Shredded Youth

## Prologue

Nobody was able to foresee what happened that morning. At that moment, it was a “self-study” session for Year 12 B, one of the Year 12 classes in Steven Westion Secondary School. These sessions were common in Year 12 students’ timetables in Westion as they had to take the National Secondary Education Assessment exams. This newfound free-time would initially be abused by students, like Stanley Tulsuoy himself did. Prior to his first “stimulated exam” for the NSEA, he would often play poker with his classmates during self-study sessions. Often times, he was able to triple or even quadruple the meagre pocket money given by his working class parents.

He was playing another card game, namely Twenty-One with his mates Timothy and Alex at that time. A sense of unease suddenly flooded Stanley’s mind, prompting him to speak up.

Stanley: “Don’t you guys think that we’re being too complacent?”

Alex: “Not at all, why?”

Stanley: “Look around us, dude. They’re busting books while we are playing Twenty-One.”

Timothy: “Don’t worry, we’re merely revising on probability.”

The trio laughed at the joke, prompting several of their classmates to look at them in annoyance.

Classmate 1: “Just because you can do well in maths all the damn time doesn’t mean that we could, Tim.”

Timothy: “I don’t see that as my problem.”

Classmate 2: “Well it’s not, but please keep it down man.”

As soon as the second classmate turned his back, Tim flipped the finger at him.

Stanley: “To be fair, he does have a point. I suck balls at maths.”

Alex: “Don’t worry, we’ll teach you everything before the stimulated exam 3 weeks later.”

Tim: “Yeah, besides you basically beat the fuck out of the entire class when it comes to other subjects, even if you don’t study at all.”

Stanley: “Alright, thanks guys.”

It was then that there were loud noises emitting from outside the classroom. Several classmates waddled out to find out what was happening.

Tim: “What’s going on?”

Stanley: “Let’s find out.”

The trio followed their classmates. By now, almost every single Year 12 student in the school had gathered outside the corridors to spectate what was happening at the “common space” on the ground floor, which could be seen from each of the 4 blocks’ corridors. A student was standing there with a megaphone and what appeared to be a jerrycan. He was giving what appeared to be a speech with the device.

Student: “THIS IS NOT HOW WE SHOULD BE RAISED! WE DO NOT DESERVE TO BE CRUSHED UNDER THE WEIGHT OF STRESS! REBEL MY FRIENDS! REBEL AGAINST THE BROKEN SYSTEM! GO ON THE STREETS OF WESTION CITY AND PROTEST, MY FRIENDS!”

It did not take long for Stanley to realise that he was talking about the college admission scandal, in which a high-ranking Nexonan diplomat’s son was revealed to have entered Westion National University after his father’s company allegedly offered to provide much needed machinery to exploit the country’s newly discovered offshore natural gas deposits. Subsequently, it was revealed that all 2 daughters of an “unnamed Westioner minister” were able to be admitted into the same university even though they did not do well in the NSEA. This sparked outrage in Westioner society, as WNU was not only the top university in the country, but it was also a worthy contender with top-tier foreign universities such as Margate’s National University of Margate (NUM) and the US’s Kingston University, and Hale University.

What happened next would forever be seared in the minds of the spectators. Every Westioner alive at the time would forever remember the incident. The student doused himself in gasoline and flicked open the flames of a lighter, before throwing it onto the petrol doused floor to immolate himself.

## Chapter 1

“What the heck...”

Stanley banged his head against his desk upon seeing the marks for his Mathematics test paper. It was loud enough for everyone to look at him.

Tim: “Dude, what happened?”

Without raising his head from the surface, he showed the paper to Timothy.

Tim: “You literally are 4 marks away from getting an A. How is that bad?”

Alex: “Yeah, almost three quarters of the class failed.”

Stanley: “Relative to you both, I did not do well.”

Tim: “I didn’t do well either, I missed my target by one mark.”

Alex: “You’re literally 1 mark from getting 95 out of 100. How is that not well?”

After giving the paper to the last student, the teacher cleared his throat.

Teacher: “I hope all of you learned your lesson by now. I was informed that some of you were playing handheld console games in self-study. Some of you even gambled, but I’m aware these penguins did far better than the rest of the class. Don’t worry, because the next stimulated test *will* be harder.”

He took a marker pen and started scribbling on the whiteboard.

Teacher: “We’ll discuss the paper now. Pay attention folks, or I will not be able to guarantee a smooth path to Westion National University.”

The same process repeated itself for History and Economics classes. Most students ended up doing far worse than they thought, as stimulated exams are often far more difficult than the actual NSEA. The few who managed to do well varied depending on subject, but for the most part Tulsuoy consistently performed well in all subjects. However, his performance wasn’t up to expectation either. After banging his head 2 more times, the school-bell rang.

Alex: “Joining us for lunch?”

Stanley let out a huge sigh.

Stanley: “I’ve lost my appetite bro.”

Tim: "There will be better days, man. Besides, you did well relative to the class in every single subject."

Alex: "Yeah, stimulated exams are supposed to be harder than the actual NSEA, so don't fret."

Tulsuoy forced a smile on his face before waddling hastily to the cafeteria with his friends. He bought a bowl of curry mee, while Tim and Alex selected some dishes at the economy rice section. They sat at their usual spot with some other classmates. One of them, Lee Fook, turned to Tulsuoy and asked him a question.

Lee Fook: "Where is Yvonne?"

The others looked nervously at Tulsuoy. The last time he was asked this question, Stanley was tempted to stab

Stanley: "I don't know. Choir practice probably."

Although Lee Fook couldn't sense it, Tim and Alex swore that their best friend looked absolutely pissed off. Instead he simply continued eating his lunch. Lee Fook tried to ask him another question, but another classmate signaled to him that Tulsuoy was in a bad mood.

Classmate: "He looks pissed as fuck. Leave him alone."

Lee Fook: "Poppycock! Why would he be angry?"

Classmate: "Probably dissatisfied with his grades."

An argument broke out, as Lee Fook berated the classmate for thinking that Tulsuoy was dissatisfied with his grades. He did not comprehend how he would not be pleased. Tulsuoy didn't hear much though, as he tried to block the voices out from his voice. He quickly swallowed the food and prepared to leave. Lee Fook, whose full name is Louis Ho Lee Fook, tried to stop him.

Lee Fook: "Tell Farud whether or not you're angry."

Stanley: "I am, now kindly fuck off."

The group was rather surprised that he finally reached his boiling point. Even Lee Fook was taken aback. He left the table and put his utensils at a designated disposal area. Tulsuoy waddled to the tuck shop to buy a tuna sandwich and a packaged Greek yoghurt drink. He then waddled to the room where the school choir was practicing. From the window, he was able to see Yvonne singing as a mezzo-soprano. The practice was soon wrapped up and the team started leaving. As Yvonne left the room, she was surprised upon seeing Tulsuoy.

Yvonne: "Oh hey there."

Stanley: "Here, I bought you some food."

Tulsuoy's crush smiled at his gesture, and took the food and drink.

Yvonne: "Thanks, that's so kind of you."

She looked at her watch. There were roughly 15 minutes left before class resumes.

Yvonne: "Let's go to the cafeteria."

They waddled to *their* usual spot, which was somewhere will relatively less students, and started having her lunch.

Stanley: "How did you do?"

Yvonne: "I'm alright, I guess."

Stanley: "I meant the exams."

Yvonne: "Oh, yeah I did alright. What about you?"

Stanley: "My grades weren't up to expectation."