Chapter 5

It was about 12 midnight before one by one started retiring to bed. Yee Yew and Jun Xiang were the last to leave the basement after putting the props into the cupboard. However, before Yee Yew could go to bed, the always worrying Jun Xiang stopped him” What if the people from the other side come to damage our props while we are sleeping?” “Hai yo! Want to sleep already still worry about this!! We got alarm one” “Yi fang wan yi mah! ” “KKK, you good…we two sleep here okie!” Yee Yew talked back, referring to the basement where the props were kept. So the two slept in the basement while the rest were comfortablely sleeping in their rooms. Nothing happened during the night however… …In the morning, as usual, hyperactive Cindy was the first one up. She woke everyone up with her booming voice that is louder than church tower chime over the PA system. After breakfast, Mun Yee decided to get everyone to work on the script, but it was obvious that the boys were in a soccer mood rather than practicing. As the boys were walking out of the door with the soccer ball, a shout from the basement brought them back. “Hey! Where are the all the scripts left in the cupboard yesterday?” Jocelyn was shouting. “Wasn’t it on the second or third shelf?” May Yee recalled, stratching her hair. “Correction, it was on the first shelf” Jun Xiand replied. “Wherever it is, it wasn’t in the cupboard!” Jocelyn replied looking every single corner in the cupboard. Soon, everyone was in the basement searching for the scripts. “Could someone have stolen it?” Gabriel wondered in his mind. “Nobody could have slipped past our security system……Me and ah Xiang also slept in the basement last night and nobody was there also… …” Yee Yew said from the door. “Hai yeah… Lost just print again lah…!” Jason added. So, the boys were out for soccer while Jason and Jun Xiang stayed back to reprint the scripts. While some of the girls went out for shopping, Cindy was still at the basement wondering how could such a huge stack of scripts be lost… …After lunch, everyone began practicing the play again. Chin Hong, the main character, however kept forgetting the lines, thus everyone had to constantly remind him about his lines. The play was rehearsed at least 5-6 times and by then everyone had more or less memorized all their lines. The number of days to the competition ticked closer. As the days flew past the Icy Palace (okie…cold…ignore the icy palace), practises continued being held in the afternoon with the evening being used to modify the script to make it better. How about the teams from the other classes? And not to mention, their main rival, 2/5, Spicy Mansion? They were too all practising, but not as hard as ‘Icy palace’ (class 2/3) does. The sound team also learned how to make music effects using the handphones and speakers and the lights crew too learned to operate the lights at the hall. Every class was also given an afternoon to practise at the hall, and the class make full use of that afternoon.The day of the competition came finally. The class was fully confident they would win. However, everyone was worried about being the one who kok out and cause the class to lose. The time of the competition was at 2.05pm, thus there was still the morning to practise. Icy palace was the third to perform’ with the Spicy mansion performing as the last. The judges were Miss.Goh, Mrs Arnand and another teacher. When it was the Icy Palace’s turn, everyone including the sound and light crew did their best to make the performance its best. Although Chinhong forgot a few of his lines, he immediately made up some lines that added into the comedy effect, causing the audience to clap even harder. After their performance, the class gathered went back to watch another class performed before the rival spicy mansion appeared. “Wow, their play was quite good also” Cindy exclaimed to Fionne sitting next to her. “Can lah, we still stand a chance couse their props not very nice” Fionne replied. “I think we win already lah, we got lighting, they do not… …” Siang Ee whispered to Gabriel. “Yeah, and because we are BETTER” Gabriel whispered back, but Siang Ee didn’t seem to hear. After every class have performed during the interval, the whole class gathered to discuss about the plays. “I think we win already Spciy Mansion ”Jason said. “Yeah, their props weren’t that good and their play isn’t very realistic. “Cindy agreed. “Even if we don’t win the first, we would still get second… …”Jun Xian added. “Choi! we sure win one lah! You see….”Yi Jun argued. “Hey, we have to go back for the results now” Jia Jia interrupted in. Everyone agreed and hurried back into the hall for the results. It was the most exciting part of the whole competition, the results. Everyone had put in a great effort in their play, especially 2/3 (Icy Mansion) and 2/5 (Spicy Mansion), the only two classes whose unity were the strongest. Part of it was also because they were the only two classes who stayed together and had the strongest bonds. Everyone was breaking out in cold sweat as the M.C talked. “What’s wrong with that MC? Talk so long, very nervous de lehx.” Jocelyn complained to Cindy, who was as nervous as everyone else in the hall. Yes, although they had confidence, they were still worried. No doubt, the play was good, but their opponents’ weren’t any worser. Finally, Miss Goh stepped up to stage. “I guess all of you have been waiting nervously and patiently for the results. We will now announce the results of the Drama competition of year 2004. For the third.... class 2/2!! They’ve showed tremendous improvement from their last year’s competition, bringing us a much better play this year. Congratulations!” Miss Goh said as the chairperson of 2/2 ran up to receive the prize. A wave of applause sounded and of course, 2/2 clapped the loudest of all. When the applause finally died down, Miss Goh continued. “Now, for the second position, we have... 2/5! Their play were very and was brought out very well. Don’t you all agree this position should go to them?” Miss Goh asked, receiving many shaking heads except from 2/5, whom were all nodding their heads vigorously. “Now, the time we’ve all been waiting for... the champion... would be.... *drum rolls* 2....3!! A very good written script! A good way of writing a mystery story. Although there were some minor hiccups during the play (refering to Chinhong), they managed to add in comedy effect too! I love Ben played by Junxiang) in the show. Another thing they should be awarded the champion was because of the strong unity in them. As all of you could see, the whole class was involved! It’s hard to see such strong unity. Let’s give another round of applause for the class of 2/3!” The Drama Competition had finally ended with Icy Mansion emerging the champion again. Would 2/3 be so lucky always? All was it hardwork that made them win? Would they stay as the champion always? Stay tuned... =)