I woke up late today, at 9 a.m. Mom was sarcastic about it as usual, and there were no breakfast leftovers. I made myself Milo and ate crackers, and washed up the dishes Ed had been lazy to wash. Jyne was already at school attending the PMB express extra classes, so I was the one hanging out the clothes to dry.
After hanging all the clothes, I wiped two windows. This was harder than it sounded, due to the recent paint job on my house, and I spent an hour and a half to finish the job. I then got carried away by a manga, Yakitate! Ja-pan, chinese version, and read it for half an hour. All this while mom was on the phone, I didn't know the details since I got my headphones on.
When mom got off the phone we changed and I nearly forgot to bring the $100 voucher. Mom picked Jyne up from the school before bringing us to eat lunch. We had a bit of problem finding a parking space, but soon we sat down to lunch. After lunch, we walked to Booker Gadong, since it is just a few stores away. Mom immediately stalked out a cousin working there, and bought a learn-it-yourself Thai phrase book that came along with a CD. I seek out the third book from the 'Chronicles of Ancient Darkness', 'Soul Eater'. I found it and was ecstatic. I tried to buy 'The Kite Runner' too, since it was a best selling novel and adapted into a film and everything, but mom said no. Oh well, at least she let me buy the latest issue of Readers Digest.
After coming out from Booker, we wandered around a nearby department store, but didn't buy anything. Soon we were on our way home. Mom was tired and nap for a while when we got home, while Jyne and I read the books we had borrowed from the libraries of two different schools. I didn't know where Ed disappeared off to, but at least he kept himself busy and didn't disrupt the silence.
When mom woke up, she popped the Thai-learning CD into the CD player. The repeatative Thai phrases were annoying, and mom's repeating of them made it worst. Soon my siblings joined in, and I had to learn a language I didn't want to learn. Gah!
When we were wandering around the department store, an SMS came. I have to go to MoE for my English oral this coming Wednesday! Gah!
Things weren't going great at home. After the Major Fight, daddy and mom didn't speak to each other. This is bad. I mean, if daddy didn't explain himself, mom's gonna doubt him more and more.
Daddy disappeared right after showering, which was 7 or something a.m.; I was still asleep then. I woke up just after 8 a.m. - I remembered glancing at the annoying alarm clock. Since my bedroom door was locked, I wasn't afraid of Ed running in and scream "wake up!" in his annoyingly high voice.
After a while of listening to music on my PDA, I decided to 'wake up' (to my mom and siblings, I was still asleep) and so I unlock and opened my bedroom door. Mom came in, faking delight at how 'early' I woke up, and went out again. I tidied up the room a bit.
No breakfast leftovers were on the kitchen table, so I made myself a cup of Milo. I saw how dirty the table was, so I got a cloth and wipe it up (I don't do this everyday!). Mom wandered in and asked me to cook her a packet of instant noodles, so I did. And I washed the dishes right after that.
My siblings were in the study area, Jyne going through her books with a serious expression, Ed fooling around and not reading his books as usual. I asked Ed to sit still and get something in his head by reading. I guess my tone was kinda harsh, because he stuck his tongue out at me. Oh well, typical of him. I went back into the kitchen and swept the floor. Slightly sticky, yeah, but a mop on Sunday will do the trick. I shuddered thinking about all the Milo and coffee on the floor yesterday. There hadn't been such a big fight since Ed was one month old.
After I finished sweeping, mom told me to take a bath. She said we were going out and her spirits seemed high - meaning we should do our best to keep her mood that way. So I went and had a bath, Ed and Jyne followed right after.
She told us we were going to the Hua Ho Mall, we hadn't been there in ages and I actually thought that she hate the place. Anyway, I bought out my PDA, and also my wallet. There was twenty-seven dollars in there, but I wasn't planning to spend much. I mean, just what can I buy there anyway? But then, I'm a shopaholic - the only female trait in me - but Adie kept denying that.
We popped into the car, expecting a direct trip to Hua Ho Mall. Suddenly mom announced that we were going to find Uncle Chiew - one of daddy's friends - it seemed mom had something to discuss with him. Mom got out a piece of paper with an address scribbled on it.
We argued about where this kampung and the road is for fifteen minutes. It was a very miserable fifteen minutes. Finally mom asked for directions from a Malay man. We found the road almost immediately after that, and soon we arrived at Uncle Chiew's house. On cache was, he no longer live there. Mom got his number from Uncle Chiew's father and called him on her mobile.
We never went to Hua Ho Mall that day. Mom took us to the department store near our home and I wandered around, my siblings tailing after me while mom talk with Uncle Chiew. I brought myself a sketch book and a pair of earrings that looked like crystals of snow. I wanted very much to buy the latest issue of Kreko (Malaysian serial comic magazine), but Jyne advised me against it. So I didn't buy it. 'Sides, I'm running out of money.
When we got home we were famished. My legs hurt from all the standing and from the running yesterday. We wolfed down burgers and down it with ice-cream. The wrapper of my ice-cream advertised this: Love in every bite! Gah, it's just normal coffee-flavoured ice-cream.
I did a bit of my homework, but I couldn't concentrate and soon I was reading a weird book, 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief' by Rick Riordan. It was a story about Percy Jackson, a.k.a. Perseus Jackson, who discovered one day that he was a half-blood: half boy, half god. His father was one of the Greek gods, Poseidon; and he was caught in a deadly fight between the three major gods and must find a way to stop World War Three. It was really cool.
Crap! 'Twas my first thought when I woke up. I had overslept! As a result I couldn't take a shower like I planned to. I rushed through everything, and at last Ed was on his way to school in daddy's car.
I made mom a cup of coffee, something I don't do everyday, before changing into the PE shirt. It is long-sleeved and very uncomfortable due to the thick cloth used to make it, and the fact that us girls were required to wear tudong in the PE attire is a torture.
So mom was enjoying her cuppa and looking through daddy's laptop bag, for no reason whatsoever, and she suddenly dropped the mug she was holding. The mug dropped to the floor and shattered, spilling coffee every where. What I thought at that time - gah, more stuff to clean up. Mom was looking at something in the bag and she was shaking.
So of course I had to find out what made her react like that, so I looked in the bag. I couldn't describe what I felt when I saw what was in there - I wasn't even sure if I can post what it was on the blog. Gah - alright, it's a condom. Mom was shocked. I made her another cup of coffee, let her sit down while I wipe up the spill. Then I threw away the condom.
I calmed down mom as much as I could, since I am only 17 and not allowed to drive and everything - I needed to go to school. Kinda selfish, I know, but I just wanna see Adie.
I got to school and I did another selfish thing - I forgot about what I had seen in the bag before. It seemed so unreal, I mean, of all the men I know, daddy is the least likely man to walk around with condoms in his bag. Maybe I just had a bad dream or something. Yeah, that must be it. At the sight of Adie, it was forgotten.
I guess I can say that the hours I spent in school was cool, but that was selfish, when I know mom must be grieving or something. I half-jog and half-ran throughout the cross country race, but still got beaten by Adie. It's not like I want to beat him or anything, I was just teasing, but he took my teasing too seriously.
After the race, the winners were announced. The fastest guy runner was from Mahkota (my house!) and the fastest girl runner was from Putra (Solon & Elaine's house). Then came the tense part - the best sports house. 4th place was the Palawan house, 3rd place the Wijaya house (Wijaya was 4th last year, Adie and Shen's house), 2nd place was the Putra house and Mahkota was the champion house! Hidayah and me cheered along with the rest of our Mahkota mates, which included my senior Caesar, acquaintance Joo Sie, Khairul and Ainal.
Right after the prize presentation, the principal Mrs Lim gave a short speech, mostly addressed to us lower six students. She said by participating in the Cross Country, we had became true PTEBians (weird term but I don't mind). She also urged us to do well in our studies.
We were dismissed soon after. Hidayah and me waited for Shen. While waiting, I met Jye Jge (weird name, and it's also an alliteration! It is pronounced J.G.) and congratulated him for winning himself a trophy. He just smiled a little and went away. We soon found Shen standing in front of the Multi-purpose Hall, looking slightly lost. We took some photos for remembrance, first the three of us together, then Shen with Hidayah, then Hidayah with me, and lastly Shen with me. We are united by music, anime, fanfics and the Japanese language!
Then I phoned mom on Shen's mobile and she decided to pick me up from school. Shen and Hidayah wanted to go to the 'Shout Stage', which was not really a stage, but a dead end at the 2nd floor corridor where you can see almost all of what was happening on the ground floor. You can also shout whatever insults you wish, because the words were often lost in the wind and nobody will know what you were screaming about. Once I shouted, "Saidi is a naughty guy!" when in fact he isn't, and he was furious. He actually thought the whole school heard me.
I bade Shen and Hidayah goodbye and waited for mom. While waiting, I joined a guy group chatter (no they DON'T talk about half-naked girls). Solon came and we talked for a while, then he went to talk to a familiar-looking girl. The frustrating part was that I had forgotten her name, but she remembered mine. I wondered why this is always so? Turned out her name was Yen Tze @ Sharon. We small-talked for a while and I spotted mom's car in the distance, so I bade her and my friends from the guy group chatter goodbye.
Once I got into the car, mom's sadness overwhelmed me. Jyne told me in a note that there was a big fight between daddy and mom in the morning, and it was very scary. Milo and coffee was everywhere, a mug was broken and daddy actually hit mom. There were lots of screaming and daddy left the house holding onto his laptop bag.
After getting Jyne to school, mom began pouring out what happened to me, like I am a counsellor. I just listened quietly, nodding at all the appropriate places, not really taking all of what she was saying in. I couldn't believe some of what mom told me, but I didn't say anything. I just listened, but that was tiring itself. I wanted to tell Adie of what I had heard - but his mobile ran out of credit and he has a tendency not to recharge it. Another annoying trait in him.
Dinner was nasi lemak and after dinner I read 'Spirit Walker' by Michelle Paver. It is the second book in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. The first book is 'Wolf Brother', a really exciting read, and so was the second book. I finished reading the book at 11:48 p.m., very tired but satisfied. I am looking forward to read the third book, 'Soul Eater', but too bad it is not in PTEB library.
