Chapter 98 - Team Names

Danny looked at the names and the teams submitted by the students before the break. It was quite an interesting combination with the special class opting to split from their usual combination to even out the playing field. On the other hand, the misfits were also doing well with their strategy of gathering those quick with their minds and those good with their minds after Jasper's declaration of the prizes and penalty.

More amusingly, the children had come up with names for their teams that reflected their personality. Danny couldn't think of a better match for these names and snapped a photo of it before forwarding it to the principal. Philip would love the gossips and behind the scenes of this interesting class-bonding activity. It was the main reason why Danny was sent to supervise them.

#1: Team Scarlet

Leader: Scarlet

Tutors: Lin Lin & Nathan

Members: Jinru, Tom, Jin Si-Han & Samuel

Danny was a little surprised as to why Samuel was in the group. He was aware that the rest of the members idolised the young writer to varying extents but why did that mysophobic german choose that team?

Some things simply couldn't be explained.

#2: Team All or Nothing

Leader: Jasper

Tutors: Elfie & Ria

Members: Mustafa, Khalid, Jeff & Jeremy

Danny took a look at the submitted names for the second group and felt like it was no surprise. Jasper's strong leadership and Elfie's expert support would make a good team. It was a rather well-balanced team and Danny's only concern was for Ria who was the only girl present. Would the dancer be able to cope without her sister interacting with a group of boys?

#3: Team Dreamer

Leader: Jean

Tutors: Alex & Farid

Members: Reggie, Rowan, Benedict & Issac

The third team was something that made Danny burst out in laughter. Their team name couldn't be truer. In fact, as Danny ran through the names on this list, he didn't know if he should be worrying how Issac was the only one who didn't count as a dreamer.

He knew how Farid and Jean quarrelled earlier about the position of the leader and Alex was pressured into voting for one of them to be the leader. Eventually, it was decided that the two squabbling students would play a game of rock-paper-scissors to decide. Farid sulked the entire afternoon when Jean won all three games. The counsellor couldn't help but worry about the dynamics of this team.

#4: Team Action First

Leader: Rebecca

Tutors: Camilia & Jun Le

Members: Dragon, Roy, Teddy & Vivian

True to the team's name, Danny felt a headache thinking about Rebecca's strange request to go to the indoor sports hall for their team's lessons. With the exception of jun Le and Vivian, the rest of them were rather athletic and sporty. Danny really didn't want to judge but the term 'muscle heads' came to mind immediately when he heard the request.

Still, he couldn't deny that Dragon learnt best when he was given the chance to move about while learning.

Now that they had their teams, Danny asked each team leader to submit a crash course training program covering all three major modules after the 2-hour compulsory lessons every morning until the date of examination. The teams were discussing it over the break and Danny was excited to know what these kids would come up with.

For the sake of the slower students, Danny had to revise his lesson plans and put into consideration that the students of the special class had different examination papers from the delinquents. Not all of them took the standard papers for their respective ages. Lin Lin, for example, was too young to be skipping years so she was still taking examinations for eight-year-olds. On the other hand, there were academically advanced students like Scarlet, Jasper and Alex who skipped a year and were taking examinations for eleven-year-olds. Nathan was exempted from sitting for Math and Physics examinations etc etc.

"They would need at least three one-to-one study sessions with me during the next two weeks," Danny murmured and drew out a timetable. He couldn't host a general class for the special students and there simply wasn't enough time after school to complete all the individual lessons.

There was only one way to do this and Danny didn't know if it was a good idea to host private tutoring sessions while they tutored the EC class. Danny decided to take the gamble either way. For now, it was the most effective method and anything conventional can be ignored while his students competed against each other.

Lesson plans aside, Danny was secretly thrilled when his son proposed creating a secure chat room for the EC class and the special class. It didn't take long before Elfie became attached to the other kids and it was something Danny was very thankful for. Without the influence of Wilmer's children, Danny didn't know how to give Elfie a somewhat normal childhood memory of school. Thanks to their influence, he was now able to see EWlfie act like his age, sparkling with excitement and running around enthusiastically doing silly things with his new friends.

The friendly rivalry between teams as they passed teasing remarks and poked fun at one another made Danny smile. So far, the mood was good and nobody has started making any toxic remarks or started any form of drama that Danny always saw in the other classes. Rich snobby kids with too much time on their hands tended to do that. Putting other children down seemed to be some kind of mean sport that every rich snobby child participated in. Of course, the school didn't condone such acts but with powerful parents backing such uneducated behaviour, even Philip's hands were tied.

Strange as it may sound, Danny didn't think that the students in the special class and EC class were too different. In fact, they shared more similarities than other people might think. All these were only possible because Jasper decided to take that first step into meddling with the EC class as part of his grand plan.

In times like this, Danny wondered if fate had a heart. Danny tried for years to encourage the misfits but they'd completely shut him out of their world. All it took was for Jasper to make a ridiculous bet to break down that wall they built. the rest was easy after that as Scarlet built a bridge and the special class crossing it to meet the EC class halfway.

Maybe there was nobody else who could understand the pain the EC class felt until the special class came along. Both classes understood what it meant to be different, to not have a place to belong, to crave normalcy and embrace their true selves. Danny envied how easily the children accepted each other's quirks and personality. The teams started out as strangers but now, they were bonding over food, songs, games and even books during their break.

As a counsellor, nothing was more touching than seeing faith in humanity restored. If children could accomplish things that a.d.u.l.ts couldn't, it would be totally humiliating for a.d.u.l.ts to not be able to clean up the mess they made. Both he and Wilmer had to buck up if they didn't want to lose to their children.

The feud with Anastasia must be ended by them.