You won’t believe it, but Lupus’s high school only has one cafeteria. It’s located at the end of the field, hidden behind these lush trees. It’s like the perfect spot for hanging out with friends after sports practice, skipping classes, gossiping, or actually eating (just not for confessing your love!). Almost all the kids love that place, except Lupus and a few of his guy friends. He’d much rather hop over the fence and grab some snacks outside than go to the school cafeteria. There are so many reasons why Lupus does that, even though the risk of getting caught outside the school during class hours is having to clean the bathrooms. It’s like the most dreaded punishment for all students because it feels inhumane. (Just imagine being told to clean a place where people dump the dirtiest stuff. Ew!)
The first reason why Lupus doesn’t like that cafeteria is because they don’t sell chewing gum. Can you believe it? It’s so heartless! And Lupus has this principle that it’s better to eat chewing gum than not eat chewing gum. So, one time, he actually asked the cafeteria lady, who happens to be a widow, to sell a whole jar of chewing gum. But she flat out refused. She said it would make a mess. Apparently, the gum residue can’t be swallowed and it could dirty the walls.
The second reason is that the service in the cafeteria is just not efficient at all. Especially for the main dishes like chicken noodles, meatball noodles, or anything else that needs to be cooked. If you order chicken noodles now, you might have to wait until tomorrow morning for it to be ready. Like, that’s a pretty long wait. And we’re not the most patient people. And you won’t believe why it takes so long. After investigating, it turns out that the cafeteria owner is chasing after the neighbor’s chicken that’s just wandering around. And even then, it’s not guaranteed that they’ll catch it. If they do manage to catch it, then they have to slaughter it, pluck its feathers one by one, clean it again, boil it, and cut it into small pieces for the chicken noodles. It’s just so sad for the poor customer!
Once upon a time, when Lupus had a free period, he was starving. He hadn’t had breakfast and wanted to grab something to eat outside. But the situation wasn’t ideal because he couldn’t control when the teacher might suddenly show up. So, Lupus decided to order some meatball noodles from the cafeteria. He purposely chose meatball noodles because that meant he didn’t have to wait for the cafeteria owner to chase after those chickens that were running around. But the wait turned out to be so long. Maybe they were just making the meatballs. It took more than half an hour and they still weren’t ready. And then, the strict and disciplined yet silly and fair chemistry teacher appeared at the end of the hallway. Lupus, still full of energy, rushed to his classroom. Because if he was even a step behind the chemistry teacher, he wouldn’t be allowed to enter the class. That was the rule he… um, the teacher enforced. And the funny thing was, when the teacher saw Lupus running towards the classroom from the opposite direction, he started running too. So, there was a race to see who could enter the class faster. Luckily, Lupus won by a very small margin. With a victorious smile, Lupus walked into the classroom. He had the right to attend this lesson.
But while the lesson was going on, a cafeteria attendant knocked on the classroom door to deliver Lupus’ meatball noodle order. Of course, Lupus was shocked and became the laughingstock of the class.
But now there’s a new story about the school cafeteria. The cafeteria lady’s daughter, who goes to school in Bandung, came and joined the cafeteria staff. She’s gorgeous! And the service became even faster. This caught the attention of the boys who used to buy snacks outside, except for Lupus. Because he was still annoyed by their discrimination in not selling chewing gum.
You can guess that the loudest one when there’s something new and attractive is Boim, the playboy from Duren Tiga. Early in the morning, when Lupus just entered the classroom, he was already making a fuss, like his beard was on fire.
“Hey, Kucing! Why haven’t you been coming to school for the past two days? How’s… your mom?” he said as soon as he saw Lupus.
“She’s good. Why? Do you want me to complain to your mom?” Lupus replied, feeling cheeky.
Once upon a time, Boim flashed a grin and without hesitation, started blabbering about the cafeteria lady’s daughter. But it wasn’t just Boim. All the guys, whenever there was a free period or break time, would always hang out at the cafeteria. Whether they bought snacks or not, they would gather there. It was satisfying just to gaze at the beautiful face of the cafeteria lady’s daughter. Oh, her name was Indah. Of course, the heartthrobs of SMA Merah Putih were not happy about this competition. Their popularity took a drastic hit. The usual targets for flirting, like Elsa, Ayu, Svida, or Ruri (the last one wasn’t cool, but always acted cool, so it’s better to include her rather than cry about it. It’s like doing a good deed.) who used to enjoy the attention when they were being flirted with, were now rarely approached. Isn’t that annoying?
“Huh, they’re snatching away a girl from a street vendor. These guys here have such low standards!” Ruri, the gossip queen, cursed.
“It’s not that our standards are low…” Irvan defended his fellow guys, “it’s just that you girls are too old to be flirted with. So, why don’t you start praying regularly, so you can enter heaven…”
Ruri got even more annoyed.
“But that girl is really cool, Pus. Just go for it!” David promoted to Lupus, on a hot and dry afternoon.
“What are you trying to say, put a salonpas on her? Just go for it!” Lupus replied spontaneously.
“Yeah, Cing, why don’t you ever hang out at the cafeteria? Stupid. I’m really crushing on her. How can I make her know that I like her? Come on, Pus, you always have a lot of ideas!” Once again, Boim flirted. Lupus reluctantly listened to Boim’s rambling. He was actually thinking about how to sleep peacefully in class without being bothered by pests like Boim.
“Say it with flowers!” Lupus casually replied. But Boim’s reaction was truly extraordinary. What a brilliant idea, he shouted. The next day, bright and early, he brought a bunch of flowers for the cafeteria lady’s daughter. And as expected, his love was rejected!
But it hadn’t even been three days since Indah’s arrival when the school cafeteria suddenly closed. It was so sudden. The order to boycott the cafeteria came directly from the Principal. The Principal was in complete shock when he heard that alcoholic beverages (not just ice, but ones containing alcohol) were being sold in plastic packaging at the school cafeteria. SMA Merah Putih, which had always been a model school with a good reputation, where its students never got involved in fights even though it was located next to another school (of course, this school was next to an elementary school. How could they start a war?), and its students often won quick and accurate competitions on TV (after investigating, it turned out they participated in the Quick and Accurate competition for junior high school level, of course they won!), and most of its students could get into public universities without taking the national entrance exam, of course didn’t want to be tainted with such shocking news.
Lupus didn’t really care at first, ’cause he rarely bought anything from the cafeteria. Bad past experiences made him swear off it. But one afternoon, on his way home from school, he bumped into Indah near the Grogol terminal, and he got curious. ‘Cause turns out, Indah was selling snacks to the conductors. Indah tried to avoid him when she found out he was from SMA Merah Putih. But Lupus caught her.
“You’re Indah, right? Why are you selling this stuff? Where’s the cafeteria lady?”
Indah stayed silent for a moment. But then she spilled the beans. She talked about how her life had been without the school cafeteria. “That was our only source of income. And now, after this incident, I can’t continue my education in Bandung. I have to help my mom sell these small snacks…” Indah said sadly.
“But how did you get involved in that alcohol selling case? Was it because of money?”
“We were so dumb. We just accepted the goods from an outsider without knowing it was alcohol in plastic packaging. How were we supposed to suspect that a fellow SMA student was the one giving us the goods?”
“A fellow SMA Merah Putih student? Who? Why didn’t you report it?”
“Report? Like they would listen to us, the weak ones? They easily kicked us out without giving us a chance to defend ourselves!”
“Don’t jump to conclusions. Maybe the Principal is just panicking. I mean, let’s be honest, this is a big blow for him. Especially since he has a weak heart! By the way, who gave you the alcohol?”
“Ruri.”
“Ruri?” Suddenly, Lupus could see the whole picture.
And later that evening, Lupus found himself at Ruri’s house.
“Don’t accuse me without any proof! If you have a crush on that vendor girl, just say it. No need to act like a fake hero!” Ruri snapped.
“Crush on her? Oh, you got it wrong, Ruri. I’d choose you over her any day. But the problem is, you took away their main source of income, so Indah can’t continue her education. This is about humanity, not some silly crush. Just imagine if it happened to you. Your dad suddenly gets laid off, and you have to quit school. You have to sell pancakes at the terminal just to survive. How would you feel? Indah doesn’t even have a dad anymore…” Lupus calmly explained.
Ruri was always jealous, nosy, and full of gossip. But she was still a girl. A girl with feelings. And that’s what Lupus attacked.
“All you need to do is report it to the principal. Say that they’re innocent and admit your mistake. I know this wasn’t your intention. There must be someone else taking advantage of this situation,” Ruri was speechless. “Yes, Pus. Even though I’m jealous of Indah’s beauty, I wouldn’t stoop that low. The plastic alcohol was given by Aunt Mari. She lives near the school. She intentionally wanted to ruin the cafeteria lady’s reputation because I know Aunt Mari really wants to take over our school cafeteria. She often mocks the food and dishes prepared by the cafeteria lady. I don’t understand, she already has plenty of food stalls in the markets and a comfortable life. Why does she still want to take away someone else’s livelihood?” Ruri replied expressionlessly.
“I believe this wasn’t your intention. And you can still make it right. Report this to the principal tomorrow morning. And you’ll be a hero. You’ve helped someone else in need. Come on, Rur. If Bob Geldof, who loves partying, can become a helping angel, why can’t you? Besides, you don’t even like partying, right? So, there you go…”
Ruri pouted.
The morning air was bright. Lupus walked across the school field, carrying his bag on his shoulder. It had been two days since Lupus had to skip school because he was asked to cover a story for his magazine. Now he passed by the school cafeteria. He smiled widely when he saw that the cafeteria was open again. Out of curiosity, he peeked inside. And he was amazed to see a neatly displayed jar full of chewing gum on the selling table.
“Hey, dude Lupus! Why are you just showing up now? Indah was looking for you yesterday, but couldn’t find you. She’s already back in Bandung,” the friendly cafeteria lady greeted him, surprising him. “Come on in. Have you had breakfast? Want me to make you some noodle soup?”
“Nah, thanks, ma’am. I just want to buy that chewing gum!”
“Oh, yeah. That’s specially provided for you. Indah ordered it. Oh, she also left this letter for you.”
And right at that moment, Poppi walked in. He gave a quick smile to the cafeteria lady and immediately pulled Lupus outside.
“Well, well! Looks like you’re also joining the gang chasing after Indah. Come on, where’s the letter? Let me read it!”
Lupus just stood there, dumbfounded, unable to do anything.
