I just realised that I'm too good at remembering the things I shouldn't be remembering. Like all the people who have done me a wrong at some point of time or another. I know I shouldn't be remembering such stuff, but I can't help it; it just STICKS in my brain and won't go away.

Like these two incidents:

1. When I was in K1 and studying in PAP Kindergarten, I had a certain teacher whom I shan't name (and in any case I forgot her name already).

When I was 5 years old, I was also a very timid and bully-able kid, and extremely socially inept (this part continues till today). So generally everybody bullied me and almost nobody wanted to be my friend. Maybe it was the proper English that did it. At that time, I hadn't seen the importance of code-switching yet.

Anyway, I think all PAP Kindergartens have this feature: they have different rooms for classes and for meals. So my class had just finished lunch at the lunchroom one day and we were queuing up in neat rows of 2 (I BET EVERYBODY LEARNT THAT IN KINDERGARTEN HAHAH) to go back to the classroom.

Being the guai kid I was (and arguably still am), I'd already secured a place for myself in the queue. Unfortunately for me, the friend of the person I was standing next to wanted my spot, so she pushed me out of the queue and took my place. I'm a nice person, so I didn't scold her.

Unfortunately for me again, the teacher happened to be checking our lines then. (I hadn't found myself another place in the queue yet.) Since I stuck out like a sore thumb, she caught me and dragged me aside to scold me.

Teacher:"WHY AREN'T YOU IN TWO LINES?" (Well, she wasn't an excellent English teacher.)
Me: "Um." *looks up at her chest (it was the highest part of her I could see), points at person who pushed me* "Well, she'd pushed me out of the queue, so..."
Teacher: "Well, why aren't you in the queue, then?"
Me thinking: 'Is that teacher slow, or is that teacher slow?'
Me: "I told you, she pushed me out of the queue!"
Teacher: "DO YOU WANT ME TO LEAVE YOU HERE WITH THE LUNCH AUNTIE?"
Me thinking: 'Bloody hell. What did I do?!'
Me: "Okay, I'll get back in the queue if that's what you want."
Me thinking: 'I hope that's what she wants.'
Teacher: *looks satisfied* "Good. Class, let's go."

I never understood it until about three years later. But I'm a very defensive (sometimes over-defensive) person, so I hadn't learnt my lesson even four years after, in P3.

2. This one happened in P3.

Rivervale Primary pupils are known to be the best-behaved among the schools in the area, thanks to a certain rather fierce discipline mistress, whose name I do remember but shall not mention. This particular discipline mistress liked to walk around the canteen to make sure everyone assembled in the hall after recess (it was a rule there).

One day after PE during recess, my best friend and I were sharing a toilet cubicle to change into our school uniforms. We'd just finished changing when we saw a most horrifying sight on the cubicle door: a DADDY-LONG-LEGS. (Fine, ha ha ha.)

We stayed in that cubicle for twenty minutes screaming for help, all the way till the end of recess when the bell rang. Not wanting to be late for class, I decided to be heroic and quickly pull open the door for the both of us to run out.

My heroism paid off. We escaped from Daddy-Long-Legs-In-Toilet-Cubicle-Hell.

However, as we'd stayed in the toilet for the entire duration of recess (with no food to replenish all that energy lost shouting and screaming), we were awfully hungry. So we decided to buy something from one of the stalls to eat.

As we were paying for our char siew baos, this menacing voice behind us told the stall auntie: "Don't sell anything to those kids after the bell rings next time."

Damn. We'd been caught buying food after recess by the fearsome discipline mistress.

Discipline Mistress (DM): "Why are you buying food so late?"

We should have made up some lame excuse then, but P3s are P3s. Which means we were honest and told nothing but the truth.

Us: "We reached the canteen late."
DM: "WHY DID YOU REACH THE CANTEEN LATE? YOU KIDS MUST HAVE BEEN PLAYING AGAIN RIGHT. THEN FINISH PLAYING ALREADY, END OF RECESS ALREADY, FEELING HUNGRY SO COME AND EAT RIGHT?!"
Me: "No, we saw a huge insect on the toilet door, and we didn't dare to come out for nearly half an hour."
DM: "Yeah right. Like I believe you. Tell the truth, weren't you playing?"
Us: "No, we told you the truth already!"
(Above scenario x100)
DM: "Don't you dare lie next time. Now finish your food and go upstairs."

We were already cursing our luck as we ran to the hall, but I guess our dear DM was in a bad mood that day.

DM: "Just now, I was walking through the canteen after recess and saw two girls buying food from one of the stalls. It was already bad enough that they were playing until the bell rang and were buying food, but THEY DARED TO LIE TO ME BY SAYING THAT THEY WERE TRAPPED INSIDE THE TOILET BECAUSE AN INSECT WAS ON THE TOILET DOOR. From 3I some more, best class leh! Still can do such things. They're sitting down there with their class, and they still dare to stare at me like that some more."
DM: "School, do you believe their story?"

Everyone turned to look at us. My best friend was crying, so I guess DM was referring to me when she mentioned staring at her. I was giving her a half-pissed and half-WTF look.

(The reason why I was glaring at her like that was because she'd scolded me, the guaikia, the prefect-to-be (or maybe just wannabe), the last person who'd ever break rules, for something I hadn't even done. Hello, who WOULDN'T be pissed?)

(And yes, I know the above sounds proud and pompous and whatnot, but that's the kind of person I used to be. Other than being a nerd.)

Rest of school: "No." (Is being scared of giant insects really THAT inconceivable?!)

Darnit.

Later, when we got back to class, my form teacher (who, thankfully, knew us well enough to know that we weren't exactly the play-until-forget-rules kind) asked us if the insect story was true. We vehemently denied going near the play area, and stuck to our story.

I think she was the only one who believed us, but she had a good laugh about it. (Okay la it's actually quite funny, but we really were offended then.) I naively expected her to tell the DM about it, so that the DM would come to us a day later with a contrite look and an apology. Obviously, nothing of that sort ever happened.

Oh well.