War of the schools (Revisited)

A short, incomplete series of 5 shorts i wrote about a war between the schools located in the East coast and Katong Area. Written by me in secondary 4. It was good fun and I hope you enjoy it as much as i did writing it.




Episode 1




The sun rose majestically over the white citadel of St. Patrick’s school. The Patricians began to assemble in the courtyard as the bell rang. The royal guards or as they call them, “Prefects” reported to their guard posts. The sky still had a sleepy effect to it as the leader of the school took to the stands. Lak the wise, one of the most skilled leaders of his time. The morale of patrician’s had never been higher than when he took the helm of the shamrock empire.

Lak the wise: Good morning gentlemen. There are no announcements for today, we shall proceed with the flag raising.

The moment the parade commander gave his command, the great horn of Stephen block blew frantically as if crying for help.

Lak the wise: Now…what could it be now…

Rishic Menon, one of the royal scouts, ran down from the central staircase and into the courtyard. The look on his face already signified the bad news.

Lak the wise: What is it Rishic.

Rishic: (through rough panting) Sir! It appears that our allies Katong convent and Victoria Junior College have turned against us.

Lak the wise: What? When did you hear about this?

Rishic: This morning. I found a suction cup arrow on the glass of the outpost window. It was a declaration of war by the two schools. Their forces are massing sir. We can see them from the Stephen block outpost. At least 2500 strong sir.

Lak the wise: This is preposterous. What are they going to fight us with? Sticks?

Rishic: An insider reported wooden swords, pellet guns, suction cup arrows and water balloons. They could take our whole citadel by force.

Lak the wise: Ah…perhaps we will need to fight for the shamrock’s pride… Rishic gather the prefects. We need a battle plan. Maybe we could negotiate with the leaders first. Whatever it is, gather the prefects. Go! Quickly!

Rishic ran up to the Stephen block outpost again. He blew the horn but this time in a higher pitch. The whining of the great horn echoed through the walls of the school and fell upon the ears of Kyle Ganapathy. The prefect who was in charge of negotiation and warfare. Halfway through his unfinished homework(taking advantage of the prefect’s privilege of skipping assemblies), he rushed out of class and alerted the rest of the council. Darren Ho, the master of the guard, Justin Thio, the battle formation specialist, Ivan Reddy, the cleric, Christopher Chitty, the commander of the NCC forces, and last but not least Marc Van Huizen, the king of the fellowship of students. They scurried like scalded dogs up to Stephen block to meet the rest of the prefects.

Kyle: Rishic. What’ the problem?

Rishic: Take a look for yourself. (Shows Kyle the note and points to the window)

Kyle read the note and his eyes widened. He looked out the window and there stood a sea of blue. Like the unforgiving depths of the ocean. The Katong Convent forces were assembled in their courtyard. Ready to strike at first notice. To the left, the cream coloured shirts filled the canal walkway. Wooden swords were being carved, pellet guns being cocked and water balloons being filled. The sight of such an army could have broken the mightiest man.

Kyle: How many of them?

Justin: I’d reckon about 2000 to 3000 altogether.

Marc: Great. Our O level year and this comes up.

Ivan: How are we going to respond?

Rishic: Lak the wise proposed negotiations. But we may as well prepare for the incoming wave.

Kyle: Okay. Justin, we need some sort of plan.

Justin: Right now, our most vulnerable part would be the back gate. We need to alert the scouts to gather their scaffolds and barricade it. It is a very flimsy fence, the force of ten people could break it off its hinges. We need to reinforce it. I will take my unit of Patricians and garrison them in Shamrock garden in case the need to fight arises.

Marc: What if they try to flank us?

Darren: I’ll bring my unit to the front gate. We’ll stay there until further notice from you guys. Its strong. It should be able to hold if they try to attack.

Ivan: My unit and I will guard the gate leading to St. Patrick’s road. Its strong but short. We need a higher concentration of defense there.

Kyle: Sounds promising. Christopher, we need the NCC cadets to form up in the field. They’ll be our extra garrison. Draw the dummy guns.

Christopher: Roger.

Marc: Rishic, the scouts will have to assist us in the building of some sort of defensive mechanism. Have you built the catapult before?

Rishic: No.

Marc: Then try. We need to pull out all the stops.

Kyle: Then its settled for now…I…

The room in Stephen block fell silent as a loud battle cheer resonates from the courtyard.
Marc: He’s given the order for battle. We’ll get to our posts. Kyle, begin the negotiations.


The prefects dispersed each carrying a flag with a shamrock emblazoned on it. Kyle stayed with Rishic as the rest of the prefects went into the courtyard to ready the troops.

Ivan: 4E2,4E3,2N1,2E4 follow me! Report to the St Patrick’s road gate!

The noise in the courtyard was almost deafening as each unit moved out into their various posts. Disorganized as they were, still, they knew what to do.

Lak the wise: Joshua Siow! Come here!

Joshua: Yes sir?

Lak the wise: Here take the keys to the air rifle room. Draw out the rifles. I want you and the best marksmen to station at vantage points. Do not aim for the face. Just hold them where they are. We don’t want any severe injuries. War or not.

Joshua: Yes sir!

Kyle picked up his flag as he walked out of the back gate. It shut tight behind him as he stood before the roaring army of the KC-VJC alliance.
Kyle: If this negotiation fails, we’re gone…

He climbed up the bridge, which connected Katong convent to St. Patrick’s. There, he met with the commanders of each army. Nadia Ahmad Samdin, of KC and Barry Lee of VJC.

Kyle: Nadia? What are you doing here?

Nadia: I’m having a barbecue (rolls eyes) Obviously to negotiate!

Kyle: What is the cause of this? Why have your two schools turned on us?

Barry Lee: Nothing personal. But your school is a wart in the middle of greatness. Look at you guys. Heh. You can’t even hold your pants up properly. You are in the midst of the best few schools in Singapore. Victoria secondary, Victoria JC and Katong convent. We want you out.

Kyle: Did you just indirectly say that my school is lousy?

Barry: Yes as a matter of fact, I did.

Kyle: Oh yeah?

Nadia: Okay before you do something stupid, listen to our terms. If you do not wish to engage us in battle, your school students will have to follow our rules.

Kyle: What may that be?

Barry: They may not traverse near our schools. No Patrician shall cross onto our side of the road. They may not pass us. Anyone that chooses to disobey will be taken prisoner. Patricians may not converse or have any contact with the students from our schools. And at any time one is caught, we have the free will to take it into our own hands.

Kyle: Those demands are ridiculous! We all have friends in KC and in VJC. Are you saying that all contact shall be shut off from our school and that it will fall into the shadow of obscurity?

Barry: Yes. That is correct. You and your kind are not wanted here.

Nadia: Sorry Kyle…but the schools made a unanimous decision. As far as I’m concerned it is stupid but I’m just a negotiator.

Kyle: A negotiator is supposed to negotiate not force someone into doing something…

Barry: We don’t have all day. What say you?

Kyle: I say. Negotiations are over…

Kyle placed his flag against the guardrail of the bridge. With an almighty lunge, he knocked Barry Lee off his feet with a devastating forearm to the chest.
Kyle: (Takes out his bugle and blows on it) Potest qui vult! We go to war!

Nadia: (Grabs her forehead) Oh Kyle…bad choice…

Barry: Nadia. Signal the armies.

Nadia takes out her cellphone and dials a number into the phone. After a 10 second silence, the legions of blue and cream roared with all their might. The Great War of the schools was about to commence. Kyle ran back into the citadel as the scouts shut the gate and began barricading it with the scaffolds. Justin’s unit was ready with their wooden swords drawn and was stationed in Shamrock garden. A small garrison of 100 men against the oncoming thousands. Kyle blew his horn once more and called Rishic to his side.

Kyle: Rishic! Get the remaining scouts and build the catapults as soon as you can. And get Samuel here. We are in for a heck of a fight…



Stay tuned for episode 2