After forty-five minutes of sitting in the sick bay and just vibing to BTS songs from Umaira's Spotify playlist while enduring the stabbing pain, the cramps subsided somewhat and we decided to go join the others. Umaira stuck her head out from the sick room and asked a camp facilitator to guide us to where the rest were. It helped too that the facilitator in question, Sir Uwais, happened to be Umaira's second cousin, once removed.

One thing about Umaira: she's related to almost everyone, and those without any blood ties to her, know her through common acquaintances.

So that's how I found myself sitting on a tikar in a pondok with around two hundred prefects from SMK Amin Bismillah and SMK Zon Hebat, listening to our Head Discipline Teachers give long-winded speeches about the leadership quality that all prefects must exhibit.

"Kamu pengawas," Ustazah Suryani says, punctuating her words with her hand. The cloth of her khimar reaches all the way down to her elbows, dwarfing her small face with its voluminous size. "Kamu harus tunjuk contoh yang baik kepada pelajar yang lain."

Nana snorts from behind me. "That should be her tagline."

"Try having her text you every time a cleaner catches someone kissing at the stairs," Apple shot back.

Umaira nudges me. "Look what he's doing."

I follow her gaze to the Head Discipline teacher of SMK Zon Hebat, a forty-something old man standing next to Ustazah in a checkered collar shirt. At first glance, one might consider him chill, but then my eyes move to his hand, which grasps a rotan and is currently swishing it around while Ustazah blabbers on about the merits of being a good prefect.

Is he okay?

I blink and turn to Umaira, who shrugs in return.

"Jadinya, Ustazah harap, kamu semua boleh saling mempelajari antara satu sama lain." Ustazah clasps her hands together. She swivels to the Zon Hebat teacher. "Encik Faiz, ada apa-apa nak cakap ke?"

Encik Faiz surveys us for a split second before raising his rotan. "Jaga perangai, kalau tak, saya rotan kang, baru tahu."

Apple gulps.

"I like him," Nana remarks.

"Sadist," Apple mutters back.

Nana mimes cracking a whip, grinning.

"Astaghfirullahalazim, bertaubatlah kamu berdua," Umaira shakes her head and raises her hands in prayer.

My eyebrow quirks in amusement. "Apa, cikgu disiplin tu pun kau nak ke, Nana?"

Nana opens her mouth to reply, but is interrupted by Sir Uwais, who has taken Ustazah's and Encik Faiz's place at the front of the room.

"Okay, so, yang Sir perasan dari tadi, dua-dua sekolah ni duduk asing. Korang ni tak kenal antara satu sama lain, betul cakap Sir?"

Murmurs of begrudging agreement rise from the students.

"Tak silap Sir, ni pelajar-pelajar SMK Amin Bismillah, betul?" Sir Uwais gestures to the rows of students wearing blue and yellow school shirts to his right. "Baju macam pekerja IKEA."

He chuckles, along with a few other facilitators and Zon Hebat students, but we don't. I mean, we've heard that too many times to count.

"I'm glad he noticed," Nana deadpans.

"I wore this to IKEA once," Umaira pipes up. "Some guy asked me where the air fresheners were."

Sir Uwais then turns his attention to the students in purple and grey shirts. "And you all must be from SMK Zon Hebat."

He brings both hands together, almost imitating Ustazah's earlier gesture. "But at Kem Kelapa Sawit, kamu semua sama-sama pengawas sekolah. You need to have unity, to work together, and build togetherness."

He smiles at the crowd, probably expecting some kind of response, but nobody says anything.

From outside the pondok, a cricket chirps.

"So we're going to start with a simple ice-breaking session. When I say go, form a group of eight people. Each group must have four SMKAB students and four SMKZH students. Once you form your group, find a space on the floor and sit down in a circle and buat basic introduction. Everyone faham?"

"Faham, Sir," everyone else intones.

"Four," Umaira whispers. "We just need to find four Zonrians."

Sir Uwais holds up three fingers. "In three, two, one... GO!"

Everyone scrambles to their feet. Pandemonium ensues as students run around, trying to fit Sir Uwais's criterion to form a group.

"Nelson!" Apple waves from where the four of us are huddled together. "You need four?"

A few metres away, a Zonrian boy with pale brown hair waves back. "Yes!"

Apple pulls us into the throng of people, heading towards the Zonrian boy. "C'mon, let's go!"

"How do you know people that I don't? We're literally twins," Nana questions, reluctantly being dragged along.

"That's Nelson, you know, from primary school?" Apple explains, finally stopping when we reach Nelson and his three friends.

One of them is Sam.

Great.

The other two in the Zonrian quartet are a boy with a smattering of pimples across his face and a girl wearing a hijab.

"Cepat, duduk," the girl with the hijab says, and all of us immediately plop down into a neat ring on the tikar.

Sam claps once, summoning everyone's attention. "So, I'll go first. Hai, nama manira Sam, and you can call me Sam."

His friends roll their eyes at him.

"Yela, takkan nak panggil kau Anak Baharin kot," the girl snaps at him.

"Ye 'odo," the pimple-faced boy agrees. He turns to us with a polite smile. "My name is Tengku Aqil, boleh panggil aku Tengku, atau Aqil, atau Tengku Aqil pun okey jugak."

Apple leans forward, cocking her head. "Kalau panggil Aqil Tengku, boleh ker?"

She bursts out giggling, but nobody else laughs.

"Lawak ah," Nana mutters.

Apple flashes her puppy-dog eyes at me. "B-b-but, Mimi, lawak kan?"

I shake my head. "Haish, yela, lawak la."

Umaira flaps her hands at us until we all look at her. She beams at the Zonrian kids. "Anyways, I'm Umaira, you can call me Maira. And since they're all behaving like children, this is Apple Bai, Nana Bai and Mimi Qafiyya."

The hijabi smiles at Umaira. "My name is Layla, nice to meet you."

"I'm Nelson Chan," Nelson adds.

Nana leans over me towards Apple. "Is this the Nelson that fell down the stairs?"

Apple nods. "Affirmative."

"Ah." Nana mirrors Apple's nod. "That Nelson."

Three loud claps from the front of the hall effectively silences everyone, who by then have already settled into circles of their own. Sir Uwais takes a quick look around the room.

"Okey, nampaknya semua dah ada kumpulan masing-masing, semua dah tahu nama ahli kumpulan. Lepas ni, kita akan main beberapa round of basic games. Lek je, kita santai sahaja, hari ini kita bina dahulu asas semangat berpasukan ini. Yang lasak-lasak, besok baru kita buat. Boleh semua?"

As responsible, obedient prefects, everyone in the hall responds: "Boleh, Sir!"

A/N: Yay Happy New Year! Okay I wanna go sleep.

Kalau suka, tolong vote tq.

Gn.

Scarlet