New kids are always interesting to tease, prank, or just stare at. Especially if they’re good-looking. And at Merah Putih High School, that’s exactly how it goes. There’s a new kid, good-looking. The kid started coming in this morning. It’s funny, they already arrived at school at six in the morning. Carrying a big bag, a plastic thermos, and hair tied up. Maybe they were so scared of being late that they showered early in the morning (duh, who showers them?), had a slice of bread for breakfast, and left right away. Their mom even said it’s still too early to go to school. But the new kid insisted. Because if they come when everyone’s already there, they’re afraid of being messed with.
But now they’re regretting it. They’re forced to stand alone in front of the closed gate. Wow, why is it still empty? Is school closed today? They’re confused.
The new kid tries to peek their head into the schoolyard. Maybe there are some creatures wandering around. But it’s still empty. After a while, they sigh and sit on a big pot in front of the gate. Lost in thought. Is it Sunday or not? They’re starting to doubt.
While they’re lost in contemplation, suddenly they hear the sound of a spilled bucket. The new kid is startled, then looks inside the school.
“Hey… Sir, Sir, why is the door still locked? Is it a holiday today?” they shout at the school janitor who’s busy cleaning the floor.
The janitor is a bit surprised to be startled like that, “Hey, you scared me, kid. That’s why the bucket spilled…”
The new kid is dumbfounded. Wait, why are they being accused of spilling the bucket?
“Open up, Sir, I want to come in.”
“If you want to come in, just say so, don’t spill the bucket and all,” the janitor grumbles while rushing towards the gate. They even do some acrobatics, almost hitting their forehead on the pole, but luckily they manage to control themselves.
“Isn’t it already seven o’clock?” they ask while opening the gate.
“Not yet. It’s still six o’clock. Why?”
“Six o’clock? Oh my gosh, why did Eneng come early?
Did you get assigned to do guard duty? Or do you want to help me mop?”
The new kid just grins.
“No, it’s just that I’m afraid of being late. I’m the new kid here. Hey, dude, where’s class II A2?”
“Oh, new kid? That’s – class II A2 at the end of the hallway, near the restroom. Just look for the most rundown classroom, the one with the most chewing gum stuck everywhere. That’s Lupus’ doing, the mischievous little devil who loves chewing gum and throwing the wrappers everywhere. It’s a pain to clean up after him. If you happen to meet Lupus, just give him a shoutout from me,” the school guard rambles on.
“Lupus?”
“Yeah, the journalist guy.”
The new kid nods and walks towards the classroom.
Upon arriving in the classroom, they pause for a moment.
Damn, why is the classroom so rundown? Did I make a mistake?
Could this be the restroom?
But actually, Lupus’ classroom isn’t that rundown. It’s just that the new kid used to transfer from an elite private school in Semarang. So they’re a bit surprised to see Lupus’ classroom with its quirky decorations. Especially the walls covered in bold writings like ‘No Cheating Unless Desperate’ and so on.
After satisfying their curiosity with all the weird things in the classroom, the new kid finds a spot in the back corner and sits down sweetly. They wait for the other classmates who haven’t arrived yet. Just for fun, they pull out a big book from their bag and start reading.
“Hey, move!” suddenly a stern voice comes from beside them. The new kid is startled and looks at the person standing next to them. Geez, so fierce?
“Hey, are you Lupus?” the new kid greets Lupus.
“If you want to introduce yourself, don’t just take someone’s seat like that. Send a formal letter of introduction first or something… then we can get acquainted!” Lupus replies sternly.
The new kid extends their hand, “My name is Denny. I’m the new kid here…”
“Denny?” Lupus is surprised. “Why is a girl named Denny? You’re something else. Trying to disguise yourself as a boy just to get to know me? Next time, choose a more suitable name for a girl. Like Bambang…”
The new kid is taken aback. But before they can do anything, Lupus starts rambling again. “Alright, move over there. This is my seat. I have important matters to attend to.”
Lupus is scribbling something on a piece of paper. Denny tries to sneak a peek, damn, his handwriting is… so ugly? Like chicken scratch.
“Hey, why are you snooping around?” Lupus snaps, closing his paper. “You think my handwriting is ugly, huh?”
“Ah, no… no…” Denny backs away slowly, afraid.
“It’s funny, my other friends also say that my handwriting looks like Meta’s. Geez, is my handwriting really that bad that they dare to compare it to Meta’s?” Lupus rambles on.
Denny just stands there, dumbfounded.
“I’m busy writing a love letter,” he continues, “to prank Boim. You know Boim, right? The one with legs like kue semprong. He’s always exchanging letters with the afternoon class kid. Yeah, he’s got a close business relationship with that afternoon kid. Usually, after school, he purposely puts the letter in his desk drawer, hoping that the afternoon kid sitting there will read it. So, this time, I want to write a response to make him happy. So he thinks he got a reply. Because it’s really sad… he’s written ten letters already and never got a response. That’s why I woke up early to make this reply. Well, it’s like helping someone in distress…”
Then Lupus folds the paper and puts it in Boim’s drawer.
“What’s in it?” Denny asks, afraid.
“Kids shouldn’t know!” Lupus glares. “You better wash your feet and go to sleep! Don’t you dare read that letter! It’s a top-secret, no one should know that I’m pranking Boim. The surprise is this, in the letter, I wrote that Boim should wait for the afternoon kid around one o’clock near Palmerah market. Like a date invitation. Well, Boim will definitely be eagerly waiting at that smelly market two hours before the match starts…”
“What match?”
“Well, that… Boim against the afternoon kid. You know, the letter is obviously fake. He’ll be desperate waiting for the afternoon kid who won’t show up. Hehehe… gotcha, Boim! I got him good… Hey, why am I telling you all this? Alright, go on. The kids are starting to arrive!”
A bunch of kids enter the classroom. The class becomes crowded.
Denny starts feeling scared. It’s because there are a few pairs of eyes staring at him with strange looks. Denny glances at Lupus for protection. But Lupus is acting cool.
“Wow, where did this girl come from? She’s brave enough to enter our class,” Aji speaks up.
“Yeah, she’s pretty cool…” Boim adds, smirking like a thief caught in the act.
“Maybe she’s a new kid. Let’s mess with her, shall we?” Gito suggests.
Boim immediately gets ready.
Denny becomes even paler.
“Hey, Lupus, can I sit here? It’s empty next to you. I’m scared of your friends, they look so tough like they’ve never seen a girl before,” Denny pleads with a frightened face. But Lupus refuses.
“Nah, you can’t! It’s better for you to sit over there with Meta and Utari. They’re small, you know. I prefer sitting alone. Besides, you know, I can’t really accept someone I don’t know very well,” Lupus says.
Denny’s face turns red. His body trembles. Especially when he sees Boim’s increasingly erratic behavior.
“Please, Pus. I’m really scared. I heard from the school staff that you like chewing gum. I’ll give you some during break. Please,” Denny pleads again. His eyes start to well up.
“Don’t you dare try to bribe me! I’m telling you, if I say I can’t, then I can’t,” Lupus remains firm. Denny finally gives in. With unsteady steps, he approaches Meta’s desk. He puts down his bag and sits down, trembling with fear.
Boim becomes even more crazy.
Ugh… why so gloomy? Ike feels uncomfortable. Give me your hand, let’s get to know each other. I’m Boim, the coolest dude in this class,” Boim boasts, puffing up his chest. The others follow suit. Naturally, the class becomes lively. The new kid is being teased mercilessly. They’re being asked to do all sorts of things, until they’re forced to introduce themselves in front of the class. Complete with their belongings, a plastic thermos, a big bag, and a mismatched skirt.
“Come on, why are you just standing there showing off? Do you think you can be cooler than me with that?” Fifi Alone, the wannabe artist, speaks up when she sees Denny just standing there in front of the class.
Denny is still nervous. But when he sees Fifi about to snap again, he immediately speaks up, “Uh… um, my name is Deniati, but you can call me Denny. I moved here from Semarang, with my parents… I actually have many dreams… but I’m afraid of being seen as greedy, taking away other people’s job opportunities, so I’m satisfied with just being an astronaut…”
The kids are instantly intrigued. They shout in disbelief. But the show must go on, and Denny keeps going.
“…uh, my star sign is Virgo. I have a pretty average personality, which means nothing too special, except for helping people with mental health issues… uh, sorry, I mean Boim…”
Boim gets furious, but the new kid starts gaining confidence and keeps going.
“…I have many hobbies. Including climbing the neighbor’s guava tree. But I only do it when I really want to. And… a wise saying: don’t judge a boy by his underwear. Thank you, that’s all the information I have for now. We can continue later if we have time, but with a condition…”
The kids all shout, “No promisssseee… ugh… so old-fashioned!”
But Denny, without a hint of guilt, just walks back to his seat. He sits with Meta and Utari. Just as Mrs. Sutartinah, the biology teacher, enters. She immediately says coldly, “Alright, my sweet students, please bring all your notes, textbooks, and anything related to biology to the front. We’re having a dictation test about last week’s lesson, state the function of…”
The kids immediately panic. They rummage through their bags to find pens, paper, and scramble to gather their textbooks and notes to the front of the class. Boim even pees himself out of panic. Mrs. Sut is really fond of surprising her students. The unprepared ones often curse her to no end. Including Lupus, who didn’t have time to study last night because he was busy looking for frogs with Gusur in the muddy rice field.
And as expected, the faces of the kids all tense up. Meanwhile, Mrs. Sut, without any emotions, continues dictating from one question to another, without giving the kids a chance to think about their answers for too long. Some kids even manage to do some “transactions”. Lupus, who is sitting alone, is confused. The neighboring countries on the left and right also don’t want to help. Wow, they’re so heartless!
What’s even more annoying, the new kid looks so calm. Just casually working on one question after another. And even gave some hints to the kids around him a few times. Lupus is clearly annoyed. That kid thinks he knows everything! But Lupus also regrets why he didn’t just let that mischievous creature sit next to him earlier. At least he could’ve copied off him. Still had hope. Instead of being stuck like this, just sitting in the corner doing nothing.
Time passes by. And that annoying moment finally ends. The classroom becomes noisy. Noisy with kids scrambling to collect their answer sheets. With sluggish steps, Lupus slips his answer sheet onto Mrs. Sut’s desk. It’s truly embarrassing, he could only answer four out of the ten given questions!
…
During break time, Denny is surrounded by Lupus’ friends. Some of them sincerely thank him for helping them during the biology test. Denny becomes the savior goddess.
Lupus also approaches him,
“Man, I regret rejecting you sitting next to me. You’re a smart kid, huh?”
“Oh, no. It just happened that the test questions were already taught to me back in Semarang,” Denny blushes and replies.
“Don’t downplay yourself. We all acknowledge it. Hey, if you want, you can sit with me. Don’t be shy. Oh, by the way, do you have any plans now?”
“Nah, not really. Why?”
“I want to invite you for some meatball soup. You have money now, right?”
Denny laughs. Thought he was gonna get treated.
…
The next day, the new kid arrives a bit late. Just a few minutes before the bell rings. The kids already seem friendly. Not as harsh as yesterday. Except for Boim, his obnoxiousness hasn’t disappeared.
But Denny, he’s a cool guy. He casually walks towards his seat at the back. Right next to Lupus.
“Hey, Lupus isn’t here yet, huh?” he asks Rosfita, who’s sitting in front.
“He was here earlier. Probably just wandering around,” Rosfita answers as she walks away.
Denny takes a seat in his chair. Waiting for the bell to ring. But then, he suddenly feels something sticking to his skirt. He quickly stands up, and… oh my god! Who purposely stuck chewed gum on his seat?
Lupus’ mischievous face immediately comes to mind. Yeah, who else but that little devil? No wonder no one wants to sit with him!
And all Denny can do is scream in frustration, almost crying, “Lupus, you jerk!!!!”
Meanwhile, Lupus is mysteriously disappearing… who knows where…
