Kaleidoscope: Slices Of Life - When you wish upon a star

Written by: Ashley Koh Yu Xi (21-A1)

“Look! Shooting star! Faster, make a wish!” 

“Okay! I wish for… sweets!” 

“Aiya, don’t you know that if you say it out the wish doesn’t come true anymore?” 

“Okay lah! Then you do lor...”

Eyes close, hands clasp. 

“So? You wish for what?” 

“Secret! Don’t tell you!” 

“No fair!” 

Childish laughter drifts into the air.

***

It's the fourth time he's late. 

Tung sighs irritably as she checks her watch. Scrolling through Instagram has long stopped giving her boosts of dopamine, so she stares at her watch face and watches the broken second hand as it moves and jerks erratically. 

 Pounding footsteps cause her to look up. There he is. 

"If you're gonna be late, at least text me so I know I go to the bus stop first lah." she says, a clear tone of annoyance in her voice. 

"Sorry-sorry," Rao Eck splutters, panting heavily and gripping his floorball stick with his left hand. 

"The guys wanted to get bubble tea," he catches his breath, then continues, "I was gonna text you, then my phone died. You got power bank?" 

Tung sighs, then fishes hers out from her bag. She's always bailing him out. 

"Nah." She shoves it at him. 

"Thanks, Tung," he replies in a saccharine sweet voice, putting on such a ridiculous face that she has to laugh. 

"Stupid," she grumbles, but her heart isn't in it. Together, they walk towards the bus stop. 

 ***

Tung has been friends with Rao for years and years. 

They first met in kindergarten. Back then, Rao was pathologically shy, and Tung was a social butterfly. Even then, she sought the timid Rao out at break, pulling him to sit with her friends. Gradually, a bond formed between them, strengthened by him opening her eyes to the world of plants and her defending him from mean classmates who teased him about everything from his small lunches to his tattered shoes. 

Their parents noticed their blossoming friendship, and schemed to have them study in the same primary school. By some coincidence, they ended up being in the same class for the next six years. 

Tung and Rao’s paths diverged when each went to single-sex schools. Even then, they kept in close contact, going out whenever a holiday opened up. They were so close that people joked that they were a couple. 

Then, they stopped joking about it. Rumours began to fly. Rao had kept his head down, preferring to let everything blow over. But Tung took a different approach, especially when people insulted Rao. She was nearly expelled from school for getting into a fight. Upon hearing this, Rao had smacked her head and scolded her, "I'm not worth you getting expelled, stupid!" 

Tung had let her silence express her disagreement.  

After they graduated from secondary school, they agreed to go to the same Junior College. It seemed fate loved this dynamic duo together, since they got into the same class again. 

Said class has General Paper now. Rao hates this subject, Tung knows. More than once, he's told her he thinks it’s a waste of time. "Bio," he usually continues, "THAT's useful." Though his voice is steady, the passionate gleam in his eye is hard to miss. 

Tung's copying notes as usual, so it takes her a while to feel the prodding in her back. When she turns her head back, annoyed, Rao grins toothily at her. 

“What? What you want?" She whispers. 

"Mr Goh's fly is down." He whispers back, unable to help his grinning. Tung's eye gradually drifts down to their teacher's pants and sure enough, the zip is down. 

"Focus, stupid," she merely replies. 

He prods her again. 

"What lah?" She hisses. 

"You taking MRT today?" 

She's just about to reply when Mr Goh barks at them both. 

"Ingrid, Rao Eck, don't think I never see y'all in the back, whispering away. I may be old, but I'm not blind." Then, he quickly tugs up his zip, and continues, "Or deaf." 

In spite of Mr Goh scolding them, Tung and Rao share a snigger. 

"Laugh some more? Then get out of my class." 

Tung's head whips up. She's not laughing anymore. Rao gets up, and does a mock bow. Mr Goh's face reddens in anger, but Tung quickly grabs his arm, bowing and apologising profusely as she pushes him out of class.

"What the hell?" She roars, "I was being a good kid and copying notes, but you just had to drag me down with you? Seriously?" 

"Sorry lah Tung. But it was funny though, right?" 

In spite of herself, Tung can feel the corner of her mouth quirk upwards. Outwardly, she merely rolls her eyes. 

They stand there for the rest of the hour, chatting. 

After class, Rao’s buddies in the class pull him back in. They’re jostling him around and laughing, while Tung slowly trails behind them. Rao’s face is lit up with laughter, and he’s in the centre of his friends, sharing in their cruel jokes about Mr Goh and GP. 

A slight bitterness rises in Tung’s chest. 

What happened to the shy boy who loved plants? How did he change so much? A tear wells up in her eye. She quickly brushes it off and scolds herself for being stupid. Her friends in class are quick to comfort her and tell her how dumb it was that Mr Goh sent both her and Rao out.

“It’s so stupid! Only him talking, so why kick you out also?” One of them fumes on her behalf. 

In spite of her quiet anger at Rao, Tung still jumps to his defense. 

“He wasn’t talking a lot, lah. It’s just Mr Goh being irritating.” 

“Eh, why you always defend him ah? You his girlfriend is it?”

“No lah, I’m his BEST friend.” Tung has said this sentence so many times it feels like she’s reciting a line from a play. But now, she can’t really be sure if she believes it anymore. 

Rao just never seems to have time for her. Just the other day, he was late for their outing because he was drinking bubble tea with his friends. The previous times, he said he was held back because of CCA, but now she starts to wonder if he was actually with his friends. In that case, are their outings actually preventing him from spending time with them? For the first time in her life, Tung starts to doubt her friendship with Rao. 

Does he still need her? Is she just a burden to him? 

She’s still thinking about this even after school. When Rao prods her again, she doesn’t notice. Only when he blows air into her ear does she start to glare at him. 

“Sorry,” he says, hands up. “Can we go?” 

She sighs, and follows him. All the way, while Rao chatters on, she keeps quiet. 

Finally, they reach her flat. As usual, he sends her to the door. Instead of leaving immediately though, he waits for her to open the door and goes into her flat with her. 

Tung barely has time to express confusion when their parents burst into the living room. Hers are holding a stack of waffles covered in buttercream and drowning in maple syrup, his are yelling “Happy Birthday!” at the top of their lungs. 

The only person she’s ever told about the cake she wants for her birthday is standing next to her, grinning from ear to ear. In his hands, he holds a star keychain. 

“Happy 18th, Ingrid.” He tells her, placing the keychain in her hands. 

It’s her birthday today, and she completely forgot about it. Yet, he remembered. 

She’s struggling to hold back the tears, but she still manages to rush to change out of her uniform into the dress she’s been saving for this occasion. Outside, her mother has lit the candles while her father is trying to place the camera on the tripod. Rao has also changed, and together with their parents, they take a few goofy, wide-eyed pictures together. 

“Rao, be honest. Was this ‘cause of you?” She says after the pictures. He rolls his eyes. 

“Who else knows you want a fat stack of waffles instead of a cake like a normal person?” 

She laughs and soon, they’re laughing together until they can’t breathe. Tung throws an arm around him and gives him a tight hug. 

“Thank you,” she murmurs. She feels his arm snake around her shoulder, but he says nothing. 

Her parents are sharing pictures of the two of them now. One of them catches her eye: a snapshot of her and Rao lying together on the grass, pointing at the night sky. She suddenly remembers: she never got to hear what wish Rao made that night. 

As if to answer her question, Rao chuckles as he points at that photo. “I remember you wished for sweets. On brand.” 

“You leh? I never knew what you wished for.” 

Simply, with no lofty emotions attached, Rao says, “For us to always be best friends.”