No talking please!

For the past week we've been having our semester exams and this will continue until the end of this coming week. During one of my invigilation sessions, I was assigned to invigilate in a classroom along with another colleague. At one point he had to accompany a student who wanted to go to the toilet so I was left alone. Saya pun ronda-ronda keliling kelas to make sure all the students had all that they needed to answer the questions.

After a while I sat at the back of the class, beside a student who was right at the end of the middle row. The class was in total silence. Everyone seemed to be engrossed in answering the exam questions.

Selang beberapa minit kemudian, the boy who was sitting in front of the student I was sitting next to leaned back and said, ''Psstt...'' sambil memanding ke hadapan. Itu kira kononnya kalau invigilator nampak dia leaning ke belakang dia akan terus buat-buat stretching dan menguap. Sejak 1996 sehingga kini itu aje lah taktik yang sering digunakan anak-anak muridku. Aduhai sungguh tidak relevan lagi. BTW there are also other new and improved ways of cheating that we've discovered lately tapi tak boleh bagitau nanti para pelajar sedar yang kami para pensyarah sudah tahu taktik terbaharu mereka. Kami mahu membiarkan mereka sentiasa merasakan yang para pensyarah ini blur dan tidak tahu apa-apa.

Back to my story: Since the boy sitting beside me wisely continued doing his exam and did not respond to his friend's call (sebab cikgu Bedah berada di sebelahnya), I decided to lean forward to ask what he wanted. Nanti dia kecik hati pulak. Susah-susah dia meletakkan dirinya di dalam kadar bahaya tertinggi. Lalu saya pun bertanya, "Apasal?''

Lantas dia berbisik kembali (dengan mata masih memandang ke hadapan, bimbang gelagatnya diperhatikan orang), ''Apasal suara ko lain?''