The Teacher’s Day celebration was in full swing. Tanishri and Rizqka, the student emcees, rallied the students hard to show appreciation to their teachers, wearing megawatt smiles that were as electrifying as fireworks. Everyone was engaged, eager to show their fullest appreciation to the teachers they loved so dearly.

“Mr Heng, we have a problem,” Zafira, the prefect in charge of the organising committee, suddenly ran up to her teacher. Worry lines were etched on her face.

Mr Heng raised his eyebrows quizzically. He was enjoying the celebration, but it seemed that the prefects had encountered a crisis.

“I just received a phone call from the alumni prefects,” Zafira blurted out, tears welling in her eyes. “They won’t be able to come here in time to perform!”

This was devastating news indeed! The alumni prefects were supposed to perform a dance during the celebration. They were hugely popular with staff and students alike. If they did not perform, the celebration might just fall apart. How were they supposed to find replacement performers at such short notice?

Shawn, a bespectacled and soft-spoken prefect who had been working closely with Zafira, spoke out. “Mr Heng, why don’t we get the boys from 5 Resilience to dance?” he suggested.

Mr Heng’s inner panic subsided. He had been trying to put on a brave front for his prefects, but he could now see a glimmer of hope. He taught 5 Resilience English. He knew that six of them were particularly passionate about hip hop and had been honing their funky dance moves in their spare time.

“Let’s ask them!” Zafira asserted, her iron-clad determination evident on her face. She scurried away to find the boys.

“Now introducing the Funky Monkey Babies from 5 Resilience!” Tanishri announced brightly, her energy never wavering. The six boys dashed on stage and danced in sync to “Chaconne”, an Enhypen song that had gone viral recently.

They certainly pulled out all the stops. First, they jumped into the air like grasshoppers. They punched their fists in unison, which made the audience go wild. Next, they turned cartwheels. The charged atmosphere reached fever pitch. Thunderous applause filled the air, alongside heartfelt cheering. No one seemed to care that they were wearing school uniforms.

“We would like to thank the prefects for organising such a wonderful celebration!” Mr Chan, the principal, beamed, inviting the prefects up on stage and signalling the school to clap for them.

“I must say that the boys from 5 Resilience really made this celebration memorable! They are our shining stars,” he continued.

The six boys rushed back onto stage to jump with contagious joy again. With that, the concert came to a rousing end. Mr Heng heaved a deep sigh of relief. He had learnt that his prefects could be trusted to step up to the occasion whenever things went wrong. He was grateful that Zafira and Shawn had kept their calm and come up with a Plan B that propelled the celebration to greater heights.