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Alex's fist became white with anger. He was still nursing his hatred when he saw
the source of his grievance. His eyes narrowed as he fixed his gaze on Jeremy.
"You lied to me! You cheated in your test! What else are you going to do?" the
teacher had yelled as she flung Alex's test papers to the ground. Alex just
stared hard at the floor. His mind was in great confusion. He wondered how his
teacher had managed to find out.
"Alex... Are you fine?" Jeremy had stammered. Alex turned around. Strange...
How could he have known about what had happened when he had never told anyone
about it?
"What about?" Alex had tried to be cheerful. Jeremy held his friend's
shoulder and shook him hard.
'Why are you still lying?" Jeremy had thundered. Alex's eyes widened when he
realised that Jeremy, his best buddy since kindergarten, was the culprit who had
spilt the beans. Alex had been speechless.
Even after the whole episode was over, Alex was still seeing red. Now, he was
waiting for Jeremy.
"An eye for an eye..." Alex kept chanting. He wanted to get even, on that
day, at that very moment.
Alex's fist turned tighter as Jeremy walked past him. Suddenly, without
thinking, his fist was raised and was brought down swiftly to his best friend's
face. Alex could only see his victim's eyes turning wide with terror before the
hard blow landed squarely on the cheek. Jeremy crumpled to the ground, right in
front of everyone.
There was a collective gasp and then the canteen went silent. All eyes were
fixed upon them. Alex was overwhelmed with guilt and terror. All traces of anger
had been washed away when he saw his friend lying still on the concrete floor.
"Jeremy... Jeremy..." he whispered in his ears. He touched his buddy's hand,
hoping that he would wake up from his unconsciousness.
"Jer..."
Suddenly, the languid hand came to life and grabbed Alex's hand. Now, the
formerly weakened hand gave the other one a twist. It was a severe twist-so
severe that Alex gave a long, loud howl!
That was the start of the fight. The two friends were locked in a bitter
embroil, right there at the canteen. Immediately, the canteen turned chaotic
with pupils cheering them on.
Fists and kicks were exchanged. Soon, lips and eyes started to swell in size.
The two boys were egged on by the 'cheerleaders' in the canteen.
"Go ... Jeremy go!"
"Go ... Alex go!"
The school was clearly divided into two.
Clang! Crash! Thud!
"STOP IT!" thundered a voice!
Suddenly, you could hear a pin drop. Like in a slow-motion movie, all eyes
turned around to look at the source of the voice. Jaws began to drop as the eyes
took in the form of Mrs Toh, the discipline mistress.
Mrs Toh's eyes were raging. Mrs Toh extended her hands, one for each boy.
Soon, the hands found what they were looking for -- their ears! The boys were
then made to march to the principal's room where
they would await their doom! |
