friend

quote(s) of the day:

" love, by merit, is sweet."

-pL

"let's take whatever dirty cursing words and replace it with 'marketing'. it's probably as repulsive"

-yiyun

i met this primary school friend of mine when i was at the interchange.
we were best friends, and she was the pretty one in the flowery dress, while i was the tomboyish one in the oversized shirt. a funny scene if you ask me.
she was rich, somehow i remember she has the expensive gadgets.. i remember this electronic diary that girls used to keep? yep. she was the first to own one of those.
she wasnt academically inclined. and i was jealous. because no one expected her to get an average of 258 for psle. no one set a target for her to go to AHS or TKGS or whatever crap that sounded nice. everyone was so proud of her when she could make it to the express stream of a neighbourhood school. how come no one was proud of me? i thought.. when i obviously had better grades. i got the "you could have done better" look. she dropped out of secondary school halfway anyway.

oh yes, i was a jealous little brat.

so she called my name. and i turned to face this pretty mature young lady. currently working as a promoter for cosmetics, it seems, but "going to quit soon".. as she flashed her teeny one carat rock in my face, and introduced her (mark my words) fiance. she told me he was financially ready, so they decided to start a family soon.

and yes, she looked like a ready and proud bride-to-be. flawless skin, pearly white teeth..

getting married next month.

sigh.

and she updated me on how my classmates are faring. one of them's joined the police force, another one.. mother of a little baby boy (how come i didnt know that??), few in the sales line, mostly in ITE or poly.. or so it seems. only two of us made it to university.

but looking at how fortunate she is.

whoever that said that money is the key to happinness should be hanged.
whoever that told me buying his dream car would be the most fulfiling thing in his life deserves to be shot.
whoever that told me study is the key to success should swallow the pages of his books.

because what i was taught and what i saw did not tally.

all she needed was a life-long committment, and someone to spend the rest of her life with.

but when she asked about me, i was speechless. no chapter in my life was worth mentioning.
nothing.

i wasted the past seven years of my life.
chained.