Special Someones

Chapter 26 Rally

|NGOs and international media condemn treatment of Matthias Williams|

|Mufti: "Do not meddle in our religion"|

|Syariah court approved 44-year old man taking 15-year old girl as second wive|

|Mufti proposes marriage age reduced to 14 for girls"|

Wati clutched her head in pain. Why are nutcases like that leading us in our religion? They should be fired immediately! They're making us look like obsolete dinosaurs. And paedophiles.

"Hey isn't that a student from Tranquerah High School?"

Wati snapped around to look towards the voice. The group of boys were pointing towards someone outside, and hadn't actually noticed Wati.

"That school useless lah. They just let men walk in to kidnap their students," A boy said.

"If I were there, I wouldn't stay quiet. I'd definitely help my friend."

"Please lah. Impossible! You expect them to talk back ah? Some more want them to fight."

"Oh, yar hor. They cannot wan."

Wati never hoped people would ignore her so much in her entire life. Waiting for her parents felt like an eternity.

#

Summer camp, day 12

It happened again.

Xue Ge had been looking longingly at the teddy rabbit sitting next to him. Then he took it and hugged it. And began to sob. The Jennifer began to sob as well. Chee Yok thankfully didn't cry but looked pretty miserable.

Wati tried her best not to look at him as she wrote her notes, but... the rest of us are looking pretty miserable as well, just knowing that they are.

It was worse for Wati, since she was sitting right next to Jennifer. And Jennifer was still giving her the cold shoulder all this time.

Teacher Halimah kept teaching, trying her best to ignore her distraught students.

'Tik'. Wati's pencil lead snapped from pressing it too hard while she wrote. She glared at the broken pencil for a good long moment as if it had betrayed her in ways most heneious. Eventuallt she took out new one. How did it turn out like this? All I wanted was for Matt to embrace his heritage. It's who he is. Was that really too much to ask?

When the man in the 'kopiah' appeared at the classroom door, the class audibly groaned.

His timing couldn't have been worse! How many times has he interrupted our studies? How much are you going to take from us?

The man was rather incensed at his rude welcome, and made sure Teacher Halimah knew how displeasured he was that her students had so little respect for their elders and men of the cloth. Teacher Halimah could only cower and bow her head.

Wati noticed her classmates glaring and clenching their fists as the man went at their teacher like that. And no wonder: Teacher Halimah was well beloved by the class. She was the best teachers they had; dedicated, excellent teaching skills and (normally) very caring for her students' welfare.

How dare this brute treat her like this? She's done more for us than he ever has.

Once he was done berating Teacher Halimah, the man turned his attention on the class and rained fire and brimstone upon them. On and on he told them how insolent they are, how their parents brought them up badly, and how they should show respect to their elders. And of course he demanded they tell him where the apostate is immediately. Wati was certain she wasn't the only one feeling extremely irate with the man.