Fan Fiction |
by Suki Chan
Alex frowned, “You’re annoying and babble babble like an old woman. Since the day I bought the ticket with you, I’ve said so many times that I will sit with you at economy class. In movies, whenever people go study aboard, I never see people going at first class. Just look odd and stupid. Plus I just want to try it out, ok?”
“It’s up to you then. But don’t complain over my ears later on the plane.” Wilson teased.
“Alright, it’s about time now.” Alex’s father looked at his watch, “You two have to go in for boarding.”
“Bye dad.” Alex was holding onto his laughs. There was only another minute to go.
Mr. Yiu gave his final lesson to his son, “Alex I’m telling you. You’d better study hard and behave yourself in Sydney. Though you are staying at dormitory, I will still ask Auntie Linda to call you once in a while to check out if you’re doing fine. If she and Uncle John ask you to go over to their place for dinner or something, you MUST show up. No excuse. Am I making that clear?”
“Yes dad. I understand. Goodbye and take care.” Alex sneaked his hand over and slightly pulled Wilson.
“Goodbye Uncle. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of Alex.” Wilson said politely.
Mr. Yiu tapped on his shoulder and gave him a warm smile. He always liked this friend of his son very much, “I don’t have to concern about you, Wilson. Take care.”
The two guys walked into the departure gate. Alex rolled his eyes up and puffed out. “Whew! I am free now! Out of jail! I’m set free!” He turned excited.
“Don’t get too hyper or Customs will come and get you.” Wilson haunted him, “They have guns.”
By coincidence, a security guard turned around and peeked at them. Alex gave him an innocent look in return.
************************************
As they walked into the aircraft cabin, curiosity appeared on both of their faces.
For Alex, he always travelled at first class and economy class was a new try to him.
For Wilson, he had never been on a plane before.
They mumbled and whispered to each other, attempting to settle down.
Alex was expecting flight attendants to come and serve them, like they always did at first class. However, they stood by their seats for a while and did not see any of them approaching. Other passengers were annoyed with Alex and Wilson blocking the narrow aisle and threw out little complaints.
“Hey, look at other people…I guess we’ll just throw our bags up at this compartment and sit down. We’re blocking other people!” Wilson pulled Alex. Alex agreed. They settled their luggage and sat down. Wilson took the window seat and Alex sat beside him.
“Why are the seats so small?” Alex complained in his heart, but did not say anything out. At this time, noise of little kids came from behind.
A house-wife type young woman approached the aisle seat beside Alex. After sitting down for one minute, she stood up and turned to the back row. “Sit down! What’s wrong with your seat? No swopping with sis! Stop arguing now or I’ll hit you! Daddy, fasten the seatbelt for him! Look, it’s still loose…”
“Oh my god. Shut up.” Alex whined again in his mind.
After a while, an announcement from the captain came through the PA system. The airplane started to move slowly, ready for take-off.
Wilson turned nervous and peeked out the window. Alex noticed that and tapped his arm to comfort him. Of course he knew this was Wilson’s first time travelling on the plane.
As the plane finally took off, Wilson was not used to the sudden change of air pressure and got scared. He held tight to the arm rests and closed his eyes.
“Just relax.” Alex whispered to him.
After a while, Wilson began to adjust and felt the plane turning stable. He gently released his hands and peeked out the window with curiosity.
“Wow! This is beautiful!” He was amazed by the clear blue sky with thin layers of clouds scattered across.
The next few hours on the plane were usual and calm. After serving meals and other routines, flight attendants began to turn off all the lights in the cabin to let passengers sleep for this ‘night time’. Alex soon fell asleep, while Wilson did not feel like resting at all. He was very excited as everything seemed new and interesting to him. This was his first time on the plane, first time travelling to a different place, and of course, first time studying aboard. He turned on the little light on top of him, and took out a tourist guide book. In fact, he had read through the entire book over and over again, but he was still excited and felt he could never have enough of it. Sydney: an absolute new and strange city to Wilson. In his nineteen years of life, he had only travelled by ferry to the furthest place of Macau. In the coming four years, he will be staying in this new place called Sydney, to study, to live, and to experience things that he had never encountered in his lifetime.
Wilson looked at his watch: there was still another three hours to go. He concentrated on his book while Alex was in his sweet dreams. The kids from the back row seemed to be sleeping and the woman at the aisle seat had quiet down for the past few hours already. However, with the kids waking up and started playing at the aisle with some other kids, the woman began her chattering again.
“Ahhhh!” The woman screamed. A few passengers around were woken up because of her.
Alex opened his eyes abruptly and bounced up, “What’s up? Who’s that? Hijack?!”
The woman nagged, “Look! I told you NOT to run around! And now you spill milk on your pants! You know how much I bought them for? Hey you…” She pointed at the parent of another kid, “Watch your kid! She just pushed my daughter…” Her kids ran away and the woman walked out to the aisle to chase after them.
Alex was really irritated by the noise which disturbed his good sleep. He frowned and tried to sleep again.
Wilson peeked at him and felt extremely sorry. Alex could have the choice of staying comfortly at first class. He always said he wanted to experience economy class, claiming that it was fun. However, Wilson knew clearly that Alex was only here for Wilson. They were travelling together and Alex did not want to be at first class while Wilson was sitting at economy; he did not want Wilson to have any hard feeling. Alex was very kind and considerate. Watching Alex obviously not enjoying his trip but still did not say a word of complaint in front of his best friend, Wilson was touched.
They arrived at Sydney.
As Alex and Wilson stepped out of the airport, they sniffed the fresh air and stretched their arms under the beautiful sunshine. When they got on the plane in Hong Kong, it was still a cold winter. The time they came out in Sydney, it turned into a sunny and hot summer: late February, hot summer. To the two young guys, it was interesting and amazing. Wilson followed Alex and came to a taxi station. Wilson hesitated and scanned around.
Alex knew what he was thinking, “Don’t you think about finding a bus. I’m so tired after nine hours on the plane.” He pulled Wilson into a taxi and shut the door, “Fine, I’ll pay for the fare. You just come with me, ok?”
Wilson smiled and did not object. The taxi headed to their designation: University of Sydney.