There is a girl in my class called Rose.
Actually she didn't start off being known as 'Rose'. In our first year, she has a Chinese name. It wasn't until we began second year in the U.K that she gave herself an English name. An English rose, like Princess D.
What I remember most about Rose is her rather 'strange' sense of fashion. Admittedly back in the 90s, we all dress somewhat oddly. I have committed several fashion crimes myself, like wearing big branded logo tees and colored Doc Martens. Heck, Phillip even came to class one day with flower pants. I guess he didn't get the memo that there’s no more power in flowers. Rose, on the other hand, came from a very small town in Malaysia where fashion memos doesn't get delivered. I'm talking about puffy sleeves, colored tights and layered/tiered skirts. And firm to the belief that the more the better, her mascara-ed lashes are always spidery and her lipstick's always smudged.
"Eh, you girl right? Can you please go and tell her that she looks like clown?" whispered a male classmate to me. Of course, I couldn't do that. How do you tell another girl that she should wear her lipstick within the lip outline?
I also recall that Rose is somewhat, a typical kiasu Chinese student. She writes down, verbatim, every word the lecturer says and literally runs to the library after class so that she can get hold of the relevant statues mentioned earlier during lecture. I suspect she hoards them too. There is a practice amongst law students to 'hide' library books so that the others cannot have access to them. When it comes to tutorials, Rose happens to have every case-law that we are suppose to read on her desk, nicely photocopied.
Phillip and I were not too bothered by Rose and her strange ways. In fact, we are rather fond of her because she’s amusing. We don't care who grabbed which books first at the library. We are content, instead, to be the first ones down at the Union Bar downing 50 pence lager. Perhaps that’s why our paths hardly cross with hers, except during dinner time.
We all happen to be allocated to the same hall of residence. Students were chosen randomly and by luck, me and Phillip wound up staying in the same hall, together with Rose. While there is no obligation for us to sit together during meal-time, we often do because there is "power in a group" - one long table full of noisy Malaysian folks in a sea of gwailo diners.
One particular day after dinner, a bunch of us were lingering behind in the dining hall talking. On that day, Rose wore something rather, in her usual fashion, 'unusual'. A revealing top with laces and what not, somewhat froufrou.
All night long, nobody made any comments about her top. It wasn't until we all stood up to leave when Phillip suddenly blurted out, "Eh Rose, today you very sexy hor?"
Rose's face turn tomato-red instantly as she shot him a ear-to-ear beam. Thereafter, she did an unforgettable sequence of moves:
1. She sashayed up to him, hair swishing and all,
2. She swayed her body side-to-side,
3. She stamped her pretty little feet,
4. She gave him a friendly pinch on his arms, and
5. She said teasingly, "Mmm-Mmmmm, Fee-Lip. NAUGH-TY!"
It took us an enormous amount of effort and self-restraint to keep a public face until she walks off; upon which, we immediately collapse into a heap of choked laughter. Phillip was writhing with mortification long after. I bet he has never, in his entire gay life, been so scarred by a girl before.
To this day, I occasionally execute the 'Rose Sequence of Moves' on Phillip; just to remind him what he is missing out in the heterosexual world.
Not much, apparently.....
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