Night Court Gig

It was a Saturday night, a free night we call it since we don't have to attend the otherwise nightly preparatory classes. Everyone would be up to their own devices, largely unsupervised until it was time for lights-off. Some of us would climb over, under and around the gates to go out to town and get some good grub in for a change, and some others would go out to the few cybercafes scattered around town. The rest would linger around the Big School, idling away.

This sort of idleness that bred the idea one Saturday night not unlike others, when someone had the bright idea to have a gig. A gig, at Night Court no less! Of course being the schoolkids we were, we had no access to the equipment necessary to have such a thing (except for the odd Kapok guitar or two). What we had was a Walkman that we connected to a PC speaker (a common set up then as a makeshift stereo system in the dorms), and we turn it up to max volume.

Night Court was a small place, and the attendees quickly filled up the space. Before long, we had many bodies rocking along to tunes of the day - Rage Against The Machine, Rancid et al. And you should have seen us! All decked out in our best 'gig-look' - Doc Martens, jeans, hair done up fauxhawk (this was way before Beckham did his, so there!) and instant dreadlocks (I belong to this later group, unbelievable).

Some souls even decided to make things more interesting, by splashing us with water! It was loud, it was hot and it was fun-tastic to that bunch of 17 year-olds. Just as we were enjoying ourselves, I saw from the corner of my eyes a slashing movement.

"Rampa!!!"

No doubt, the wardens has arrived. We scattered in all directions. The water splashed just now, bad idea. Now the cement floors are all wet and slippery, resulting in several guys slipping and landing in a painful thud and coupled with a lashing from the warden to boot. Vajie (bukan nama sebenar) panicked that he even tried to push his way past the warden. Needless to say, he got several lashings for his efforts. The wardens split up, and they hunted the rest of us.

I ran for my life, perfectly aware that my hair is still dreadlocked. I ran to the showers and washed my hair and then ran back to my dorm and tried to dry my hair as quickly as I can. I slipped out of my gig attire and pulled on shorts and old t-shirt (my usual bed attire) and jumped into bed. I was careful to even pose as though I have been sleeping for a while. I even tried to control my breathing so that my chest did not rise up and down too quickly.

Soon enough, a warden entered the dorm. My bed was by the door, so I'm instantly aware of his entrance. Taking care not to even blink (in case you don't know, even when you shut your eyes you can still blink and people can see you), I maintained my composure.

I sensed him standing right by my bed, and in an instance my cover was blown. He only had to put his hands to my chest and quipped "Laju berdegup jantung kamu masa tidur nih". Cheh, sia-sia berlakon =D

Epilogue: I did not end my charade there and then, and he left me alone too. Prolly it was because I wasn't known as a troublemaker, so he let me off. But I bet my face went flush straightaway after he said that. Malu weh! So kids, don't bother trying to fool your wardens in school. They know your tricks better than you think.