He gripped his pen. He was going to erase it. He had to. It was too real.
The class went quiet. This wasn't a textbook answer. Jun Hao even hesitated.
"Number one," Ms. Priya called out. "Jun Hao?" Huo Dong Ben Answers Sec 3
Wei Jie froze. He looked down at his Huo Dong Ben. For this one, he hadn't written a joke. He had written the truth.
He quickly slammed his notebook shut.
"That's okay," she said gently. "The Huo Dong Ben is for your learning, not for perfection."
Wei Jie had tried on Section 3. He really had. He'd written about racial harmony, about the importance of National Day, about not judging someone by their favourite hawker food. But his answers were scribbled, desperate guesses. He stared at his first answer: "List two benefits of a diverse society." He had written: 1. More types of food. 2. Can learn new swear words in Tamil and Malay. He gripped his pen
Last year, during CCA selection. I wanted to join the Chinese Orchestra because my grandfather played the erhu. I went to the trial. I was the only one wearing torn school shorts. Everyone else was from the gifted programme. They spoke in perfect English about their grade 8 certificates. I said I learned by watching YouTube. They laughed. I felt like a piece of Lego that didn't fit. I just sat in the corner until my mum came to pick me up. What could someone do? Maybe just say 'you can sit next to me'. That's all.