think of the story so far? Thank you for reading this! Bye bye!