Part 2: Goldie Goldie was my first friend, if you skip my neighbours. We went to the same kindergarten and childcare centre, and I knew her home phone number by heart since I was five - 2845391. We would call each other on the phone when we were in K2, smart eh? Her nickname was 'Little Chilli'. She was the real bright one, very sharp, clever, confident and a real good performer. And my nickname was 'Pinochio' because I kept knocking my head everywhere I go. I was (still am) the gong-gong one. We were best friends in Primary One. Through my six primary school years, I spent many after-school afternoons and pre-school mornings at her home. My parents were busy making ends meet, and my sister was always in the opposite session. I would always go to her home since she was staying near school, and with her, I played my first Barbie doll and tried my first Super-Mario game. Of course she won anything competitive, she was the brainy one. I was the nerd, only better with grades. And then, like most friends, we gradually drifted. She always had a rebellious streak, and she grew up faster than me, wanting to try things like boyfriends, sex, discos and cool friends. I always felt she had this deep desire for some things I couldn't understand, no matter how I tried to. We were supposed to be best friends forever, but by the time PSLE came and went, we had different cliques of friends and couldn't really talk anymore. The last time I saw Goldie was when I was in Yr 2. I was travelling home from hall, and I met her on Bus 86. She told me she graduated from TP, and working part-time at iNouvi. Her family had also shifted to Sengkang, that's why she was on the same bus as me. She still looked the same as I last remembered, fair-skinned and petite and alert, and she still used the same kind of big-sis tone to talk to me. I couldn't contribute anything exciting, since I was still in school studying, like I always had been doing. She seemed to envy me, saying (with a worldly-wise kind of tone) it's good I haven't got corrupted by University Society. I felt nostalgic, and sad, because she really didn't seemed too happy. Like she had a lot of deep thoughts she wouldn't share. But, I supposed that's just my 'kid' perspective. Of course, we exchanged home phone numbers when she was about to reach her stop, promising we'd come out for coffee. And of course, we never did call each other. I knew that, just like I couldn't call her at 2845391 anymore, we could never bridge the gap that had distanced us too far. Hmm.. sigh!