Two Weeks Of Love

The Password

“Alright, students, please look up to the screen. We are starting the presentation now. Please listen to the speaker carefully and do not talk and just listen and we won’t have to stop and waste your time,” Mrs. Chai was a short Malay woman that wore a Hijab with usually, a purple shirt and black long sleeves on her arms, she was quite young and got the role of Discipline Mistress two years before the Discipline Master left after sixteen years of service and then the re-employment of teachers start to come in and I see young teachers and old teachers being introduced. 

The projector was only rolled up when we had a performance or if there was a need to. Ms. Tan, a young and quite hour-glass shaped teacher that was quite attractive, walked up beside the projector and spoke into the mic, “Now, you may have noticed or not, but our P4s are not here, and only the top two classes of P5s are in the hall with all P6s. The reason for that would be explained in the next slide,” she pointed the remote and the slide; she said out the lines, 

“In Singapore, there is no law for dating, yes, but Government wanted to advance our young students about love relationships because there are less and less teenagers dating and a large number of preteens that wish that they could so they wanted to actually see if their dreams were possible.

 Therefore, at twelve, thirteen or eleven year old students born after June is to be, and I quote, “educated” in love by choosing the right girls and boys from each school in Singapore for a social experiment,” then she added, “To tell you the truth, P6s, I wish I was you because I’m single and my parents want me to get married soon,” then, the whole level laughs, “Ok, so that means that in Shan Xin, we are going to see if that student’s type of ideal partner can be chosen and see if they can last more than two weeks together. Does anyone volunteer?”

Obvious silence comes through the window, the P5s would think that they would be laughed at if they volunteered and the funny people in P6 wanted to raise their hand but their friends pulled it down asking them not to be funny in this situation because that would cost them their love life. “I thought so, we are accepting volunteers but the ‘chosen ones’ are to be chosen secretly and we are going to be open for volunteers for one week before we start choosing from the P5s to P6s. I hope that that would be enough time for all of you students and no word to any of the lower levels and your other friends because…reasons,” the hall just goes, 

“Huh? Huh? Huh?” I was clueless; all that went through my brain was that they were going to give us until next Friday till they themselves choose who are going for the ‘Social Experiment’. Alia and I looked at each other with blank faces, we didn’t know what to think, and it sounded like it came out of a Korean Drama or Anime, I would have never expected for this kind of – of thing would ever happen. 

Later, at 12 pm, we are sitting in class, talking about the announcement, this has never happened in a Primary school where they force students to date like pushy parents. I was looking at the bright side of this, somehow, I imagined in my own pretty world of guilty pleasures where my ideal guy would be older than me, taller, has muscles, loves me for who I am and has nice boyfriends of whom I can add to my ‘collection’. I can dream all I would want to but it would never happen in the real world and that is why I have my own world that is full of aliens watching over us and making their own little human farms. 

Beside me was Cayden, he was a volleyball boy that was taller than me and always teased me about that, we were placed next to each other after I arrived at school late a few days because I was at Philippines visiting my relatives for Christmas and New Year; school started as soon as New Years was over, and it was on a Friday so I was thankful I didn’t miss much of the activities. I just had to buy some books and a few PE shorts; I was adjusting to the new canteen arrangement. At Stall 7, the lady had a Chinese accent and an annoying man that spoke softly and they gave such little servings for so much money, I just wanted to complain to the school so badly. And the Drink Stall stopped selling bottled drinks because they thought that if they did not sell bottled drinks, we would not bring them to class or hide them in our lockers.