By Mirae Park G10
(Disclaimer: Banyan and Qiao are NOT actual ZIS students)
Banyan and Qiao are packing up Halloween supplies in the foyer after school on Halloween Day*.
Banyan: (sets down a large box of Halloween decorations and leans on top of it in exhaustion) Man, the Friends of ZIS (FoZIS) really went all out decorating this place!
Qiao: (plops down next to him with a handful of fake spiderwebs) Definitely! I feel bad for taking this stuff down… But I’m already looking forward to seeing the Christmas decorations!
Banyan: (shuffles to the air conditioner) Hey, remember how you said I would get used to Zhuhai’s weather last month?
Qiao: (laughs) I know, I know. It’s still absurdly hot.
Banyan: (sighs, shaking his head) I don’t know how Ethan (G8) managed to stay in his police costume the whole day today! He must’ve had, like, 5+ layers of clothing on.
Qiao: Well, I don’t blame him for wanting to keep that outfit on. It’s really dang impressive! And intimidating, too…
Banyan: I have to admit, he definitely deserved 1st place for the costume contest.
Qiao: Agreed. (chuckles, looking over to the center of the foyer) It was so fun seeing the tiny PYP kids dancing next to DP students while being dressed up in costumes!
Banyan: (laughs) Yeah, it’s funny how one place can feel so different according to the occasion. Like, we just had a university workshop from SCAD a few weeks ago right here!
Qiao: And the Science Bee Challenge hosted by THE David Madden! Let’s be honest, he’s one of, if not the smartest person to ever step foot in our school.
Banyan: (smugly) He must’ve been impressed with green house’s performance during the quiz.
Qiao: Hey! Green house was outstanding for the grade 6-7 section, but don’t forget about yellow house’s clear win for the grade 8-10 section!
Banyan: (waves dismissively) Sure, sure. But no way you can deny green house’s victory for the kickball & base tennis house challenge!
Qiao: (sighs in exasperation) You’re relentless! Yes, fine, I admit green house did very well in the sports activities. But it was blue house who secured 1st place in the board decorating house challenge!
Banyan: (glances over to blue house’s decorated bulletin board) Hm… it does look really nice. Neat, well-researched, visually appealing – it checks off all the boxes!
(Banyan shifts his gaze to the ping pong tables pushed up against the wall)
By the way, did you check out the table tennis tournament we had with QSI yesterday?
Qiao: Yeah, we got to watch some of it! It was so impressive. Like, I always see a handful of students playing table tennis during lunchtime, but I had no idea how well-trained they were!
Banyan: I mean, they have Mr. Navid as a coach, so I’m not surprised. Did not you see him 1v1 with that super good QSI student?!
Qiao: I did, and I can confirm: Mr. Navid is a ping-pong legend!
Banyan: For sure! Wow, a lot of stuff happens in this one area.
Qiao: Yeah. Even today, the Secondary Student Council had their fundraising booths in the corner, and I saw the PYP students come through a couple times doing their Halloween activities!
Banyan: Is it true that they went into the Spooky Room, too? (shivers) It was scary enough when I went in it with my friends.
Qiao: (giggles) Well, I heard the jumpscares were made less scary. But if that didn’t scare them, then the spooky tunes composed by the MYP music students definitely will have!
Banyan: You call them scary? I was vibing out to ‘em! There were definitely a few bangers I heard.
Qiao: (shakes her head in mock disapproval) You really didn’t get into the Halloween spirit, did you? As a punishment, you should go retake your MAP tests!
Banyan: (shocked) Oh, please no! I’ve barely survived sitting through those computer exams. We only just finished doing them a few weeks ago!
Qiao: Well, you better get used to it, because you know we need to take E-Assessment exams in grade 10…!
Banyan: Ugh! I don’t want to think that far ahead… Let’s just get done with one task at a time, starting with cleaning up these decorations!
* ZIS’s Halloween celebration was actually on November 1st, but for the sake of this article, the date of the event is October 31st.
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