Nothing To Lose

The Big Bully

Primary 2 life passed very quickly and I was glad the pace in learning in my new school was just right for me. In fact, I was delighted to come in 1st position in my class! Well, now even my mum was not present at the prize giving ceremony. No, no, nothing happened to her. She was so busy preparing her stall for business after the prize giving ceremony that she could not attend the ceremony. A classic case of "So near yet so far".

My P2 Form Teacher thought that transferring me to the top class would benefit me academically, and my mum agreed to the idea. So I was transferred to the top P3 class with new classmates and of course a new teacher. Life wasn't that good after the transfer.

In my new P3 class, there were only 6 boys including me. Ah Hock was one of the 6 boys, and the richest among us. In fact, his father was one of the board members in the school's Board of Directors. To Ah Hock, money is power. So naturally, I was the powerless one. There would be many instances when he would snatch my food during recess. He would ask the boys not to play with me or he would deal with them. He was a big boy so we were quite intimidated by him.

My class teacher was not very caring unfortunately. She was also bias and wasn't fair in her dealing with class matters. Finally, the day came when she totally mishandled a situation and things got a little ugly in school.

While the girls were cleaning the classroom in a routine classroom cleaning duty, they found a portrait of a very ugly lady which resembled my teacher. It even had her name on the picture. The portrait was found under Ah Hock's table. The girls brought the portrait to the teacher and showed her what Ah Hock drew. There was silence as everyone was wondering how the teacher was going to deal with Ah Hock. We could also see Ah Hock's nervousness.

The teacher's response to the portrait was something that shocked everyone, especially me. Without any investigation at all, she opined that the portrait was definitely not Ah Hock's work. She even claimed that I was the mostly likely culprit and that I tried to frame Ah Hock! I was too stunned to say anything. She then told me to admit to my mistake. Mistake? What mistake?! Soon Ah Hock joined in the accusation by asking me to have the guts to admit to what I've done. The situation was too much for me to handle that I ended crying in my seat for the rest of the period.

The rationale of the teacher's action was quite obvious in the end. She was not going to take the risk in punishing Ah Hock. However, she also knew that the whole class was watching her and that the portrait could not have appeared mysterically. She needed a scapegoat and I was naturally that easy target who fitted the bill.

After dismissal, when I reached my mum's stall, I could not control my tears when I saw my mum. She asked me what had happened and I accounted the incident to her. She blew her top and brought me straight to the teacher. In front of everyone, she demanded the teacher for proof that pointed to me as the culprit. My mum told her that if she could show us the proof, she would personally cane me in front of the whole school. The teacher could not produce any proof. My mum then requested that the teacher treat me with fairness and not to take advantage of me ever again just because I was a canteen vendor's son.

That incident was really one life lesson for me. Firstly, I told myself that I would never cry and be pushed around ever again. Secondly, I told myself that I would never be a teacher in my life! Haha.... I think I spoke too soon. Why I eventually became a teacher? Well, you would have to wait a few more chapters for the answer.

So did the bully stop? Not totally but slowly. I tried to win all my friends over by using only one way, sincerity. To put a record to it, I even reconciled with Ah Hock when we were in Primary 6.