It’s time for each for us to make the up our mind, to take the challenge, or take other alternatives. So, Meng San, Kevin, Chee Hwee, Khai Fatt, and of course, I myself, took the hard way, the sixth form while Teck Seng and Fong Yoon took A-level and CPU respectively.
We were the first badge where science and mathematics were taught in English. In a more positive description, we could say that the government was trying their best to improve the society, to keep in pace with the era of globalization; while in the reality, we were given five months advanced notice before the MOE started practicing this new system. We were not prepared, mainly not due to the language barrier, but lack of resources. The market was underserved with suitable English-written text books, either from local or imported. Book publishers were trying their best efforts to translate books to English, hoping to flood the market with their products and get the lion's share. As the result, incredible errors were made during translation and published, making the local English textbook market a laughing stock.
Even though Teck Seng and Fong Yoon were separated from us, we were still remaining in contact. Distance would never be a problem for us, near or far, the group would still stand strong and still.
The sixth form was really an eye-opener for me. New level of education, new teaching material, and of course, no one will say “THIS-IS-NOT-YOUR-LEVEL” to me again. However, it was really a tough time, the time available was not proportional to the workload, decreasing exponentially; doubled workload, tripled difficulty. Anyway, I would say that the sixth form period was the most glorious time of our group. If you measure our achievement based on extra-co curricular activities, Khai Fatt was the President of the Board of Librarians, Vice President of the Ping-pong Club and dunno-what of the Chess club; Meng San was the President of the Monitor-and-Chairman Board and the secretary of the Christian Fellowship; Chee Hwee was the secretary of the Ping-pong club also; Kevin – he had a full list of achievements; and last but not least, I myself, was the Vice President of the Board of Librarians and shamefully the President of the Science and Mathematics Society (it was a total disaster).
While investing all our hearts and souls into the field of academy, some of us found their first puppy loves. Khai Fatt was famous for his flirting technique with girls, was electrically attracted to a HongKy girl named Shuk Fan in the Lower Six Science 3. Shuk Fan was Made-In-Hong Kong, but she had our Malaysian education since young, a loving lady and humor at times, she is also a very professional cook, even Meng San is no match to her. So, I will not be surprised to see Khai Fatt being a paunchy uncle twenty years later.
Besides Khai Fatt, Kevin was another one who fell into the trap of love (haha). I could still recall that what he said a year ago in the Fong’s mansion:
“Just wonder, who do you think will have his girl friend first?”
“Haiya, I am sure I’ll be the last la!” barked Kevin.
Well, time will prove everything. In fact, he was the first one who got involved in ‘parktology’ first! There was this once-upon-a-time-was-the-tallest girl named Shireene of Selayang. This girl will get at least a sugar mama or papa everywhere she goes. If you ask me again, I’ll also have a long list of testimonial for her. This couple drew the attention of the staffs and students due to their high popularity in the school. Gossips and whispers will follow everywhere they go. It was like the headline of the school then.
Me? Oh, please don’t mention about it. I was too chucky to deal with this kind of problems; moreover, I am not ready for any special kind of relationship at that time, yet. Special kind of relationships needs a lot of responsibility, commitment, and of course, is a huge investment. I, have neither of this quality, if I jumped into it, I would end up miserably. Moreover, I have always had some level of expectations (I am not trying to say that I am more perfect than the others), fail to meet up to the expectation will really disappoint me. So, I decided not to take any further actions. But that experience shall remain as part of my sweet memory. I shall remember her whenever I listen to the song ‘If You're Not The One’ from Daniel Bedingfield. By the way, memory will always give you the best side of everything.
What could possibly happen?