New Life : A Second Chance

Kyle wasn\'t moved, "It\'s okay at the school grounds, but you\'re not to walk back to the dorms alone. If outside, one of us will always be with you."

"B-but .."

"No ifs, ands or buts," said Kyle firmly, "These pesky bugs are only going to get worse. We have to nip it in the bud!"

Kay poked at her spaghetti angrily. "Then how the heck am I going to even get a boyfriend? You\'ll scare them all away!"

"If they could be scared off by us, then he doesn\'t deserve to be your boyfriend," said Sam quietly.

Kay sighed, "Do you honestly think anyone could actually hold up against any of you?"

They all looked at her and grinned. "Of course not," they all chorused together.

"That\'s why they\'re not worthy," said Xing Han firmly.

"I\'ll never find a boyfriend at this rate," Kay muttered darkly under her breath. Then she looked at all of them. She should be mad, but she couldn\'t be. They were all acting out of concern for her, and she couldn\'t really blame them for it. They were overprotective over her, particularly after the kidnapping incident during their primary school life.

Though it was much better now than it was the first year after the incident, Kay is getting the feeling that it\'s going to be much worse after this. Kyle, being Kyle, tended to smother her sometimes. She didn\'t really mind it, but she noticed that she was slowly starting to feel dissatisfied with it. It wasn\'t much, but she wasn\'t as carefree about it as before. Still, she didn\'t voice anything out as they weren\'t doing anything wrong and she felt guilty for not properly appreciating their concern.

"Did you hear about what happened to Principal Dobbins?" asked Sam, "Oh wait. No, it should be Ms Dobbins. She isn\'t a Principal anymore."

"No," replied Xing Han, "What happened?"

"Apparently, she got arrested,"

"What?! No way!" Ali exclaimed.

"Yes way," replied Sam seriously.

"For what? Was she doing drugs or something?" asked Xing Han curiously.

"From what I heard, there were a whole lot of things. Misappropriation of public funds, for one. The police are still investigating, but they apparently have enough for at least one charge to stick. That\'s why she has been arrested now. They didn\'t want her escaping or something," said Sam.

"How do you know all this? It\'s not in the papers, is it?" asked Ali.

Sam looked at him and scoffed, "You know that I plan to specialise in media communications after this. Gathering news and information is just a basic skill."

"True, true," agreed Xing Han, nodding. "What about the rest of you guys? Decided yet?"

"We\'re only in Form 1, Xing Han," said Ali, "We\'re only required to decide in our third year, before going into either the Pure science route, or the arts route."

Xing Han just looked at him, and waved his fork about, "Don\'t try and fool me, Ali. You have your path paved already for you." Then, taking a deep sigh, "Like me."

"Then why ask?" questioned Ali.

"Who knows? Some miracle happened and something changed?" Xing Han said wistfully, "One can dream, right?"

"Yeah, well, I\'m definitely taking the Pure science route," said Ali.

Xing Han almost dropped his fork, "What? WHY? I thought you had to take over your family\'s business? So why isn\'t it arts route, then into business?"

Ali looked at him weirdly, "Why should I learn about business, when the business is about oil? I need to know about oil, its properties, how its extracted and so forth. You can\'t sell if you don\'t know your product. I can learn about business from my family and I have been doing that since young. What happens if the oil rig breaks down?"

"Don\'t you have experts already in that field?" Xing Han asked again.

"Of course," Ali said, "But not knowing anything at all and relying on said person entirely isn\'t right either. I leave the dirty work to them, but I would still need to understand the reports being made, right?"

Xing Han waved his fork again at him, "You\'re so smart"

"Of course," Ali replied nonchantly, "And stop waving that fork in front of me already!"

"It\'s just business management for me, though," Xing Han said with a sigh, "Nothing fancy schamancy about it. What about you, Kyle? Business management as well?"

"Yup-puh", Kyle replied, popping the "p" sound, "Only Kay gets to do whatever she likes, and she hasn\'t decided yet."

"There are pros and cons for having your path set out for you, actually," said Kay, "You guys already have a secure job waiting for you. Though it may not be what you love or what-not, but it\'s set. Many of us don\'t know yet, or can even be sure of having a job at the end of it. Maybe we won\'t even end up in the job we studied for!"

"At least Sam has already decided," Kay sighed, "I seriously don\'t know yet. I like many things, but in the end, I may not actually be able to work in that field."

"Why ever not?" demanded Ali.

"You should know it better than anyone, Ali," said Kay, "As modern as we are now, my family has very old ties. There\'s still this concept of \'girl follows husband\' rule. What if my husband doesn\'t approve?"

"Pah," Ali scoffed, waving his fork around, "That\'s why you have US! We will filter those stupid dudes and only those who is willing to let you be who you wanna be, will pass through."

"It\'ll only work now, during secondary school," reminded Kay, "We\'re all going to different Universities later."

All five faces went crestfallen then. Thinking about it, it was quite depressing. Should they just change everything and try to enter the same University? They knew how absurd that thought was. Even getting their parents to agree to this school was hard enough, but University? That determined the value of their degree. Xing Han had already \'sold his soul\' to his parents for this reprieve of 5 years at Sakura Academy.

Luckily Kyle was also doing business management. Going to the same University wouldn\'t be wrong, as he would be going to the top University. Xing Han brightened up at that and attacked his food with gusto once again.

Xing Han\'s actions seem to break the others from their melancholic thoughts, and they started teasing Xing Han again. This jovial mood followed them all the way back until they finished and went their seperate ways home. Ali and Sam got their rides back, while Kay, Kyle and Xing Han walked back to the dorms. Kyle waited until Kay got on the lift before heading up with Xing Han.

Once back at the dorms, they took turns to shower and then got ready for bed. Kyle pulled his blanket up to his chest, but stuck one foot out. Xing Han always found that strange, even though Kyle explained that it was too hot to have the blanket on yet too cold not to. Xing Han never found the need to have the blanket anyway, as it was nice and cooling as it was.

He waited until Kyle settled in before switching off the lights.

Xing Han couldn\'t sleep though. In fact, ever since the Opening Assembly the other day, Xing Han had been having trouble sleeping. His thoughts were quite bothered by what had been said. His parents were extremely strict and very conservative. If they had heard about what Dobbins had said, they\'d probably have a heart attack, or disown him.

He had constantly been thinking of how he acts around Kyle. Kyle was his very first friend, and the only one that had truly accepted him whole hearted even though he either bored people to death, or annoyed them to death. Kyle was patient, indulging and although he acted annoyed once in a while, Xing Han knew that Kyle didn\'t mean it.

Xing Han tried to change. He truly did. He knew that his behaviour might have been okay when he was younger, but now that he\'s older and in secondary school, he is supposed to be more matured. He didn\'t talk as fast as he used to, but he was still quite emotional. He couldn\'t help it. He tried dieting, but loved food too much. He tried exercising, but getting out of breath so much wasn\'t fun. He tried to be more macho, but people would just look at him weirdly.

Kyle was his idol. Kyle was the sort of person ... the sort of man ... he wanted to be. Tall, strong, dependable. Okay, so maybe he can\'t control the height part but strength?Kyle was always confident and he exuded this air of masculinity that would shame some adults. If Kyle was like this at 13, what is he going to be like when he is 18? Or when he goes into the working world?

Xing Han groaned into his pillow. The brain was willing but the flesh was weak. He felt like he was being left behind. Kyle seemed to soar while he seems to stumble along. That\'s why he put all his effort into learning at his father\'s company during the holidays. He learned a lot, and the experience truly made him more alive. He was lucky in that aspect. He did like the business, and what he was to take over. Even though it felt like the path was set for him, it was a path that he liked.

A little voice protested in his mind and Xing Han quashed it. His love for art was just that. A hobby. It wouldn\'t make him any money, and he had responsibilities to carry on. How could he abandon everything just for his own selfish desires?

He was brought up much better than that. He was not an unfilial child. His parents may be strict, but they loved him. They raised him up from young and provided him with the best. He couldn\'t then turn around and slap them in the face, could he? Each time he felt some sense of unhappiness or dissatisfaction, he would think of his family and then that feeling would go away. The guilt overrode everything else.

The thoughts were driving him insane.

"Kyle? You awake?" Xing Han whispered. If Kyle had fallen asleep, he didn\'t want his question to wake him up!