8A PMR! Kau Boleh!

I still remember, it was 1998.

I was taking my sweet time browsing through the answer of “Himpunan Kertas Soalan PMR Geografi“. Not that I was lazy, but I completed it more than twice, months before the exam. (Yes, I was a nerd).

A black figure walked up to me. I couldn’t careless. I’m sure he had some business with my desk mate. He grabbed my fore arm and shook me. Hard enough to brush off everything on my desk. I took my earphone off, I looked up and saw Apai.

“Eddie, AKU BOLEH 8A TAK?” asking at the top of his lung.

F*ck. I almost lost my temper but I remained calm, “Boleh Apai.”

“KITE SAME² BOLEH 8A KAN?” there he go again, his enthusiasm/guts annoys me. “Ko bole blah ?”, I struck an unpleasant tone.

He looked upon me curling up his puppy eyes and said,”Kau marah ke Eddie?”

“Eh, tak lah!… aku gembire gile!”.

Then he continued for another 5 minutes apologizing for stirring up a commotion. I wanted him out of my face as soon as possible. I need to finish memorizing this before night class ends. And having Apai around certainly doesn’t help.

Truth be told, we had many annoying members in our batch. Apai would easily ranked top 10. But that was then, 11 years ago. I was a kid, he was a child. We were both young and immature, still in search of oneself.

****

Yesterday, as I flipped through Berita Harian I saw a familiar name, it was Apai’s.

It struck me. I miss this guy. I miss his annoying enthusiasm. I wish we could spare some time to catch up while sipping teh tarik.

Apai, who was then in Austin, Texas, would occasionally call and tell me about his experience. We’d spend hours talking until he ran out of battery or credit. If girls have girl’s talk, so do boys.

Anyway, here’s a toast to Apai, who ditched the modern slave’s life and became a pilot, to protect us from threats. (I thought you’d be an awesome lawyer).

Thank you, and this post is for you.

ps: Apai, AKU DAPAT 8A!!!!! (hahaha)