Extraordinary Losers 1 (11 page)

“How many times have you seen Leonard and Justin running up to our teachers telling them they have been marked wrongly?”

“Almost all the time!”

“Yes.”

“Are-are-are-you saying that Leonard and Justin used an eee-eee-erasable ink pen during their test… And-and-and they would erase their wrong answers when the papers were given back…” Janice said excitedly (I thought she was about to have a heart attack).

“Then-then fill in th-the-the right answers with the s-sa-same pen and claim that they have been ma-mar-marked wrongly?” she continued.

“Yes!! That's it!”

“OH!” Her eyes widened.

“Yes, oh,” I said. “With 300 scripts to mark in a week, teachers are bound to make mistakes and these guys know it.”

The four of us looked at each other under the darkness of our huddle. All of a sudden, I heard laughter.

“Wait here,” I said. Looking around, I saw that class 5B had gathered at the entrance of the school hall. What in the world?

“Quick! Let's go check that out!” Clandestino urged. He got up. I caught him pawing the floor with his feet. And then all of a sudden, he powered off! Whoosh! He vanished quickly, speeding off so fast that a cloud of dust trailed behind him.

The next thing we knew, the cloud separated and revealed him standing at the entrance of the school hall with the rest of the class.

“He took 1.4 seconds, no? Mundi exclaimed. “To run from here to there!”

“Gosh! I never knew he was THE SPEED.”

“He's incredible!” Janice added. “Let me try!”

She was about to paw the ground with her feet too when we all chorused, “No!!!”

“Let's just hurry!” I yelled.

We tore off, secretly racing against each other. When we arrived, Clandestino was not in a good mood. His fists were clenched and he was all red, staring at something on the wall. Up on the school's notice board were four pieces of paper, each with our names on them.

Everyone was laughing. Leonard and Justin were beaming! Janice fled from the scene, eyes brimming with tears. Mundi stood there, blinking profusely. He didn't know what to do.

“Justin and Leonard!” I yelled. “That's enough from you both.” Marching up to them, I didn't think I had ever been angrier.

“Ooooooh. Scary.” Leonard sniggered. “How do you like our poems?”

Justin immediately blocked Leonard from me. “Can I help you, Dirty Darryl?” He grabbed my shirt and wrung it, baring his knuckles.

Glaring at the both of them with gritted teeth, I was about to punch Justin. Just then, I heard the air stirring up from behind me. It was the familiar sound of two spinning blades. “Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!” Before I could turn around, two objects whizzed past me, one after another.

“Bull's eye!” Clandestino muttered. The two pens were lodged on the notice board behind where Leonard was standing. One on his left and one on his right. They had missed Leonard's ears by a hair's breadth.

Leonard was momentarily stunned. This angered Justin even more. Damien slowly backed away.

“I have had enough of you, Nosey! Do you have to stick your mucous nose into everything?” Justin tightened his grip on my shirt.

Mundi was very uncomfortable. “Er, boys, boys. Assembly is starting in exactly five minutes and 43 seconds. No?”

By this time, a group of students had gathered around us.

Leonard goaded, “Hit him! Hit him!”

“Run, Darryl, run,” Damien whispered. Justin was gripping something in his pocket and I could hear the unmistakable clacking sound of a penknife being extended.

“You think I am scared of you?” Clandestino challenged. That was a really wrong question in my opinion.

There was fire in Leonard's eyes. “You know how Mundi got the scar on his hand?” he asked.

“You will be next!” Justin threatened, whipping out his penknife.

All of a sudden, a loud and clear voice rang out, “Children! Stop this now!”

Everyone immediately dispersed.

“Mrs Priya! The principal!” Leonard panicked.

“Quick, let's go!” Justin pulled Damien and ran. “This is NOT over.”

Mrs Priya yelled again, “I am going to call your parents, Justin and Leonard. I will tell them what you have done. Don't think I didn't see you putting those poems up.”

The three boys ran for their lives. They didn't dare look back.

“Where is Mrs Priya?” Mundi looked all around him. She was nowhere to be seen.

“Is she upstairs?” Clandestino said, retrieving his pens from the notice board.

“Here!” Janice emerged from behind a pillar.

“It was you, as Mrs Priya, no?” Mundi whispered.

“Yup, me!” Janice exclaimed. “The real Mrs Priya would never have known that it was Leonard and Justin who put up those poems.” Her face was still stained with tears.

“Don't cry, Janice,” Clandestino comforted, ripping down the poems.

“It's time we report to Mrs Priya and Mr Grosse all that we have found,” I said.

After school that day, we showed our findings to Mrs Priya. Janice was chosen to be our spokesperson since she was a girl and teachers tended to be less harsh on girls. We gave Mrs Priya some names, but held some back. Mrs Priya was awed by our discovery at first, but the more she found out, the angrier she got.

“Kids nowadays,” she said, shaking her head. “They ought to be taught a lesson.”

“Heh,” we agreed nervously.

“So the only culprits are Justin and Leonard?” she asked. “Any others I should know of?”

The four of us remained silent.

“Erasable pens ought to be banned during exams. Soft drink bottles too!” she said. “Very well done. You don't know how these findings will change things so much in Brightstar Primary School.”

We grinned sheepishly again, still tongue-tied. “Please keep up your good work. The operation is not over. I urge you to find more culprits and uncover their cheat methods,” she said.

“Yes, Mrs Priya.” We bowed.

Over the next few days, Mrs Priya and Mr Grosse began their investigations. All the other teachers were informed of the cheating methods of the students and extensive checks were made on everyone. With our leads, they discovered that there were a few other students cheating.

Justin and Leonard were among the first to be punished. They were shocked on learning they had been discovered. For a week, they had to spend every day after school writing lines: Honesty is the best policy. What was worse, they had to retake all their common tests! In Mrs Priya's office! Standing up! Shiver, shudder.

On the other hand, we, the “chosen ones” of Operation Pants on Fire, had the best time of our lives. Mundi began to find his voice and enchanted us with stories from India. We listened and it opened up a whole new world of black tea, curry and eating with hands.

Clandestino amused us with his quick hands and feet. We, in turn, taught him how to blow his nose. Apparently, his mother never taught him how to do that as she felt it was rude and uncouth to blow noses in public. That was why he was blocked up all the time, nose-wise.

Janice also taught us all we needed to know about donuts. Best of all, the lessons came with free donut samples! We had free donuts for recess. Janice looked happier than I had ever remembered. I think it had to do with the fact that she finally had friends.

On my part, I realised that every kid, no matter how weird, disgusting or ugly, has a gift. Most of the time, we are too busy with our own lives to discover the good in our friends. Yes, we became very good friends – Janice, Mundi, Clandestino and me. Together, we made quite an awesome team, I felt. But there was just one shadow hanging over us: How were we ever going to beat Justin, Leonard and Damien in the upcoming Basketball Challenge?

CHAPTER 10: AN INCREDIBLE TRUTH

It was the day my mother had a jam session.

Jam – where all her hip-hop dancing friends would meet and showcase their talent. Sophia and I were left to the devices of Aunty Maryanne, who was busy uploading her pictures on Facebook.

“Darryl, what's the password again?”

“It's Seewhatsee,” I said.

“Okay, I will help you to cook Maggi Mee later and help you with your homework,” she promised (though I did not think she was much of a help). My homework was no ordinary feat.

Suddenly, Sophia emerged from her room in a sleeveless blouse and a micro-mini skirt.

“Yo, Bro,” she said.

“Where are you going, Soph?” I asked.

“Yes, where are you going, Sophia?” Aunty Maryanne bellowed. “You cannot go meet anyone, ah.”

“No… just downstairs. To buy snacks.”

I had a feeling it wasn't so simple.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “If yes, I will come along too.”

“NOOOOOO!!”

“Why?” My suspicion grew.

“Just cause Watermelon said to… to… come alone. He is meeting me downstairs just for a chat. Finally, I get to see who he is.”

“No! Sophia! Listen to me. You are not going down alone. If you want to meet Watermelon, I am going down with you.”

Aunty Maryanne sighed. “Yeah, Sophia. Take your brother along. I don't want to be responsible if anything happens.”

Sophia heaved a big sigh. “But you have to wait at the stairwell.”

“Okay, fine.”

“Promise you won't show yourself, unless I call for you?”

“Promise.”

I had to go and watch her back. As much as I hated her guts, I knew I had to do the brotherly thing. Besides, I was really curious to find out who this Watermelon was.

Sophia was snickering girlishly the whole lift trip down. When the door opened, she ran to the stone table and pointed at the stairwell. I took my position, ready to pounce on any disgusting 40-year-old man.

Five minutes passed, then 10 minutes. She was getting anxious by now. I was growing impatient.

It was 6.10pm and there was no sign of a Watermelon or the likes.

Then suddenly, “Hi, Sophia.”

A familiar voice.

I peeked. It was Miss Jacobs! What was she doing here?