love goes a long way

I don’t remember what song Merpati did but I remember Enggang’s Video Clip as clear as the sun shining on a perfect day. They did the song Hero by Mariah Carey. I remember it because Ana was in the video clip. I could recognize her elegant dance anywhere. Like I said, that was the last I saw of her for the year.

About a month later, after the month of Ramadhan had ended and the fasting month came to an end, I heard news that Comport was going steady with Siti. So I figured, that what ever there was between Ana and Comport must’ve ended. I wasn’t fond of Comport and lost contact with Ana, so I was left with only my assumption. I figured that the only thing I could do was to get on with my life.
I would attend classes with Palam and spend most of the nights with Ciput. Ciput always seemed to come up with these crazy ideas to spend our nights. We’d come up with all kind of scheme to enlighten our lives.
Who’s Ciput? Oh, I forgot to introduce him to you guys. Who is Ciput……. Hmmm……. Lets see…… Okay , I got it. I’ve known Ciput since Matriculation. During our first semester in Matriculation, Ciput and I were classmate. Everyone else would rush to get front row seats during class but Ciput and I were different. We’d come to class fashionably late. And by the time we got there, we’d sit ourselves as for as possible from the lecturer. It was so we’d be able to avoid direct contact and it also gave us the freedom to joke around during class. The only time we couldn’t fool around was during math. Puan Zarina our lecture, kept a close eye on the both of us. She’d constantly call us in front of the class and test us to see if we were paying attention or not. They were ups and downs. If we answered a question wrongly, we’d received one heck of yelling right on the spot but if we were right, we’d be so proud that our nose would be so far up in the air it blocked our whole view. But math wasn’t much of a problem for us because we enjoyed it. Having a lecturer like Puan Zarina made the whole thing more challenging. And the thing was, we couldn’t resist a good challenge. By the second semester of matriculation, Ciput and I became dorm mates. During the second semester of matriculation, the construction of the new Matriculation Residential College was finished. All matriculation students were forced to move there. Ciput, I and a few other friends registered a dorm for the whole bunch us. It was easier being room mates with people we already knew compared to total strangers. Other changes were also made. Not only was the residence, but during the same semester all our classes were rearranged. They arranged it according to GPA. The students with high GPA’s were assigned in one class the one with low GPA’s were assigned in another. You could probably guess, Ciput and I were assigned to the idiot’s class. It sounds harsh but true. We acknowledged our stupidity. We’re not proud of it but we don’t deny it. That semester, most our class had new lecturers. You could say almost all but the exemption of one, our math class. They must’ve thought that Puan Zarina was able to educate our slow minds. Well, I guess they were right. Puan Zarina played a major role in upbringing our educational standards. By the end of that semester, most of our CGPA’s were as good and some even better than the students from the smart class. I guess you can roughly imagine how Ali (that’s me) met Ciput.
Let us return to our main story. Where were we again?? Let me see….. Oh yeah, now I remember. Ciput and I would plan out some crazy scheme to fulfill our nights. We’d go to KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) at 4 a.m. just for the fun it. We’d get on Ciput’s motorbike and with money enough only for gas we’d head off towards where our hearts desired. Sometimes we’d just play basketball from midnight to dawn. With Ciput around, there was never a dull moment.
Just before the end of our first year, Kebajikan held another activity. This time it was an outing. The board of directors decided to have a sort of camp/picnic to bring the members of Kebajikan closer as a family. For this activity, Sekoi was elected as the director. Sekoi was one of my senior in Helang. During the time we were only acquaintances. Not yet friends but Sekoi and I were getting there. How we became friends later on is a different story. I tell you later. I remember being in charge of provisions. Kak Ina, Surya and I were given the responsibility.
I forgot to mention to you about the close friends I made during the whole year. Among them were Surya, Kak Ina, Iyat, Liza, Esah, Rina. I met them during my first semester while participating in our family day choir. The five of them were my senior, but Kak Ina was the only one older then me. The rest of them were of my age. I recognize them because they were close friends or more like younger sisters to a Helang Super Senior named Sawi. I remember my first encounter with them wasn’t rather pleasant. I was using a pc in the J.P (Jaringan Perdana) our college’s computer lab. As I was surfing the net, Iyat and Surya came in. Iyat came beside me and said,
“Boy, help me type this list for me.”
I was busing surfing at time. I couldn’t care less so I told her,
“Find someone else to do your dirty job. I’m busy”
“How dare you? Just wait!!” she replied.

What could she do? Beat me up? I don’t think so. I then continued to surf unaware that something bad was going to happen. As I surfed, a sudden tap on the shoulder startled me. As I turned to speak my mind, but to my surprise it was Sawi. The Super Senior of my block. He looked down on me with his eyes staring straight at me. He seemed angry. With a serious look he said,
“You’d better do what my sis tells you to or you’ll get it!!! UNDERSTAND!!”
“Yes Sir!! I’m sorry Sir!! I won’t do it again Sir!”
So I took the pieces of paper from her and begin to type.
“I told you so”, said Iyat with a rather sarcastic voice.
“Yeah? Just shut up.” I replied angrily. I then continued to type.
From there began an unexpected yet beautiful friendship between me and the five of them. After many encounters later we were now friends.

So being assigned to duty with Surya and Kak Ina made my job easier. I knew them and they knew me. It made us easier to communicate with one another. A week before the outing took place. As I was loitering around Helang when Sekoi saw me. He then asked me to accompany him as he was going to submit the paperwork for the outing at the HEP (student affairs) to be approved. I then followed him. When arrived at the HEP, Sekoi went in to present the paperwork. I stood just outside of the room doing nothing. Only a few minutes in there, I could hear the officer in charge complaining about the activity. He had plenty to comment on. Just then Sekoi came out of the room and searched his backpack that was beside me for a piece of paper and a pen. He looked at me and just shook his head in despair and went back in. About a half an hour later we were heading back to Helang. Sekoi seemed like he had a bit of a head ache but managed to smile. I’m not sure why he was smiling but for some unknown reason when thinking it over, the whole thing seemed kind of hilarious to him. This was when I began to respect him. Even though just after going through some rough spots with his activity still he managed to put on a smile.
About a week a later the activity was approved and we were on our way to Sungai Congkak for Kebajikan’s Intimacy Camp. Sungai Congkak is a recreational park that was built along Congkak River. It was a nice place not that far away from the city but with the comfort and advantage of a nature friendly environment. That Saturday morning, we planned to begin our journey to Sungai Congkak by half past seven but due to the delay of our transportation, we left about a quarter to nine. It took us about forty-five minutes to arrive at the entrance. From there it was a one kilometer hike to our destination. By ten fifteen everyone was ready to begin our activity. As usual, to initiate our activity we began with an ice breaking session. Everyone introduced themselves and soon after we were assigned into small groups. The whole day was spent with many fun activities. Among them were group binding, treasure hunt and many types of games. Later that evening, around 4 o’clock we were released to do anything before our bus arrived. That gave us an hour to take a dip in the river. Without wasting any of our time we got suited and I had a blast.
It was five o’clock and all of us were back at the main entrance waiting for the bus to take us back. Like promised we waited for it arrived. We waited and waited and waited. Like a bunch of fools we did. It was now a few minutes into six o’clock and the bus still didn’t arrive. All of us were bummed. As I was sitting beside Sekoi, Kak Ina approached us. She then sat right between me and Sekoi. Don’t try getting any funny ideas. I meant beside the both of us, got it! Ok, let’s continue. Before Kak Ina arrived, Sekoi and I were getting to know more about each other. To my surprise we had many common interests. Not only that but we had a few similar experiences that we seem to be able to share with one another. Back to when Kak Ina arrived. During that time, Kak Ina and I weren’t really close. We’ve talked a few times but that was about it. Among the other girls that I was actually friends with were Surya, Esah, Iyat, Liza. Probably because they were the same age as I, it made it easier for me to talk to them. Kak Ina then asked me about my studies. Ashamed of my last semester’s result, I answered with a simple Ok. Tell me this, would you be proud of a 0.687 GPA? Then we began talking about other stuffs. We talked about our hobbies, interests, music, family and also our experience. The three of us were so into the conversation, we didn’t realize that it was already 7.30 p.m. and the bus had arrived. We then got on the bus and headed back to our college. This was the first time I actually had a real conversation with Kak Ina. I liked it. She was nice and easy to talk to.