Flashback

It was a cold and rainy night. There was no food left at home. Wanfahmai was waiting for the right chance to obtain food. The only supermarket available in her neighbourhood was open. She had an oversized hoodie on and psyche herself up before entering the place. She grabbed the items that she needed and tucked it in her jeans covering it up with her hoodie. However, as she was about to step out of the supermarket, she was stopped by the security guard that had tailed her as she overlooked the fact that there were not many customers to cover her tracks. She had done this a few times before but this was the first for her to be apprehended in the manner that she did and was then sent to the police station for shoplifting.

“You’re still young so why are you doing this?” asked the police officer. Wanfahmai was questioned repeatedly but she was adamant to stay quiet. The police officer insisted on calling her parents and that fact triggered her to speak,

“Call my teacher instead… I’m sure she’ll come to get me…”

A call to her homeroom teacher was made and true enough she came to get her out of the police station. She thanked her teacher and wanted to head home but was stopped when the teacher called her back.

“Wanfahmai… What are you going to do with your life dear?"

Wanfahmai simply kept quiet at the question, prompting her teacher to ask her further, "Aren’t you going to come to school? You are meant to be at school… You are definitely a good student… So would you please come back...? I'll try to explain to them in any way possible.”

It did not sit well with Wanfahmai, as she witnessed her teacher pleading, causing her to finally speak, “To tell you the truth I don’t know either… At the moment I’m just busy trying to survive… And you, being the only one to see the good in me… I don’t think it would make such a big difference.”

“Why won’t you accept help so you can still attend school?”

“And then what? Would that guarantee my mum’s well-being?”

Wanfahmai’s words left her teacher speechless since she knew Wanfahmai’s situation is unlike any other students under her care. It was not the first time her teacher had bailed her out of the police station as she was reported for public rowdiness and other misdemeanour prior to tonight's incident, but it was the fateful night for Ms Daniya to encounter Wanfahmai for the very first time, as she was a close friend of her high school teacher. The ladies were having dinner together after a long while when the call from the police came in and interrupted their meeting. 

“Young lady, that’s no way to speak to your teacher at all!” chided Ms Daniya.

Wanfahmai just look at her silently for a moment before walking away.

“Ya~! Don’t you have any manners? How could you treat your elder in this manner?” said Ms Daniya before she turned to her friend, “I wish I could put that student of yours in her place for being so rude to you! And me!”

“You don’t understand… She was not being rude… She was being honest. She was being honest with her situation… And in regards to manners, anyone in the situation that she’s in will prefer to keep quiet…”

“You are too nice…”

“I’m not too nice… It’s just that the world is too mean to her…”

“Why do you speak so highly of her after she snubbed you off like that?”

“Because she’s the most wonderful student I have ever met in my entire teaching career. Students like her inspire me to be a teacher… A proper teacher… She redefined what’s expected out of a teacher… It’s not just about imparting knowledge from the textbooks…”

“Are you alright my friend? Because you seem to spout nonsense and it's worrying me…”

“Gosh… It’s not nonsense… It’s the truth… She rarely attends school when her mother fell ill. Her dad is an alcoholic and abusive at the same time. Yet she never flunks her exams and even did well enough to rival the top five students in her cohort. She never once complained about her situation. She took everything in her stride despite all the disadvantages,” as the teacher reminisced her young student’s life, “You know, she's a great athlete too. She excels in muay thai, but was barred from participating since early last year because she was using her skills to fight off bullies in the school who were harassing a girl."

"If that was the case why was she barred? I mean she was defending an innocent person."

"Why? Because those bullies are born with golden spoons. So, their parents lodged a complaint and everything and everyone was against her. Even when I put in good words for her, they would not believe me since I’m just a person with an ordinary background. My colleagues did not find it in them to help her either since they fear for their own rice bowl. So, she was immediately suspended from school for two weeks while awaiting the result from the school's board, which resulted in a full month suspension. And while she was out, that very girl she was helping, took her own life."

"What?!"

"Yes. It was traumatising for Wanfahmai and she did not know how to react to the news when she came back to school. The bullying did not stop, they then switched targets and continued to taunt her. They knew that they were not able to win her physically so they tried to break her mentally."

"And she accepted it without doing anything? She doesn't seem like the type to do so..."

"Initially she just let it be, until one day, when the bullies were bored of provoking her and decided to find another student to bully, she could no longer hold it in and confronted them, while giving them a good beating."

"So I guess the only reason why she took it all in was because she wanted to make sure the bullies had their eyes on her and not any other student?"

"How do you know?"

"It's quite obvious, my dear friend. Then what happened when she confronted them?"

"Another complaint was made, and she’s now on the verge of being expelled for good. Last I heard, it was going to go through. And they are also using her records at the police station to justify her being expelled, I really don’t know what else I can do. So now tell me, was she being rude to me? Despite all that, she was never ill-mannered to those damned adults.”

Her friend’s confession left her wondering about her judgement as well. She even asked to view Wanfahmai’s exam results and some of her work to convince herself that her friend did not make the wrong call for she knew that her friend has a soft heart. But when the evidences were revealed to her in the form of Wanfahmai’s school work and past accolades, she could not help herself but to be intrigued further. From that day onwards, she kept thinking of ways to help Wanfahmai out. She told the plans she had to her friend,

“So, what do you think? A different environment will do her good. I mean I don’t wish for such a great girl to waste her life away…”

“You can try but… It’s going to be difficult. I’ve tried all sorts of ways to do so… But it didn’t work. She just refused. She’s headstrong.”

“There’s someone who’s more stubborn than I am? Really?” as Ms Daniya scoffed thinking that she would be able to overcome Wanfahmai like any other obstacle that had come her way.

The first time she decided to offer a helping hand in terms of monetary means, Wanfahmai refused immediately and shut the door on her. Wanfahmai did not even gave her a chance to explain and simply said, “Did I in any way posted on this very door that we’re looking for donations?”

Ms Daniya continued to knock on the door but Wanfahmai did not budge. That day she met up with her friend and told her of what had happened and her friend simply smiled and said, “Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you… I guess you finally met your match uh?”

Ms Daniya tried again and again but failed to the extent that Wanfahmai who was already irritated by then decided to pull a prank and threatened Ms Daniya by calling the police for harassment. Until one day Wanfahmai relented and let her in but after she promised not to offer her any monetary help.

Upon seeing the condition of Wanfahmai’s mother, it finally dawned on her the severity of the situation.

“How long has your mother been in such a condition?”

“I think about a year and a half ago, but her health has worsened in the recent months…”

“Is this the reason why you skip school?”

“Yeah…”

“You could have sought help and I’m sure many would love to extend a helping hand…”

“I rather do it on my own… I mean I can afford her medicine with my part time jobs…” said Wanfahmai as she led Ms Daniya out of the rented house so as not to let her mother hear any of their conversation further.

“What about your education? More specifically your future? I mean… I heard that they are deciding to have you expelled.”

“Deciding? More like decided.”

Ms Daniya simply looked at her and Wanfahmai smiled as she continued, “I should have known better than to mess with them: kids with rich parents. I am still at fault since it’s illegal for me to use my body in that manner. I’m a certified weapon as they say. Anyways, that’s the least of my worries now… I just don’t wish to have any regrets…”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I don’t wish to spend the rest of my life in regret should my mother leave this world while I am busy trying to attain my so called ‘education’.”

Her words were sobering. Ms Daniya could only attempt to comprehend what it must have felt like for a child to speak like that of her mother and of her young life. But Wanfahmai went on to justify her statement,

“The fact that mae was ill yet she told me not to worry and insisted that I went to school that day, never failed to remind me to treasure her presence in my life. My useless father came back drunk that morning. I knew that because when I came home from school he had passed out on the bed in his drunken stupor and stunk of alcohol while mae was on the floor unconscious. I panicked and carried her to the nearest doctor. I can’t even claim he’s the cause of my mom’s condition since there were no witnesses even though he has always been abusive when drunk.”

“Did he hurt you too?” asked a concerned Ms Daniya.

“Hurt?” with Wanfahmai scoffing cynically at that word, “Him hitting me physically doesn’t hurt me as much as me growing up watching him hurt my mother time and again. But she just refused to leave him for whatever reason that I fail to understand, when they are not even married.”

“Not married?”

“Yeah… They are just living together…”

“How did you find out about that?”

“I happened to see my birth cert one day and the column where my father’s details should be, was empty and the fact that I carry my mother's surname. I asked mae about it and she told me that it’s because they are not officially married.”

“And you still call him your father?”

“I mean I’ve known him as my father my whole life… I saw a photo of him holding me when I was a baby… So, since she would never leave him, all I could do is to be there for her. He doesn’t dare to hurt her physically when I’m around since he knew I was capable of taking him down.”

“Where is he now?”

“Honestly I don’t know and I don’t care.”

“Then what happens when you’re out for your part time job?”

“I work nights… Because he’s always drinking at night and occasionally come home during the day… I guess it’s his thing… Other than that, he’s usually away on site working in construction to feed his drinking habits.”

“Don’t mind me asking… But why did you shoplift then?”

“Oh that…? Sometimes my employers aren’t kind to part timers… Especially students like me or should I say barely a student…?  They don’t pay me on time. But when I get angry and retaliate, they call the police on me and was charged because of that. I am what they call a serial public nuisance, because it has happened more than once. But who would want to listen to a mere poor student? So anyways, sometimes, when I spent what I have on my mother