Every Friday, at Merah Putih High School, where Lupus, the famous guy (hehehe, rumor has it!), goes to school, they have swimming activities. Practically, that day becomes special for them.
Just imagine, how cool it is when all the students, from different grades, who are in the same boat as Lupus, get to meet each other. Swimming together, playing tag in the water. And Mr. Kurdi, their P.E. teacher who acts like Triman from Srimulat when he teaches, becomes their coach. Seriously, when he happens to teach sports theory in class, he always puts his hand on his hip, while shaking his head from side to side. It’s so funny, like an Indian doll. Maybe he’s just not cut out for teaching. He’s only good at morning exercises on the field. So, when he’s facing away from the students, Lupus and some of his friends like to playfully shake their heads, imitating him. But that guy is cool, he never gets mad. Or maybe he doesn’t even know? Who knows, all I know is that he seems to be happy all the time. Never sad.
And usually, after Friday prayers at school, the kids don’t go straight home. Instead, they eat at the cafeteria, chat, while waiting to go to the swimming pool. Lupus and some of his friends already made plans with Gusur, that crazy language geek. They want to play water polo. But they’ve been waiting for Gusur and he still hasn’t shown up. The school bus that takes them to the swimming pool is already ready to go. How annoying.
“Where is that crazy artist!” complained Andang. “He promised to meet us here!”
“Well, maybe he doesn’t know that waiting is the most annoying job. If he’s not the one holding the ball, who cares! Let’s just leave him!” added Boim.
The others just nodded. And reluctantly, they had to go to Gusur’s house, which happens to be not far from the school. Lupus, who was in a bad mood (he wanted to fly there!), was clearly cursing. That Gusur has always wanted to be someone important. But his methods are always wrong!
On a scorching hot day, they all walked together to Gusur’s house for a casual hangout. And when they arrived at Gusur’s house, they encountered the perfect weirdness. As usual, this artist only wears his underwear at home, whether there are guests or not. Those with dirty minds can’t help but imagine all sorts of things. But deep down, this artist is just eccentric. Thank goodness he’s a guy. If he were a girl, he’d probably be pregnant all the time… (ew!). And he proudly shows off his slightly chubby belly everywhere he goes. It’s like a belly dance or something. The kids are annoyed.
“Hey, fellow comrades, what wind brings you all here in such unity?” he greeted innocently, holding a piece of paper in his left hand. His hair is getting wild, growing all over his head, above his lips, chin, armpits, and… in a place that might be considered inappropriate to mention here. (If you’re still curious, send me a letter and I’ll let you know!)
That seemingly naive question made Lupus even more irritated. He couldn’t help but grumble, cursing Gusur for not keeping his promise to come to school. But Gusur’s response left Lupus and his friends dumbfounded.
“I may have made promises to you all, but look, my masterpiece poem is about to be born any moment now. And that’s more important than anything else. So forget about the promises I made to you!”
Damn, the kids are beyond pissed off! They went through all the trouble to come here, only to find a bunch of girls instead. And now his hands are raised high with the waving paper, while his face is thrown back. He looks like Rendra reading poetry.
Lupus, annoyed but curious, snatched the paper from Gusur’s hand. And there it was, a poem titled “Women are Lies!”
Apparently, this guy is a bit cold towards girls. So frigid, you know! In school, while others were already dating, he remained single. Just like in Dian Piesesha’s song. He once said that women, in his eyes, rank after poems and such. Yeah, understandable, he’s an artist after all. But Lupus knows for sure that just because Gusur hasn’t dated anyone doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to. The problem is, which girl would be interested in him? The kind who, when receiving guests, doesn’t care if they’re girls or boys and just walks around in his underwear, the kind who talks in a weird way, with a beard that’s more like a grandpa’s beard than… Oma Irama’s. Plus, his general knowledge is mostly limited to poems and poet names, while the girls in his school prefer to talk about artists, Western bands, and everything modern. Clearly, they’re not compatible!
“Come on, don’t be clueless, Sur! We can hang out with the kids there, flirt with the girls who are swimming. Their bodies, you know, they’re all amazing!” Boim chimed in.
“Women? Huh, I’ve told you, women are a hindrance to creativity. And my poems aren’t about cheap love, but poems that leap far into the future. So what’s the point? It’s just not suitable for my poet’s life to be invaded by female creatures!” he arrogantly stated. And that’s clearly a lie. Because Lupus is certain that if a girl dared to be with him, he’d accept her in a heartbeat.
How can he not? When he’s sleeping, he mumbles about wanting a girlfriend. Seriously, he can’t deny it anymore.
People who mumble like Gusur can’t hide their secrets. And if you want to know, his room is covered in cool photos of his friends who are girls. Lupus once sneaked into his room and caught him. And when that happens, he proudly says that girls are his source of inspiration.
But now, when his friends come to pick him up, he acts all high and mighty towards women. Acting like he doesn’t want to go. Acting all cool. Acting all cold. But yeah, all his friends think this artist doesn’t really respect women. They think he cares more about his poems than girls. He’s never gone swimming with them because of that. In short, even if Brooke Shields had a crush on him, he wouldn’t budge. Is that really true?
“Keeping that mysterious attitude is something you should hold on to, Sur. So you don’t come off as cheap. Be a little high-priced, you know! As an artist, you should have an attitude. Don’t be easily influenced!” Lupus said, half teasing.
Gusur just nodded even more.
“But even if you’re on sale, it doesn’t mean you’ll sell, so why bother being high-priced?” Lupus continued, with a annoyed look from Gusur. But in the end, Gusur reluctantly joined the kids at the swimming pool. To still give the impression that he’s not interested, he walked as nonchalantly as possible. Geez…
As for Lupus himself, if it wasn’t for the threat from the PE teacher, he would love to swim along. You see, his skinny body often becomes the target of his friends’ teasing. That’s why he doesn’t dare to stay in the pool for too long. Once, while he was sunbathing by the side of the pool (trying to look like a Westerner, you know!), there was a lady who thought his chest was a washing board and immediately wanted to wash her clothes on it. Man, Lupus was furious.
“Pus, all you need is some salt and a good sunbathing, and you’ll turn into salted fish…” that’s what the kids like to tease him. Damn, isn’t that annoying!
But this time, Lupus acted pretty cool. As soon as they entered the swimming pool parking area, the kids rushed down. Racing to get through the narrow entrance. Then they went straight to the changing room and locker area. A few minutes later, they were all in the swimming pool. The most fun part was watching Gusur’s swimming gear. Damn, that guy, earlier he claimed he didn’t want to swim, but now he’s carrying a mask, flippers, and other diving equipment. He’s fully equipped, like a pearl diver. And he’s been diving this whole time. Sneaking a peek at girls’ bodies underwater. It seems like he planned and prepared everything from home.
While the other kids started playing water polo and chasing each other, nobody paid attention to Coach Kurdi who was busy shouting and teaching them how to swim properly. It seems like all the theories taught in class never work for them. Because as soon as they arrived at the swimming pool, they all had the same swimming style. Just floating and walking.
A few minutes later, Lupus got bored of playing water polo. He climbed out of the pool. He wanted to practice diving. So, with a Tarzan-like style, he shouted “auoooo…” and jumped into the pool. But either due to miscalculation or lack of swimming talent, his chest slapped the water’s surface first. Ouch, it hurt! But Lupus wouldn’t give up that easily. So, he climbed out of the pool again. But before he could jump, someone pushed him from behind. It happened so fast that Lupus was startled, and his shin bone hit the edge of the pool hard. Lupus winced in pain as he fell into the pool.
Struggling, he climbed out of the pool and looked around. Who was the naughty one that pushed him? But there was no one to be suspected because everyone was busy with their own games. Limping, Lupus grabbed his towel and rested on an empty bench.
A little later, he saw Anto, the quiet kid, sitting on the upper bench, engrossed in his binoculars. He never joined swimming. He said he was afraid of getting wet. Like a goat or something. The opposite of Lupus. Lupus always wanted to swim whenever he saw water. Must be the duck genes.
Anto has been using his binoculars to spy on the girls swimming since Friday. From Friday to Friday, while the other kids were busy swimming, he was busy strategizing how to peep. That kid is crazy! Lupus thought. That’s why sometimes quiet people can be suspicious. Especially those who act all frigid like Gusur.
It was so cold, pretending to refuse, but in the end… hehehehe, they got caught in the swimming pool. Better to be like Lupus, who was always honest.
Limping, Lupus approached Anto on the bench.
“Hey, did you see who pushed me into the pool earlier?” Lupus asked curiously.
“Don’t accuse me! How would I know?” Anto replied.
“Geez, just asking.” Lupus got annoyed.
But they both started having fun taking turns with the binoculars. Until Anto came up with a great idea.
“Let’s go to the girls’ changing room, it’ll be fun to peek!” Anto suggested.
“Ew! What if we get caught?” Lupus hesitated.
“Oh, we won’t get caught. Come on, do you want to or not?”
Lupus agreed. And it turned out that Boim, Gusur, Andy, and Irvan were already there. Wow, they were quick.
But none of them dared to go inside.
“You go first, Pus. You’re skinny, you can hide safely behind the pillars without being seen. Hurry!” Boim persuaded.
Lupus, who was always daring, agreed. With the swagger of a professional terrorist, he sneaked into the changing room.
But a moment later, the kids outside started making a fuss, “Danger! A group of social class students is coming!” Anto shouted. They all ran in different directions. Lupus panicked, standing inside the girls’ changing room. There was no other way, he quickly entered one of the nearest changing rooms and locked the door tightly from the inside.
Voices of girls could be heard outside. They were screaming and making a lot of noise, trying to get into the changing rooms on the right and left.
The changing room was like a movie theater restroom. The bottom part was slightly open, and Lupus almost held his breath, not daring to say a word.
“Hm, it seems someone entered here first, right? Hello, is it Yanti? Come on in!” a girl’s voice could be heard outside, banging on the changing room door where Lupus was hiding. Of course, if it wasn’t in such a dangerous situation, Lupus would gladly open the door and invite the girl inside. But now? In this dangerous situation, no way! He couldn’t risk being yelled at by the girls. That’s why Lupus stayed silent. It took so long. The jokes and laughter outside still hadn’t subsided.
And Lupus still didn’t dare to come out. He was busy whispering prayers. He couldn’t even think of peeking at the girls changing. He couldn’t even speak. That’s right, naughty intentions are never approved by God. Lupus started cursing his friends outside. They could run away safely while he was trapped inside.
More than five people knocked on Lupus’ door, but he still didn’t dare to move.
“Who’s in there? Taking forever, huh? Are you planting a bomb or something? Don’t do it there!” someone joked.
Finally, the atmosphere became quiet. Lupus cautiously opened the door, but the whispering voices from the next room startled him, causing him to quickly close the door again.
“So, you’re the one who pushed Lupus into the pool? What’s up with that?” a soft voice came from beside.
“Shh… don’t tell anyone, okay? I’m embarrassed. I was just messing around with that cute kid. But I didn’t expect it to turn out like this. It’s sad. I feel sorry seeing him limping like that. But I didn’t have the courage to apologize at that time. I was afraid he would get angry and hate me. How can I apologize now? I looked for him at the pool, but he wasn’t there anymore. Maybe he went straight home because of his injured leg. Man, I regret it so much!” the other girl’s voice could be heard.
“That’s why, when joking around, don’t go overboard. And you should have a big heart. Admitting your mistakes. Admitting mistakes is the hardest thing to do. It hurts feelings, it hurts pride. But believe me, if you get used to admitting your mistakes, you’ll become someone with a big heart!”
And then, he peeked! Oh… Dewi with Ani. Which one of them pushed him into the pool?
Silence for a moment. But soon, the girl’s voice could be heard again. “Okay, I’ll give it a try. Come on, let’s go out. Everyone’s already gone!” And then the door opened, followed by footsteps walking away. Lupus became curious, wanting to know who was talking earlier.
At that time, Lupus was busy enjoying his hot meatball soup from the vendor who set up shop around the pool area. The other kids were also busy with their own snacks. Only Gusur, like a cheap street performer, moved from one cart to another. Not to sing, but to steal meatballs from people who were distracted.
Dewi sat next to Lupus at that moment.
Lupus pretended to be cool. So, this is the creature who pushed him into the pool earlier. Hmm, she wants to apologize, it seems.
“I thought you had gone home. How’s your leg? Still hurting?”
“Oh, yeah. It’s still hurting. Maybe it’s broken. Because I couldn’t walk at all!”
“Ah? Is it that serious?” Dewi was shocked.
“Well, maybe. The impact was really hard. Oh, do you know who pushed me?”
Dewi stayed silent. Her heart sank.
“If I find the person, they better watch out!” Lupus threatened.
“Uh… what are you going to do? Start a fight?”
“Well, if I’m brave enough. Hehehe. … Hey, why do you look so weird? What’s up?”
“Oh, nothing!” Dewi quickly answered. Meanwhile, her hands were nervously squeezing her handkerchief. She was so restless. Lupus almost burst out laughing.
“Man, that person should have enough guts to admit their mistake. I hate seeing people who are cowards!” Lupus muttered.
Dewi became even more nervous and stood up to leave.
“Hey, where are you going?” Lupus quickly stopped her. “Of course, if it was you who did it, I wouldn’t hate you. I’d actually like it.”
Dewi was surprised and looked at Lupus in confusion.
“You know?”
“That’s why, be someone with guts. Luckily, it was me you messed with. What if it was someone else?”
Dewi smiled.
“And what about you? Are you brave enough to admit your mistake of sneaking into the girls’ changing room?”
Now it was Lupus who was shocked.
“Hey, how do you know?”
“What don’t I know? Come on, should I tell your girl…?”
“Hey, don’t!” Lupus immediately chased after Dewi, who ran away. At that moment, the pain in his leg disappeared instantly.
