True Friends Chapter 1 “Come Ariel! Today is your twelve birthday!” Ariel Tan heard her mother’s sweet musical voice. “Your guests are waiting!” “Mom!” Ariel ran towards her mother who was standing at the door of Ariel’s room, giving her a great big bear hug. “I’ve something for you!” Ariel’s mother said, holding a miniature grandfather clock like in the song. Her mother gave it to her as a birthday present. Ariel, holding the clock in her hands, walked carefully towards her best friends, Cheryl Yew and the twins, Kimberly and Kim Hong. Cheryl was holding on to a big ‘Toys ‘R’ us’ shopping bag. Ariel first guess was that it was her birthday present. Kimberly was holding a small little present. The gift was wrapped with an azure wrapping paper. But to her utmost surprise, Kim was not holding anything. When Kim saw the clock, she snatched it from Ariel’s hands. “Give it back to me! Please!” Ariel shouted instantly. Kim did not want to give it back. She was admiring it. “Kim! Put it down! It isn’t yours!” Kimberly barked. Kim gave it back. Ariel took it quickly. Ariel was furious. Kim looked at Ariel with big round innocent eyes and said, “What did I do?” The next day before school, the four best friends met at the gate. They managed to greet each other before the bell rang, signaling the start of the classes. Ariel and Cheryl ran into 6E classroom while Kim and Kimberly ran into the 6F classroom. Madam Siti, a short and plump woman, strolled into the 6E classroom. She teaches them English, Maths and Science. “Okay! Let’s begin our lessons. Who can form a sentence with fastenate?” Madam Siti asked. Lavender Alexandra who came from America volunteered. “My raincoat has ten buttons but I could only fasten eight.” “Very funny. This joke is so old it has mould on it!” Madam Siti said sarcastically. Chapter 2 After school, the four best friends met at gate 3. “Hey! Recently, a new girl, Lavender went into our class. She is pretty nice, making funny jokes. Want me to introduce you to her?” Ariel asked Kimberly and Kim. “Sure!” Kimberly replied. “Lavender! Over here!” Ariel stood on tip-toe and called. Lavender, quite tall, easily spotted Ariel. She hurried through the jostling crowd towards Ariel. “What’s up?” Lavender asked when she finally reached Ariel. “Lavender, this is Kimberly and Kim. Kimberly and Kim, this is Lavender,” Ariel introduced, gesturing to the twins. She shook hands with both Kimberly and Kim, she did a double take. She exclaimed, “You two are twins!” “Didn’t you seen twins before?” Kim retorted, irritated. Lavender felt hurt. “I rarely see one,” she said rather softly. Ariel sided Lavender. “You should not say that!” she protested. Kim glared at Lavender. Lavender retreated. Kim was liking the girl less by the minute. She strode away. Lavender let out a sigh of relief. “I don’t think I like that girl,” Lavender remarked. Cheryl, Ariel, Kimberly and Lavender chattered on happily. Mostly consist of Kim’s bad attitude. Lavender’s mother soon came. The time for her to go. “It’s great meeting you guys!” she said brightly. Behind a gloomy corner, Kim was hidden. Her eyes flashed dangerously. She heard every nasty word her friends had said about her. She hated Lavender more than anything else in the world. Chapter 3 About the Hong family, Kimberly and her parents were busy searching high and low for Kim. “ Kim! Oh Kim! Come out wherever you are!” Kimberly shouted, cupping her hands over her mouth. “DingDong! DingDong!” the doorbell cried out. “I’ll get it!” Kimberly told her parents hurriedly. She opened the door and found Kim standing there. Kimberly tried to hug Kim but Kim refused to be hug. She stomped all the way to her room. “Well, this isn’t the first time,” Mr. Hong whispered to Mrs. Hong as the door to Kim’s room slammed shut. Mrs. Hong nodded to show that she agrees. In Kim’s untidy bedroom, Kim was fuming. Oh! How I loathed that Lavender! Kim thought, her anger rising. She laid on her bed but could not sleep, as she was busy thinking of an evil but foolproof plot to make Lavender humiliate herself in front of all the pupils. It her target! The next day at school, Kim was still planning. At that moment when Mr. Chew walked in, she still could not think of a good plan. Her mind was still whirling at full speed and full of ideas. “Got it!” she whispered, punching her fist victoriously into the air. Kimberly stared at her uneasily. “Sorry!” Kim smiled sweetly. Kimberly shrugged and went back to pay attention to Mr. Chew’s class. The latter however did not realize that Kim was not paying any attention to the lesson. Kim intend to plan this carefully as she did not want to be caught. She wanted to put her ‘brilliant’ plan to work today. She was going to change the answers on Lavender’s exam papers so Lavender will get the lowest ever mark in her class! Lavender will finally get her just deserts! “Say sweet revenge Kim,” Kim told herself mentally. * * * * * * * * * * * Ariel felt bored. Madam Siti had been droning on and on for the past hour. She looked at Cheryl to see she is doing. Ariel tried to stifle a giggle as she found Cheryl gazing at Ted in adoration. That is some juicy news she would have to tell everyone after lessons and during recess! * * * * * * * * * * * “Really?” Kimberly’s eyes widen in disbelief. “Yup! I saw it!” Ariel nodded firmly. “Wow! That’s some news I’ll have to tell everyone later!” Kimberly gasped. “What’s up?” Cheryl asked from behind. Ariel’s stomach did a little flip-flop. She felt a bit guilty. She did not think that Cheryl wanted this ‘admire’ thing to get out. “We were just talking,” Kimberly replied hastily. Ariel blushed. A slight pink was on both her cheeks. “Are you alright?” Cheryl asked, concerned. Ariel knew that Cheryl would be indignant if she knew what Ariel just told Kimberly. "Can I tell Kim about it?" Kimberly whispered to Ariel, her voice quite eager. "Just a minute more after she left," Ariel whispered back. Kimberly nodded silently. "What's up with you two?" Cheryl cried. "Nothing," Ariel and Kimberly said in unison. Frustrated, Cheryl walked off. Ariel giggled. "Oooh! I'm going to tell Lavender and Kim!"Kimberly hurried off. Ariel grinned. * * * * * * * * Meanwhile, Kim was in Madam Siti's office. She found Lavender's paper quickly. "Smarty bookworm," she muttered. Lavender got full marks. She changed a few questions. "Oh! What the heck," she said and changed more. She cackled. Smiling, her task completed, she strode out of the office, apparently pleased with herself. She walked towards Kimberly. She asked curiously, "What happened? You looked like a cat that ate a canary." "I did," Kim said smoothly. Kimberly stared at her. Kim smiled a secret smile. She will not let anyone know what she did, not even her own twin sister. She was determined not to let this secret leaked out. Lavender will finally be getting her just deserts. “Anyway,” Kimberly interrupted Kim’s train of thoughts. Usually, when people interrupt Kim’s train of thoughts, she would become irritable and bite off people’s head. “What?” Kim asked sweetly, too glad to be irritated. “You got to hear this juicy news! Cheryl……..” Kimberly said excitedly, pausing for dramatical effects and suspense. Kim, who could not resist gossip, could no longer stand the suspense and cried, “Cheryl what?” “Cheryl likes …….”Kimberly paused again. Again, Kim urged Kimberly to go on. “Okay! Okay!” Kimberly said after Kim’s persistent pleading. “Cheryl likes Ted,” Kimberly finished. “Really?” Kim shot Kimberly a look of disbelief. “Cheryl’s always so studious and goody goody two shoes,” Kim said. “Hey! It’s true! Ariel told me!” Kimberly put both her hands up in mock surrender. Kim’s eyes sparkled like it always does when she heard gossip. “Bye!” Kim cried, “I’m going to tell Phyllis and Pamela and Ella and Rebecca and Alison and Cindy and….and………”Kimberly never got to hear the end of the sentence as Kim ran off. Kimberly went off in the other direction in search of Lavender. Chapter 4 Rumors spread like wildfire around the school and so do gossip. Each one is usually more exaggerating than the next. By the time the news reached the last person in the Primary Six, it stretched to Cheryl flirting with Ted. Cheryl denied liking Ted when questioned about it. Of course, neither Cheryl nor Ted was happy that they were the gossips. “Who said that?” Cheryl had demanded to know. So did Ted. Nobody knows and the twins refused to tell Cheryl. Cheryl was furious. She did not found out the culprit. The day soon came for The Primary Sixers to receive their exam papers. Madam Siti walked into 6E classroom, her head barely visible behind the stack of exam papers she was carrying. Lavender was calm. Ariel glanced at her in surprise to see Lavender taking it so well. Not at all worried or anxious. Lavender twirled her pen around her fingers. Her ears perked up when she heard her name being mentioned. She walked towards Madam Siti, her eyes never leaving the stack of exam papers. Madam Siti handed her the paper wordlessly. Lavender returned to her desk, not daring to even peek at it but was confident that she did get ninety and above like she always did. She put the paper face down on her desk and waited for a few seconds before turning over the papers casually. She got the shock of her life when she found that she barely passed with a result of 52. “Pssst!” Ariel whispered from behind. “How’s your result?” “Fine!” Lavender tried making her voice as calm as possible but she was feeling bewilded and disappointed. She wanted to cry but was afraid that she would embarrass herself by doing so. “Ahem!” Madam Siti cleared her throat after giving out the exam papers, “Come and see me please, Lavender.” She trudged after Madam Siti, a sinking feeling in her stomach. The exam had been easy so how come she only get a miserable 52?They came to a stop in front of Madam Siti’s table. Lavender could feel Ariel’s eyes staring at her intensely. She looked at her fingers, unable to meet Madam Siti’s eyes. “I don’t understand what happened to you, Lavender. Your marks are the lowest in the class. If you don’t improve, I’ll have to give you extra lessons after school,” Madam Siti said, a hint of disappointment on the edge of her voice. Lavender did not need Madam Siti to tell her that her results were bad, way bad. She bit her lips. “I’m going to give you extra lessons starting next Monday,” Madam Siti said kindly. Lavender wanted to burst into tears. She dragged her feet to her desk. Tears blurred her vision. She was not upset because of the extra lessons but was downcast because of her bad results. As she walked towards her desk, a thousand questions bubbled up inside her. Why did she get such low marks? Was she careless? Someone deliberately changed her answers? This was a nightmare? She pinched herself. This was not a nightmare, she felt painful, surely this must be true. As Madam Siti went through the answers, Lavender frowned. I’m sure I got this question correct! she thought. That does not make sense, if she knew she got it correct, how come the answers on the paper were wrong? That’s one difficult puzzle. Chapter 5 Kim, having heard that Lavender got the lowest marks in the class was extremely pleased with herself. She was convinced that Lavender stole her friends. However, she felt guilty. Day by day, she felt more and more guilty. She avoided Lavender, fearing that she would find out. Finally, one week later, she could not live with her guilty conscience anymore and decided to confess. * * * * * * * * * * * “I think its best to apologise to Lavender,” Madam Siti advice gently after hearing the story. “Alright.” Kim managed in between stifled sobs. * * * * * * * * * * * “Sorry! I’m really sorry!” Kim said as sincerely as she could. “I’m sorry!” Kim began again. “Alright! I forgive you! You apologized for the infinite time already!” Lavender flashed her a broad grin. “Friends?” Kim said, holding out a hand. “Friends!” Lavender replied firmly, shaking Kim’s hand. Chapter 6 After that, Kim and Lavender became the best of friends. Cheryl found out that Ariel was the culprit but being best friends, they could not stay mad at each other for long. Together, true friends are forever!
Copyright © 2004 Sapphire Lim |