I have been Pwned when I tried to steal our school's medal

The case of the missing medal


“Stupid basketball team!” I muttered. “I am such a good player. How could they not select me? How could they? Ho ho! I bet that they lost horribly in finals.” My face became a mask of fury as I thought of the day when my coach told me that I was not going to play in the finals.

I strolled casually down the corridor towards the library. Just when I was about to enter, something caught my eyes: A shiny and bright plate. My curiosity was aroused by at least a hundred notches. Could it be the medal that the basketball team won yesterday?

I bolted towards the library desk and scrutinized it. It was the basketball team’s medal. A wicked and sinister smile began to spread across my face at the thought of something-revenge. My skin tingled with excitement as an idea how to seek revenge on the team hit me. I scanned the area for anyone, before hiding below the library desk

“Good! The coast is clear,” I muttered to myself. I slid the medal into her dress and left the library hastily. “Now where can I hide this thing for the time being?” I wondered. I started racking my brains, thinking for any possible place in the school that would not be easily spotted by others.

“Ah! The school garden!” I exclaimed all of a sudden. I darted to the school garden and looked for the banana tree. Its leaves would be able to fully conceal the medal.

I looked around me again, ensuring that no one had been following me.

Before I could spot the banana tree, a voice shouted from behind. “Jane! What the devil are you doing in the garden? Don’t you know that the garden can only be accessed with permission from your form teacher? Furthermore, it is going to rain!” I immediately recognized the voice as Alan, my friend from the boy’s basketball team. I quickly threw the medal into the koi pond beside her.

Unfortunately, Alan caught sight of the medal. He immediately questioned me with curiosity, “I say, is that the latest interactive handheld game console? Looks like the very one I saw that day when I accompanied my mother to the shopping mall.” He paused for a moment. “Speaking of which, I was wondering why you threw that into the pond. It’s quite an expensive gadget.” He approached the pond and attempted to take a closer look.

“Wait! What game can I play on that console?” I inquired. I tried to buy some time to throw some rocks into the pond so that I could hide it. But it was of no use. Alan leaned over and saw the medal.

“Holy cows!” he gasped in utter disbelief. “You didn’t steal that, did you? How could you…” Before Alan could say another word, I sent my fist flying towards Alan, knocking him out instantly. I then dragged him to an empty classroom. I took off her sweater and wet the sleeves, using it to wipe Alan’s face, hoping that it would help him get back to his senses faster.

Within minutes, Alan woke up. I turned to him, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and warned, “You’d better co-operate with me. You are the only one who knows about this. The best thing for you to do is to keep your mouth shut. If I find out that you have been leaking information or up to some funny business….” I cracked her knuckle and smirked. “I think you know what I mean…” A shiver passed through Alan and he began trembling from head to toe.

“Now dry yourselves. After our lesson with Mr. Bean, this whole thing shall be forgotten. We will be going to the library for the time being. When you are there, you must behave naturally and don’t show any fright or anxiety, stay calm if anything goes wrong. I can help you.” I continued briefing Alan on several tips.

Not long after the briefing, we set off for the library. Before we could even get near the library, a scream was heard. “Who has stolen the medal? Ah ha! I knew it. Chris, come here. Tell me if you had stolen the medal…..What? It must be you. Who else could have stolen the medal other than the most mischievous boy in the entire school? Own up now and your punishment may be lightened.”I froze. I stretched my left hand outwards just in time to stop Alan from entering the library.

“Run! Get out of here before she sees us!”I hissed at Alan, who was still wandering around the entrance of the library. But, Alan wasn’t quick enough. Alan’s clumsy action had caught Mrs. Tan’s eyes. “Alan? What do you want? Come in here now!” Alan beckoned to me and I came along with him.

“Have you kids heard of the missing medal?” Mrs. Tan asked.

“No… Mrs. Tan. I don’t….don’t know…anything…about...about it!” Alan stammered.

“What’s wrong with you?” Mrs. Tan asked him, wondering what could have happened to him.

“Oh… He’s just a bit depressed,” I lied.

“Yes… I...I am a bit depressed,” Alan added.

“I think that something fishy is going on. I suspect that one of you must have taken the medal. Join Chris at the back of the library now.” Mrs. Tan demanded.

Just then, Sean and Ali came into the library. Mrs. Tan was delighted, the frown on her face immediately turned into a smile. She beckoned them over and said, “Ah! Just the people that I want to see. Maybe you two can help me out. You see, just during the lunch break, I went to buy a cup of coffee and when I came back, the medal I left on the desk was gone. Jane, Chris and Alan are the suspects that I have rounded up just now.”

Alan suddenly came back to his senses. Before anyone could speak, he said in a fast and panicky voice, “It definitely was not me!” Holding up his heavily bandaged left arm, he continued, “See! My mother’s supposed to take me to see the doctor, but then it started to rain, so I had to wait for her. I met Jane on my way to the library. We walked in together. You can ask her if you need clarification. Besides, what reason would I have for taking the school’s medal?” Everyone’s attention was channelled to Chris.

“Maybe you were angry that you didn’t get to play in the team because of your broken arm,” Chris talked back. “Or maybe Jane was upset that she didn’t get to play in finals and stole the medal.” He sneered. “It was definitely not me. In fact, I’m not even interested in basketball. I came in here to speak to Mrs. Tan about my detention. When I saw that she wasn’t in, I left so as to escape my punishment.”

I gritted her teeth and clenched her fist. I could feel my heart pounding ceaselessly and blood rushing through my veins.

“How dare you accuse me of something I did not do?” I shrieked. “The whole school knows that you are the most mischievous boy. You are most likely to do something like this! I was in the corridor because I was just coming back from lunch and wanted to study in the library.”

“Calm down, Jane,” Ali said soothingly, placing an arm on her wrist. He noticed that I was wearing a sweater and my sleeves were soaking wet. He looked deep into my eyes as if trying to hypnotize me.

Ali began whispering into Sean’s ears. I began to feel uneasy as they looked at her every now and then.

After a few minutes of discussion, Ali turned to Alan and me. “Are you sure that there is nothing going on between you two?”

“Of course not!” I spluttered.

“Alan?”

“Err....I ...I” Alan was at lost of words. I glared hard at him and showed him me fist.

“Don’t do it!” I eyed at Alan as if I were trying to communicate with him using my eyes. I prayed hard that he would do what I say.

Alan was in a dilemma; he looked at me and looked at the rest. He simply could not stand it anymore. He broke down. Ali and Sean leapt to their feet and consoled Alan.

“Tell us what has happened? “ Ali inquired.

“Jane....She...she stole the medal. She’s...she’s going to beat me up!” Alan sobbed hysterically. My face was a mixture of sheer disbelief and anger. How could he do this to me?

“Aha! I knew it all along!” Sean boasted.

“Alan! What did I tell you?” I bellowed just when Sean was about to explain the mystery behind this. I sent a fist straight towards Alan’s face. Before anyone could stop me, the fist hit Alan on his chin. Alan went airborne and flew backwards. He slammed onto the wall and blacked out. Everyone stared at me open-mouthed, dumbfounded by my unpredictable behaviour.

“Uh-oh,” I gasped. I had finally come back from my madness and realized that I had gotten myself into hot soup. I felt my heart in my mouth and my skin clammy. I backed off slowly, preparing myself for a retreat as Sean and Ali began to close up on me.

“Destroy the evidence...Destroy the evidence!” a voice rang in my head. It was the only way to at least get some trouble off me. Fear did not hinder me from giving in so easily; I dashed to the koi pond like a bolt and dived into it without much ado.

Being an accomplished swimmer, it took me seconds to reach the bottom of the koi pond. However, I was not alone. Ali dived into the pool shortly after arriving at the pond. Jane searched frantically for the medal and tried to shake Ali off.

“There it is!” I turned to face a hydrilla and a few rocks concealing the medal. I grabbed the medal and headed for the reeds where I would hide for a while. Before I could do so, I had to go up to the surface of the koi pond to get some fresh air, but instead I went deeper into the koi pond. I looked down and saw a cloud of sand. It was quicksand.

Panic started to engulf me. Pessimistic thoughts of being drowned flooded my mind. I looked around for Ali. He was nowhere to be seen. A shiver passed through me and I began to tremble.

“This is it. I am dead,” I thought. I shut my eyes tightly, waiting for the inevitable to happen. One second passed. Two seconds passed. Still nothing happened. Just when I could not hold my breath any longer, a hand grabbed my arm. It gave a few heaves and I was out of the quicksand.

The next thing I knew was that I was in the hospital. Alan was beside me, heavily wrapped with casts and bandages. I suffered lung damages after my ordeal in the koi pond. After a few days, I and Alan were discharged from the hospital and back to school again.

“Phew!” I heaved a sigh of relief. I was lucky that I did not need to use my life to pay the consequences of my jealousy. If it had not been for Ali, I would have ceased to exist.



Chen Zong Rui (6A) ♣♠

Discipline & Empathy

           Personally, I think that the value "empathy" is more important than "discipline". Here's a few examples of what I meant:

1) Robots and humans. What's the difference? Robots definitely have more discipline than us. But there isn't empathy in them. We need empathy to understand someone's situation, in order to help that person. Whereas, robots just do the "common" way, without much Empathising with that person. That's why we are superior to them.

2) You don't need discipline to "do" every values in our school. For that Patriotism value, it is the natural feeling that the country did something good to you and you will naturally want to give something to them in return. If we use discipline to be patriotic, it would be like the "Robot" scenario, we are just being "programmed" to be patriotic, not genuinely loving your country, in other words, you are focing yourself to love the country.

3) You don't need discipline to e.g Help the poor in certain countries. When you see them moaning and groaning in hunger, REAL hunger, you will empathize with them. Naturally, you will want to give them some money or rice. If you felt sorry for someone and yet, you have done nothing much, it means that you haven't really emphatized with that person. You do not need discipline to show that you empathize with the poor by giving them rice or money. Same as 2), by using discipline to help the poor means that you are not genuinely helping someone, you are doing it because the "rule" says that we must do it.

Well, seems like Empathy is more important. Trust me, you will need empathy (something that you cannot build it up). Discipline can be slowly built up, but empathy can't be. It is really inside you, something that determines your actions.