First thing in the morning, Alicia learnt she had tuition this afternoon. Second thing in the morning, Mr Lee pulled her aside during “silent reading” for a talk. They sat in the deserted canteen as dawn broke, and the sun coloured Mr Lee golden-yellow.
“Sorry it’s taken me so long to sit down and talk to you. Things have been busy.”
She nodded.
“Remember when I said I’ll talk to you after your assessments were over?”
Vaguely. “Yes.”
“That’s why I called you down here today. Don’t worry, it’s not just you, and you’re not in trouble. I just want to check in.”
Nod.
“So, Alicia, how have you been doing? With your studies and all that?”
“Fine.”
“How about things at home?”
She frowned. The dishonesty of teachers always irked her. They appeared to care and listen, but they never did. Rather, they were more akin to interrogators, using every trick in a book to get a guilty confession.
It was these underhanded tricks that got Kevin to admit his romance with Ying Wen. The teachers called their parents and slapped them with a disciplinary warning. The couple broke up last week.
The news broke everyone’s hearts.
Her brows furrowed. “It’s fine.”
“Yeah?” Mr Lee cleared his throat.
Alicia had a hunch he was about to demand eye contact again, so she stared at his tie. His silence gave Alicia confidence that her hunch was right.
“Yes. We get along well.”
“I’m sure you noticed that your grades got worse, especially for Maths? What happened there?”
Mrs Fei happened there. She didn’t know that she rolled her eyes until Mr Lee addressed it.
“It’s important for you to take responsibility for your own studies, Alicia. Blaming your teachers or classmates is convenient, but it won’t help you improve. What you should do now is to ask yourself what’s the next step?”
With this segway, Mr Lee got to the point. He was surveying the class for willing students to join his Study Group. A tight-knit group of students who’d sacrifice their first week of holidays to study in the library. In this group, students can exchange knowledge and hold each other accountable, thus making it the perfect environment to study.
Would she like to join?
No. “Yes.”
“And if you have anything you want to get off your chest, I suggest you pay a visit to the school counsellor. Don’t listen to all the nonsense your classmates say about them telling your secrets to the principal. That’s all nonsense.”
“Ok.”
Mr Lee dismissed her.
Two camps formed over the counsellor. On one camp, the students viewed the counsellor as a spy for the principal, digging dirt on any fool who dared visit her. On the other, the teachers assured them the counsellor was a professional.
Alicia was undecided on which camp to trust.
Only one way to find out. She paid the counsellor a visit during recess, and gave her sandwich to Kat. The school tucked the office away near the back gate.
Knocking on the door, a sweet old lady answered, and ushered her in. Of the three rooms, Alicia chose the one with pink walls with inspirational quotes about the magical power of family.
The cheesiest one she saw was: ‘FAMILY. Father And Mother, I Love You.’
She snugged a pillow as she introduced herself and her hypocritical, two-faced mother who preached morals she didn’t follow.
The sweet old lady recoiled. “It’s not nice to talk about your own mother like that. She gave birth to you, you know? You should be grateful to her.”
Alicia wanted to talk about Motel 91, but her gut sided with her classmates. “She made me sprain my ankle.”
“Oh, how did that happen?”
She chose her words carefully. “I was running away from her and I tripped.”
“Have you seen the doctor’s for it?”
“I will tomorrow.”
“Get well soon.”
Alicia complained about her mother, which instigated the counsellor to sing her mother’s praises, which instigated Alicia to complain further, which instigated the counsellor to praise more… This went on for an hour.
The praise reached its peak when Alicia revealed she only had one parent, “Everything you’ve told me today shows me that your mother only has your best interests at heart. The lengths she goes to help set you on the right track shows how much she loves you, Alicia.”
“Ok.”
“How do you think you could repay her?”
God, she sounded like a teacher. “Be grateful.” She forced herself to say. The counsellor nodded and dismissed her with a final nugget of “wisdom”: Never turn your back on family.
Not a second after Kat asked to hang out, Alicia decided to skip tuition. Her grades opposed this. Her temperament supported it. The few times Alicia studied with others (whether by choice or not), it never ended well. The other humans’ mouth-holes made focusing impossible.
“Do you wanna come to my house?”
“Ok, sure.”
“Ok.”
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“And I have tuition. My mother forced me to attend it.”
“Oh, shit. That sucks, ha ha. Tell your mom not to then.”
“She won’t listen to anything I say.”
“Then get someone else to say it for you, like your dad. Sometimes your mom is more stubborn than your dad about something, and vice versa. You know?”
She didn’t. Alicia locked her face in a frown as they greeted Kat’s dad again. Watching them hug and laugh enlarged the frown. Minty’s fur shrank it back down.
Then she heard the affectionate nickname the Dad gave to his daughter: Kit-Kat. Her mother never had one for her.
“Sorry.” Kat returned to her while Minty went to her dad.
“Kit-Kat?”
“Shut the fuck up!” Kat exclaimed. “Never fucking call me that! Fuck you!” She tried her best to suppress a smile.
As she invited Kat in, she winced. What would Kat think of her cheapskate house? No one had ever come to her house before, but she imagined if they did, they’d mock how cheap it was. One glance and Kat would spot the second-hand sofa, the outdated TV, and the ugly standing fan in the corner.
Alicia studied Kat. No frown, grimace, or cringe. Kat sat on the couch and turned the air-conditioner on. No complaints. Why couldn’t her classmates be more like Kat?
Her stomach grumbled, which reminded her she had forgotten to buy lunch from school. Her wallet only had vouchers and coins adding up to a dollar-and-twenty.
The frown grew, and the brows followed. She kicked the sofa again and again. Her afternoons were not supposed to have tuition. This was not how an afternoon should go. This afternoon was all wrong.
It was like detention all over again.
“What? What!” Kat rushed to her aid.
“I forgot to buy lunch. And I only have canteen vouchers.”
“Oh. Oh my god, me too. I got no more money, since we ate at that restaurant… Shit.” Kat thought for a second, “You got instant noodles?”
“I think so.”
Kat discovered the chocolate mix whilst searching every cabinet in sight. “Woah! You know how to bake?”
“No, that’s my mother’s. She bakes cookies!”
“Damn, I bet they’re fucking awesome!”
Junk food was not ‘fucking awesome’.
Kat found the instant noodles next and insisted on the spicy flavour. She took a carrot and two eggs from the fridge, arranged it all together and got to work. No mess, no chaos, no hazards.
Alicia should know this by now. So, she shadowed the chef and took mental notes. The chef cracked eggs without leaving the shell inside the yolk, or the yolk outside of the bowl. She cut carrots in even slices without cutting her hand, and faced the stove without shrieking or causing a fire.
The chef instructed her to fry the eggs, “You do that while I cook the noodles, so it won’t be sitting there cold while I fry the eggs.”
Alicia felt compelled to accept. She had already had one free meal from Kat. Two made her a freeloader. The easy part was pouring the yolk and oil in the pan, the hard part was igniting the fire. She turned the knob, and heard ticking, followed by a spark.
Fire!
She shrieked, ducking behind the nearest wall.
“Oh my god, chill!” Kat laughed, “You don’t know how to cook?”
Alicia shook her head, and took a walk of shame back.
“What! It’s so easy, I’ll show you.”
Kat took over, and ignited the stove. Concerningly loud sizzling followed, and the egg white bubbled to life. A droplet of oil flew out the pan, which Alicia tried to dodge.
“Basically, you flip it over once it’s cooked. That’s it, really. Here.” Kat passed her the spatula.
Alicia approached the Fire slowly, as if about to fight it. At all times, she placed the maximum distance possible between her and the pan. When she flipped it, the egg tore apart.
She passed the spatula back, “I’m sorry.”
“Huh? About what?”
“I ruined the egg.” Even though her mother wasn’t here, Alicia could picture her reaction: Shouting.
“Huh? You did?”
“It tore apart.”
Kat tilted her head, “So?”
“It should flip over as one piece. Mm! You shouldn’t have asked me to help.”
“Why are you—Shit, did I say something wrong?”
“No. Sorry for making a mess.”
“What mess?” Kat threw her hands up, bewildered.
Alicia left the kitchen and watched TV without watching it.
The doorbell rang the moment they started eating. By the front gate was a guy in a JC uniform; the tutor. Alicia kicked a chair.
“The door is unlocked.” She took a bite. The heavenly taste penetrated her frown for a second.
The tutor took his shoes off and placed it on the shoe rack before entering. He scanned them both for a second. In that second, Alicia noticed his biceps.
“Which one of you is Alicia?”
“Me.” Alicia said.
“Where’s your room?” He scanned the room next. Alicia scanned his spiky hair while nibbling her chopsticks.
He figured it out on his own and trespassed into her room. She rocketed out of her chair to stop him. “Do not go into my room!”
“Ok, sorry.” He sat by the dining table, across from the two girls.
He made every movement with one-second beats between them, like a robot executing commands line by line. Open bag. Take out assessment book and pencil case. Take out notebook. Flip to assigned page. Instruct Alicia to complete them. Awaiting further instructions.
“I’m eating lunch.” She said.
He nodded. Awaiting further instructions. Sketch a girl on notebook while waiting.
The girls finished lunch and washed the plates. While Alicia had tuition, Kat watched TV. Alicia sat closer to him, set the assessment book before her, and waited.
Point to assessment book. Give Alicia a pen. Awaiting further instructions.
Alicia continued waiting for him to do something.
“After you finish these questions, I’ll mark it and you’ll do your corrections.”
“Wow, Ten-out-of-ten tuition!” Kat quipped. He did not react. His programming was foreign to the concept of a sarcastic jab. “Ask your mom to get a refund.”
Alicia forced herself to do the questions. It was Math. She hated numbers. It didn’t take long for her to reach a confusing question. She circled it and handed it to him.
Flip to answer sheet. Find answer for the question. Point to the workings.
“Explain it to me. I don’t understand.”
Narrate answer to Alicia.
“You just read out the workings. I still don’t understand.”
“Just remember it for next time.”
Kat sighed passive-aggressively. Zack didn’t care.
“It’s okay, just do the next question.” He said.
Alicia was taken aback. This was nothing alike to her classmate’s description of tuition. From what she’ve eavesdropped, tuition was the twelfth circle of Hell which used past year papers as their main method of torture, or a land of paradise where textbooks finally made sense. No in between.
This was in between. Which was worse. This was what her mother thought she needed for O’Levels? Why didn’t she skip it? She could be playing Cyber-Strikers right now.
Rather than doing work, she inhaled the soap off his body. The best word she could find to describe its scent was lemon. Her cheeks grew hot.
Kat budged in, quipping about Math and insulting Mrs Fei. It made tuition bearable.
At least they had a few matches of Cyber-Strikers before Kat left. Alicia regretted not skipping tuition and swore to herself to never do it again.
Her mother came home. She kept her eyes on the TV, pretending to care about the news covering an oil spill in the ocean that ruined marine life.
“How was tuition?”
Horrible.
“Did Zack teach you well?”
He didn’t even teach.
Her mother went into the kitchen, “Oh wow! Did you cook instant noodles by yourself?”
No.
“Well done! See, I told you cooking wasn’t difficult! All these things aren’t difficult Alicia, you just need to stop being lazy and just learn it.”
Her mother joined her on the couch. She got up and locked herself in her room. Stay away, junkie. The frown developed into teeth grinding.
Not only should she skip tuition, she should also steal her phone back, change the password, and remove her mother’s fingerprint from the settings. With her phone back, she should find Dad and ask him for the truth.
At the stroke of midnight, Alicia tiptoed out of her room and dug through her mother’s work bag. After retrieving it, Alicia changed her password to something her mother would least expect: T4C05.