At that point, a metallic-gold Mercedes limousine pulled up to the driveway outside the school. Bernard glanced at the car briefly, and then turned back to Nick. “This isn’t over. Get ready for part two tomorrow — I’m really going to hun tum[63] you!” He got into the backseat of the car, slammed the door, and was driven away.
The boy who had come to Nick’s rescue looked at him and said, “You okay? Your elbow’s bleeding.”
Nick looked down and noticed the bloody scrape on his right elbow. He wasn’t sure what to do about it. At any moment, one of his parents could arrive to pick him up, and if it happened to be his mother, he knew she would get all gan cheong[64] if she saw him bleeding like this. The boy took a white, perfectly folded handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to Nick. “Here, use this,” he said.
Nick took the handkerchief from his rescuer and held it to his elbow. He had seen this boy around. Colin Khoo. He had transferred in this semester, and he was hard to miss, with his deep-caramel skin and wavy hair with the strange light brown streak in the front. They weren’t in the same class, but Nick had noticed during PE that the boy had swim practice alone with Coach Lee.
“What did you do to piss off Bernard so much?” Colin asked.
Nick had never heard someone use the term “piss off” before, but he knew what it meant. “I caught him trying to cheat off my maths test, so I told Miss Ng. He got in trouble and was sent to Vice Principal Chia’s office, so now he wants to pick a fight.”
“Bernard tries to pick a fight with everyone,” Colin said.
“Are you good friends with him?” Nick asked carefully.
“Not really. His father does business with my family, so I’m told I have to be nice to him,” Colin said. “But to tell you the truth, I can’t really stand him.”
Nick smiled. “Whew! For a second I thought Bernard actually had one friend!”
Colin laughed.
“Is it true you’re from America?” Nick asked.
“I was born here, but I moved to Los Angeles when I was two.”
“What’s LA like? Did you live in Hollywood?” Nick asked. He had never met anyone his age who had lived in America.
“Not Hollywood. But we weren’t very far — we lived in Bel Air.”
“I’d like to visit Universal Studios. Did you ever see famous movie stars?”
“All the time. It’s no big deal when you live there.” Colin looked at Nick, as if assessing him for a moment, before continuing. “I’m going to tell you something, but first you have to swear not to tell anyone.”
“Okay. Sure,” Nick replied earnestly.
“Say, ‘I swear.’ ”
“I swear.”
“Have you heard of Sylvester Stallone?”
“Of course!”
“He was my neighbor,” Colin said, almost in a whisper.
“Come on, that’s bullshit,” Nick said.
“I’m not bullshitting you. It’s the truth. I have a signed photo from Stallone in my bedroom,” Colin said.
Nick jumped up onto the metal guardrail in front of the ditch, balancing himself nimbly on the thin railing as he moved back and forth like a tightrope walker.
“Why are you here so late?” Colin inquired.
“I’m always here late. My parents are so busy, sometimes they forget to pick me up. Why are you here?”
“I had to take a special test in Mandarin. They don’t think I’m good enough, even though I took classes every day in LA.”
“I suck at Mandarin too. It’s my least favorite subject.”
“Join the club,” Colin said, jumping up onto the railing with him. Just then, a large black vintage car pulled up. Ensconced in the backseat was the most curious woman Nick had ever seen. She was rotund with the most immense double chin, probably in her sixties, dressed entirely in black with a black hat and a black veil over her face, which was powdered an extreme shade of white. She looked like an apparition straight out of a silent film.
“Here’s my ride,” Colin said excitedly. “See you later.” The uniformed chauffeur got out and opened the door for Colin. Nick noticed that the car door opened opposite from the way other cars normally did — outward from the end nearest to the driver’s door. Colin climbed in beside the woman, who bent down to kiss him on the cheek. He looked out of the window at Nick, clearly embarrassed that Nick had witnessed this scene. The woman pointed at Nick, talking to Colin while the car idled. A moment later, Colin jumped out of the car again.
“My grandma wants to know if you need a ride home,” Colin asked.
“No, no, my parents are on their way,” Nick replied. Colin’s grandmother rolled down the window and beckoned Nick to come closer. Nick approached hesitantly. The old lady looked pretty scary.
“It’s almost seven o’clock. Who’s coming to fetch you?” she asked in concern, noticing that it was already getting dark.
“Probably my dad,” Nick said.
“Well, it’s far too late for you to be waiting here all by yourself. What is your daddy’s name?”
“Philip Young.”
“Good gracious, Philip Young — James’s boy! Is Sir James Young your grandfather?”
“Yes, he is.”
“I know your family very well. I know all your aunties — Victoria, Felicity, Alix — and Harry Leong’s your uncle. Why, we’re practically family! I’m Winifred Khoo. Don’t you live at Tyersall Park?”
“My parents and I moved to Tudor Close last year,” Nick replied.
“That’s very close to us. We live on Berrima Road. Come, let me call your parents just to make sure they are on their way,” she said, reaching for the car phone on the console in front of her. “Do you know your telephone number, dearie?”
Colin’s grandmother made fast work of it, and soon discovered from the maid that Mrs. Young had unexpectedly jetted off to Switzerland that afternoon, while Mr. Young was held up by a work emergency. “Please call Mr. Young at work and tell him that Winifred Khoo is going to be sending Master Nicholas home,” she said. Before Nick knew what was happening, he found himself inside the Bentley Mark VI, sandwiched between Colin and the well-cushioned lady in the black veiled hat.
“Did you know your mother was going away today?” Winifred asked.
“No, but she does that a lot,” Nick replied softly.
That Eleanor Young! So irresponsible! How on earth Shang Su Yi ever allowed her son to marry one of those Sung girls, I will never understand, Winifred thought. She turned to the boy and smiled at him. “What a coincidence! I’m so glad that you and Colin are friends.”
“We just met,” Colin interjected.
“Colin, don’t be rude! Nicholas is a classmate of yours, and we’ve known his family for a long time. Of course you are friends.” She looked at Nick, smiled her gum-baring smile, and continued. “Colin has made so few friends since moving back to Singapore, and he’s rather lonely, so we must arrange for you to play together.”
Colin and Nick sat there completely mortified, but in their own ways rather relieved. Colin was astonished by how friendly his normally disapproving grandmother was being toward Nick, especially since she had previously forbidden any guests at their house. He had recently tried to invite a boy from St. Andrew’s over after a swim meet and had been disappointed when his grandmama told him, “Colin, we can’t have just anyone over, you know. We must know who the family is first. This isn’t like California — you have to be so very careful about what sort of people you associate with here.”
As for Nick, he was just glad to be getting a ride home and excited that he might soon discover whether Colin really had an autographed photo of Rambo.