I've seen the best and worst of you so I understand perfectly what you are

But more importantly, for the first time in my life,
instead of wanting to run,
they gave me every reason to stay.

---

I'm gonna dedicate this post to this bunch of people in the photo and also Kritika (Why are you not in the photo?!)

Let's see. The reason I joined ELDDS was because my form teacher kinda forced me into joining it on the day, last year, when I was a little puny innocent Sec 1 and was browsing through her CCA booth just to be nice. So yeah, I thought I was an English person, so it shouldn't be a problem joining ELDDS. I still remember the "audition" the seniors made us pitiful Sec 1s go through. It wasn't that bad but it did managed to make a few of us cry. (I remember Duane, Sherry and Salam crying)

But then instead of leaving us in an offended state, you guys led us into the Drama Room and held a party for us. There was food, drinks and many nice seniors there! I remember us signing on this piece of paper, the place was decorated nicely and the ambiance was really warm and comforting. From that day onwards, I looked forward to every ELDDS session until things started to get plain boring with Instructor Lizabeth. She didn't know how to control this bunch of lively beings and only when her boss came, she showed her fierce and bossy side.

Honestly, there were alot of drama happening in this drama club. I'm sure the drama members that stuck with us throughout should know. The SYF period was hell for us because we repeatedly changed scripts and we were all unprepared. Even if we didn't came back with an award to be proud of, we were proud of coming back with a bond that can never be broken.

I remember walking to the bus-stop from long SYF sessions with Sam and Ricky. I remember hearing Sam get all spazzy over Jonathan and Ricky nodding his head and passing small comments when Sam and I are talking. It was nice walking to the bus-stop with the two of them. I even had the experience of taking neoprints with the two of them, having dinner and enjoying nice conversations with them. I'm sure the three of us enjoyed each other's company very much and even though there was an odd number of people in this group, no one felt lonely.

I remember this particular session when we were all taken out of class to rehearse and Sam, Ricky and me had nothing to do, so Ricky was playing the song 梁山伯与茱丽叶 in the background (I think he uploaded it to his phone after I sent it to him on MSN) and the three of us were just relaxing. Sam was signing along to the song, SMSing Jonathan and I was just lying down, enjoying everything. It felt so nice to just lie down and have nothing to worry about. Ricky was boasting saying that the song was easy to sing but sadly, he didn't give us a demonstration of his gorgeous voice. I remember coming back from a break with Ricky and the both of us were planning on walking pass on our class and acting like we were slacking around to make them jealous. It kinda worked because when we walked pass, some of our classmate passed some side remarks.

I remember drawing and writing random words on this foolscap paper because I was bored and because I folded it to half, I decided to call Ricky to fill up the other half. He wrote some really sweet stuff (Not going to say it!) and I still keep that paper in my special box. The bond we shared was special. Up till now, even if we aren't in talking terms, I still feel like he's my best friend and everytime I had news, the first person that popped into my head to share the news with was him.

There was the debate period too. Sam, me, Iris, Tessmin and Rupa were elected to represent our school for the Mayors' Shields Debate. It was a stressful period because we had to stay back after school almost everyday to gather up our points, round up our argument and write out our speech but even so, we enjoyed every minute of it. I know that I attended all the debates because Ms Claudia thought that I could do well in representing the school and being the second speaker. We didn't win any matches but it did boost up our confidence levels. I wasn't the best speaker but I know I was a motivated one because during the first debate, I had Ricky and Benard sitting down and watching me say my speech.

I know Benard was laughing because I sounded so determined, but it helped to know that the two of them made the effort to come and support us. Miss Claudia teased me because at one period of time when the opposing team was asking me a question, I answered with a squeaky "Hm?" and even though she said it was cute, she advised me not to do so in the further debates.

ELDDS is looked down upon in our school and I know I was embarrassed that I was part of this society but what I also know was that Ricky, the seniors gave me a reason to stay. Ricky was all enthusiastic about ELDDS, often asking me questions about it. He did irritated me but I found his little questions rather cute because I never seen a guy so interested in Drama before. He motivated me into coming regularly for our meetings and the seniors always made me feel comfortable and wanted. I never felt alone when I was in ELDDS. We were like a big family (just that we weren't sure who our parents were.)

Everytime I wanted to confront Ms Claudia about quitting, I thought of all the times we've been through together and I stopped myself. I just couldn't picture myself in any other CCA. ELDDS felt like home to me. We were a small group and I never wanted anything else, because we were all so close to each other. When one of us felt upset, the whole group of us will try to make he/she happy. I remember when Nivasini was part of the CCA and she was crying, so a few of us girls brought her outside. We sat down in a circle, asked her what happened and helped her out. In the end, we managed to cheer her up and made her confide in us.

I know Ricky must felt pretty awkward being the only boy in the CCA for a long period of time, but I'm extremely glad he stayed on because I don't think I can ever imagine CCA sessions without his "stone" face. He was my main reason for attending every session.

Throughout these two years I've been in ELDDS, I've found nothing but happiness and joy. We faced many struggles together and we always made it a point to laugh at every session.

It was tiring to get out of bed early during the holidays to attend the long SYF trainings but it was worth it because after every session, I'd be smiling and laughing with them. They cheered me up, always.

I know I can trust them with my secrets and I know I would never want to leave them.

Drama rocks ♥
(Even if Marie doesn't like ELDDS being called Drama)
I'm just used to calling it Drama :}