In Continuum.

Rachel

What kind of impulses made me want to open that drawer at that point in time,i have no idea.The skies are gloomy again,the wind is blowing.It is that windy time of the year again,and the papers are flying everywhere again.I can never leave my windows opened for more than ten minutes without my old school notes fluttering off the tables and then scattering themselves all over the floor.I'm the kind of person who appreciates an orderly mess,and i still keep old school notes around,no matter how much i hated the classes i sat through with those under my arms,looking but not reading them.

A sudden impulse made me open my desk drawer at the window,and right at the top of the pile of old notes was a folded piece of paper.At the top it read "Nanyang Junior College General Paper Current Affairs Quiz",and right at the bottom a bunch of random vandalism by my old classmates.I thought it was by a classmate of mine,Rachel,until i confirmed with her that it was actually a combined effort of a lot of other classmates.Suspected artist of the picture: Rachel,Samantha and Mo.Mo contributed only to the tini mushroom,which was supposedly his trademark.Samantha drew the green grassy field,the pink clouds and rain,pink aeroplane and sun,the ridiculously big butterfly and a green trees with orange cherries(They are too small to be oranges).Rachel drew a giant eye at the right of the picture,blood shot and intense.An arrow points to it and it reads "Evil Eye Monster".The picture had Rachel written all over,and i'd like to take some time off to honour this great friend of mine.

I noticed Rachel ever since my SRJC days.I was from 1s24,while she was from a couple of classes down.In her PLMGSS uniform,i remember her as the loud and almost obnoxious girl,always attracting the attention of other boys,not particularly because she was attractive physically but because she was loud.And she had a contagious laughter too.So it came as a surprise when i saw her in my NYJC class for the first time,and told her that i was from SRJC as well,a couple of rows down the line during morning assemblies every morning.

Rachel is the kind of person you can never hate.I mean,no matter what reasons you try to come up with,Rachel is always going to be Rachel.She is such a real and genuine person,i dont think i have ever met a second person with similar personality,or even remotely close to resembling it.Because she is unique,so much so that that whoever that comes in her track,people are going to stop short and admire her as a person.She's amazing,in a lot of ways truly.I've got to know her as a musically talented girl,funny and humorous person in class.She had a strong self of identity,and stood out from the crowd by not trying to be outstanding.I know it might be hard to understand it,but to me that's what makes her special.Her efforts of not trying to be superficial,hypocritical and just be herself.A mascot should be modelled after her for the campaign to stop pretentiousness.

I remember the days most,when we headed to the student's mass room to practise our song for the Talentime.It was selfish of me really,to pull her into that mess.I'm not exactly proud of my achievements then - or lack thereof - because i didnt win anything or any acclaims during the performance.A few praises but the fact that i lost to that wayang singing girl still sort of pisses me off.But anyway,i was kinda selfish to pull her into my own interest,to want a simple and unpretentious person like her to perform on stage with me.But still,we had a blast rehearsing in the mass room,with her on piano and myself on the guitar.Samantha would join in at times,and i remember leaving school late in the afternoons with a sore throat and a blasting good time.

I recall the times when we were short of a drummer.Ahmad,Darren and I needed a drummer for our bad,for the year's Woodstock concert.I didnt want to ask her initially because i didnt feel like she'd be interested.But she jumped at the chance when i asked her eventually,and we found ourselves sitting next to each other at a jamming studio up in Upper Serangoon Road,waiting for the occupants of the studio to leave before we proceeded with our own practise.She was a great drummer i remember,no matter how amateur she made herself sound.We reheased at her place once,and i remember the great sandwiches her maid made for the lot of us,and the awkward meeting with her mother at the stairwell.

At this point in time,i must once again bring up the interesting incident during one of our GP classes.Let's admit it,Mr. Yee was a nice teacher,no matter how bad he was at teaching.I mean,as a GP teacher he didnt know too much general knowledge,and his English isnt all that great.But then again,what are you expecting from the GP teachers of NYJC?They are renown in the education world as the worst GP teachers around.So it is not hard to imagine why the girls of my class had an urge to come half an hour late for his classes,when it is merely an hour long after PE.And he never complained,not even when he asked me for my opinion on a certain subject when i am doing the work of something else."What do you think of this?" he would ask,and i would go,"I agree with whatever you say Mr. Yee.I'm with you always."

Mr. Yee had a physical problem i called STD.Not Sexually Transmitted Disease,but rather Spontaneous Tit Disintegration,because he sweats a lot in his chest area when he teaches.And he bounces on his toes a lot,and he blinks when he is panicked or nervous.So unintentionally,the class would be giggling at his strange and hilarious acts.There was this time when myself and Rachel were sitting in the front row of the container classrooms,and we were going throw a grammar worksheet we were supposed to have done at home,but never did.So our sheets were blank,and he was going down the road asking the class for answers one by one.After counting the number of people before us and comparing it to the questions we are supposed to answer,we didnt have a clue what to fill the blanks with.Since Mr. Yee had the answer sheet in his hand,which was at that time by the side of his thighs,which was close to his crotch,Rachel and I attempted to see the answers from it(Note,that the paper is extremely close to his groin area).At this point,Rachel's last line,which was said a tad bit too loud,caught Mr. Yee's attention in the most embarrassing and awkward scene ever.

Me,"Hey Rachel,the answer sheet.Can you see the answers?"
Rachel,"Not from here,i cant see it."
Me,"Lean forward,you are closer."
Rachel,"No,still cant see."
Me,"Really?"
Rachel,"CAN'T SEE LAH!TOO SMALL!"

Because the paper was near his groin,and Rachel was leaning forward peering at it,he actually thought she was refering to his penis,being too small and she couldnt see.He actually made an effort to cover his groin area at that time,only to cause the both of us to burst out in a thunderous roar of laughter.Oh,the good old days.

I will never forget the days in NYJC with you Rachel,and how you made each day in that dreadful place a little more bearable than the last,pushing me on subconsciously through all the months.The evil eye monster stares back at me,but what i really see is your left hand running over my notes,drawing it with the same intensed look in your eyes and those long straight hair with hints of pink you got from your birthday,all over the paper and your face.You've been a good friend,a great friend in fact.And i shall never forget you,my dear Rachel.