Syabil is a chubby boy of 1 Ihsan. He is pudgy-built and I like to put my hand on his shoulder.

He has an innocent round face, an army-cut hair and a somewhat squinted small eyes.

He is like one walking teddy bear. Minus the bow.

I asked my eight-year-old sister. "Yaya kenal Syabil?"

"Kenal."

"Macam mana Yaya kenal dia?"

"Semua orang macam kenal dia, jadi Yaya pun kenal la."

You can imagine just how famous Syabil is. Even as I sat on my chair minding my own business in the teacher’s lounge, I could hear the teachers retelling their encounter with the one and only Syabil.

Being a seven-year-old kid, Syabil is quite pampered, difficult and had issues in managing himself.

Muallimah Syazirin [her name is so complicated!] once told us on how Syabil whined of him wanting to pee, but he managed to run around the class twice whilst doing so.

Muallimah Maznah, teacher of Mathematics, told us on how Syabil refused to study and she had to give him pictures to colour while the whole class counted away.

My first conversing with Syabil was during the Sports Day. The boy was in my team. He was present during the eventful day, yet he failed to do so during the rehearsal.

As expected, his name was none-existent in the list of participants. And as expected, the tantrum master wanted to play.

"Syabil tunggu la dulu. Nanti lepas ni giliran Syabil. Syabil tunggu dalam khemah, ye?"

"Baiklah Syabil tunggu. Tapi jangan lama sangat. Nanti Syabil penat."

"Teacher faham. Syabil tunggu sini, ye."

I patted his shoulder and addressed the seniors of Khandak. "Abang-abang, tolong tengokkan Syabil, ye. Terima kasih."

Minutes later, Syabil ran amuck. "Tak nak! Syabil nak balik! Syabil dah penat!"

He walked away from the tent. I jogged after him. "Syabil, jangan pergi lagi. Tunggu la habis bagi hadiah dulu."

"Tak nak!"

I pulled him towards the tent. He pulled me towards the gate.

"Tak larat. Naim, tolong teacher!"

Naim came running. We both huffed and puffed and struggled tooth and nail to bring the boy to sit on the grass. Syabil pushed me.

I fell on a poor Year 6 student.

"Sorry, Syafiq!" I yelped. "Syabil, sabar la dulu."

Seeing the catastrophe, Muallimah Mariah came and saved the day.

That was weeks ago. Today was another tale.

I walked towards 2 Amanah right after recess, ready for my class. As I passed through the badminton court, I saw one boy toddled around with the big black dustbin lid on his head as a makeshift hat.

Seeing no available teachers around, I immediately put my books down and ran at him.

"Syabil, kenapa main dengan tudung tong sampah?" I gently pried the lid of him. He obliged and I held the quite clean lid in my right hand.

"Kenapa Syabil tak masuk kelas? Sekejap lagi periksa start."

"Syabil nak jogging."

"Pulak dah…" I muttered and glanced around for any students. There were quite a crowd, seeing how famous Syabil is.

"Danish, tolong teacher." I addressed Danish of 3 Ihsan and asked him to put the lid where it belong.

"Syabil, jom kita jogging dalam kelas." Hand on his shoulder, navigating him back to 1 Ihsan.

"Tak nak. Syabil nak jogging dekat sini."

And with that, he took off, into the garden and jogged.

Imagine a teddy bear jogging.

I walked right at him and noticed the prefects of Year 3 coming. "Syabil, jom jogging dalam kelas. Ada kipas. Sini panas." I fanned myself.

"Syabil nak jogging sini." He walked off ahead, accidently stomping on my meticulously shone shoes.

I sighed. "Nape la budak-budak ni suka pijak kasut orang."

"Raimi, kasut teacher kena pijak lagi!" Ikbal called out towards the smiling Raimi. Both chuckled.

The two prefects took over. I walked back towards my book, shooed some prancing 2 Sabar students back inside and entered 2 Amanah.

Afternoon came and I walked out of 3 Amanah. Carrying my heavy books, I saw from afar Syabil under the trees, shaking the poor trees while yelling at some Year 3 pranksters.

"Ada apa ni?" I asked of the pupils there. 

Haikal continued slapping Syabil’s shoulder. Syabil went, "Argh!"

"Isk, kenapa abang-abang ni suke buli adik darjah 1? Syabil, Syabil dah ambil wudhu’?"

"Syabil tak nak."

He continued playing among the trees. Pupils stopped by to watch. I shooed them in vain.

"Teacher dahaga la. Syabil dahaga? Jom kita minum dekat kantin."

"Okay." He let me walk him to the canteen, hand on his shoulder persuasively. Atiq carried my books and bag.

"Syabil kene ambil wudhu’ dulu. Muka comot. Basuh muka macam teacher ajar semalam, ye?"

"Syabil nak minum dulu."

"Ambil wudhu’ dulu. Nanti kita beli air di kantin."

As Syabil took his wudhu’ at the area for Year 3, most of them kept slapping his shoulder. Even Ikbal was taunting him.

"Abang-abang darjah 3, kenapa asyik usik Syabil? Biar la dia nak ambil wudhu’."

"Apa la Syabil ni. Ambil la wudhu’ elok-elok." Raimi came and complained.

"Abang Raimi, ajar la Adik Syabil elok-elok." I told him gently. Raimi chuckled.

"Syabil, baca niat." Ikbal taught him.

"Ha’ah, Syabil. Baca niat ikut Abang Ikbal."

"Okay."

Once he was done, I escorted him towards the praying area for Year 1. He whined and demanded his drink, but I told him to solat first.

Fortunately, he obliged.

"Teacher, teacher kata Syabil tu adik kita?" Raimi grinned as he lined up for their prayers.

"Abang darjah 3 mestilah jaga adik-adik darjah 2 dan 1." I smiled. "Teacher nak pergi beli air. Jumpa lepas ni."

"Teacher beli ke kita sekali."

"Tak nak." I grinned.