Modest 18

10.45 p.m.

Atiqah and Hazirah were revising Chemistry. Atiqah's head dropped to the table.

"You wanted to sleep?"

"No, just lagging."

"Sleep on your bed. Your back's gonna ache."

It already is. "Wake me in 5 minutes, please."

11.03 p.m.

"Assalamualaikum! Atiqah!" Hamizah and Nuha came dashing in. Atiqah sat up straight and stared at the happy faces.

"Were you asleep?" Hamizah enquired, head tilted to the right.

Blinked. "Not supposed to. Ask Hazirah."

They chuckled, and proceeded to discuss on updates on the lecturer's t-shirts, upcoming MEP dinner and International Food Fair.

Atiqah remained awake. Am I forgetting something? She stared at her watch. 11.45 p.m. Nope, maybe not.

Nuha excused herself to go back home. Soon Hamizah followed, after piling her pictures of their Frisbee group into Atiqah's Haizen.

12.00 a.m.

Phone alerted her of an incoming message. From Kamilah.

Oh yeah, she smiled. I'm 18 already, hoho. How could I forget?

12.05 a.m.

Heard footsteps running outside the main door. Stood stirring her Nescafe + Milo and faced the door.

Nuha and Raihaana dashed in, squeezing between the frame as to enter the house first.

"Atiqah!" Both in unison. "Happy birthday!"

She chuckled.

"Here, from me." Nuha grinned her Noga Nany soft nouget.

She took it gratefully. "Haha, thank you." Perhaps a bit sheepishly.

"I've got something for you, too." Raihaana fished something out of her pocket.

"Same nouget?"

"Here." Atiqah held her hand out to accept Rai's identical nouget as Nuha's, albeit a bit squashed.

The four of them (don't forget Hazirah) laughed. Atiqah contemplated on her inability to make herself a card this year.

"Were we the first?" They asked.

"Fourth and fifth; you guys tied." Atiqah continued stirring her NestLo. "First was my muallimah. She was a month early."

"Second?" Raihaana asked after her fit of laughter.

"A classmate from SMI. A day early. Third was Kamilah. Exactly at 12."

"Wow." They nodded in recognition. "She's still here?"

"Sure, still in Damansara."

Maybe treat ourselves to a slice of cake this evening?
Sure. Oh, cannot. We've to review that place for our MEP dinner.
Oh yeah. Maybe next time.

"I'm fourth." Nuha said, facing Rai.

"No, I was earlier than you."

"I'm first."

"Me!"

Atiqah stared in amusement. A second message entered her inbox. Fatimah. She smiled gratefully.

"You guys were spoiling our surprise for her." Hazirah said, still seated facing her Chemistry notes. "We housemates planned to feign forgetfulness."

Third message that night entered. Along's. Her grin widened.

Nuha and Raihaana laughed. Atiqah remained stirring, contend with amusing herself at people's rememberence of her birthday. They chatted.

12.15 p.m.

Nuha and Rai excused themselves from the not-so-homey house with a packet of sira-ed keropok flown in directly from Kelantan. Atiqah grabbed her handphone to reply the birthday wishes with deliberate care.

Typed the entry for a message to Mama. All of a sudden, the handphone blanked itself. Battery flat. Inwardly she groaned.

25 July: Frisbee in Midst of Azan

We're having our INTEC INPRO right now and I've just finished my fair share of Frisbee with the girls. It was great fun!

We've never played Frisbee before, and lucky for us Abang Hafiz (Master Pocho-Pocho), an ADFP senior taught us our backhand during our first official practice day. After him, Kak Nadia, Kak Ili and Kak Bella (Nabila) from AL trained us for two evenings straight.

We've got great seniors, haven't we?

First it was MEP girls versus ADFP/ACTP girls. 3-2. Not bad for underdogs.

Second was MEP girls versus AL seniors who taught us. The match was fun and everyone was being a good sport.

1-6. It was masters against amateurs. I'm proud of our one score, though.

It's a good thing I'm into sports at INTEC. It's the only way to meet and greet seniors, other than say Assalamualaikum during bumps at the crowded sughoyyir-awi surau.

There is another reason why I heart those seniors of mine.

Kak Bella was among the game officers. Right before the Asar azan commence, she hailed through the hailer. "Stop the game now! Azan, azan! Everyone, stop!"

So we did. I smiled and sat quietly. Though the Chinese ADFP/ACTP students and their Malay teacher on my right did not.

Nor did some of the Russian male players in the middle of the field.

Form afar, I can see Kak Bella with her finger on her lips reprimanding the ignorant Malay boys. They shut up afterwards, though. I was looking forward to seeing their marks got deducted.

Automatically we said our prayers after the azan ended. Immediately afterwards, Kak Bella sounded the alarm for us to resume playing.

The Russian boys were still with their doa. "Relaks r, kak! Kami tengah baca doa ni!"

Dude, so slow. We rolled our eyes in unison.

The girls stayed back to watch MEP guys playing against ALG. I've to rush back to college; my futsal training starts at 5.15. Our match is tomorrow! Wah!

p/s: The end result for girls was AL first, followed by MEP and ADFP/ACTP.

MEP guys got third out of six. Not bad, not bad at all. Currently MEP is at number three, compared to last year's abysmal six. Do wish us the best in your prayers.

We got the M!
We got the E!
We got the P!
We got the M E P!
Takbir!
ALLAHUAKBAR!
-MEP girls' Frisbee chant-

Marriage Woes

Today, my diligent self rose early, made the bed, took a 40-minute bath (crazy) and washed yesterday's clothes.

After that, I walked to Masjid Al-Hidayah in the middle of the crowd for our Latihan Nuqaba' 2 under the morning rain.

The program was comprehensive and left me thinking about a lot of things. We discussed on the practicality of dai'e in dealing with mad'u during one-on-one approach.

There were two slots. The first one lacked momentum on my part with my notebook to testify on my nodding off once in a while during the ustaz's speech.

Kak Khansa' on my right kept shoving me candies and massaging my arm. I'm sure my inner self was doing that on purpose just to get the special treatment.

The second slot was fun. Kak Khansa' and Akh Dhany presented their Dakwah Fardhiyah di Lapangan and it was real practical. I'm glittering with enthusiasm to get this DF going already.

I met Fatah Ismail there. He still retain his smug look and bushy hair.

"Kata pergi Mesir."

"Persediaan 3 bulan dekat INTEC dulu."

"Oh." He broke into a huge grin. "Nampak gemuk."

"Kurang ajar." I smirked.

Kak Aniisah gave me this book, 'Aku Terima Nikahnya' by Hasrizal Abdul Jamil. I've finished reading the book and it is very illuminating. It put out my intention to coax my brother into marrying before I fly to Cairo.

And it makes me wonder whether marrying during fourth year of study is a good idea or a cathasthrope.

*shrugs* Let's bother ourselves with that question once I have someone to marry with.

Buddy System Closing Night

Last night was the closing night for Buddy System Program and each block had to send a team of performers for the Performance Competition.

My housemate Idayu was one of them and she had been pestering me for a total of five minutes last week that I just have to cave in.

You would, too, if you saw what she did to coax me into joining.

"Ala, Atiqah," she advanced towards me contentedly minding my own business.

"Jom la join."

"Jangan datang dekat." I frowned.

"Atiqah, join la." She started that intimidating smile of her.

"Main jauh-jauh, orang kata!"

"Atiqah, join la."

"Tak nak! Ana masyghulah!"

"Atiqah, join la~"

"Tak nak! Idayu! Lepas! ARGH! Lepas! Main jauh-jauh!"

"Atiqah, join la. Dua orang lagi tak nak. Kita dua join sekali la."

"Idayu! Let go! Geli wei!"

"Join la."

"Okay, okay! Saya join! Now lepas!"

And I was free, but I lost. I started to think how lucky those two sniggering housemates (Tasnim and Hazirah) of mine were.

So you had me, one green-clad girl frowning at the prospect of her singing 'Hijau' along with ten others.

I can't believe I've landed myself into this.

Like, I know my voice is sweet but singing is just not my thing. But it's too late to back off now; I'll just dishearten the team.

So last night, we walked to Dataran Cemara and sat on the dusty ground, waiting for our turn.

I commited into memory the small crowd gathering in front of the stage. No borderline between the female and male. They squeezed among themselves, being comfortable with talking and sitting next to each other.

How sweet. If only they're married.

First block presented. I watched wearily as three white tudung-clad girls and another three free-hair climbed upon the stage claiming their mauduq as 'We're All in This Together'.

The music started.

The girls danced.

The crowd cheered. The males whistled.

I automatically stared at the ground, aghast. I need to get out of there before I wrench off any of their heads.

So I stood up, headed towards our Head of Block and said, "I'm sorry, I'm out."

And like the wind, I walked away.

Perhaps it wasn't wise at all. My departure conveyed no message whatsoever, but I just couldn't stand being there.

INTEC's over-social life is disheartening. My fragile heart just couldn't let me stare and so nothing. There is no such thing as being okay with things that should never be considered okay.

Welcome to the real world, Atiqah.

p/s: I came back to watch our block's performance. Then I went for dinner with the crowd. I'll write about it soon.

There're Lazy Days Around, Too

Today is a quiet day. I woke up after Subuh at 9 and took a pleasantly slow cold shower. Had my breakfast of hot milo and three biscuits.

Now I'm staring at Haizen, unsure whether to start my Ophthalmology in Islam assignment or the Lipid Diffusion.

Finally I settled on reading Fanfiction.net and make-uping my Friendster profile.

I am such a deliberate genius, aren't I?

I have a date with Dr. House at 12 pm. I suppose I better get going now. Have a nice weekend, minna-san.

A few minutes later...

I'm back. Quite frustrated, really, but nothing I can't hide behind my enchanting smile. He didn't turn up.

I should wait for him, probably.

Now I'm back in front of Haizen, sipping milk as loudly as I can. Not that there are any etiquette police around.

Milk is good to keep my hormones in check.

I've checked my calendar and the nearest assignment dateline is for my Lipid Diffusion presentation. I should bid you fellows adieu and start head-long into it, shouldn't I?

Tasnim is having her RM4 lunch and she's coaxing me into buying mine now. I'm on a diet actually, which consisted of milo and biscuits for breakfast, low-fat milk for lunch, tea for tea and nasi for dinner.

And probably throw in some keropok in between. If I can find decend one laying around. Shah Alam's keropok aren't as delish as Kelantan's or Terengganu's.

Now that reminds me. A classmate of mine has gone back to Terengganu. Let see if he could handle some more keropok in his luggage.

I've rambled, I know. I should get my footing now.

Again, have a nice weekend, minna-san.

27 June: Flying Home

I went back to Kelantan from LCCT and arrived safely around 10 pm. Papa and Hakim whisked me from the airport, the latter grinning albeit a little querily from what he used to.

The house's renovation was doing fine and the second floor has been uprighted. Quite stable it is now, every time the male labourers depart back for their home, the female workers will take over.

Namely Yaya, Hakim and our neighbours Amirah, Atiqah, and Humairah.

The day after, Papa brought me to the PC Fair and bought me a TravelMate 6292. 12'' screen and prized at RM3,988.

Papa and the Syahrul salesdude were conversing on the RAM, the weight, a warranty, the whatsit and all those computer medical thingy.

I was caught staring foolishly with mouth agape at the prize tag.

"Is the warranty valid in Cairo?" was the only question I could ask without being obvious on my lack of computer literacy.

"It is in Egypt."

"Good, then."

"Where are you furthering your studies?"

"There. In medicine."

"No wonder." He grinned and addressed Papa. "I was a bit perplexed when you wanted to buy such gadgy laptop for your daughter. Most people opted for a less sophisticated brand."

As of Papa's principle, buy the quality.

It came with complementary 1GB USB drive, LCD cleaner, notebook lock, optical mouse and Sony mousepad.

My parents have always supported me in uncountable ways. I'm at loss of word.

A heartful gratitude is in order.