Outsmarted..

It was around 11.30 pm last night..Banun slowly slipped Lady Yoda into our bedroom door and as she stood up, she casually said " I nak pergi Jerantut besok!"

What?? Did I hear wrong? The Baba who was watching the telly turned around and waited for the conversation to progress.

" You nak pergi mana?" I asked in a very enquiring tone.

" Besok I nak pergi Jerantut..ada pertandingan drama." Banun replied in a scared tone.

"No!! You're not going anywhere! I dah cakap..no more competitions kan? You punya markah exam not that good! I nak you buck up! Mana nombor talipon Cikgu you? I nak cakap you takboleh ikut!!"
Boy o boy the Baba was really angry..and he was already having the buffalo horns..hahaha

Banun went straight to her room while I had to continue listening to her father's grumblings and rantings.

Then I went to the girls' room and asked Banun to show me the permission letter that the school normally gives for parents to sign. Banun was already hiding under the blanket.

I took the letter and told Dato' that her drama team was going for the peringkat negri competition. He refused to even look at the letter.

And so for part of the night, my thoughts were really troubled. We can't let her drama team go to an important school competition without one of their actors. It would be kamikaze for the school.
And I would't want Banun to be forever blamed!
Nevermind..we'll see what happens the next morning.

At around 6 am, I asked the 'boss'.." macam mana ni bang? She just can't drop out like that.."

"Okaylah! Suruh dia pack..give her my bag ( his favourite hand-luggage leather bag! Thats the only one actually)."

" Banun?? Baba suruh you kemas your bag!"

"I dah kemas!" Banun yelped out.

She had squeezed everything into a knapsack.. and so we forced her to use the father's bag because she had to bring a spare blanket, bedsheet and a pillow-case along with her stuff. The team were going to stay in a school dorm. Her knapsack was bursting to the seams!

Now that the green light was fully on,she even borrowed her father's black coat and a long-sleeved checquered shirt.
" You main part apa?" I asked in a busybody manner.

"I main part Mr Riley!"
" Oh!" (whateverlah!)

And so Dato' sent her to school where their beautiful big blue school bus later on drove them to their designated school in Jerantut, a tiny town about 3 hours plus away.

Why did she wait to tell us she was on a school trip at the last minute? Because she knew we surely tak bagi. Exam PMR dah nak dekat. We wanted her to focus on her revision. On top of that, end of the month she'll be following her debating team to Kedah.

I guess we just cannot stop her from participating in the English debates and latest..English drama competitions..its her passion. No matter how hard we try to discourage her because the PMR is so near, she 'curi2' stay back after school hours for the practices.

Ahh..I remembered when I wanted to follow our school netball team for a match at another district? I told my parents too early and they vetoed immediately. I never got a chance to go anywhere with the school team for any kind of competitions. They were so over-protective. The 'tell later technique' would have been disastrous. I would have to pack and live in a cave to hide my shame then.

Nowadays, kids are smarter..they know how to play the psychology game..we parents can't afford to say no especially at the last minute..no matter how thunderous our voices are, the kids nowadays know how to handle over-protective parents..hehehe