“Today is the day!”  By golly, I couldn’t believe PMR was over at last. “Jody you better hurry up, if got traffic jam you’ll miss your flight!” called dad.
    “So early ah?” My lunch had barely digested. I gave mom a quick hug and chucked my bags into the car. My watch showed 12:38pm.
    I picked up Ilissa, Kerr Li and Christine and handed them their tickets. Upon arrival at the airport, I helped the girls check in. I placed the tickets on the counter and the girl said, “To Labuan? There is a half-hour delay…” Whaaat the dickens?!? Sia-sia only we rush to the airport so early.
    I gave dad a goodbye hug and joined the girls. How am I going to tell them about the delay? I had to call May anyway, so let them listen to my little conversation lah.
    “Hello, May? Our flight has been delayed half-an-hour…” I could hear Ilissa exclaiming “Haaaaahh…??”
    Well we couldn’t stand the heat downstairs so we went upstairs to the air-conditioned cafeteria, chatting and brooding over our school mag which Ilissa had brought. Then we moved to the departure hall to wait for our plane, and ‘visited’ the toilets (Somehow that’s when I adapted the habit of saying, “Bye, send me a postcard!)
    Impatient and ready to go, we were soon boarding flight MH2610. Our seats were in the same row but I was on the other side while the three were sitting together. Besides me, a serious-looking middle-aged man was glancing suspiciously at my overloaded backpack and my bright blue nails.
    The plane engine revved up and the plane began to move. We gave each other excited looks. Christine became as quiet as a mouse and stared blankly in front; she hated flights and heights. I unzipped my bag and rumaged inside for a snack. Ahh… Yumi Pizza Candy. Tearing open the wrapper, I took a piece and chewed. Urrggghhh…. Another antibioticky taste. I passed the candy to the girls and they refused.
    After a cup of orange-juice offered by the air-stewardess, I glanced at the girls. Christine was still quiet, Ilissa and Kerr Li were busy looking and pointing out of the window at something. I looked in my bag again. Why the heck did I bring so much junk-food?? I opened a bag of chips and began munching again, but halfway thru, the captain’s voice announced, “Cabin crew, be seated for landing thank you.” So fast?? I quickly chomped down the keropok and soon, the plane landed.
    I got my first glimpse of the new Labuan airport. Wah, so nice ah? It had a  layered structure, glass panels, green roof and it was even air-conditioned! Miri aiport seemed pretty poor in comparison.
    We trooped off the plane happily, not sure where to go. We just followed where everybody else was going. Soon we saw a crowd outside.
    “Do you see Szue May?” I asked Ilissa, scanning the crowd for May’s familiar face.
    “No,” she replied.
    “I think… I saw Szue May,” said Christine.
    “Where…where... where?”
    “HELLOOOO…!!” May tiba-tiba muncul with her mom. After the greetings, the four of us squashed into the back seat of their Toyota saloon.
    May’s house was fairly near the airport. It was a nice house, with the outside creatively decorated with plants and the interior hung with cross-stitches, photo-frames and Bahai figures. We placed our bags in May’s big brother’s room, and gave the presents to May and her mom, which they liked very much.
    In the living room, May poured us some orange-juice as we looked at some photos. At about 5pm, May’s mom asked her to get some tomato stuff from a grocery store nearby, so we followed along and had a nice walk around the neighbourhood.
    At about 7pm, our dinner was ready. Spaghetti! It was really delicious and we enjoyed it a lot- I had two huge helpings!. After our dinner, we did what girls usually did – chit chat. We talked about almost everything ranging from girls to guys to clothes to movies and music in May’s room.
    “Let’s phone someone,” Ilissa suggested.
    “Who?” asked Christine.
    “How about Winston? I miss him and want to talk to him,” said May.
    So we phoned him for about 15 minutes, using Ilissa’s handphone. It was only 10:30 when they hung up.
    “Still early hoh? Why don’t you phone Aaron leh?”  I teased Ilissa.
    “Ilissa must be missing Aaron now,” continued Christine.
    “No, don’t disturb him, he might be asleep now. It’s late,” said Ilissa. Blushing, looking for an excuse not to phone Aaron. Who knows, she might really have a crush on him!
    “No lah, he cannot be asleep now. He haven’t walk his dog yet leh,” I argued. This time, she had no excuse but to phone. They chatted for about 8 minutes.
    In the middle of the night, we went downstairs to have some fruits for a snack. We then continued to talk again and even scared ourselves by talking about horror movies like <The Blair Witch Project> and ran upstairs screaming right at 12am sharp. We closed ourselves in Szue May’s room and continue talking again, this time about our classmates. Kerr Li was already deep in her sleep in the other room. We talked and talked until 2am, until Ilissa suggested that we should go to bed as we needed the energy to go shopping whole day the next day. They all agreed. Me and Ilissa set our handphones to wake us up at 8am the next morning.
    May and I said goodnight to each other and I switched off the light. I lay down on the bed and covered my self with the thin blanket. The whole room and ceiling was scattered with glow-in-the-dark stars.
    “Wah, so many stars…” I began. No response from May. She was fast asleep already.
 

    The next morning, I was awakened by the girls’ yakking in the next room. My handphone had not sounded; it was not 8 yet!
    “My dad loh, call my phone and asked for Lim Han Wei,” complained a sleepy Ilissa. I looked at Kerr Li’s droopy eyes and started to feel sleepy again myself. We discussed what we should wear for that day and took turns taking showers.
    We then trooped downstairs, where a big pile of pancakes was waiting for us. They were plain but tasted nice. About 10am, May’s mom dropped us off at the Financial Park mall.
    We walked around and went to a duty free shop to get some chocolates and stuff. For the first time, I met Nastassja, Cynthia and Mathew. There was also another girl called Sarah, she was gentle and very nice too. They were all very friendly and cool, and we became really close friends in just a day! We went to take pictures at the Waterfront Hotel. Some locals saw us and welcomed us in the public. They would! We looked a rare sight loaded with bags n cameras. It was sort of embarrassing though.
    We went back home at around 4pm and were already half dead. Labuan’s weather was really hot and we were practically barbequed in the blazing sun! Christine opened a box of mint-filled chocolates she had bought earlier and which had melted in the heat, and soon all of us except Ilissa were enjoying them. We tried to pick up a piece but couldn’t, as the chololate had become too soft. We could only squish them together and share them, and soon our hands were covered with melted mint.
    “Yuck, you guys are really disgusting!” Ilissa screwed up her nose at the sight of us licking the gooey mint oozing out from between our fingers. “It reminds me of something lah..”
    “What?” we asked.
    “No lah, very dirty one, cannot tell.”
    “Tell lah, Ilissa!”
    “Something to do with sex…”
    “Ahhh…hahahha… you mean sperms??” I guessed.
    “Exactly,” she grinned.
    “Air mani, air mani,” chanted Christine as she licked the mint off her hands. Everyone roared with laughter.
    After the tid-bits, we took turns using the shower, getting ready to go out for dinner. We went to a small restaurant for a very delicious dinner. We ate crabs fried with some curry powder, fried tau-hu, vegies and deer meet. I enjoyed the crabs so much I had barely touched my rice. When the others had finished eating I was still licking my fingers.
    Back at home, we promised to sleep earlier at about 11pm. May went online to chat, and she let me join in a bit. Cliffton was online too, back in Miri. Christine and Ilissa disappeared to the living room. At about 12am, we all went upstairs and continued to talk again. This time, there seemed to be even more to talk about than the previous night. We were so talkative that we broke our promise and talked until 2 am again. This time, I slept in the other room with Chris n Kerr Li. I suppose those 'strange noises' last night got Ilissa spooked. I tossed and turned, trying to sleep in all sorts of funny positions, feeling a little weird to be sanwiched between the girls. Anyway, I soon drifted off...