A Story Part II

Part II


She never felt so tired in her whole life. Sleep was something she lacked this past couple of days,especially since SYF was just around the corner. She just hoped that everything will pay off. The only thing that disappointed her was that she had totally forgetten the notes and came in at the wrong time during the practice. "It's just one of those days,Yvonne, it's just one of those days", she calmly reassured herself.
The school canteen was rather empty, save for a few students who were either studying, or just happily chatting away. Reading her last message from her best friend, Debbie, it read "meet u in canteen @ 7 ". The time on her handphone read 6.55pm. Nice.

There was a heated quarrel at the basketball court.

"Coach, just today, please!", begged Jason. "First you defied my instructions, and then you flared up during the match! Now you make some unreasonable demands, like going home early? What has gotten into your head! One more time you behave that away, you be out of the Nationals, and i don't care about how you feel!", his coach retorted back.

There was a momentarily silence at the basketball court. He looked around him and saw that they had become the centre of attraction. Clenching his fist, he stormed out of the basketball court and into the grandstand. "Resume the training. Anybody not doing so will join him!". The team immediately went back to training, fearing for their own welfare. Taking his belongings, Jason walked hastily to the toilet. Staring at the mirror, he saw a sweaty, grim looking image of himself. Turning on the tap, he kept splashing cold water onto his face.

"Debbie! Thought you were not coming!", asked Yvonne.
"Vonne! Relax lar! Just hanging around with my dance friends. Today's session was great. I'm so confident that i think SYF would a breeze la!", her friend answered enthusiastically.
"Just you and your sudden state of euphoria. Anyway, how's things between you and Matt? Heard you'll patched up huh?"
"Ya, and guess what? He even brought me a bouquet of roses and sent them to my class personally! I was like 'oh my gosh'!"
"You've gotta be kidding right?"
"Not at all! Ask QQ! She'll tell you the same thing!"
"Bet tongues will start wagging! So lucky la! If only i had such a boyfriend, but nah! I'm not into this kind of romantic stuff. My hair stands whenever i hear them"
"You ah, so unsentimental sometimes. What's up anyway? You seemed quite distracted. Something bothering ya?", she asked, concerned.
"Nothing really", Yvonne answered hastily. On second thought,she decided to open up. No harm in doing so anyway. "Oh well, it's about this friend of mine......"

8.34pm

"Jie, how are you today? ". There was no answer. Her eyes remained shut. "I know, it's abit crazy talking to someone who's still in a coma, but the doctor said that if we spoke to you everyday, you'll wake up one day. I'm not going to give up on you Jie, so don't give up on me." Jason held her hand tightly, hoping for a miracle to happen.

9.58pm

Jason hated coming home. Being ostracized by your parents was not a pleasant thing, but he knew he had no where else to go. His computer had been switched on the whole day. He was downloading a movie online. He knew it was illegal, but he did not care. He just needed something to get his mind off everything that was going on now. He saw a flashing blue colour at his toolbar. A conversation window! Without hesitation, he clicked on it.

'Angel: Hi!'

Above the message, it wrote "Angel may not reply as he or her status is set to Away".

He looked at the time at which the message was sent. "O gosh! 9.30pm!"

'Happy Kid: hi! sorry for not replying! Just got back!'

Jason waited eagerly for "Angel's" reply.

Angel:HEY! Where were u?
Happy Kid: Sorry lar! juz got bac. training today was very sianz i tell u.
Angel: o realli? what happened?

Jason mentioned his ordeal to her. He usually did not like sharing his personal issues with people, but the only person he could confide his feelings in now was Angel.

Happy Kid: So ya, tt's wad happened todae...
Angel: Sorry to hear that...but i doubt your coach would be that bad right?
Happy Kid: Aiyah, dun tok bout it anyway. how was your day aniwae?
Angel: No better either. i've got a whole pile of tutorials to do, and the tutors are BREATHING down my neck la! tis sux!
Happy Kid: ^5
Angel: ^5! lol! aniwae, how's ur sis?
Happy Kid: .....
Angel: sorry to haf mentioned her.
Happy Kid: nvm. it's okay. i've started speaking to her. doc sae that the more i speak to her, she may haf a chance of waking up!
Angel:That's great!
Happy Kid:yeah....
Angel:brb!

Jason checked his movie download. There was about 30mb left. It should probably take him about another an hour or so. While unpacking his bag, a sudden thought struck his head.

10.15pm

The conversation toolbar flashed. Jason who was in the midst of doing his PW report stopped doing it and resumed the conversation.

Angel: Back!
Happy Kid: Woah! sure took u quite some time leh! bz angel huh? y helping other mortals in nid of help izzit?
Angel : haha! yeah! how u noe ah?
Happy Kid: erm...coz i'm on of em. eh..gimme more attention leh! this mortal requires more help
Angel : lol! okok la! wad u doin now anyway?
Happy Kid: stupid PW report. doing some project on birth rate of s'pore
Angel : i see! mine's about the trend of online chatting.
Happy Kid: ah! i c! so r u gonna interview me or smthg liddat?
Angel: haha! once i get the questions ready! =p
Happy Kid: n i'll do e same too! anyway, i've got some qns to ask u
Angel: yesh?
Happy Kid: i would like to noe more bout u. u've always seems to keep mum bout urself. i dun even noe wad sch ur from la. all i noe ur 18 and i haf a pic of you, but i dun noe who u r. u nvr told me who u were
Angel: aiyah, wad's e point of knowing. it's not like we'll meet up mah
Happy Kid: In the end, the angel must always reveal him or herself to his or her mortal mah! haha...u played tt game b4 right?
Angel: of coz! kk la. but first, tell me urs?
Happy Kid: I havent? kk...NJ.
Angel: ........

Jason stopped to wonder why Angel had suddenly stopped replying.

Angel: icic! i'm from nj too!
Happy Kid: kewl! same college! kaoz! we've known each other for so long, but we dunnoe we're in the same college. wait...gimme more surprises. ur y1 or y2?
Angel: y2.u?
Happy Kid: haha! same same!!! ur subject combi?
Angel: wah! erm...sci. s5. quite slack la
Happy Kid: o gosh! scarli ur sumone i noe! lol! i oso s5 la!
Angel: ok...this is realli coincidental!
Happy Kid: yah lor! anyway, what's your name?

The next thing Jason knew, Angel had went offline. "Was she being shy or what?",Jason thought. Nevermind. He had his report to do anyway.

10.25m

A sudden darkness enveloped the room. Yvonne nearly fell off her chair. The sudden blackness made her skip a heartbeat. She managed to grope for her handphone, and switched on the torchlight function. "Vonne, could u switch on the lights again?", her mother shouted. "Yes mom, on the way!", Yvonne replied. She finally found the circuit board. Remembering what her father had said before,she proceeded to bringing the power back to the house. Within seconds, the whole house lit up again. After closing the circuit board, she headed back to her room.

10.30pm

She felt irritated. She was just in the middle of a conversation with her friend when the power went off. Now she had to go back online again and continue the conversation. She did not know if her friend was still online. It was 10.30 anyway,and anybody could be asleep at this time. Getting access to her computer again, she logged into MSN messenger.

10.31pm

On Jason's computer screen, Angel appeared online. He was not aware of this though. He had fallen asleep. The tough training had drained him thoroughly, and staring at the computer while writing a boring report were ingredients to making him fall asleep. Nevertheless, the sound produced whenever someone came online woke him up. Opening his half closed eye lids, he saw someone appear online. But he was too tired to check who it was. "Some other day", Jason thought. Without hesitation, he closed all the remaining toolbars, and laid down on his bed.

"I was so close to knowing who she is", Jason thought. The fatigue was too much for him to bear. He gave in to it, and was soon in a deep slumber.