Delinquent Diaries (15)

Ahoy Swashbucklers!

Today I will be introducing one of the two boys stronger than Octopus Head. This one's a little extreme in personality but nobody truly knows if he is stronger or if the other boy I've yet to introduce to y'all is stronger.

His name has the word Dragon in it and so the boys started calling him the East Dragon. I'll be honest now. The first time I saw his name on the class register, I thought Casper was pulling my leg but it turned out that East Dragon's parents were either really drunk when they chose his name or really hippy. I don't know why anyone would choose to name their children after insects but I can understand why East Dragon hated his name so much. I don't blame him at all for introducing himself as a Dragon. In fact, I think it suits him well.

Other than his ferocity as a martial art enthusiast, I can only point out his hairstyle as the things that make him wild. It looked likely something roughly chopped up instead of carefully cut and I was told that Dragon cut his hair himself. He does it with his katana because he didn't want to simply buy it as a decorative item. Since he couldn't be seen carrying a real sword around and sparring with it, he did the second best thing that came to his mind and used it to cut his hair. I can see the logic here but sometimes I question the decisions people make.

East Dragon actually has very well defined muscles from his hardcore training regime. He is what we know as a true muscle head. It doesn't matter what day it is, what kind of weather condition it is, or how tired he feels. Dragon never skips training day. he could be running a forty-degree1 fever but he would still be doing one-handed pushups.

Some people think that it is hard-boiled dedication but I just think it's crazy. I won't deny that Dragon is easily the fittest person in the school because he often runs around helping sports clubs to be a substitute player for any of their games. He might not be very good in the sport itself but his ridiculous power, stamina and reflexes make up for his inexperience. For example, I have never heard about anyone winning a basketball competition by doing a backflip slam dunk. Dragon isn't tall enough to jump and dunk so he invented the backflip slam dunk by bouncing the ball and timing his catch to dunk it by springing backwards somewhere midcourt before slamming it down right where the basket was. I saw the video someone took and I could hardly believe my eyes. Nobody was clear about what happened afterwards. The referee might have disqualified that score but there was no doubting how cool that stunt was.

Dragon adores Bruce Lee and like Jackie Chan, he wants to be a stuntman when he graduates. Who needs a degree in martial arts? Dragon was already on the national team preparing to represent Singapore in the Youth Olympics for martial arts. I don't know why Dragon isn't in the special stream but I guess he didn't qualify because of his atrocious scores.

Teaching Dragon Math wasn't easy. the boy constantly fidgets and it was hard to get him to remember anything. Casper tried all the conventional methods and was almost on the verge of tears. Luckily for him, I'm not a very conventional person. we tried many things to get dragon focus on the subject but the only way to get his attention is to have him do something. In the end, it took circuit training Math to get Dragon to understand certain concepts.

What is circuit training Math? well, simply put it. There is a series of activities at each corner of the class that Dragon has to run to within a time limit to read and attempt the questions while completing a fixed number of reps. It can be sit-ups, squats or jumping jacks but while reading the question, Dragon has to do them and for every wrong question that he got, Dragon has to do corrections and memorise them if he couldn't understand the concept. We had him write his corrections five times each while doing leg lifts. As ridiculous as it sounded, this method worked for Dragon.

Herein lies a small problem. Dragon couldn't possibly be running around the class while he took his test. Thankfully, the East Dragon knew that as well and had a solution. He would wear light ankle weights covered by his long pants on that day and do leg lifts while attempting the test. Casper and I were unsure but if that was what worked for Dragon then we would leave it to him.

Outside of martial arts, sports and Math, Dragon was a fairly blunt person and honest to a fault. Although I appreciate not being told lies on a daily basis like Casanova, I don't really appreciate being told how short I was by Dragon.

The kid also somehow doesn't understand the concept of impossible. He explained that if he doesn't get what he wants, he'd just have to work harder. I tried to explain to him that there were certain things that were not meant to be and Dragon snorts at me while giving me this reply.

"If you can't get it then you should try until you die. After you die, you should meet God and ask him why he didn't allow you to succeed while you were alive. If God doesn't answer, you fight him and make him answer your question."

I don't know what to feel about that answer but it really wasn't a bad answer. East Dragon was also extremely loyal so when he accepted Casper and me into the pack, he told me to call him if I was ever in trouble. He might not be the brightest but he claimed that he would always be the fastest.

Although I don't think I'll ever need his protection, it was an assuring thought.

Tomorrow I will introduce the last student of the delinquent class and probably the strongest student we know in the school.

Fair winds and sleep tight!

Pirate S.