Just this morning, when I opened my Facebook and browsed through the news feed, I saw something that made my eyes went watery.
An old friend from junior high school passed away last night, after being in a coma for two weeks.
I wasn’t even that close to him since we were only in the same class for a year. And our worlds were so different that come to think of it now, I don’t remember we ever talked at all. But I know he’s a prankster, he’s loved by his friends, and he’s a nice boy.
Innalillahi wa innailaihi rojiun. Rest in peace, Panji Suryadi.
***
Reading a lot of comments on that certain newsfeed, I just realized that a lot of them are from our friends back in junior high school. Apparently, he went to a senior high school where there were a lot of our junior high school friends going there.
I felt a bit lonely somehow.
I never once regretted my decision (and Dad’s) to enter my senior high school. I met my best friends for life and my second family there. I met my husband (again) there. And I don’t think I can be in a place where I am right now if I didn’t enter The 8.
But I remember on my first days at The 8, I was lonely.
There were only 6 students from my junior high school coming to The 8, and we were all entering different classes. I wasn’t that close to them, and since I graduated a year earlier than them, I lost contact with all of them until the era of Friendster and then Facebook came. And even after we found each other on social media, we barely talked because we didn’t have anything to talk about. It’s just simple: we have nothing in common anymore.
My junior high school era was one of the best era in my life, be it for the bitter moments or sweet moments, so were my friends back then.And now I kinda wonder what would happen if I chose to go to the 81, the other high school I was once considering (simply because of the fact that a lot of my friends went there in the end). Would I be still sitting here in Singapore, expecting a baby with my current husband, and doing Master degree while working? Would I still be in contact with my junior high school friends?
Would I still be the same Fanny that I am now?
