A familiar tune twinged among the the random noises the television was making from the living room. Chinese words were heard, ramblings going so fast that only someone who bothered to listen will understand.

Oh crap, thought Don. That show again.

Donovan heaved a sigh, leaving his comfortable chair to turn the telly on. He liked that show. He never actually watch them, he just glances the screen every now and then, listening to what the characters were saying most of the time. After all, listening proved the story more interesting, since it fuels the mind for more imagination, rather than allowing the transmitted pixels to hand-feed the brain images directly.

Don returned to his chair, sinking into it with a large thud. He winced.

"Oh, for the love of..."

He has knocked his elbow into the armrest, accidentally. As pain gushed through his arm, a cold numbing sensation followed.

"Gah, funny bone."

Awaiting the numbness to subside, Don used his left hand to pick up a piece of text. He read on, not noticing the time pass as he read on.

A few days back, Don had heard of an uncut version for Harry Potter : The Order of the Phoenix. He questioned its source, knowing well that Rowling wouldn't really have published such a book.

"I'm telling you, there are sex scenes in it. Harry and Hermione did it la, and which madman would devote so much time writing a 500-page book about Harry Potter, getting right about every fact there ever was about him? Words so small, somemore." Yv said it in chinese quickly, rolling her eyes.

"Cannot be la, Rowling? Pass me the book leh. Please? I'll have to see it, or else I doubt I'll believe." Don replied in rapid chinese himself, suasion aiding him in his choice of words while his mind was on the book. That'll be interesting, Don thought to himself.

"Okay la. Now help me move these stuff over to the other side. This box is killing me." Yv exclaimed, with a rictus.

Fecund was it the next day, when Yv brought the book with her.

"Don't mind the book. There was a slight accident after I was done with it." Yv thrusted a thick piece of text onto Don, who quickly caught it. She followed up with another one, this one thinner and more... seasoned than the other.

"Wa, Yv. Pro leh, you. 1 book split into half. Not bad, sia. How... into it were you, huh?" Don teased her as her slight smile drew into a drawl.

"No la, joking. Really. And yeah, this is true...Uncut, you say? Sweet. I'll get it back to you when I'm done with it, ya?" Don flipped through the pages while she gave him a 'I-told-you-so' look.

Yet there was work to do. Yv wasn't paying him to read a book. Don would just have to supress his urge to read it till he got home.

* * * * *

So there it was, a book almost finished, in the hands of Don as he read the text slowly, word by word so as to absorb the effect portrayed in the story.

Hermione looked into his eyes as he drew her closer to him, taking her in as their...

Don felt himself blushing as he read on, not noticing it until he felt his cheeks. What the hell was that about? They're only kissing! Bloody hormones, Don thought as he read on, feeling his blush mellowing as he kept his emotions in check. Testosterone is rampant around the age of fifteen. A small price to pay for a life without much stress apart from academia.

He put the book down soon enough, realising that he wasn't focusing much on the book as his imagination- no wait. Memories flooded back as he shook them off. So much for reading something such as this.

Don thought back, carefully supplanting the experiences he had the same day, over those thoughts. He turned the television off, and tuned in to a radio station instead. The melodious sounds of 90.5FM flowed into his systems as he tried to vaguely recall what happened the previous day, to no avail.

"Alright, let's start with today, for a change." Don talked to himself, a habit that has not left him since young. He has given it great consideration of warding himself into an asylum if that kept up till he was an adult.

* * * * *

The new teachers weren't much of a surprise to Don, he knew about them for a long time now. Yet, he couldn't help but wonder how they acted in class. Would they be barbaric? Unreasonable? He doubted these traits- He was already in Secondary 4. Surely the teachers will be tad reasonable, if not nicer. Past experiences didn't lead him that direction, though. He'll have to take what comes his way.

Chemistry was up first, as Don kept up reading his book, only noticing the teacher when prompted by his sitting partner, F.

"Oei, stand up..." F nudged Don, who quickly stood up at attention.

After the usual ceremonies, they all sat down to see what this teacher had to offer. After all, Miss Chia has been noted to be an excellent teac--

"Wait. That's Mr Tan. Oooh." Don couldn't help but mutter out loud.

Mr Tan didn't respond much, only turning to the class and telling them that Miss Chia will only be teaching them during the second half of the year.

He proceeded to tell them his expectations, coupled with a few issues on discipline as such. Don listened attentively, falling back to his book after a few minutes due to short attention span. Disciplinary matters are going to be a thing of the past now, thought Don as he knew that he has not committed any act of malfeasance. Yet.

The period finished quickly with Don finally putting the book to a side and taking notes for redox reactions. Physics was up next, and Don was relieved to know that Mr Yu was going to teach them physics again. That may not be the best thing, but at least it beats having the DM teach you. The hour moved by rather quickly with Don handing in an incomplete mind-map.

Chinese rolled by without anyone noticing, and elation was spread among 4/1 as Mr Ng came into the class to announce that he's still the chinese teacher for them. No surprise there, but Mr Ng was overwhelmingly encouraging. Not to mention persistently supportive when it comes to teaching. Don was made Chinese Rep. for the year, just when he thought that he was just going to skim through Sec 4 Chinese.

"But I'm no good in Chinese!" Don spluttered in rapid chinese.

"Well, you will be. And since all of you here are in Higher Chinese, there's nothing much you can say about your chinese being bad." Mr Ng smiled at Don, who accepted the post dejectedly.

Yet again, it was the usual hoola-balooza as Mr Ng covered life ambitions, waking Don up for a real bit after his ambition was read out. Did he really want to achieve what he had said?

"And what kind of doctor will you be? And you will specialize in..." Mr Ng waited for Don to complete his sentence.

"I... want to be a neuro-surgeon," Don replied, wondering if anyone would know the translation for getratrics.

"And why so?"

"Be-because I wanna help. I want to help the people around me, I guess. I've seen a few people pass away because of a clot in the brain or what-not..." Donovan trailed on.

He thought of Ah Soon and Kow. Complaining about their headaches while visiting them, and passing away without a notice soon after falling into comatose. He shook himself back into reality. There was no way he was going to tear in front of the class. Not for something that happened such a long time ago, anyway.

An applause was heard.

Maybe I'll achieve it one day, if I work hard enough.

* * * * *

Time was unbelievably fast today as Recess snuck around the corner. Don proceeded to try out the dishes in the canteen. Apparently the new western stall has opened.

It was good, a little tough around the sides, nonetheless delicious to a hungry teenager. Don turned around, he saw her with her plate.

Perhaps she didn't notice me? Just as well.

As luck would have it, she was just sitting a few tables away from Don, facing him from his right. He saw her talking animatedly with Wil, while returning to his plate. He didn't see Iz though.

He doesn't always have to be around her, silly duck. Don laughed to himself as he started a conversation with HB and the rest.

Just as he was returning his plates to the respective...containers (it was just a tub), he walked over and noticed Iz by the stone tables. Ah, so that was where he was.

* * * * *

He entered class, only to see the new teacher arrive. Was that Mdm Wong? She was almost a legend for her teaching capabilities.

"Why is she so early? It's not even 11.20am yet!" JR asked F, who shrugged and mentioned that recess was almost over and...

Don and the others around him noticed Mdm Wong turning over to glance at JR. Or F. F laughed jokingly, "Maybe she's gonna blackmark JR!"

That never happened, though. It turned out that Mdm Wong was amazingly nice, strict enough to command respect, yet relaxed enough to gain and hold the attention of the class with witty (more often lame, but still) jokes and wisecracks now and then. Don realised he had underestimated her. That's one experienced teacher.

"If you are not good in maths, you should become the Maths Rep.! Come on, think about it, why be so dumb and ask around for people's work to copy, when you can just ask them to hand it in to you to copy!"

Unorthodox, yet practical. She had that aura around her, Don looked on with curiosity.

He felt guilty even reading Harry Potter. He put the book to a side after a reminder from F, and listened to Mdm Wong. Maybe just the fact that Mathematics made time move slower than usual, but still, comparatively fast.

The next few hours was spent without a teacher in class as Miss Heng was sick, and unable to attend. Don mused when F proclaimed that Mrs Poh was around the corner, and going to walk pass the class. The class went for a 180-degrees change, from a noisy, rowdy one to a quiet, studious one. All in the timespan of ten seconds.

* * * * *

Don smiled at all these memories. They'll have to be blogged soon. These kind of memories are those that last for a long, long time.