Amidst The Stars

Unseen

 "Remember, I stayed behind after school to help the art club with decorating the classroom."

  Leon rolled his eyes, swinging his art bag as he walked. "Yeah, okay. You've told me ten thousand times already."

  Vicente smiled and caught a stray paintbrush that flew out of Leon's bag. "Thank you, Leon. Are you sure you don't want to come along?"

  "Nah. Mother will kill me if I skip my math tutorials," he grumbled, "she must think my grades are more important than my sister." Leon looked at him. "Are you going to take photos?"

  "I'm going to see if I can buy any." He pulled his purse out of his pocket. "I brought some pocket money."

  They reached the school gates, and Leon went off to the nearby bus station, waving at him as he left. "See you tonight."

  According to the map in his general studies textbook, the nearest metro station was only a block away from his school, and Vicente managed to reach it after five minutes, thankful that his school bag was light. He followed his plan and switched lines two stations later, arriving at Xishan Kindergarten ten minutes before Ling's performance was to begin.

  He scurried around excited parents and fussing teachers, careful not to push over the tiny kindergarteners milling around his feet, and followed the line into the school hall.

  Teachers were standing outside the entrances, accepting what looked like slips of paper from the adults' hands. As he neared, he noted the bold words on every slip of paper: "TICKET".

  An expectant hand was held out in front of him.

  Vicente looked up at the teacher, who stared back with tired eyes and a bored half-smile. "Do you have a ticket?"

  He shook his head.

  "Well, then, I'm going to have to ask you to — "

  "Please," he interrupted, "even if I can't have a seat, may I at least stand?"

  The teacher looked at him for a while before sighing. "Stand at the back, then. You should still be able to see the stage from there."

  Relief flooding through him, Vicente muttered a quick "thank you" to the teacher before making his way into the hall and standing against the wall. The rest of the parents passed him without looking, engrossed in conversation and flipping through the programme. He looked at the stage, at the colourful set and the bouquets lining the side, and awaited the performance's beginning.

  Soon, a swell of music began to blare from the speakers as the hall dimmed, the spotlights glowing like lanterns. A row of kindergarteners walked out onto the stage, some of them waving at their parents. Bouncing behind her classmates was Ling, dressed in a frilly crimson dress and smiling brightly enough to light up the world.

  The audience burst into applause. Vicente smiled at his sister (though he was quite sure she couldn't see him), clapping and clapping until his hands felt like they were going to fall off. He thought of cheering, like he always did for Leon during his sports competitions, before deciding otherwise. Nobody else is cheering anyways.

  A middle-aged woman, presumably the headmistress, stood behind the podium. Beaming, she addressed the audience. "Parents, teachers and esteemed guests, we are gathered here today to celebrate the graduation of some very talented young boys and girls. Now, it's time for them to move on to a new stage of life." She turned to the cluster of students. "Children, I wish you all the best in primary school, and I do hope that we'll meet again!"

  The audience, once again, burst into applause.

  He watched as the headmistress ambled to the side of the stage, where a teacher was standing with a handful of diplomas. He watched as every student walked their way to the headmistress, shaking her hand, grinning and accepting the diploma. He clapped politely for each of them, listening as the photographer's camera snapped proud photos.