Chapter 4

“How’s the props going?” Cindy asked as she entered the living room still clad in her pyjamas and holding a cup of coffee and a cup of milo. “Not bad... the tree is almost ready, thanks to Maymay (Mayyee) and Adina.” Fangwei replied. “Yar... I hope all the props would be ready by today.” Jocelyn added, standing up and took the cup of milo from Cindy and blew at it to make it cool, before taking a sip. “Agree...so that we can practice soon.” Jason said. “The scripts are almost ready. Alison and the others had already finished editing and are going through the scripts once more.” Jason added, taking the cup of milo from Jocelyn. “Wei! That’s mine!” Jocelyn protested, attempting to snatch the cup back from Jason. “Let me drink larx...” Jason argued and drank. Jocelyn said nothing but pouted. Cindy laughed at the duo and suggested making another cup for Jocelyn. Jocelyn immediately brightened up and nodded her head furiously.
Finally at noon, the props and scripts were ready. Moving to the basement, which has the largest space to store everything and for us to practice. “hey! Set up all the props!” Weixun shouted. At once, everybody started work. “the tree won’t stand!” Jocelyn complained to Weixun as she tried to support it. “I thought it had a solid base? Why can’t it stand?” Weixun asked and came over to examine the tree. “I think the base is not large enough to support the weight.” Jocelyn replied. “Maybe. Laodie! (chinhong) come here!” Weixun shouted. Chinhong immediately came running over. “What?” he asked. “Stupid tree won’t stand.” Weixun said. “Junxiang! Come here!!” Chinhong shouted. The three guys and Jocelyn started to debate which way was the best way to let the tree stand. Meanwhile...“How can we move the props from the backstage to the stage within such a short time?” Gabriel argued. “But we have to be fast. We only have a few minutes. The most we can have is one minute.” Siangee explained. “Is it really possible? What if someone just trips and falls?” Tiong Peng asked. “We have only a few minutes lorx. If we don’t hurry and exceed the time limit, the judges might just deduct points!” Siangee reasoned. “Yar... I agree with Siangee lorx... we have to be quick. Quick but careful.” Jasmine said. “Ok...” Gabriel and Tiong Peng agreed reluctantly.
“....Mrs De Winter is so slim and beautiful while Mrs Van Hopper is so fat and ugly.” Seok Wei said to herself, trying to memorise her script, just like many others crowding around.
“Wei...Cindy!! Come and help us larx...what kind of chairperson are you?” Fangwei shouted. “Coming!” Cindy shouted and ran to help Fangwei. “See, this stupid boat is so heavy, how to carry?” Jiawen complained. “Can larx.... where got heavy?” Cindy asked...
As many were preparing for their first practice, Yeeyew, Alison, Junxian and Yijun were in the kitchen busy preparing lunch for the class. “No, I say add this spice nicer.” Alison said, holding the spice to Yeeyew. “No...this is better.” Yeeyew argued back. “No...this...” “No...this...” the argument continued until... “STOP!” Yijun and Junxian shouted. “this is better....” Junxian and Yijun chorused, holding out another kind of spice. “NO! I SAY THIS IS BETTER...!” Yeeyew and Alison protested. “Please use good taste olive oil. The best ever.” Yeeyew said. “They paid you to help them advertise arhx?” Alison snapped, finally agreeing to using the olive oil that Yeeyew insisted on. Yijun and Junxian chuckled at the duo and exchanged cheeky glances.
Finally, the place was set up perfectly.
“Ready? Action!” Siangee shouted as Tiongpeng clicked on the “record” button of the video camera. The play commenced...
“ahh... I’m so tired...” Doreen Chow complained and sat down on the comfartable sofa on the side. “Not to worry... Drinks are served!” Yeeyew exclaimed as he popped out from no where, carrying a large try with at least ten glasses of ice cold pepsi. “People, we did quite a good job today... all of us must keep up the work, ok?” Junxian said. “Yaya...u sound like Ms Chan.” Tiongpeng commented, getting a “diao” face from Junxian. “I agree with Junxian larx, we really did a great job. The drama competition is like just a few days away. We must win the champion title. I heard from other people that 2`5 the people very sure of their drama lehx.” Weixun said. “Har... but I think we would win. Hahahax... Our class is the best. But I’m also waiting to see other classes the dramas, see how are theirs.” Yeeyew said. “Yar... but the challenge only stays within us and 2`5. Other classes, don’t care them larx.” Junxiang said. “Cannot don’t care.. later their scripts better than us then in the end they win how? Right? But don’t worry, being a careful chairperson, I’ve already checked out the other classes. I don’t think their dramas would be better than us. Besides, Ms Goh, one of the judges, love mysteries a lot. We can win de larx...” Cindy said confidently. “Great. With this, I’m getting more confident about our winning.” Gabriel said as he plopped down on sofa.
More and more people started to gather around the sofa, each giving comments on how to improve the drama. The day soon ended in the mist of chattering from the noisy class.