Author's note: this chapter is dedicated to my principal, Mrs Lee, who has
recently passed away. Mrs lee, we just want you to know that all of us at
St.Marg's love you and miss you already. Thank you for everything.
The next day, my alarm hadn't even rung when I heard my cell phone vibrating. Rubbing my eyes, I looked at it and saw 'Mum'. Grumpily, I answered the call.
"hello?"
"siyi? I have some bad news."
I groaned. What could be worse then waking me up when the time hadn't even come for me to wake up?
"yeah?" I asked, unenthusiastically.
"mrs lee passed away yesterday afternoon at about 1:15. I thought you should know."
Mrs lee? My st.marg's principal? Pass away? Is she kidding? I checked the calendar. No, today was NOT april fools day.
"very funny mom, but you forgot that today isn't april fools day."
"I'm being totally serious here. She died of a stroke."
I knew from that tone of voice that she was being totally and completely serious about this. I had no answer. I sat on my bed and cried.
"call me if you need anything ok? I'll let you have some space now." My mom said before hanging up.
I flung my cell phone onto the bed and wept and wept. Julia and carmie woke up and saw me crying. Concerned, they asked what was wrong.
"what happened?"
I shook my head.
"come on, you can tell us!"
I looked the both of them in the eye.
"Mrs Lee passed away yesterday. She died of a stroke." I said. I almost couldn't get those words out. It sounded so horrible.
Julia and carmie stared at me. Then at each other.
Julia gulped. "you're kidding right?"
"I-If I w-were kidding" I choked, "I wouldn't b-be c-crying, w-would I?" Julia sat on her bed. Then she folded her legs in and wept. Carmie did the same on my bed. For a full 10 minutes, we sat there crying, not knowing what to do. Mrs Lee had been strict, but yet so good to us. She had told us to consider carefully about coming to Eden hall. When we left, we didn't even say goodbye. But now that she was gone, the guilty feeling arrived.
"i-I guess we should tell t-the rest then." Carmie said.
"yeah. We should." I replied.
Together we walked to natasha's room and knocked on the door. A very perky Hannah answered it, but her face fell when she saw our red eyes.
"oh no, what happened? Quick, come in." she ushered us into her dorm room.
Together, the four of them gave us space to sit on the bed. Then they crowded round us on the floor.
"What happened?" tessa asked.
I gulped. "well, I got a call this morning. From my mom. M-mrs L-lee... she..." I was unable to continue.
"Mrs Lee? Our st.margs principal? What happened to her?" Ruying asked.
Julia finished it off. "she passed away yesterday."
"oh my god. Oh.my.god." tessa started. One by one they started to weep and sob, just like the 3 of us had done. 7Th may. The day she left us. 7th may.
Tessa weeped really badly. "why? Why her. She just got her new bloody convertible dammit! Why'd it have to be her?"
Natasha comforted Tessa. None of us felt like going for our trainings that day. We were in no mood.
"I wanna go back to see her. One last time. At least before she's cremated." I said.
They all agreed.
"let's go talk to HIM." We called the principal or eden hall HIM because to us, there was only ONE principal, and it was not HIM. It was Mrs Lee. The best principal ever.
Anyway, HE, gave us permission to leave the school for a week, and return after the wake and the funeral. The 7 of us dispersed to find out teachers to inform them. I ran to the track and saw my teacher there.
"Ms Hershberg! I have to leave school for one week to return back to Singapore for my principal's funeral and wake." I said in one breath.
"your st.margaret's principal?"
"the one and only."
"well, do you have permission."
"yes! From HIM."
"who?"
"I mean, the eden hall.. principal.."
"oh. Okay then, I guess you can leave."
"thank you!" I said and was about to leave the track when micheal grabbed my hand.
"when will you be back?" he asked.
"in about a week or so." I replied.
"oh. Okay, umm, take care of yourself... don't be too upset about it okay?" he commented.
"its hard micheal. But I'll try. Thanks anyway." I said.
"yeah... don't be too upset... I'll be worried." He said.
I threw him a confused look.
"I mean, I, you, don't, ah! Nevermind. Just take care of yourself."
"yeah I will. Don't worry. I'm not a kid." I said.
He smiled and I gave him a friendly hug. "see you." And I ran off.
Quickly I ran back to my dorm and packed a suitcase. Julia and carmie were already there packing.
"our plane?"
"HE hired a private plane. But he does it for all his students anyway."
"cool."
In about 5 minutes we were done. We flew out of the dorm, locking it behind us, and ran down to the hall to meet the others. When we arrived the 4 of them were already there.
"come on, we gotta go!" Tessa cried.
"wait! We forgot someone!" I said. Then we all remembered.
"JEAN!" we all cried at the same time.
"oh shit. She's not gonna be happy!" Hannah said.
"come on, lets go get her." I said.
"get me for what? I'm already here." A voice said.
Jean was standing behind us, obviously just finished crying.
"Oh, we're so sorry for not telling you! How did you know?" tessa asked.
"mom. Anyway, come on, we got a flight to catch!" Natasha cried.
Quickly we all scrambled onto the private plane. We were too sad to check out the posh stuff in the plane. We fell asleep and before we knew it, 22 hours were up, and we were back in Singapore. I had already told my mom that we were coming in, so therefore it wasn't suprising to see her there. She packed us into our car, of which I missed SO MUCH, and drove us to the Garden Of Remembrance. It all happened really quickly. The only time we moved slowly and weren't in a hurry was on the plane. In about a flash, my 'POWERMOM' had reached the destination and filed us out. We entered the room softly, as the service had started. We saw many familiar faces but concentrated on what the pastor was saying. We sang the song, 'BE THOU MY VISION' Mrs lee's favourite hymn. We started crying again, as so did the girls already in the school. Then by paying our last respects, we walked around Mrs Lee's coffin and cried even more. Mrs Lee looked, lets say, different. I cried when I saw her body. The last time I was going to see it, was now. But as there was a long line, the last time I saw it, for 1 second. Outside, we were greeted and welcomed back by many many people, but yet, the ambience seemed all so different. We wrote in a card what we wanted to say to Mrs Lee, and gave it to the family. They thanked us and put it in a box with the rest of the cards. When we went back to the hotel, we were all pooped and got many phone calls. Eventually, we had a conference in our room.
"I miss her. We didn't even say goodbye." Tessa said.
"yeah. She was great. So kind. So caring. So... ambitious for us." I said.
"definitely. I heard the sec 4's were going to break the top 20 barrier for her." Natasha said.
"they have to. It was like, mrs lee's dream. They can do it." Hannah said.
"anyway, I'm tired. Let's sleep." We threw our pillows at carmie.
We quickly had our baths and changed and eventually fell asleep crying. The next day was the funeral. Even sadder. We didn't know if we were prepared for it. At all... no clue... I thought we were... but maybe we were wrong...
Authors note: not much of mighty ducks here. None, actually. Umm, if the st.margs girls look carefully, everything was actually exactly the same as what happened during the wake. Yes, MRS LEE! WE MISS YOU... A LOT... WE LOVE YOU TOO... thank you for everything!!! 1e5'04.
The next day, my alarm hadn't even rung when I heard my cell phone vibrating. Rubbing my eyes, I looked at it and saw 'Mum'. Grumpily, I answered the call.
"hello?"
"siyi? I have some bad news."
I groaned. What could be worse then waking me up when the time hadn't even come for me to wake up?
"yeah?" I asked, unenthusiastically.
"mrs lee passed away yesterday afternoon at about 1:15. I thought you should know."
Mrs lee? My st.marg's principal? Pass away? Is she kidding? I checked the calendar. No, today was NOT april fools day.
"very funny mom, but you forgot that today isn't april fools day."
"I'm being totally serious here. She died of a stroke."
I knew from that tone of voice that she was being totally and completely serious about this. I had no answer. I sat on my bed and cried.
"call me if you need anything ok? I'll let you have some space now." My mom said before hanging up.
I flung my cell phone onto the bed and wept and wept. Julia and carmie woke up and saw me crying. Concerned, they asked what was wrong.
"what happened?"
I shook my head.
"come on, you can tell us!"
I looked the both of them in the eye.
"Mrs Lee passed away yesterday. She died of a stroke." I said. I almost couldn't get those words out. It sounded so horrible.
Julia and carmie stared at me. Then at each other.
Julia gulped. "you're kidding right?"
"I-If I w-were kidding" I choked, "I wouldn't b-be c-crying, w-would I?" Julia sat on her bed. Then she folded her legs in and wept. Carmie did the same on my bed. For a full 10 minutes, we sat there crying, not knowing what to do. Mrs Lee had been strict, but yet so good to us. She had told us to consider carefully about coming to Eden hall. When we left, we didn't even say goodbye. But now that she was gone, the guilty feeling arrived.
"i-I guess we should tell t-the rest then." Carmie said.
"yeah. We should." I replied.
Together we walked to natasha's room and knocked on the door. A very perky Hannah answered it, but her face fell when she saw our red eyes.
"oh no, what happened? Quick, come in." she ushered us into her dorm room.
Together, the four of them gave us space to sit on the bed. Then they crowded round us on the floor.
"What happened?" tessa asked.
I gulped. "well, I got a call this morning. From my mom. M-mrs L-lee... she..." I was unable to continue.
"Mrs Lee? Our st.margs principal? What happened to her?" Ruying asked.
Julia finished it off. "she passed away yesterday."
"oh my god. Oh.my.god." tessa started. One by one they started to weep and sob, just like the 3 of us had done. 7Th may. The day she left us. 7th may.
Tessa weeped really badly. "why? Why her. She just got her new bloody convertible dammit! Why'd it have to be her?"
Natasha comforted Tessa. None of us felt like going for our trainings that day. We were in no mood.
"I wanna go back to see her. One last time. At least before she's cremated." I said.
They all agreed.
"let's go talk to HIM." We called the principal or eden hall HIM because to us, there was only ONE principal, and it was not HIM. It was Mrs Lee. The best principal ever.
Anyway, HE, gave us permission to leave the school for a week, and return after the wake and the funeral. The 7 of us dispersed to find out teachers to inform them. I ran to the track and saw my teacher there.
"Ms Hershberg! I have to leave school for one week to return back to Singapore for my principal's funeral and wake." I said in one breath.
"your st.margaret's principal?"
"the one and only."
"well, do you have permission."
"yes! From HIM."
"who?"
"I mean, the eden hall.. principal.."
"oh. Okay then, I guess you can leave."
"thank you!" I said and was about to leave the track when micheal grabbed my hand.
"when will you be back?" he asked.
"in about a week or so." I replied.
"oh. Okay, umm, take care of yourself... don't be too upset about it okay?" he commented.
"its hard micheal. But I'll try. Thanks anyway." I said.
"yeah... don't be too upset... I'll be worried." He said.
I threw him a confused look.
"I mean, I, you, don't, ah! Nevermind. Just take care of yourself."
"yeah I will. Don't worry. I'm not a kid." I said.
He smiled and I gave him a friendly hug. "see you." And I ran off.
Quickly I ran back to my dorm and packed a suitcase. Julia and carmie were already there packing.
"our plane?"
"HE hired a private plane. But he does it for all his students anyway."
"cool."
In about 5 minutes we were done. We flew out of the dorm, locking it behind us, and ran down to the hall to meet the others. When we arrived the 4 of them were already there.
"come on, we gotta go!" Tessa cried.
"wait! We forgot someone!" I said. Then we all remembered.
"JEAN!" we all cried at the same time.
"oh shit. She's not gonna be happy!" Hannah said.
"come on, lets go get her." I said.
"get me for what? I'm already here." A voice said.
Jean was standing behind us, obviously just finished crying.
"Oh, we're so sorry for not telling you! How did you know?" tessa asked.
"mom. Anyway, come on, we got a flight to catch!" Natasha cried.
Quickly we all scrambled onto the private plane. We were too sad to check out the posh stuff in the plane. We fell asleep and before we knew it, 22 hours were up, and we were back in Singapore. I had already told my mom that we were coming in, so therefore it wasn't suprising to see her there. She packed us into our car, of which I missed SO MUCH, and drove us to the Garden Of Remembrance. It all happened really quickly. The only time we moved slowly and weren't in a hurry was on the plane. In about a flash, my 'POWERMOM' had reached the destination and filed us out. We entered the room softly, as the service had started. We saw many familiar faces but concentrated on what the pastor was saying. We sang the song, 'BE THOU MY VISION' Mrs lee's favourite hymn. We started crying again, as so did the girls already in the school. Then by paying our last respects, we walked around Mrs Lee's coffin and cried even more. Mrs Lee looked, lets say, different. I cried when I saw her body. The last time I was going to see it, was now. But as there was a long line, the last time I saw it, for 1 second. Outside, we were greeted and welcomed back by many many people, but yet, the ambience seemed all so different. We wrote in a card what we wanted to say to Mrs Lee, and gave it to the family. They thanked us and put it in a box with the rest of the cards. When we went back to the hotel, we were all pooped and got many phone calls. Eventually, we had a conference in our room.
"I miss her. We didn't even say goodbye." Tessa said.
"yeah. She was great. So kind. So caring. So... ambitious for us." I said.
"definitely. I heard the sec 4's were going to break the top 20 barrier for her." Natasha said.
"they have to. It was like, mrs lee's dream. They can do it." Hannah said.
"anyway, I'm tired. Let's sleep." We threw our pillows at carmie.
We quickly had our baths and changed and eventually fell asleep crying. The next day was the funeral. Even sadder. We didn't know if we were prepared for it. At all... no clue... I thought we were... but maybe we were wrong...
Authors note: not much of mighty ducks here. None, actually. Umm, if the st.margs girls look carefully, everything was actually exactly the same as what happened during the wake. Yes, MRS LEE! WE MISS YOU... A LOT... WE LOVE YOU TOO... thank you for everything!!! 1e5'04.