SARS holiday extended, what fun. Here it is, chapter 6…
People who have read out of my green notebook, here is an… unexpected change. Heh.
This chapter's dedicated to Owl, because her birthday was around a week ago. Happy Birthday, Joey!
"I'm thirsty."
"Shaddap lah."
"Where the hell are we now?"
"Diana, you're the Redwall expert. Lead us out of here!"
"What does it look like I'm *trying* to do?"
"CAN YOU ALL FRIGGIN' SHADDAP?"
6I was desperately lost in Mossflower Woods. They had been wandering around for ten minutes, and all they saw was trees, trees, and more trees. They decided to stop to rest; no point getting even more lost, as Diana pointed out.
And so they stopped to rest and wait, and for Evelyn and company to play "Concentration" again.
~*~
The bell rang, and both students and teacher sighed in relief mentally. As Mdm. Azizah picked up her books and walked out of 6H, she sighed. Out of one Hell-hole, and into another.
It was time for her lesson with 6I. Sometimes she hated Thursdays. The day began with teaching an abnormal 6J Social Studies, followed by the scarily smart and crazy 6H, and then to the totally mentally deranged 6I. Then recess followed, a time when she could recover her skittish nerves for a pathetic half hour or so before facing a bunch of screaming eight-year-olds to teach them math.
Life was so good to her.
She was surprised to find the class empty when she stepped inside. There was a smoking visualizer, however, and Mdm. Azizah strongly suspected that Sara Ang and a penknife had something to do with it. There goes the electricity bill, she thought, and jumped when she heard someone behind her.
"What happen ah?"
It was Zhao Lao Shi (Mrs. Teo, or teacher Zhao, literally in Chinese). Mdm. Azizah heaved a sigh of relief. At least it's not the principal…
Zhao normally spoke Chinese, since she was 6I's Chinese teacher. But since Mdm. Azizah was Malay, she had no choice but to switch to a faulty English.
"I don't know…"
Zhao shifted a stack of Chinese workbooks, panting slightly. She was, after all, around her fifties, and the workbooks were relatively heavy, with dirty and crumpled pages. She looked for a place to put them down, and noticed that the teacher's desk was occupied with water bottles, and Mrs. Tong's plastic tray of papers and files.
So she put it onto the visualizer. A workbook corner came in contact with the sparking wire, and the abused visualizer blew up again for the third time that day.
~*~
The group now consisting of twenty-six was none too surprised when two more people fell out of the sky. But then Po Linn paled as she recognized the newcomers as they untangled themselves.
It was their Social Studies (and for her case, netball as well) teacher, as well as their Chinese teacher.
"Mdm. Azizah! Zhao Lao Shi, what are you doing here?" Sam. Wong asked in the most polite manner she could.
"What's happened to the visualizer?" Mdm. Azizah asked, "It blew up, I think, and that is going to jack up the electricity bill…"
"It blew up too, for us, and we all landed here…"
Then the Chinese group-leaders all scurried forward when they saw the stack of workbooks lying on the ground. By instinct as well as initiative, they started to hand them around. Zhao Lao Shi looked quite dazed to notice, but she nodded and gave a very distant "thank you" to them in Chinese.
Po Linn swore as her workbook whacked her on the head, courtesy of Sara.
"Oi, Fo, your workbook!"
"Bloody hell, Sara!"
Inez grinned and waggled her finger at the scowling netballer. "Minus five points, Fo."
Shu Wen rolled her eyes. "Now, all we need is Miss Sue Tan to drop from the sky and the party will be complete, yeah?"
Mdm. Azizah seemed terrified at the prospect. "Don't you think the electricity bill will skyrocket that way?"
"Exactly," Sara Ang grinned.