Chapter Ten : The 6 Day Countdown
[In the six days leading up to Moonway Ball, matters of the heart fight desperately for balance. Will fate win this hand, or will the efforts of Goldie; Matchmaker Extraordinaire!, Fat Cat, Bennykins, Edward the Gigolo, Dunno How, Uncle Soon and Tam Hoi Loon (?) make Lady Destiny bow at their feet? A one, a two, a...]
Six Days To Go
Fat Cat was a regular face at the pub nowadays, and the members of Airco were not sure whether he was welcomed or otherwise. He was a pretty rich kid, and he was pseudo-nice, but he was also FREAKING irritating. Thanks to his money, he was able to help the funds-a-dwindling club (mostly because Igene embezzled a lot of money for promotions, but never returned the receipts OR the cash). He drove, so he would be able to take Airco people who were sick of cafeteria food out for lunch. He owned a digital camera, so the claims from the photography department were at the lowest point for the entire year. He had connections, so he helped Airco cut through some red tape (with his shameless flattering of the student services department staff). Valuable helper - but valuable enough for the Airco members to ignore the fact that he was smelly, rude, irritating and too egoistic for his own good?
Fat Cat was smart enough to befriend Thingy first and foremost, and make himself inexpendable to her. This saddened most of the other tortured members, like Maria and Benedict, because they had enough of his boastfulness to last them a lifetime. The PR department was busy thinking of plans for the Airco launch (less than a month to go!) and Fat Cat was constantly sticking his nose into their plans and pouring cold water on them. Benedict kept saying that he would be able to get Sarah Tan to come to the event, what with the Clara connections and all. But Fat Cat kept saying that he knew Sarah Tan... hrmph! Benedict was intent on contacting Sarah Tan and shoving Fat Cat's word back up his ass. If only he had someone to bitch about all this to! Thingy wouldn't listen to him anymore, Seamus was too stressed about other things, and Choong Leeng would answer to his rants with the typical, "What? Got meh? I didn't realise oso!!"
Anyway, he had other things to think about other than defenestrating Fat Cat. Anyway, as irritating as Fat Cat had been the previous month, he had been getting less cocky lately. He wondered why. Maybe if he had asked Goldie Cheng, he would have found the answer...
Goldie, Matchmaker Extraordinaire had been approached by Fat Cat to set up a match between Thingy and Fat Cat! Goldie, using extreme self-control to hold back her laughter and to yell, "IN YOUR DREAMS, LOSER!!" decided that it would be pretty funny to see Fat Cat and Thingy dancing together during the Moonway Ball. Therefore, she started praising Fat Cat to the high heavens in the publication room, causing Benedict and Maria to feel that Goldie was going insane.
Even though seeing Thingy and Fat Cat dancing would've been a sweet reward, the main reason that she was helping Fat Cat was because of Lumpy Lock. If Fat Cat gave Thingy a prom ticket for his table, then Thingy could give her Airco lucky draw ticket to Lumpy (her so-called brother). Lumpy in a tuxedo on a prom night might just win over Princess Kimchi. It was alll good.
Benedict's problem too, lay in matters of the heart. He had no idea which cartoon character Clara was going to be dressed up as. It was almost obscene to dismiss someone just because they could not telephatically tell you what they were dressing up as. In the end, he decided to get Zohra and Pooyakasha to ask Clara, and then inform him of her plans. After Zohra was given the green light to be Miss A-Levels (Clara refused to join, so it was given to Zohra by default), she had become friendlier towards Clara, much to Joanne's dismay. Zohra agreed to help Benedict, although she was a bit confused. Didn't Joanne just tell Zohra that Ben was going to be dressed as Roger Rabbit? Why would he care what Clara dressed up as?
Clara too, was getting cold feet. She did so want Benedict, but she liked all these "it was fated for us to be together - see, we even dressed alike!" rubbish. She refused to lose out to some Ah Lian like Joanne Ling! It also pissed her off to hear Joanne's incessant, loud proclaimations of being Benedict's prom date. Being too tired to argue with her, Clara decided that the best thing to do would be just to ignore Joanne and let her humiliate herself further on prom night. However... it would be humiliating for Clara to show up mismatched with Benedict... she was tempted to call off the "fate" thing. But that would show she didn't have enough faith that they were meant to be together! In the end, she decided to get Pee Yin to help her surreptiously ask Benedict who he would be dressing up as, and then she would accomodate to Ben. Yes, it was a brilliant plan!
* * * * * * *
Five Days To Go...
Goldie, Thingy and Fat Cat were at the prom rehearsals, having sneaked in and having to brave the snarkiness of the Student Cuntcil. Pretending to be writing an article about the prom preparations, Thingy sat herself down on the comfiest sofa in the ballroom, while Goldie used Fat Cat's digital camera to take photos... for her blog. Fat Cat was nervously pacing around Goldie and getting an arm or leg into the photos, all the while going, "She's sitting there alone! Go help me ask her to go to the prom with me!"
With a disgusted expression, Goldie glared at him (she hated his digital camera anyway - slow shutter speed) and said, "Be a man! She's alone, therefore it's the perfect time for you to approach her!"
Like a jellyfish, Goldie watched as he wobbled over to Thingy's side... she hoped for the best...
Back in the publication room, Benedict was listening to Zohra's report for the day.
"Bennykins, I have heard from a reliable source that Clara is mad for Men In Black. She'll probably be dressing up as the Woman in Black... you know... real 'office woman' kind of look. Suits Clara," she smiled winningly at Benedict.
"Wow! Can you imagine? This is the perfect solution for you. You still wear a black suit, and mebbe you could accesorise with some toy gun or something. I can't think of a happier ending for you," said Choong Leeng, who was standing nearby, trying on an orange wig for her costume.
"Wow, that IS perfect! How nice of Clara! She probably knew that I hated the theme, and by dressing this way, I still look normal! Hey, just for her I'm gonna carry a freaking huge silver toy gun! BTW, Choong Leeng, don't bother with the wig... your hair looks pretty orange enough," cried Benedict happily.
"Er, Bennykins... why are you dressing up as a Man In Black? Shouldn't you be dressing up as Roger Rabbit? I mean, that's what Joanne has been telling me..." Zohra was starting to suspect that something fishy was up.
Thankfully, at that moment, Edward Khoo bounced up and handed Zohra a namecard. Benedict couldn't really see what the card said, he saw a picture of Edward in a tuxedo looking lecherously on one side, with lots of tiny words sprawled over. Zohra was looking over the card and giggling. "Are you sure about the guarantee?" she asked slyly.
"Of course... and mind you, don't be passing my card around. I have VERY selective clientele... only the good looking, good looking," he winked lewdly at her.
"Oh, no wonder Choong Leeng didn't get one," laughed Zohra, with a vicious grin.
Undoubtedly, Benedicts' curiousity was piqued. Once Edward had sauntered out of the publication room, he leaned over and plucked the card out of Zohra's fingers. "What the hell is this?" He read out, "Edward Khoo, wanna know who? I'm a gigolo, just so you know. Wanna have fun? Come grab a bun..."
Before he could read finish, Edward Khoo came crashing in and with a yell of anguish, ripped the card out of Benedict's fingers, picked Ben up and threw him onto a pile of old magazines (to be recycled). "I TOLD YOU NOT TO GIVE IT TO A GUY. I DON'T DO GUYS!" he yelled at Zohra, before stomping off. What was that all about?
About two floors above them, Clara was hearing her daily report from Pee Yin. He had an irritating air of superiority, having found out the comic of Ben's dreams.
"Well hurry up and tell me already!"
"I'm totally confident... absolutely sure... without a doubt... that his favourite comic strip is Calvin & Hobbes! Think about it... it's so obvious. Both Calvin and Benedict's vocabulary are of genius proportions. And Benedict DOES have a pretty wild imagination sometimes. And the biggest similarity between Benedict and Calvin is definitely their spiky hair." Pee Yin nodded with a wise air.
"What? Geez, who am I going to dress up as then? Susie Derkins or Hobbes?!?!?!"
Lumpy Lock had been praying for the past two days that Goldie's plan would work. Somehow, he had a sick feeling at the pit of his stomach that said that things were not going to be successful.
And a sick feeling at the pit of her stomach was the exact feeling that Thingy had as well. Trying her best not to retch in front of Fat Cat, she accidentally screamed, "Of course I will NOT!" a little too loudly. Before she knew it, Goldie was being dragged out of the ballroom by Thingy whispering, "We have to go now! Now, I mean it! By the way, tell Fat Cat to find his own transportation back to college!"
* * * * * * *
Four Days To Go...
Dianne Brah was swirling the material for her outfit in front of Princess Kimchi, Wison and Goldie.
"AHHHH, it's super cute!" squealed Goldie, "Dee Dee from Dexter's Laboratary! Funny! Where did you ever get the socks? BTW, what are you going as Kimchi? Some princess from some Korean cartoon? Should make dressing up pretty easy! Heh."
"Noooo, I'm going as Kim Possible! We share the same name after all."
"Oh darn... looks like I'm the only one who hasn't thought of something to go as. Well, it shouldn't matter right? It's not like they will bar me from entering if I don't follow the theme," she mused. "Anyway, I don't want to dress up in something too ridiculous... I mean, I want cute nerds to ask me for a dance! I can't get cute nerds to ask me for a dance if I go as... say, Master Roshi from Dragonball."
Wison just nodded sagely. He had decided to strip naked and go as a bison from The Lion King.
From a corner, Lumpy could only make moony eyes at Kimchi. Throughout his whole life, he had been waiting for this one moment - to meet a beautiful princess. And now there she was - sitting less than 2 feet away from him, and he couldn't even get her to look at him. He couldn't even attempt to seduce her to fall for him since Goldie's Fat Cat plan had fell apart. It had great repercussions for the rest of Airco though, because now Thingy was busy thinking of ways to bar Fat Cat from entering the room, and therefore, to spare her from what Fat Cat thought was his suave way of persuading her to go to the prom.
As he thought about his bleak future ahead as a moose, Lumpy could hear the fairy's words echoing to him... get a princess to fall in love with you... a beautiful princess.... How would the fairy know whether the princess was in love with him or not? Typical of fairy tales, true love was symbolised by a kiss. Hey, that was it! Maybe he could just plant a huge smacker on Kimchi, and trick the fairy into thinking that they were really in love! Lumpy started rubbing his hoofs together in glee, not believing his genius. He was so excited that he could've rushed at Kimchi right there and then... but Wison, Dianne and Goldie were around... they would definitely make moose steak out of him. No, he had to ambush Kimchi!!
Choong Leeng was outside the biology lab waiting for Seamus to disentangle himself from the crowd of girls who were surrounding him. Ever since he had emerged from his so-called "shell", he tried to be more open by smiling at people more often. This of course, caused extreme reactions from the girls in class. Choong Leeng often heard exclamations like:
"Oh my God! Did you see that? Did. You. See. THAT? SEAMUS SMILED AT ME!! Oh my God... do you think this means that he likes me?"
"Look at Seamus... no, don't look now, he's looking over! GOSH HE WAVED AT ME. GIRLS!! Can you believe it? No, I am not in love with him... do you think he thinks that I'm in love with him? Oh no... now I'll have to explain to him that I don't love him!! *trots over to talk to Seamus*"
"Seamus actually offered to lend me his biology notes! The last time I asked him if I could lend his notes, he told me that he had lent his notes to Pee Yin! And Pee Yin doesn't take Bio!"
Choong Leeng smiled, proud of her friend. Suddenly, she found that she was no longer alone, but was standing next to Ar Lian and Ar Huey.
"Hey, you're Ben's classmate right?"
"Yeah... why you smiling at Seamus just now? You like him too? You betta not like him!"
"Er... I was lost in my thoughts. I wasn't smiling at him! Geez!!"
"You betta be sure..." said Ar Lian threateningly. Suddenly, her voice become syrupy, dripping with honey. "Anyway, you're good friends with Seamus right... why don't you ask him to come to the prom too?"
"He's not interested in these kinda things..."
"But... me and Ar Huey are willing to be his dates! Two for the price of one! Anyway, get Seamus to come la... we have an empty seat there. And Seamus can sit next to Ben Ben."
Choong Leeng was just about to say that Ben Ben definitely would NOT be there. Thankfully, Seamus was soon done, and she walked off with him. Behind, she could hear Ar Lian shouting, "Remember to convince him ok! We need more cute guys at our table! If you know anyone else who is handsome handsome one... bring them oso! We will kick out the geek chicks from our table to make space for them!!"
* * * * * * *
Three Days To Go...
"Did you hear about the Airco party that they're having at the Sunway Resort Hotel after the prom? We're getting a suite all to ourselves --- then it's gonna be ROOM SERVICE ALL THE WAY, BAYBEEE! It's going to be a blast!" said Igene.
"Wow... super! Who's sponsoring the party? Definitely not Fat Cat or the student services department, right? I don't think he likes us as much after Thingy issued that "no non-members allowed inside publication room" notice. I almost feel pity for him when I see him crouched outside the publication room," replied Raquelle Thong.
"ANYONE WHO FEELS PITY AND LETS HIM IN SHALL FEEL MY WRATH!" bellowed Thingy.
Benedict was feeling pleased as punch. He already had a black and white suit, and he managed to borrow a silver toy gun from Ong Ken Ching, a noisy guy in Airco. Why Ken Ching even had a gigantic silver toy gun was beyond Benedict. But who cared about details, as long as he had a superb outfit. There were four days more to go, but the prom might as well have been the next day. The girls, especially, were experiencing mass hysteria, worrying about missing props and slow tailoring. All he could think about was his date the previous day with Clara.
"So you still won't tell me who you're dressing up as, Clara? Well, I hope I'll be MAN (in black!) enough to SUIT you on the day itself," he said.
"Oh, don't you worry too much over the theme. It's just supposed to bring out our inner CHILD I suppose. Our SIX YEAR OLD INNER CHILD," she retorted.
They both had no idea what the other was talking about.
Thingy had changed the job titles for Agent Wombat (second identity: Dunno How), Agent invisig()th (second identity: Ababi) and Agent Chipm0nk (second identity: Lip Shine). Prior to this, their main functions were to dig out all the love scams in Moonway College, but ever since Fat Cat had confessed his feelings to her, she asked two of them to tail Fat Cat. Should he even come within a 100 meter radius of her, they were to inform her immediately, so that she could go into hiding. She felt so Sad(dam).
Two of them tail Fat Cat - what about the third? Well, Thingy liked having good looking people around (I mean, check out the members of Airco, oh yeah!), so she asked Agent Wombat to stay by her side as a bodyguard. Hence, he ended up in Airco more frequently. That's when he saw the Airco sexcretary - Natalie. He was besotted. He found a passport photo of Natalie's in someone's pigeonhole, and he slipped it into his wallet, right next to an unopened condom packet, which had been there since he hit puberty.
"Did you see Dunno How in here again? He was walking around with this stupid grin plastered on his face after rifling (yet again!) through my pigeonhole," complained Goldie.
"What do you keep in your pigeonhole?" said Igene. "Anyway, I'm sure he's coming in to see me. You know me and Dunno How clicked together like *this* (snaps fingers) right? We're buddies la."
Goldie went over to her pigeonhole, gathered up everything in it and threw it on the floor for Igene's perusal.
"I knew it," Igene finally announced. THIS was what Dunno How was looking at. OMG, I'm sooooo shy now! He obviously loves me!"
Igene held up a full-blown poster size photo of herself in a bikini that she had autographed.
"Hold the fuck up! I don't have that in my pigeonhole!" yelled Goldie.
"Oh, everyone has this poster. I got one for all the heads. I put them in everyone's pigeonhole."
Simultaneously, all the heads rushed to clear their pigeonholes.
* * * * * * *
Two Days To Go...
What most people did not realise was that despite the flurry of excitement due to the Moonway Ball, the magazine was being polished up by Thingy, Goldie, Edward and so on. There were arrangements to be made with the printer to allow them to slip in additional Moonway Ball reports after the initial dummy had been sent for printing. Eurene did try to "help" in his usual lofty manner, but he would give up after 10 minutes, claiming a horrible headache. Then he would be off.
The PR department still had to work on the launch. Seamus was beginning to enjoy his work more, and made elaborate plans so that they would have a truly huge bash to commemorate the launch of the best magazine Moonway College had ever seen. Choong Leeng was calling up Too Fab, a popular hip-hop duo to perform, and Benedict was wheedling Clara for contacts. She had given him Sarah's publicist's number, and the line was ALWAYS busy. Hey, maybe Clara would dress up like Sarah (they look pretty similar) and emcee for the event!
With such dedicated workers, Seamus could rest easy. He looked into the mirror, wet his hair down and sighed. Damn it's hard to be perfect.
Even busier than the Airco members were the Student Cuntcil members. The previous ball had been a disaster, so most people were apt to think that history would repeat itself. Uncle Soon, Tam Hoi Loon (Alan) and Ababi would frequently run into the publication room to avoid the rage of Ija Esmonde. It was when Alan came over that a revelation came about in Airco. It started when somehow, he managed to stop Vivek Vagina and Ken Ching from fighting.
"You gave Benedict the silver gun!! Don't you know how much the silver gun meant to me?! Remember the fun times we used to have together? We would roleplay - I was the sexy prostitute, and you were the law man against vices..." sobbed Vivek.
"I don't know you anymore! Please stop saying things like that! You ... you cheated on me with Igene Chee!"
"It was a lapse in judgement! A bad lapse in judgement! You always knew that I was bi... I can't help it if I decide for a little veg to go with the meat sometimes..." replied Vivek.
Ken Ching ignored him.
"And then you give away our most precious toy to Benedict... don't you have a heart anymore? Remember how you used to sodomise me with that thing?"
"I'm with Alan now, don't talk to me..."
"By the way, Vivek? I won't mention the sodomy-with-a-gun thing to Benedict," said Thingy.
"Yeah. Don't mind me. Me and Ken Ching have our fights, but we always end up together. Alan's too big for him anyway."
* * * * * * *
One To Go...
It was the little details that truly count. Benedict forgot all about buying flowers for his date, and whether he could bring Clara over to the Airco party in the hotel afterwards. Didn't it seem a bit sleazy to ask her up to a hotel room after the prom? Well, he would explain everything quickly and clearly to her. Then again, if she misunderstands him and agrees to something more... that couldn't be helped. Heh heh. He would beg his dad for his credit card number to get a separate room then.
The pressure of having lied to Joanne all this while was getting to him. But it would all be over soon. Sure, it was mean, blablabla. Save it for someone who cares. He had a hot date. He looked hot in his prom outfit. Everything was going to go smoothly.
He set the alarm clock for early the next day, and snuggled into his bed, smiling as he drifted into dreamland.
* * * * * * *
Next Week!: Finally, the prom comes around! What happens at the prom when Clara meets Benedict, all mis-matched? Will Joanne murder Clara or Benedict first? Look out for a major appearance of Choong Leeng! How does the after-prom party go? Stay tuned!
Six Days To Go
Fat Cat was a regular face at the pub nowadays, and the members of Airco were not sure whether he was welcomed or otherwise. He was a pretty rich kid, and he was pseudo-nice, but he was also FREAKING irritating. Thanks to his money, he was able to help the funds-a-dwindling club (mostly because Igene embezzled a lot of money for promotions, but never returned the receipts OR the cash). He drove, so he would be able to take Airco people who were sick of cafeteria food out for lunch. He owned a digital camera, so the claims from the photography department were at the lowest point for the entire year. He had connections, so he helped Airco cut through some red tape (with his shameless flattering of the student services department staff). Valuable helper - but valuable enough for the Airco members to ignore the fact that he was smelly, rude, irritating and too egoistic for his own good?
Fat Cat was smart enough to befriend Thingy first and foremost, and make himself inexpendable to her. This saddened most of the other tortured members, like Maria and Benedict, because they had enough of his boastfulness to last them a lifetime. The PR department was busy thinking of plans for the Airco launch (less than a month to go!) and Fat Cat was constantly sticking his nose into their plans and pouring cold water on them. Benedict kept saying that he would be able to get Sarah Tan to come to the event, what with the Clara connections and all. But Fat Cat kept saying that he knew Sarah Tan... hrmph! Benedict was intent on contacting Sarah Tan and shoving Fat Cat's word back up his ass. If only he had someone to bitch about all this to! Thingy wouldn't listen to him anymore, Seamus was too stressed about other things, and Choong Leeng would answer to his rants with the typical, "What? Got meh? I didn't realise oso!!"
Anyway, he had other things to think about other than defenestrating Fat Cat. Anyway, as irritating as Fat Cat had been the previous month, he had been getting less cocky lately. He wondered why. Maybe if he had asked Goldie Cheng, he would have found the answer...
Goldie, Matchmaker Extraordinaire had been approached by Fat Cat to set up a match between Thingy and Fat Cat! Goldie, using extreme self-control to hold back her laughter and to yell, "IN YOUR DREAMS, LOSER!!" decided that it would be pretty funny to see Fat Cat and Thingy dancing together during the Moonway Ball. Therefore, she started praising Fat Cat to the high heavens in the publication room, causing Benedict and Maria to feel that Goldie was going insane.
Even though seeing Thingy and Fat Cat dancing would've been a sweet reward, the main reason that she was helping Fat Cat was because of Lumpy Lock. If Fat Cat gave Thingy a prom ticket for his table, then Thingy could give her Airco lucky draw ticket to Lumpy (her so-called brother). Lumpy in a tuxedo on a prom night might just win over Princess Kimchi. It was alll good.
Benedict's problem too, lay in matters of the heart. He had no idea which cartoon character Clara was going to be dressed up as. It was almost obscene to dismiss someone just because they could not telephatically tell you what they were dressing up as. In the end, he decided to get Zohra and Pooyakasha to ask Clara, and then inform him of her plans. After Zohra was given the green light to be Miss A-Levels (Clara refused to join, so it was given to Zohra by default), she had become friendlier towards Clara, much to Joanne's dismay. Zohra agreed to help Benedict, although she was a bit confused. Didn't Joanne just tell Zohra that Ben was going to be dressed as Roger Rabbit? Why would he care what Clara dressed up as?
Clara too, was getting cold feet. She did so want Benedict, but she liked all these "it was fated for us to be together - see, we even dressed alike!" rubbish. She refused to lose out to some Ah Lian like Joanne Ling! It also pissed her off to hear Joanne's incessant, loud proclaimations of being Benedict's prom date. Being too tired to argue with her, Clara decided that the best thing to do would be just to ignore Joanne and let her humiliate herself further on prom night. However... it would be humiliating for Clara to show up mismatched with Benedict... she was tempted to call off the "fate" thing. But that would show she didn't have enough faith that they were meant to be together! In the end, she decided to get Pee Yin to help her surreptiously ask Benedict who he would be dressing up as, and then she would accomodate to Ben. Yes, it was a brilliant plan!
* * * * * * *
Five Days To Go...
Goldie, Thingy and Fat Cat were at the prom rehearsals, having sneaked in and having to brave the snarkiness of the Student Cuntcil. Pretending to be writing an article about the prom preparations, Thingy sat herself down on the comfiest sofa in the ballroom, while Goldie used Fat Cat's digital camera to take photos... for her blog. Fat Cat was nervously pacing around Goldie and getting an arm or leg into the photos, all the while going, "She's sitting there alone! Go help me ask her to go to the prom with me!"
With a disgusted expression, Goldie glared at him (she hated his digital camera anyway - slow shutter speed) and said, "Be a man! She's alone, therefore it's the perfect time for you to approach her!"
Like a jellyfish, Goldie watched as he wobbled over to Thingy's side... she hoped for the best...
Back in the publication room, Benedict was listening to Zohra's report for the day.
"Bennykins, I have heard from a reliable source that Clara is mad for Men In Black. She'll probably be dressing up as the Woman in Black... you know... real 'office woman' kind of look. Suits Clara," she smiled winningly at Benedict.
"Wow! Can you imagine? This is the perfect solution for you. You still wear a black suit, and mebbe you could accesorise with some toy gun or something. I can't think of a happier ending for you," said Choong Leeng, who was standing nearby, trying on an orange wig for her costume.
"Wow, that IS perfect! How nice of Clara! She probably knew that I hated the theme, and by dressing this way, I still look normal! Hey, just for her I'm gonna carry a freaking huge silver toy gun! BTW, Choong Leeng, don't bother with the wig... your hair looks pretty orange enough," cried Benedict happily.
"Er, Bennykins... why are you dressing up as a Man In Black? Shouldn't you be dressing up as Roger Rabbit? I mean, that's what Joanne has been telling me..." Zohra was starting to suspect that something fishy was up.
Thankfully, at that moment, Edward Khoo bounced up and handed Zohra a namecard. Benedict couldn't really see what the card said, he saw a picture of Edward in a tuxedo looking lecherously on one side, with lots of tiny words sprawled over. Zohra was looking over the card and giggling. "Are you sure about the guarantee?" she asked slyly.
"Of course... and mind you, don't be passing my card around. I have VERY selective clientele... only the good looking, good looking," he winked lewdly at her.
"Oh, no wonder Choong Leeng didn't get one," laughed Zohra, with a vicious grin.
Undoubtedly, Benedicts' curiousity was piqued. Once Edward had sauntered out of the publication room, he leaned over and plucked the card out of Zohra's fingers. "What the hell is this?" He read out, "Edward Khoo, wanna know who? I'm a gigolo, just so you know. Wanna have fun? Come grab a bun..."
Before he could read finish, Edward Khoo came crashing in and with a yell of anguish, ripped the card out of Benedict's fingers, picked Ben up and threw him onto a pile of old magazines (to be recycled). "I TOLD YOU NOT TO GIVE IT TO A GUY. I DON'T DO GUYS!" he yelled at Zohra, before stomping off. What was that all about?
About two floors above them, Clara was hearing her daily report from Pee Yin. He had an irritating air of superiority, having found out the comic of Ben's dreams.
"Well hurry up and tell me already!"
"I'm totally confident... absolutely sure... without a doubt... that his favourite comic strip is Calvin & Hobbes! Think about it... it's so obvious. Both Calvin and Benedict's vocabulary are of genius proportions. And Benedict DOES have a pretty wild imagination sometimes. And the biggest similarity between Benedict and Calvin is definitely their spiky hair." Pee Yin nodded with a wise air.
"What? Geez, who am I going to dress up as then? Susie Derkins or Hobbes?!?!?!"
Lumpy Lock had been praying for the past two days that Goldie's plan would work. Somehow, he had a sick feeling at the pit of his stomach that said that things were not going to be successful.
And a sick feeling at the pit of her stomach was the exact feeling that Thingy had as well. Trying her best not to retch in front of Fat Cat, she accidentally screamed, "Of course I will NOT!" a little too loudly. Before she knew it, Goldie was being dragged out of the ballroom by Thingy whispering, "We have to go now! Now, I mean it! By the way, tell Fat Cat to find his own transportation back to college!"
* * * * * * *
Four Days To Go...
Dianne Brah was swirling the material for her outfit in front of Princess Kimchi, Wison and Goldie.
"AHHHH, it's super cute!" squealed Goldie, "Dee Dee from Dexter's Laboratary! Funny! Where did you ever get the socks? BTW, what are you going as Kimchi? Some princess from some Korean cartoon? Should make dressing up pretty easy! Heh."
"Noooo, I'm going as Kim Possible! We share the same name after all."
"Oh darn... looks like I'm the only one who hasn't thought of something to go as. Well, it shouldn't matter right? It's not like they will bar me from entering if I don't follow the theme," she mused. "Anyway, I don't want to dress up in something too ridiculous... I mean, I want cute nerds to ask me for a dance! I can't get cute nerds to ask me for a dance if I go as... say, Master Roshi from Dragonball."
Wison just nodded sagely. He had decided to strip naked and go as a bison from The Lion King.
From a corner, Lumpy could only make moony eyes at Kimchi. Throughout his whole life, he had been waiting for this one moment - to meet a beautiful princess. And now there she was - sitting less than 2 feet away from him, and he couldn't even get her to look at him. He couldn't even attempt to seduce her to fall for him since Goldie's Fat Cat plan had fell apart. It had great repercussions for the rest of Airco though, because now Thingy was busy thinking of ways to bar Fat Cat from entering the room, and therefore, to spare her from what Fat Cat thought was his suave way of persuading her to go to the prom.
As he thought about his bleak future ahead as a moose, Lumpy could hear the fairy's words echoing to him... get a princess to fall in love with you... a beautiful princess.... How would the fairy know whether the princess was in love with him or not? Typical of fairy tales, true love was symbolised by a kiss. Hey, that was it! Maybe he could just plant a huge smacker on Kimchi, and trick the fairy into thinking that they were really in love! Lumpy started rubbing his hoofs together in glee, not believing his genius. He was so excited that he could've rushed at Kimchi right there and then... but Wison, Dianne and Goldie were around... they would definitely make moose steak out of him. No, he had to ambush Kimchi!!
Choong Leeng was outside the biology lab waiting for Seamus to disentangle himself from the crowd of girls who were surrounding him. Ever since he had emerged from his so-called "shell", he tried to be more open by smiling at people more often. This of course, caused extreme reactions from the girls in class. Choong Leeng often heard exclamations like:
"Oh my God! Did you see that? Did. You. See. THAT? SEAMUS SMILED AT ME!! Oh my God... do you think this means that he likes me?"
"Look at Seamus... no, don't look now, he's looking over! GOSH HE WAVED AT ME. GIRLS!! Can you believe it? No, I am not in love with him... do you think he thinks that I'm in love with him? Oh no... now I'll have to explain to him that I don't love him!! *trots over to talk to Seamus*"
"Seamus actually offered to lend me his biology notes! The last time I asked him if I could lend his notes, he told me that he had lent his notes to Pee Yin! And Pee Yin doesn't take Bio!"
Choong Leeng smiled, proud of her friend. Suddenly, she found that she was no longer alone, but was standing next to Ar Lian and Ar Huey.
"Hey, you're Ben's classmate right?"
"Yeah... why you smiling at Seamus just now? You like him too? You betta not like him!"
"Er... I was lost in my thoughts. I wasn't smiling at him! Geez!!"
"You betta be sure..." said Ar Lian threateningly. Suddenly, her voice become syrupy, dripping with honey. "Anyway, you're good friends with Seamus right... why don't you ask him to come to the prom too?"
"He's not interested in these kinda things..."
"But... me and Ar Huey are willing to be his dates! Two for the price of one! Anyway, get Seamus to come la... we have an empty seat there. And Seamus can sit next to Ben Ben."
Choong Leeng was just about to say that Ben Ben definitely would NOT be there. Thankfully, Seamus was soon done, and she walked off with him. Behind, she could hear Ar Lian shouting, "Remember to convince him ok! We need more cute guys at our table! If you know anyone else who is handsome handsome one... bring them oso! We will kick out the geek chicks from our table to make space for them!!"
* * * * * * *
Three Days To Go...
"Did you hear about the Airco party that they're having at the Sunway Resort Hotel after the prom? We're getting a suite all to ourselves --- then it's gonna be ROOM SERVICE ALL THE WAY, BAYBEEE! It's going to be a blast!" said Igene.
"Wow... super! Who's sponsoring the party? Definitely not Fat Cat or the student services department, right? I don't think he likes us as much after Thingy issued that "no non-members allowed inside publication room" notice. I almost feel pity for him when I see him crouched outside the publication room," replied Raquelle Thong.
"ANYONE WHO FEELS PITY AND LETS HIM IN SHALL FEEL MY WRATH!" bellowed Thingy.
Benedict was feeling pleased as punch. He already had a black and white suit, and he managed to borrow a silver toy gun from Ong Ken Ching, a noisy guy in Airco. Why Ken Ching even had a gigantic silver toy gun was beyond Benedict. But who cared about details, as long as he had a superb outfit. There were four days more to go, but the prom might as well have been the next day. The girls, especially, were experiencing mass hysteria, worrying about missing props and slow tailoring. All he could think about was his date the previous day with Clara.
"So you still won't tell me who you're dressing up as, Clara? Well, I hope I'll be MAN (in black!) enough to SUIT you on the day itself," he said.
"Oh, don't you worry too much over the theme. It's just supposed to bring out our inner CHILD I suppose. Our SIX YEAR OLD INNER CHILD," she retorted.
They both had no idea what the other was talking about.
Thingy had changed the job titles for Agent Wombat (second identity: Dunno How), Agent invisig()th (second identity: Ababi) and Agent Chipm0nk (second identity: Lip Shine). Prior to this, their main functions were to dig out all the love scams in Moonway College, but ever since Fat Cat had confessed his feelings to her, she asked two of them to tail Fat Cat. Should he even come within a 100 meter radius of her, they were to inform her immediately, so that she could go into hiding. She felt so Sad(dam).
Two of them tail Fat Cat - what about the third? Well, Thingy liked having good looking people around (I mean, check out the members of Airco, oh yeah!), so she asked Agent Wombat to stay by her side as a bodyguard. Hence, he ended up in Airco more frequently. That's when he saw the Airco sexcretary - Natalie. He was besotted. He found a passport photo of Natalie's in someone's pigeonhole, and he slipped it into his wallet, right next to an unopened condom packet, which had been there since he hit puberty.
"Did you see Dunno How in here again? He was walking around with this stupid grin plastered on his face after rifling (yet again!) through my pigeonhole," complained Goldie.
"What do you keep in your pigeonhole?" said Igene. "Anyway, I'm sure he's coming in to see me. You know me and Dunno How clicked together like *this* (snaps fingers) right? We're buddies la."
Goldie went over to her pigeonhole, gathered up everything in it and threw it on the floor for Igene's perusal.
"I knew it," Igene finally announced. THIS was what Dunno How was looking at. OMG, I'm sooooo shy now! He obviously loves me!"
Igene held up a full-blown poster size photo of herself in a bikini that she had autographed.
"Hold the fuck up! I don't have that in my pigeonhole!" yelled Goldie.
"Oh, everyone has this poster. I got one for all the heads. I put them in everyone's pigeonhole."
Simultaneously, all the heads rushed to clear their pigeonholes.
* * * * * * *
Two Days To Go...
What most people did not realise was that despite the flurry of excitement due to the Moonway Ball, the magazine was being polished up by Thingy, Goldie, Edward and so on. There were arrangements to be made with the printer to allow them to slip in additional Moonway Ball reports after the initial dummy had been sent for printing. Eurene did try to "help" in his usual lofty manner, but he would give up after 10 minutes, claiming a horrible headache. Then he would be off.
The PR department still had to work on the launch. Seamus was beginning to enjoy his work more, and made elaborate plans so that they would have a truly huge bash to commemorate the launch of the best magazine Moonway College had ever seen. Choong Leeng was calling up Too Fab, a popular hip-hop duo to perform, and Benedict was wheedling Clara for contacts. She had given him Sarah's publicist's number, and the line was ALWAYS busy. Hey, maybe Clara would dress up like Sarah (they look pretty similar) and emcee for the event!
With such dedicated workers, Seamus could rest easy. He looked into the mirror, wet his hair down and sighed. Damn it's hard to be perfect.
Even busier than the Airco members were the Student Cuntcil members. The previous ball had been a disaster, so most people were apt to think that history would repeat itself. Uncle Soon, Tam Hoi Loon (Alan) and Ababi would frequently run into the publication room to avoid the rage of Ija Esmonde. It was when Alan came over that a revelation came about in Airco. It started when somehow, he managed to stop Vivek Vagina and Ken Ching from fighting.
"You gave Benedict the silver gun!! Don't you know how much the silver gun meant to me?! Remember the fun times we used to have together? We would roleplay - I was the sexy prostitute, and you were the law man against vices..." sobbed Vivek.
"I don't know you anymore! Please stop saying things like that! You ... you cheated on me with Igene Chee!"
"It was a lapse in judgement! A bad lapse in judgement! You always knew that I was bi... I can't help it if I decide for a little veg to go with the meat sometimes..." replied Vivek.
Ken Ching ignored him.
"And then you give away our most precious toy to Benedict... don't you have a heart anymore? Remember how you used to sodomise me with that thing?"
"I'm with Alan now, don't talk to me..."
"By the way, Vivek? I won't mention the sodomy-with-a-gun thing to Benedict," said Thingy.
"Yeah. Don't mind me. Me and Ken Ching have our fights, but we always end up together. Alan's too big for him anyway."
* * * * * * *
One To Go...
It was the little details that truly count. Benedict forgot all about buying flowers for his date, and whether he could bring Clara over to the Airco party in the hotel afterwards. Didn't it seem a bit sleazy to ask her up to a hotel room after the prom? Well, he would explain everything quickly and clearly to her. Then again, if she misunderstands him and agrees to something more... that couldn't be helped. Heh heh. He would beg his dad for his credit card number to get a separate room then.
The pressure of having lied to Joanne all this while was getting to him. But it would all be over soon. Sure, it was mean, blablabla. Save it for someone who cares. He had a hot date. He looked hot in his prom outfit. Everything was going to go smoothly.
He set the alarm clock for early the next day, and snuggled into his bed, smiling as he drifted into dreamland.
* * * * * * *
Next Week!: Finally, the prom comes around! What happens at the prom when Clara meets Benedict, all mis-matched? Will Joanne murder Clara or Benedict first? Look out for a major appearance of Choong Leeng! How does the after-prom party go? Stay tuned!