Today when you went to the washroom at recess, you saw a group of Secondary 3 students smoking in the toilet. Write an entry in your diary describing what you saw, what you did and how you felt about the incident.
Dear Diary,
I know I always begin with this, but what a bizarre day I went through! Today, I saw a group of S3 students smoking in the toilet, enough shock. I’ve never imagined pupils in my school would do such an inappropriate thing. This really put me in a down mood.
It was the recess after two exhausting Chinese lessons. I went to the washroom far away in the New Wing as the upstairs one was jammed, disgusting! Before I stepped into the toilet, I had already sensed an irritating smell. When I got inside, the choking smell just festered. You know how big that toilet was, I couldn’t identify the source of smell right away. But then I saw smoke coming out from the other aisle. HELL, it was either a fire or people smoking and neither of them was good. I stuck my head out to peek and witnessed three kids smoking! I didn’t know who they were but I had a vague memory that they were S3 students. They squatted in the corner, tapping the cigarette bud onto the floor, exhaling fumes with an enjoying look. I was of course, shocked, and couldn’t comprehend any words or actions.
But, being an S6 student, the eldest one in the school, should not watch the smoking gang with folded arms. So I stopped hiding and strode towards them.
‘What’re you doing? Stop immediately!’
Unsurprisingly, they didn’t care at all, ‘None of your business! Stop bothering us.’ They simply casted a glance on me, chuckled and then continued to smoke.’
‘Oh so you think you’re cool to smoke in school huh? Maybe it’s really not my business, but how about it’s the TEACHERS’ business.’
They flinched slightly and one of them even accidentally dropped his cigarette on the floor. Kids. The toughest guy looking like the leader of the squad started bargaining with me. He promised they would leave at once and I had to pretend seeing nothing. I didn’t compromise with his nonsense and insisted that I WOULD tell the teacher. Then I turned around and walked
out of the toilet, leaving those kids begging me to keep my mouth shut behind. Afterwards, I did tell the teachers but not with the full picture. I said I saw finished cigarettes on the floor but I didn’t know who was responsible. Anyway, I believed their identities would be blown sooner or later.
In the end, I didn’t even actually go to the toilet for my biological need. To be honest, I felt horrified that students that young smoked. I wondered what they’ve encountered to be misled onto a wrong path. Our school is certainly not the top and elite school, but I used to believe our students were fully able to distinguish rights and wrongs. How disappointing it’s to discover this incident. What if there’re more? What if it’s not just smoking? This is going to haunt me for a while. Now I reflect on it, maybe I should’ve just told the teachers I saw some S3 students smoking straight away. Apart from the fear, I also felt powerless, that I wasn’t able to help with the situation. You see how they treated me when I first asked them to stop? They didn’t put me in the eyes and I was very furious. I wished they could quit smoking, realising what they were doing was improper, instead of just fearing the punishment that might come down.
You know, the more I talk about this incident the sadder I get. I shall just pray that no more similar things’ll ever happen again in our school. Hope that I’ll write something lighter next time!
Christy Yuen Yin Kiu
6E 2015-16