It was break time, and the canteen was incredibly crowded and noisy. Throngs of students set into the area, looking around for seats and then walking fast to reach them before anyone else. At the corner of the canteen, near the Indian stall, sat three friends who have just finished their second out of seven end-year examination papers...

"Life in JC is so haaaard... I never want to come back here seh. Right, Mia?"

Mia looked up from her plate to face her friends Ren and Hui Li, after the latter posed her the question as a means to make Mia talk. Mia would often prefer to stay silent and listen to her talkative friends chatter along, but she would always give her response whenever asked.

"Yeah, well," Mia started, swallowing the remaining food in her mouth. "I don't wanna come back to JC either.."

Ren dramatically threw her right hand forward in a motion that says I know, right? with her eyebrows knitted. With her left, she put in a spoonful of fried kuey teow into her mouth. "I meam, in shecondary shkoo―"

"Ren, please!" Hui Li looked at her friend in disgust. "Can you not?"

Ren glared at Hui Li, and Mia just smiled. After finishing her food, Ren spoke. "As I was saying," Ren shot a glance at Hui Li, who just rolled her eyes. "in secondary school, I never wanted to leave, y'know?"

Hui Li nodded quickly, signifying her agreement. "Totes! Life was so much easier back then. I wish I'd gone somewhere else other than this hellhole... Like poly or something... Oh well..."

Mia thought for a while as she chewed on her briyani rice. "But, you guys," she began, and the other two listened attentively. "When we're finally done with JC, I don't think I'd like to go back to JC, but I'm glad I went through JC, d'you know what I mean?"

"No, not really," Hui Li admitted, eyebrows furrowed.

"I mean, sure, JC life is very far from a bed of roses―"

"Tell me about it," Ren interjected.

"Ren, let her finish lah!" Hui Li elbowed her friend playfully.

"Okay, okay," Ren said, rubbing her right side. "Go on, Mia."

Mia's response only came in a smile of amusement. How she loved her friends. "JC life is hard and all, but... I feel like I need to go through this hardship, y'know? All these headaches and lack of sleep and struggling in studies... Once they're overcome, we'll surely be stronger and more resilient people. So in the future, we'll be better able in facing whatever trial that hits us. Also, even if we did go to poly, I feel like we would still be struggling and stuff. 'Cause we can't exactly tell now, y'know?"

Ren and Hui Li thought about it, then they both nodded slowly.

"Actually, yeah," Hui Li said, finishing the last of her prata. "I agree leh.."

"Kinda," Ren agreed. "But it's still sooo haaaard..."

"Don't worry lah, guys!" Hui Li said confidently, thrusting her fist in front of the three of them, much to Mia's merriment and Ren's faux annoyance. "Promos are gonna end in three days. And this entire journey will end in another year. Just press on, okay? Jiayou!"

The three of them finished their meal, returned their trays and walked towards the venue of their next paper together.


God didn't put me here by accident. InsyaAllah, there is a reason and there is a hikmah.