"Great, I thought. It was good to know that overextend was in my nature and that I had to live with that for the rest of my life."
Sunlight streamed through the windows of my bedroom. I glanced at the clock beside my bed. Eight Thirty. In the morning. I sat up, instantly wide awake. The lovely sun was shining brightly in the sky, but for a moment then I was immune to the sun’s natural cheering power (Except for the part that it would help to dry my clothes today). The images of the dream slowly faded away as the reality slowly sank in. It’s another Typical-Nothing-To-Do Day (by nothing to do, I mean nothing fun to do, and tones of assignments and reports were definitely no fun at all), or As-Exciting-As-Watching-Peter Beavis-Talk Day (If you were thinking of watching paint dry, you’re wrong. Peter’s blah-blah-blah speech was far more trite), or in plain English, Saturday.
The to-do list was full of reports, assignments, tests and God-knows-what until the next day? NO. Week? NO. Month? NO. Semester? Yes. Before I could start anything, I heard someone cough. And by someone, I mean me. I had gone to see Dr Clive Philpott and he had prescribed me some kind of medicine last Wednesday, but the cough had not gotten any better. In fact, it’s worse. The only consolation was that it was not the kind of Swine Flu Jasmine and Michelle had cursed me with and I felt utterly “sorry” to have disappointed them. Eugenie told me that I looked like hell yesterday and when I looked into the mirror, I hated to admit that she was right. I looked as pale as death. If there’s any outbreak of another pandemic, people would definitely think that I was patient zero. I phoned my Grandpa and he told me not to forget to take the tablets twice a day and not to go swimming any time soon. It was the first time I thought that cell phone was better than webcam, as he wouldn’t know that I winced as he said that. I guessed I had to wave swim for fun goodbye temporarily.
The lovely sunlight warmed my skin, but my mind was preoccupied with so many things that I didn’t have the time to think of something as mundane as sunlight. I phoned home yesterday, before I could speak, Mummy knew I called back because I wanted to fly back home. Great, so much for the 1 hour training-to-sound-sad-and-miserable speech that I had prepared. She said she will see about that and told me to ask Alvin’s mum about the flight ticket. Then she asked me about my test results and the coming mid-year exam.
“You’re overextended, stressed and there’re so many things on your mind and you keep on worrying about the all the stuff that haven’t happened,” Mummy told me with an as-a-matter-of-fact tone.
“How do you know? I’m not. What makes you think that way?” I lied as I turned away from the desk which was full of notes. The simple act of not looking at it made me feel better a hundred times.
“Oh. Because you’re Ming Khai. And you are my son and I know exactly what’s on your mind.” She replied cheerfully. Great, I thought. It was good to know that overextend was in my nature and that I had to live with that for the rest of my life.
On top of that, I thought.. no, I knew something was wrong with me. I had completely lost control of myself. The last thing I needed in this busy month was the arrow of the stupid cupid. And every time I looked into X’s eyes, I was dazzled. It became clear on the night before the Biology test. I couldn’t think of anything but X and I could hardly concentrate on my revision. I kept on indulging myself in work to push X out of my mind. I lost my enthusiasm towards life and I needed to get it back before the exam or I would surely be doomed.
Maybe Mummy was right after all, that I kept on worrying about the things that haven’t even happened yet. Although I have a sickening cough, a homesick feeling and a sick stupid crush, I know clearly that my heart isn’t.
I glanced out of the window, looked up into the blue sky of the city of Adelaide that was so far away from home and I know that everything will get better in time and that everything will be alright.