Lost

2 January 1995

[Elizabeth's POV]

"We are now at the school foyer. Year 1 girls, please alight at the porch and follow the prefects to the school hall. Year 2 to 6, please wait for Year 1 to alight first." the bus conductor announced with a microphone.

I took another glance at my watch. 7.45 am. School assembly is supposed to start at 8 am. I have 15 minutes to get to the school hall. The school premise is huge. It is probably nearly as large as my entire neighbourhood as I took in a quick glance at my surroundings. There is a section for the primary school students and another section for the high school students. Every flower and grass looks perfectly manicured and every inch, nook and cranny is spotless.

Lucky for me, the bus stopped us in front of the nearest flight of stairs that lead directly to the hall. The prefect that showed us the way told us that there are 4 other stairs that we can use to get to the hall and pointed out the rough locations to where they are.

"Our principal is Sister Angeli De Medici. Year 1 will assemble at the back of the hall. The prefects will hold up a card indicating your class. You need to find the class you belong to and line up in pairs." the prefect continued her briefing.

At the end of the stairs, I was greeted with a magnificent sight. The ceiling is extremely tall. Perhaps 3 to 4 storey tall in comparison to the apartment block that I am staying in.

We are at the left side gate and across us to the opposite is the right side gate and there is a much larger and grandiose black cast iron main gate with arrow spears at the top. The school crest and motto is casted in pure gold and there are 1 at each side gate and the main gate holds 1 on the left and right side of the gate. The perfectly white marble columns are intricately crafted according to Corinthian designs to hold the cast iron gates.

No matter which direction I turned my head to, I felt overpowered by what my senses could take. It is exactly like how story books that I read in Pearson's would describe heaven to be like, except, the archangels here are crafted in white marble statues. 7 archangels, to be exact, strategically placed, leading up to the huge grand marble stairs with red carpet in the middle. It feels like an entrance to heaven, that God would meet us at the top of the stairs.

I looked around to see that no one else seems to be in as much shock as I am. Quickly, I worked to regain my composure.

The assembly hall on the other hand felt extremely scholarly. It is built in dark brown oak wood with carvings that resembled universities of the 1800s. A light casky woody scent lingered in the air as the stage, ceiling, floor and furniture are all made of oak.

"Here it is, please do join your respective class" the prefect stopped us upon reaching the top of the marble staircase.

1 Allamanda, 1 Bougainvillea, 1 Carnation, 1 Daisy, 1 Episcia, 1 Frangipani, 1 Gardenia, 1 Hibiscus.

I read all the placards quietly.

"Oh no!" At that moment, I have no idea which class I belong to. Everyone seems to know where they belong. Mom and dad had never mentioned anything about that to me, nor, was I given any documents to read. In Pearson's, there is only 1 class per level, so it is not hard to figure out where to go. I had failed to consider the possibility that at St. Antonio's, things would be so different.

"Maybe I should look for a payphone" I muttered to myself. "I need to call home to ask."

Taking another quick glance at my watch, it is less than 5 minutes to the start of the assembly.

"Oh no no no!" I facepalmed.

"Ok, calm down, Elizabeth." I took a deep breath. I looked through all the placards again. This time, the word Gardenia stood out to me.

"I am from the neighborhood of Gardenia and mom buys bread at the Gardenia bakery."

"1 Gardenia it is then." I walked confidently up to the prefect holding the 1 Gardenia placard to join the class that lined behind her.

Assembly was a 10 minutes address by Sister Angeli followed by the singing of the national anthem and school song. Due to time constraints, morning devotion was reduced to a few short prayers for God to bless the academic year.

Coming from an atheistic family, I followed the cues from the girls sitting around me so that I could blend in without looking too lost.

By the end of the assembly, the prefects holding our placard had to show us to our classroom where our teachers will wait for us inside.

"Are you from the neighborhood of Hibiscus?" I asked the girl sitting next to me who is sitting with 1 Hibiscus.

"Or, does your mom buy bread from the Hibiscus bakery?"

"No. Where's that?" she asked quizzically. "Hibiscus is a name of a flower."

"So is Allamanda and Bougainvillea?"

"Why, yes! All our classes are named after flowers."

I felt my stomach sinking as we parted ways upon exiting the hall. Could I have gotten everything wrong?

It didn't take me too long to realize that there are only 40 seats in the classroom while there are 41 girls here.

"Someone does not belong here." the teacher said, noticing that the last girl in the queue had nowhere to sit.

"Please leave the class, if you do not belong here." the teacher paused for a few minutes.

I closed my eyes in nervousness while sitting in my seat. I didn't want to be the one that does not belong.

"Please, let it be someone else. Please...please" I prayed.

"It can't be all that coincidence right?" I started to shiver.

"Alright, since no one is leaving, I am going to take the attendance now. If your name is not called, please leave the class immediately." the teacher continued.

One by one, names are called. Everyone turned their heads to look at me after the last name was called. I stood up with my face as red as a tomato, grabbing my school bag to leave the class.

"Miss," I looked at the teacher with embarrassment.

"Out now." the teacher interrupted me. "Go to the Principal's office."

[Yongqi's POV]

I stood behind Elizabeth as I watched her leave the classroom looking like a dejected dog with its tail in between its legs.

"Elizabeth, wait up!" I said as I walked up to her side.

"Wait for me here. I'll go around to see which class has an empty seat. If there are none, I'll walk with you to search for the Principal's office."

She nodded her head in agreement as she sat on one of the steps of the stairs.

"The Year 1 classes should be all on this level. I should not be long." I reassured her. Seeing that her lips did a slight upward turn, I left with a brisk walk.

Luckily, I saw that the class next to the one that Elizabeth had exited, had an empty seat and the teacher had just finished with the attendance taking. I took a quick glance at the register just in time before the teacher closed it.

Great. Elizabeth's name is on it. With a quick jog, I got back to Elizabeth as fast as I could.

"Follow me." I said to Elizabeth as she grabbed her school bag.

"This way! Hurry!"

[Elizabeth's POV]

"Your name is on the register of this class." Yongqi pointed me to a classroom with the words 1 Frangipani labelled on the door.

"And there is an empty seat too."

"Thank you." Elizabeth mouthed silently.

"I'll stick around as much as possible." Yongqi smiled at me.

With another deep breath, I pushed the door open to enter the classroom feeling myself going deep red again with embarrassment.

"Late on the first day, huh?" the teacher asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"No, Miss, I was…I was..."

"Oh mio dio!" the teacher cut me off.

"And full of excuses too." the teacher said with a sharp tone.

The girls in the class snickered.

"Name?"

"Elizabeth"

She opened the register and changed the status from "absent" to "late" beside my name. I kept my head down and scurried to my seat, trying not to make any form of eye contact.