I arrived at the bus terminal on Hong Kong Island side just after 7:00 am. I was only a few minutes late but they should have waited for me. Well, I wasn't sure if I really wanted to go anyway! Gave me the creeps just thinking about the trip. Perhaps this was my perfect way out. Sod it! Sod them all!
"Coco." An unfamiliar voice called me from behind just as I was about to leave.
"Oh, hi Anne. A surprise to see you here."
I wasn't trying to mock her but Anne blushed crimson all the same. I didn't know Anne that well, as we attended different classes in school. But this was Anne, one of the top students from our graduation form and a senior prefect. Who would imagine a good girl like Anne joining this trip!
"Don't worry Anne, nobody will know about this."
She nodded shyly and said, "Where are they anyway?"
"I don't know, I just arrived. Perhaps they caught the last bus. I think one just left at 7:00. Let's see, the next bus is... 7:30. Perhaps others will join us by then."
You might wonder what this was all about. No big deal really, nothing sinister, just plain wicked. You see, we just took the open examination and were waiting, in my case very nervously, for the results. If all went well, I could be starting university life in about two months' time, but in the worst scenario, I would have to start looking for a job. I was so worried it was driving me crazy. Then yesterday, Ivy and a couple of the girls proposed that we should do something bold and daring together before we went our separate ways. Ivy joked about skinny-dipping at a secluded beach near Shek O. Well, one thing led to another, Ivy who was my best friend and confidante talked me into it. I wondered who persuaded Anne to come. However, as she was obviously more embarrassed about this than I, I kept quiet.
In the next 20 minutes, we waited mostly in awkward silence but nobody else showed up. I was thinking that perhaps there was still a chance that we could both get out of this with no loss of face. The ignition of the New World Bus engine jostled me back to reality.
"Are you girls hopping onboard or not?" The bus driver asked.
Sheepishly, I took a sideway glance at Anne, hoping that she would say something like, "Sod it! It's a really stupid idea. Let's go home!" After all, Anne was the prefect. I look up to her literally as she was also a few inches taller.
I could see that she was deliberating.
"Say it, Anne. Say, 'Go home' Anne! For Christ's sake, the bus driver is waiting. Make up your mind, Anne!" I screamed at her, but only inside my head.
Anne bit on her lower lip and said, "Let's catch them unexpected on the beach." Then, with bold strides on her long legs she stepped aboard the double-decker bus and paid the fare with her Octopus card. Shit, trust Anne to make a decision!
Anne and I studied at a very conservative girls' school. Our uniform was a light blue traditional Chinese long dress, or cheongsam as it was called. Those from Hong Kong would no doubt recognise the school I was referring to. School rules stipulated that the hem must cover the knees but the splits on the sides were not strictly regulated. For some, the splits went way up almost to the hips showing a lot of legs. But never Anne, the good-girl-at-school!
Today, she had a white Disney t-shirt, a pair of powder-blue running shorts and a pair of Birkenstock T-strap in neon green. Being the good girl, she kept her long jet-black hair in braids in strict compliance with school regulations, even though there was no school today. Christ, why couldn't she loosen up just a little and be bad for a change?
This was the first time I caught a really good look at Anne's legs and I envied her. How come some girls had it all? Tall, good-looking and score good grades! Life was just so unfair!
Well, if the good girl said: "Go" then who was I to complain? I wasn't about to chicken out in front of Anne. I stepped onto the bus. But as my mind was so preoccupied, I dropped my purse along with the coins everywhere. This was a truly bad omen and I should have taken heed. The bus was delayed when Anne and I gathered up my change of 13 coins for the fare, another bad omen! Then I followed her to the upper deck, admiring her smooth muscle-toned calves and the soft soles of her high-arched feet on the way up.
The bus snaked around Shaukeiwan district a bit gathering up passengers. You could tell there were groups of high school graduates just like us heading for the beaches on the south side of Hong Kong Island. You couldn't miss them as they were still discussing the exam papers that we sat for just a few days ago.
"Was that the correct answer?" I whispered to Anne, hoping to get a little reassurance.
Suddenly, she looked worried and whispered back, "I am not really sure. The papers were all very difficult this year. To tell you the truth, I was so worried that I couldn't sleep at night. Can you see the dark patches under my eyes?"
That coming from Anne was a surprise. Anne had none of the snootiness or pretensions of the other top students at school. She was such a genuine, nice and friendly person. Dark patches under her eyes or not, Anne was undeniably very pretty with a clear complexion, bright intelligent eyes and an exquisitely chiselled face. The tensions and awkwardness between us started to disappear as we began gabbing away during the rest of the bus trip, momentarily forgetting what lay ahead of us.
By the time we arrived at the last stop at Shek O Beach, the sun was already burning fiercely on this early summer Thursday. We filed out of the bus with the rest of the passengers.
"Anne, do you know where we are going as I wasn't sure."
"Don't worry Coco. When Jenny asked me yesterday, I checked it out on the map. But I want to go round the kiosks on Shek O Beach to get a bottle of mineral water first, if that's alright with you. Who know, we may catch them having breakfast there."
"Sure, I think I should get a bottle for myself."
We followed the crowd to a string of tin huts by the beach front, selling anything from sandwiches, noodles, to suntan oil and huge inflated crocodiles. We got our bottled water but there was no sign of Ivy, Jenny or whoever else was supposed to be coming.
"If they are not here, then they must be down on that little hideaway beach by now. Let's surprise them." Anne grinned mischievously.
"Yeah, let's give them a fright... for leaving us behind."
We retraced the short distance from Shek O Beach past the bus stop. Anne took a right turn at a small gap on the roadside then down a footpath to Rocky Bay Beach to find it deserted. We stepped precariously round the rocky sea edge for another 15 minutes or so towards the nameless beach on the map, right below the cliff of the Country Club golf course.
We kept our approach dead silent, intending to scare the hell out of the rotten lot who left without us. As we sneaked around the last corner, however, we were both surprised and disappointed to find our destination, a small secluded stretch of sand and pebble beach surrounded by scrubs, also deserted.
"Where the hell are they?" Anne and I echoed together.
"May be they all chickened out!" Anne looked around and said after a while.
"Now what?"
I suddenly felt embarrassed at our predicament. Now, Anne and I had to decide whether we went ahead skinny-dipping with just the two of us, or chicken out like the others.
"Well, what do you think?" Anne asked.
I could hear the hesitation in her voice. Her cheeks were once again flushed.
