by Jewel Wu
As I walked down the staircase, I saw a picture that was hung up on the wall. It was a picture of my friend, Louisa, and I standing side by side. We were holding a trophy together, beaming cheek to cheek with happiness, posing in our graduation gowns. That picture reminded me of the competition we participated in many years ago.
“There will be an art competition called Yellowern coming up and I want you two to participate,” my university art teacher, Miss Chong, proposed to us three weeks before the competition.
“Both of you are the best students I have had over the years. Please go for the competition'' she added. Both Louisa and I were shell-shocked. We always thought we were the worst students in Ms Chong's class as we usually forgot to bring our art supplies and were reprimanded.
We thought about it for a whole week and had mixed feelings. On one hand, we were raring to go, on the other hand, we were afraid to disappoint our teacher.
Finally, Louisa prompted, “Come on, Jewel! Let’s just go and give it a shot!” “Okay, Ms Chong, we’ll go,” I had said, not wanting to miss this golden opportunity.
Thinking that both of us live very far away from one another , and that it will be hard to meet up, Louisa asked me curiously during our CCA break time, “How about we be roommates for the week, so that we do not need to travel to meet up?’’ “Sure thing! You can move into my house as I have an extra room,” I replied.
The next day, Louisa moved into my house after our exhausting day at school. In the end, both of us did not even think about the competition but chatted about other things. On the night of the competition, we were sleeping late, watching a scary movie until eleven o’clock.
“Ring, ring, ring!” The sound of the alarm clock filled the empty room. “MOM!!! Give me ten more minutes, mom, I’m trying to sleep!” Louisa groaned. “It's me, Jewel, we overslept, we need to rush over now, or we may get disqualified!” I exclaimed.
Louisa woke up with a shock, not knowing what happened, and said,
“What are you waiting for, hurry up and get ready!” Louisa bolted right up from her bed and rushed to grab the car keys and art supplies. Pumped up on an adrenaline high, we jumped into the car and drove off keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for a smooth journey.
“Louisa, do you think we will reach there in time?’’ I asked, with no hope of reaching there as we are very late. “Do not worry, in the blink of an eye, we will be there,” she said. “Positive thoughts, Jewel.”
When we reached, our family members welcomed us at the location, Macritchie reservoir, and rushed us to our spot.
“The theme the judges told everyone of us is: What you think Singapore will look like in the future,” one of my family members, Ashton, told Louisa and I.
In my mind, an idea popped into my head. It was like
poking a needle into a balloon. Pop! and out came a gazillion ideas like raining confetti! “I have an idea,” I thought. Thereafter, Louisa and I rapidly worked on turning the idea into reality.
“TIME IS UP! Hope you guys are done with your painting! Please proceed to the counter and enjoy the food we serve here!” one of the judges announced.
After doing what is needed to be done, they finally announced who won the competition.
“AND THE WINNER IS…….. LOUISA AND JEWEL of DELL UNIVERSITY! Please give a round of a applause !’’
Both Louisa and I went up on stage to take our cheque that's worth $3,000! How exciting! We also got a trophy and a picture with the famous artist Ian Wong ! It is something like buy one get two free!
After that competition, Louisa and I graduated and went to different schools as I wanted to be an accountant while she pursued her passion.
“ Babe! Come down to the kitchen!’’ My husband, Darryl screamed.
“How many times must I tell you!” All the lovely thoughts were wiped away by his screaming. Ugh, can’t I have peace. I thought to myself. “I am coming!’’ I shouted and trotted down the stairs.
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