Incidents In School

School Bullies

The canteen was as boisterous as a cavalcade. Students were chattering animatedly and cutlery clanged as stall owners set about work to cater to all their young customers’ orders. The basketball courts and the parade square were jam-packed and buzzing with all the sporting activities. Ken was right in the middle of an empty classroom serving his detention for not submitting his homework. Sweeping the floor with great reluctance, Ken was sulking like a spoilt child. He desperately yearned for his recess. The forgetful boy reproached himself for how he could have totally forgotten about Mr Tan’s Science worksheets the previous day.

All the fun outside was beckoning persistently at Ken to peek out of the windows. Ken finally submitted to the temptation and threw all caution to the wind. He was supposed to finish cleaning the classroom before recess was over, instead he pasted himself at the windows staring intently at all the fun everybody else was having. Ken felt like he was practically munching on sour grapes. Suddenly, the lights went out. The entire classroom became as dark as a dungeon. A jolt of delight shot through Ken because a blackout meant that he need not serve his detention.

Perking his head out for a quick scan of the surroundings, Ken wanted to sneak to the fields to join his friends. Before Ken could even reach the backdoor of the classroom, the lights came back on. Along with the brightness, came four insidious figures entering the classroom, the four notorious bullies! Temperatures immediately dropped to sub-zero as Ken came face to face with the terrors in school. The chill in his spine made his knuckles turn white from clutching the broom in his hands. Being confined in the classroom with these four brought the gloom of the night along with the grim of death upon Ken. Inevitably, Ken knew he was doomed.

The leader of the pack growled with hostility, “Look who we’ve got here! Ken, our school midget! Dear boy you better hand over all your money now, or else…” Ken was grossly outsized and outnumbered so he meekly handed over all the cash he had in his wallet. The meagre amount incited the wrath of the bullies. They grabbed Ken by the collar and unleashed more verbal threats in his face. Just then the lights went out. Another blackout!

Ken froze in fear, he knew he had to do something. Seizing the golden opportunity, Ken whacked his perpetrator in his groin with the broom in his hands. The pain sent the bullies tumbling to the ground upon one another like dominoes. Ken made a mad dash for the exits and bumped into Mr Tan, who had come to supervise him. Ken blurted out the whole episode to Mr Tan. The bullies were caught. They were still growling in pain when Mr Tan escorted Ken into the classroom to confront the bullies. They were duly punished by Mr Tan and Ken felt triumphant at having justice prevail for him. Nevertheless he still had an outstanding detention to make up to Mr Tan for not finishing his homework.

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What the words and phrases mean…

1	as boisterous as a cavalcade	as lively as a grand celebration
2	cutlery clanged	sounds of metal utensils hit against one another
3	jam-packed and buzzing with all the sporting activities	crowded place with people busy playing sports
4	serving his detention	being punished to stay back after class
5	sulking like a spoilt child	showing an unhappy face like a demanding kid
6	desperately yearned	wanted something very much
7	beckoning persistently	attracting very strongly
8	submitted to the temptation	gave in to one’s ultimate desire
9	threw all caution to the wind	took risks
10	munching on sour grapes	feeling jealous
11	as dark as a dungeon	a place being totally dark without light
12	perking his head out for a quick scan	stretching one’s neck to look around the surroundings
13	insidious	dangerous and mean
14	notorious	well-known for a bad reason
15	temperatures immediately dropped to sub-zero	a chilly atmosphere due to fear
16	chill in his spine	feeling frightened
17	knuckles turn white from clutching	holding something very tightly
18	gloom of the night	feeling as hopeless as the dark night sky
19	grim of death	as depressing as facing death
20	inevitably	unavoidable
21	growled with hostility	spoke threateningly
22	midget	an offensive term for a very short person
23	grossly outsized and outnumbered	at a disadvantage when compared in terms of size and numbers
24	meekly	timidly
25	meagre amount	a very small amount of money
26	incited the wrath	made someone very angry
27	unleashed more verbal threats	bullied verbally
28	seizing the golden opportunity	making the best out of a chance given
29	tumbling to the ground upon one another like dominoes	a continuous falling motion of one item falling after one another
30	duly punished	punished accordingly
31	felt triumphant at having justice prevail	a sense of victory for having fairness showed in a matter

The Conspiracy

“Bang! Boom! Bam!” The metal rattled after being abused. The echoes of its attacker’s swearing resounded in the canteen, “Stupid machine! Can’t you even produce a single miserable drop of water?” His anger burnt into the lifeless water cooler.

Everyone’s head was buried in his books early in the morning to cram in as much as possible as the exams were just round the corner. The reverberating loud racket disrupted the silence of the canteen as he continued his punches and kicks. I was infuriated by his misdeed and inconsideration for others. I alerted the school prefect who was standing behind me.

“Excuse me, that boy at the water cooler is very disruptive and we can’t study properly. Would you please report him for vandalising school property?” I informed him solemnly. The prefect nodded with a smirk on his face and sauntered towards the boy.

The prefect tapped the boy on his shoulder. The boy stopped in mid-kick and turned around eyes glinting in hostility. The prefect said a few words to him. My forehead furrowed in puzzlement. I thought that the prefect was going to berate him. However, to my astonishment, the boy’s face changed before my very eyes. The earlier hints of anger were now replaced with amusement! Before I could decipher what was happening, the two boys gave each other a high five and stared at me maliciously. Realisation dawned on me. They were obviously good chums and in cahoots! Feeling indignant, I stood up to them and a vicious quarrel ensued.

The commotion roused most of the pupils from the depths of their books. As our volume amplified, one of them finally raced to the Discipline Master’s office. His timely arrival prevented a fist fight that was on the verge of happening.

The three of us were reprimanded for engaging in a quarrel. However, seeing that I had stood up in righteousness, I was simply given a warning. The other two perpetrators were not as fortunate. The boy was severely punished for vandalism and the prefect was given a dressing down for shirking responsibility. To err is human, but I really hope they would learn their lesson now as I had learnt mine.

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What the words and phrases mean…

1	resounded	echoed
2	anger burnt into the lifeless water cooler	to vent anger at the machine
3	head was buried in his books	studying with deep concentration
4	cram	to study hastily for an impending exam
5	reverberating	re-echoing
6	loud racket	a loud noisy disturbance
7	disrupted the silence	no longer quiet anymore
8	infuriated by his misdeed	furious by the wrong things committed
9	disruptive	troublesome
10	solemnly	seriously
11	a smirk	a self-satisfied smile
12	sauntered	walked at a leisurely pace
13	eyes glinting in hostility	eyes flashing with anger
14	forehead furrowed in puzzlement	deep wrinkles appeared on the forehead due to confusion
15	berate	scold angrily at length
16	to my astonishment	to my surprise
17	decipher	to make out the meaning
18	maliciously	spitefully
19	realisation dawned on me	to understand something
20	good chums	good friends
21	in cahoots	banding together due to association
22	feeling indignant	feeling annoyed
23	vicious quarrel ensued	violent argument resulted
24	roused	stirred up
25	amplified	increased the volume of
26	timely arrival	to appear at the appropriate time
27	righteousness	uprightness
28	perpetrators	persons committing the crime
29	shirking responsibility	neglecting his duties
30	to err is human	it is natural to make mistakes

A Scare

The morning breeze weaved among the leaves and rustled the leaves of the trees. The temperatures dipped to a comfortable cool for Jim and his friends to have their usual game of marbles! Jim’s heart raced excitedly as he headed for the school field to meet his friends. They were going to have a friendly match today with all their favourite marbles.

“Hey it’s my turn now!” Jim bellowed heartily as he ran towards his peers.

“You are late!” they chided Jim jokingly. He smiled sheepishly and Jim was let into the game. It was an intense game and shiny marbles were all over the ground. The excitement among them was sky high. Light-hearted touts and laughter filled the air. All of them were oblivious to the sleek figure that was gliding towards them stealthily.

“JANE! You... There... is... a... ‘thing’... at... your...” Words lodged in Jim’s throat. His heart was in his mouth. The creature had coiled close to Jane’s feet. It was a deadly and menacing cobra! Everyone froze in paramount fear when the snake hissed portentously at everyone. Jane burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably, “Help! Help!” Instantaneously their game turned into a life-threatening match. None of them dared to move a muscle as the creature slithered viciously nearer to Jane. She was panting breathlessly as tears fell liberally down her cheeks. Suddenly the school bell rang and broke the tug-of-war between them and the attacker. Jim boldly stretched his hands out and tugged Jane to his side. The cobra bared its glittering fangs and shot a jet of lethal poison. The poison landed inches away from Jim with a loud sputtering noise. The kids screamed their guts out, “Ahhh! Somebody help! Help!”

Just as the snake was about to launch a second attack, there was a deafening bang! The cobra fell onto the ground, hissing in agony. Blood started oozing out profusely. Three men rushed forward. Mr Lim, the principal, protectively rounded all of them behind him. Jim and his friends cowered under the shield of their guardian. Jane was as pale as a sheet and she could not stop crying. Mr Lim offered words of comfort and assurance to Jane while the other two burly looking men dealt with the lifeless creature that was offensive just seconds ago.

Their school was situated near the Singapore Zoological Gardens and the snake had escaped from there. The two other men whom they later found out were zookeepers, apologised for the scare that the vicious cobra had given them. Jim and his friends heaved a sigh of relief and thanked their saviours. They had survived the ordeal unscathed. It was indeed a close shave for all of them, especially Jane!  

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What the words and phrases mean…

1	morning breeze weaved among the leaves	the wind moved in a criss-cross motion among the leaves
2	rustled the leaves of the trees	sounds of leaves when blown by the wind
3	temperatures dipped to a comfortable cool	a comfortable cooling temperature
4	bellowed heartily	shouted happily
5	peers	friends
6	chided	lectured
7	smiled sheepishly	smiled shyly
8	intense game	a very heated game
9	excitement among them was sky high	all feeling very excited
10	light-hearted touts	challenges issued teasingly
11	oblivious	unaware
12	stealthily	sneakily
13	words lodged in Jim’s throat	speechless due to fear
14	his heart was in his mouth	feeling very frightened
15	deadly and menacing	fatal and dangerous
16	froze in paramount fear	remained motionless due to being very frightened
17	portentously	threateningly
18	burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably	crying non-stop without control
19	instantaneously	immediately
20	none of them dared to move a muscle	being afraid to move
21	slithered	moved in a gliding manner
22	panting breathlessly as tears fell liberally down her cheeks	in a breathless state and crying
23	tug-of-war	a struggle
24	bared its glittering fangs	a snake showed its teeth
25	lethal poison	venom of a snake
26	loud sputtering noise	sound of liquid landing on floor
27	screamed their guts out	shouted fearfully
28	cowered under the shield of their guardian	hid behind their protector
29	words of comfort and assurance	saying comforting words
30	offensive	on an attacking front
31	survived the ordeal unscathed	remained unhurt throughout a dangerous process or event

An Unlucky Day

“Ring!” That irritating alarm clock of mine woke me up at the crack of dawn with its shrill wailing. Cursing silently, I slammed my hand on the alarm clock and banged it against the cupboard. It immediately stopped. Satisfied, I promptly turned around and fell asleep.

“Jeremy! Wake up! You are going to be late for school!” my mother’s high-pitched scream permeated the silence, shattering all my hopes for stealing more sleep. I glanced at my alarm clock. I was so startled by what I saw that I tumbled out of bed and landed on my bottom. It was already seven o’clock! I had less than an hour to get to school! I dashed to the bathroom to wash up. To my chagrin, I slipped on a wet patch of tiles and banged my chin against the basin. I felt my tooth break off and tasted blood. Ignoring it, I went to brush my teeth. A missing tooth was better than facing the wrath of my form teacher! I swooped down the stairs like a peregrine falcon, grabbed my school bag and rushed off to school.

I ran like the wind all the way to the bus stop, where I was just in time to see the bus chugging off. “Wait for me! Wait!” I hollered, chasing after it. The bus, as if in reply, coughed out a cloud of black smoke and roared off. It was futile to try and chase it. Sighing heavily, I decided to run to school.

By the time I got to school, the parade square was deserted and voices were streaming out from every classroom. I walked resignedly to my class and stood outside the door. Bracing myself for the explosion, I took a deep breath and walked in.

“Well, don’t just stand there daydreaming, boy! Get to your seat and take out yesterday’s homework!” Mrs Liow barked at me. Sighing with relief that I did not get an earful, I crept to my seat and plopped myself down. I opened my bag and to my utmost horror, I found myself staring at a Mickey Mouse book. I groaned inwardly. I had taken my sister’s bag by mistake! Suddenly, a black shadow descended upon me as I looked into the glaring eyes of Mrs Liow. “Detention for you!” she shrieked and stomped away.

Trudging out of school, I recalled with painful embarrassment of my detention of cleaning a Primary 1 toilet. “Those kids really do not know how to keep themselves clean,” I muttered to myself. Suddenly, I heard a ‘splat’ and felt something warm landed on my head. Argh! Bird droppings! I whipped out my handkerchief and wiped vigorously at the offending spot. I screeched vulgarities at the errant offender, only to be greeted with another barrage of ‘crowning glories’. I ran all the way home, screeching like a madman. I had all I could take for one day!   

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What the words and phrases mean…

1	at the crack of dawn	very early in the morning
2	shrill wailing	a loud high-pitch sound
3	promptly	at once
4	permeated	spread throughout
5	shattering all my hopes	crushing all wishes
6	tumbled out of bed	fell out of bed
7	to my chagrin	to my annoyance
8	wrath	anger
9	a peregrine falcon	a swift flying bird
10	ran like the wind	moved very fast
11	chugging off	sound of engine moving off
12	futile	of no use
13	deserted	not a single person around; desolated
14	resignedly	in a hopeless manner
15	took a deep breath	breathed in deeply so as to calm down
16	an earful	a lecture
17	plopped down	to let body sit down heavily
18	to my utmost horror	to my greatest dismay
19	groaned inwardly	grumbled to oneself
20	descended upon me	visited unexpectedly on me
21	shrieked	cried out in a sharp piercing manner
22	stomped away	walked away heavily and violently
23	trudging	walking with heavy and tired footsteps
24	muttered	spoke in low tones
25	screeched vulgarities	called out bad words in a sharp voice
26	errant offender	a person who behaves badly
27	barrage	onslaught of

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