Confessions of a Cat-holic (62)

In the following months, more and more friends of mine had decided to leave SPCC. Towards the end of second semester in F.3, the richest students in my class, Clairol and Daryl, told me that they would be leaving Hong Kong for a new life in America. Clairol would be matriculating at Deerfield Academy and Daryl would be at Kent School.

As I said, 5% of the students in SPCC lived in the mid-levels or the equivalent. By the time they ascended to F.4, 90% of these "wealthy" students had already left.

I remembered the last time I saw Clairol in school, I said it out loud to her and wrote a statement on her yearbook that she should never befriend any black afros in America because they all had AIDS. I was a little racist but I thought I could get by alright because there were no black people in Hong Kong. I thought AIDS was just a pandemic happening in Africa and America, specifically New York City, like most other Hong Kong people brainwashed by local press.

I never intended to leave Hong Kong or my comfort zone before I transferred to SPCC. I thought maybe a BBA degree at CUHK would be good enough, if not law. I never planned on being a doctor, but I would not rule it out if I met the qualifications.

Seeing some of my good friends leave for America by the end of F.3, I kind of pondered the possibilities of attending college in the states too, even though I was afraid of the mix of black people in a foreign country. I thought I could evade the issue by going to a whiter college town, or California, where there were lots of Asians.

As more and more of the relatively well off students departed, the rest of the class were even sure they were the absolute majority in Hong Kong, believing that a HKU degree and a professional career would be a secure path to material success by all standards. Birds born in a cage would think flying is an illness. They didn't realize that they had been thinking only inside the box. All they saw, all they could sense, all they could reason was nothing but the box.

In response to Sharon's aggressive love seeking behavior, I pretended I had a crush in school too, even though deep down I was not attracted to anyone but Rex. Of course I wouldn't go around telling everybody about my secret admiration for him, fearing that my confessions would scare him away. I told the Jackson 5 that I found Jordan Wong Chun sexy, even though he really was not. He was a nobody in A class, which was known for having a lot of new immigrants and struggling students who needed detention for their English incompetence. Lucy Luo was one of them. Lucy went to S.K.H. Lui Ming Choi Memorial Primary School and tried to run for district council but failed the election big time.

I paid attention to Jordan Wong because his vibes reminded me of the tomboys in St Francis. He wore a pair of black framed glasses with a very uptight posture walking around during recesses and breaks. I actually had never talked to him in person but I somehow found his contacts on ICQ.

To my surprise, Jordan actually majored in English and English literature at CUHK for his undergraduate studies. I only found out years later on facebook that he wrote a few award winning articles on the internet. But he was not at all popular in school. I could be his first fan.

SPCC was a school with only very money oriented people. He was not liked because he was only living in the public estates in Sai Wan district. His elementary school was a no name institution. But I liked him nevertheless because he confessed to me that he was a frequent customer of the brothels in Shanghai Street and gave his virginity to a prostitute in Guangdong.

No, I was not saying that I liked him because he was a pervert. I was just thankful that he told me so. I went to an all girl's school before so I was like a piece of blank paper when it came to guys. What he told me on ICQ just completely ruined all my feelings towards an opposite sex. I was quite sure that I didn't want to try my luck dating guys in Hong Kong who preferred paid sex than making love with a loved one.