Those were the days..

Ohhhh nooo.. Soraya! Look at what you've done..

Heheh, as usual, I was blog hopping when I came across Soraya's entry on our primary school years and instantly, though I tried not to, I was grinning like silly in no time..

God! I've even forgotten about some of those things :)

And yeah, I always associate those years with you, Adam and Alfy.. and I know, that only means standard 1 to standard 4 (wait a minute, all of us were still in the same class after streaming, right.. except Adam la, of course, who went 'missing' after that). Hmm, I guess during standard 5 and 6, I didn't actually enjoy it anymore as everyone in class was always competing with each other, having to live up to the supposedly high level of our class, huh?

Anyway.. wow! I really do miss you guys!!! :)

Soraya was my bestfriend during that time. Really bestfriends and the fact that our fathers worked in the same school didn't hurt. I remember the times we'd go to each other's houses with our families.. and Soraya, I remember Uncle Ahyaudin and Aunty Aini very much. Uncle Ahyaudin was very interested in everything our childish mind wanted to speak out. It was very easy to go and talk to him about anything. Sometimes when me and Iwan went to Abah's office after 'mengaji', being a bit bored looking at plants in Abah's lab, we'd go down to Uncle Ahyaudin's office to look at all those fishes instead.. and he was always there to answer EVERYTHING we asked him :)

Then there's her sister. You see, with us, its was 'your sibling is mine too'. With my siblings, we even had this name we used when playing games on the computer.. Ayayuwandi! Haha, thats 4 names in all.. Nway, Soraya's sister, Syuhada was always around. She's sorta the sister who kinda liked tagging along, but NOT in the irritating kinda way. She was very bubbly and cheerful, you can't help loving to have her around. She loved singing and we always asked her to sing this song she sang while waiting for her Daddy to come home.. "Tunggu Daddy tak balik², ayaq mata berlinang².." Hehe, cute, huh?

But that girl was VERY observant! No wonder she's halfway around the world studying. Its one trait I loved about her, but once, I wanted to shut her mouth because of it haha.. Sorry Syuhada! You see, usually on Saturdays after Ko-K, me, Soraya and Iwan would walk up to Soraya's house just up the hill in USM. We'd usually have a bite there before me and Iwan headed off to Abah's office. Syuhada would always be waiting at home.

Now, during this time, I was kinda 'growing' into a lady hehe.. Had these uninvited 'bulges' coming outta nowhere but at the appropriate place for 'ladies' that I really hated and tried my best to hide.. and Soraya, to tell you the truth, I hated you for not 'growing' as fast as I was haha.. Anyway, it was during one of these visits to Soraya's place that Syuhada suddenly exclaimed in her sing-song voice, "Kak Ayu dah ade ------! Dah jadi young lady daaahh" I felt my face grow hot and panicky, I quickly denied it, to which she, with her small finger, pointed out at them while saying, "Tuuuuuu!"

Then my dunce of a brother just HAD to agree with Syuhada and then tell her that Mama had started asking me to wear.. well, wear the approprite apparel for it and Syuhada was laughing happily that she was right. I wanted to strangle Iwan there and then!!! You guys talking as if I'm not there eh?

My God! Was I sooooooooo embarrassed.. at that exact time, I wished she wasn't THAT observant. I really wished the floor would swallow me up then. That was the only time I resented her chit-chat and really wished she'd stop talking hahah.. Thank God their parents weren't around (they were both working) but I avoided looking at Iwan's face for the whole time, even if he's my own brother haha..

But like I said, "Your sibling is my sibling!" I forgave her immediately (well, almost!!) but made sure I changed the topic whenever she started to tease me again.. that's Syuhada for you haha!

Besides, Adam and Alfy were actually the first ones to comment (yeahhh, and laugh and giggle and smirk at me) about it in class (when you weren't there to defend me, Soraya.. boo hoooo!) and I would've smacked them in the face if I wasn't so embarassed. Those guys, I'd get to a bit later in this entry, but because of their comments, I had built this pretend wall that I didn't care what people saw or say hahah.. thats why Syuhada got off the hook easily :p

I remember, the only time I was really separated from Soraya was when Uncle Ahyaudin did his sabatical in US. Gosh, it was the longest time of my life, having to be the only one to argue with Adam and Alfy everyday. I remember how suprised I was when she came back WITH LONG HAIR haha.. She seemed (as I recall la..) to always have short hair while I was the one with the long hair (which became the tool for the guys to torment me by pulling it everytime they got a chance). And too think that I had only cut my hair a few weeks prior to her return to Malaysia.. God, was I jealous hahah.. Regretted cutting my hair (even though I had been pleading with Abah to let me cut my hair before haha..).

She told me, in her class during her time there, she was the one with the most beautiful handwriting.. and its true. Well, yeah, compared to those kids, hers was THE most neat handwriting (I mean, no offence, but you should've seen their handwriting!) but also compared to us, she won hands down. I've always loved her handwriting :)

We did a lot of things together. Our parents didn't mind us spending time at each others house and we'd swap books everytime we bought new ones.. with Adam and Alfy who were also kinda bookworms, we were perfect as a group.. well, if you ignore the constant bickering among us haha..

Once, when we were in standard 3, we decided we wanted to wear the hijab to school. The funny thing is, both of us came to school without it, we had bought our hijabs in our school bags. Then, we went up to Cikgu Noerida and asked her if it was okay that we wanted to wear a hijab hahah.. God, when I think about it, Cikgu Noerida must've felt very amused by us, asking permission like that. When she gave her permission, we dashed of to the girls toilet to wear them.. but the novelty of the hijab wore off after a few weeks hahaha.. then Soraya was back to her cute-bob head and I was my usual pony-tailed girl!

Another thing I just remembered. One day, Soraya came up to me and said, "Ilah nak cakap mase rehat nanti!" and I was jumping with excitement. Well, it may seem normal but Ilah was special. You see, for the four years (we were in Standard 4 at that time) being in the same class with her, she NEVER spoke. Even if asked to read aloud, her voice was soooooo soft, you had to really strain to hear her. Cikgu Noerida even called her 'suara emas', saying that gold would come outta her mouth if she spoke so thats why she was quiet.

I dunno how Soraya did it but her power of persuassion must be at the upmost level. She managed to persuade Ilah to talk to us. So that recess found us following Ilah to the toilet where I first heard Ilah talking more than I've ever heard her talk in those four years (and was a bit disappointed seeing no gold coming outta her mouth hehe..)

We kind drifted off after entering different secondary schools but imagine my surprise when one day, Baizurah (who had moved to St Georges after form 3) called me and asked me if I knew 'Mickey'? I was like, bile mase saya ade kawan name Mickey? But when Baizurah said 'Soraya', I had this sudden grin on my face, realizing that this world is kinda small after all :)

Then there was Adam, Cikgu Noerida's dear little sweet heart *note the spiteful tone here*! I guess me and Soraya had this love-hate relationship with him. We loved being friends with him, I mean, he had this great big unimaginable collection of books and when it suited him, he'd just hand it out to us to read. Besides, our desks were always near each other in class and we were all in Kumpulan A. And we loved talking and all that..

BUT..

He can be a real tyrant when he wants to.. and God know how many times I hated him for it! For one, he was ALWAYS class monitor. I used to complain why we didn't choose anyone else but I guess at that time I didn't realize he was actually the ONLY one in class who LOOKED like a class monitor. Ohh, the times he abused his position.. I still remember, once he had put these dead leeches in Soraya's bag thinking it was a great prank. I don't really remember what we did to him for this feat but boy! was he mad. Know what he did?

The next time Cikgu Noerida had to go outta the class, he had his revenge. One of his duties was to write down the names of student who were noisy on the blackboard. Once Cikgu Noerida was outta sight, he promptly wrote my name and Soraya's name, much to our bewilderment. When we asked him what did we do, he simply answered that he hated us. We tried erasing our names but he wrote it down twice after that and as a result, me and Soraya were rapped on our knuckles (I'm sure most of you remember how painful THAT was!) twice!

Then there was another time when the whole class was late after music lessons in another part of the school. Usually if we were late, most of us took a short cut across this small patch of grass (where there was this 'Dilarang memijak rumput' sign), him included. However, this one time he was being just plain 'poyo' and didn't cut across the grass but me and Soraya did. Within minutes, we were summoned to the 'Penyelia Petang's office, Cikgu Asiah, who was known to be very garang asking why we did it. I was so mad at Adam at that time. He did that just because we chose to ignore him after he had played a prank on us and, as he admitted to me a few years ago, he hated it when we ignored him hahah..

The second reason I hated him was because Cikgu Noerida always seemed to favour him, and she was our class teacher for three years. To this, Adam always boasts to us which just made us roll our eyes. You see, Cikgu Noerida had actually taught ALL his brothers previously, I guess thats why she had a soft spot for him. But hey, his brothers were really handsome to my childish eyes back then haha.. Still, to me, it wasn't a reason for him to be the favourite.. yea yeahhh, poor jealous me eh hehe..

But there were times he was quite a dear. There was one time I lost my stamp collection with these stamps I really loved. I had bought them to school to trade with him and he was being his usual annoying self, only wanting to trade with me if I traded 3 of my stamps with one of his. After successfully trading with him however, I lost these stamps and was ready to cry (was a crybaby already then hehe..) Know what he did: he gave me a few of his rare stamps, just to cheer me up.

Then sometimes, whenever he gets a new book, he'd bring it just for me and Soraya :) So you see how we could hate him one second and love him the next? Though admittedly, his teasings were unbearable and he wouldn't stop until he saw me on the verge of crying and was always putting DEAD THINGS in Soraya's bag (though I DO wonder why he seldom did that to me? I guess cause Soraya was tease-proof hehe..)

Thats why, Soraya, I could never understand Sentot when she wanted Adam's number haha.. Sorry Baizurah, but thats the truth! You didn't grow up with him haha..

After standard 4, Adam followed his parents or brother (I'm not sure which) to New Zealand or somewhere and only came to school for a couple of weeks each year. By then, I had started to be terrified of boys so when Adam came, I avoided talking with him that much (yeah I know, pretty stupid, huh?) But I remember during form 3 when Sentot first had her eyes upon him and insisted on wanting his phone number.. oh God, I'm having a laughing fit remembering Sentot and Adam. For those who don't know the story, you can click here (sowii Baizurah, couldn't help sharing it heheh..)

Adam sure was mad at me, saying I was stuck up.. All high and mighty for ignoring him even then.. when in reality, I was still terrified of boys. I heard that he even gave out some 'colourful' words haha.. but he denied it when I had a chat with him a couple of years ago.

We found each other in cyberspace actually. By that time, he was already married and was sharing pictures of his daughters. I was touched to realize he remembered me and Soraya very clearly and when he said that those years meant the most to him. He even admitted he was afraid of leaving behind his friends and that was why he was so unbearable especially before he started drifting away. In his own words, he told me he just wanted our attention so we won't forget him.. yeah Soraya, I guess behind that devil, he actually is really sweet. I can't believe he remembered all those things :)

But my, has he changed! He's grown very lanky and his face has changed quite a bit, but the gleam in his eyes are still the same. He's quite pious (is that the word?) and very, very different from the schoolboy who must've worn half a bottle of Code 10 in his hair during school, but its a good change.. I'm glad we talked. I got the chance to apologize to him, though he was right when he insisted that I was wrong to be afraid of him and should've tried to contact him as we were one close knit group once.. glad he accepted my apology and I hope this friendship won't end.. though as Soraya says, he's not here any more. Migrated, huh Adam Shah Abd Majid (see, I DO remember your name!!!)

The last one is Alfy. He came a bit late, in standard 2 or standard 3, I think. When he first came, everyone thought he was 'anak orang putih'.. just because his name was Alfy Merican haha.. and I guess coz he was quite fair too. And the fact that he obtained the highest english marks for our first quiz, surpassing me, Soraya and Adam who were the usual high-achievers in this subject, helped making us feel he really was from the US.

He wasn't quite a book worm, I think but I guess he just picked up the habit hanging around us and before long, he became one of us. So by then, we were even. I had Soraya and Adam had Alfy who also picked up Adam's habit of tormenting us, though he was a bit merciful. He was more like Adam's personal cheerleader.

Adam loved to tease me with Alfy but I knew better. Hahah, I was the only one Alfy told about his girlfriend.. yeah, in lower primary and already keeping a passport picture of this girl in his wallet haha! He used to repeatedly tell me, "Besaq nanti saya nak kawen ngan Huzeima" and his solemn expression made me believe him so much eventhough at the back of my head, I was confused on how he was supposedly in love while the rest of us were busy arguing with each other with girls thinking that all boys stink, and boys thinking all girls had cooties.. and btw, I got to know Huzeima during matriks and she laughed at how they traded pictures back then. She's a really nice girl and just recently married a mutual friend from KMK too..

Alfy became sorta a hero in Iwan's eyes when he helped Iwan after another classmate of mine (Shafie or something la that boys name) threw a stone at Iwan's head and for a while I kept hearing 'Alfy this' and 'Alfy that' from Iwan. It didn't help that Alfy's house was near mine so they usually met with each other during Jumaat prayers.. and yeah, another round of 'Alfy this' and 'Alfy that' hehe..

But as with Soraya, we kinda drifted off after entering secondary school. Sometimes I'd see him at Sunshine while I was shopping for groceries with my family and he was always with Wan, his cousin who was also a classmate but by then I just exchanged waves with him. Like I said, I was terrified of boys so whenever I saw him coming for a chat, I'd just wave and run off haha..

During form 4, when I no longer stayed in the hostel, I'd sometimes see him waiting for the bus and sometimes, when he'd notice me on the bus, we'd exchange smiles and waves but that was just it. We finally talked during our reunion, but with me more talking to the floor than to anyone around me (Thank God there was Soraya whom I sorta clung on to, coz I was even shy with the girls in my class too :D)

Haha.. and for Soraya. He never did call me back then. My friends had told me he'd been asking about me and had been asking around for my number from most of them after that, and even Wan teased us during the second reunion a few days later BUT, he never called me. And since its been nearly 10 years now, I hearby admit that I WAS waiting for him to call *My God, I can't be blushing now, can I?*

I mean, everytime the phone was for me, I was kinda hoping it was him hahah.. but it was always either Azral or Khairil (yeah, and while talking to them, I kept thinking if only this was him haha..), whom by the way are now both married and with a daughter each (No la, they didn't marry each other laaaaaa.. mane nak dpt anak camtu :p) And ironically, Alfy is also in the same league as them :)

He finally DID call me though, but that was 2 years ago. As with Adam, we stumbled upon each other in cyberspace, in the fotopages if I'm not mistaken. By then, I was no longer feeling butterflies in my tummy at the sound of him but I really was tempted on teasing him and asking him where was he when I waited for that call. But thinking on how much it might feed to his ego, I decided to skip it.

He was still the same as he was, nothing had changed much. He told me he had a girlfriend (whom he later married) and asked about me (who was still heartbroken over IM..). We swapped stories about the time we were small but I guess he just couldn't resist calling me 'the untouchable AlMashoor girl'. I laughed out loud when he said I was this 'gadis sopan', knowing if he see's me now, he might be surprised.. and yes, he also remembered Adam and Soraya and he echoed Adam with the sentiments of those years being among the favourite part of his life..

Still Soraya, I wanted to tell you right there and then that the call finally came.. but I guess a bit of the 'gadis sopan' was still in there so I decided to keep it to myself.. but yes, I really laughed out loud when he called and he must've wondered WHY I was laughing.. but I was smiling for days after that hehe..

So there.. these were the three earliest true friends I had in my life. The kinda friendship where you're not worried to leave for a while, cause you know you'd be picking up right where you left it. Sometimes, I wonder how did I find these great people to grow up with and how the friendship is still there, just as it was and almost not changed a bit? But then I realize, I guess I am blessed.. :)

Aiyak.. panjang nye!!!!