And the weeks passed by

There wasn’t much to be lived actually, for a 1st former in a boarding school. Our predicaments would begin as early as 6am in the morning, and would not stop even as the compulsory lights off routine was observed every single night of our meagre little lives.

I soon got used to grudgingly, dragging my feet to the showers at the wee hours of the day, draped with an oversized towel, a toothbrush, a small pail and bar of soap. The hostel was a 4 storey building, with shower cubicles and toilets at one end of the corridor. Supposedly the facilities were designed to accommodate the occupants of all the 4 dormitories on each floor. They never could actually, not with so many of us needing to use them within that threshold, between subuh, breakfast and the cane, the cane and punishment for being late to leave for classes. If one set of showers and toilet was not enough for each floor, then imagine the whole occupants of the block could only use the showers on the ground floor, because there was no water supply to other floors except for the ground floor toilets. Some people who had designed the school has either screwed up real bad, or as we got to learn as we grew up, things seldom work as planned in the real world.

A few days into my new world, I began to learn things, things that never occurred to me before. And then, things that did not happen as they should. Take my clothes as an example. They used to be always there, pressed, smelling nice and clean whenever they are needed. All I need to do was open my drawers and like magic, shirts and shorts would be there, socks folded and fresh. That did not happen anymore. In my new world, dirty clothes would remain dirty and smelly if not washed. They needed drying and folded and piled neatly in the locker and there would be no body else to do it for me. Doing laundry was never fun but someone’s got to do it unless I enjoyed wearing smelly clothes to classes.

I survived the few weeks of torture. Suddenly being a 1st former is not as rosy as we thought it would be. The initialisation or orientation period as they called it, was more of like getting a licence to bully, not unlike the licence to kill granted to James Bond. The seniors can do whatever they like to us little bastards. I was waken up one night and was asked to go to dorm 3B4, a resemblance of Hell on earth, as that dormitory was occupied by the most horrendous touts in school. Headed by Tarzan, a bulky, huge 5th former and sidekicked by Zainurin and a few other mean ones, they were the terror of the century.

I shivered lightly as I stood small in front of the towering Tarzan. I can’t remember the time, but I knew it was past the lights off time and I would get into real trouble with the wardens if caught out of bed that late at night.

“Are you in 1 omega ? “ growled Tarzan.

“Yes..” I answered nervously

“Yes what ???? “ shouted Tarzan

“Yes abang”

I can’t really recall exactly the rest of the conversation but I was instructed to be a spy. I had to watch over Azu and Shikin, supposedly 2 of the hottest 1st former that year. I was to report everything that they did, the school clubs that they joined, sports they play and people they talked to. Someone up that chain of command really must have fancied these to girls.

I care less for what they wanted to do with the info I gave them, but I enjoyed the extra protection I received from the 3B4 clan. The endless torture of having to do errands for the seniors suddenly stopped, I no more had to endure getting them breakfast, washing shoes or even carrying stuffs for them. I was the protected one, which was earned, for being in the same class as Azu. I counted my lucky stars.

But everything had its price. Apart from being a spy, I was also the alarm clock for the lazy bastards in 3B4. I had to climb on an empty upper deck every morning except for Sundays, to crow. Yes, crow, cock a doodle do, like some freaking cock. I sometimes had to be a radio. I would be locked in an empty locker and was asked to sing some songs. They would cheer and laugh if they liked ‘em songs, but would kick and shout if they were not in the zone. Life has its downside after all, but I survived.