1 Chapter 0 : Everything Was Normal

[Richan POV]

Hoahmmm.... huh It's already morning, huh?... ehh, Ah damn... It's Monday.

Just another day of my daily activity as a third-year "Public III Junior High" student, I wake up at 5 am, get up, do morning prayers, pack a lunch, take a bath, and get out of my house.

Oh, and don't forget to bring some cash for snacks. After that, I will take public transport to my school, which is around 30 minutes from my house.

Just after arriving at the school gate, I greeted Mrs. Anna in front of the school gate; she is the teacher responsible for student discipline, such as hairstyle, uniform, etc. Well, it is not a problem for me, though, because I'm a model student, haha.

I'm going straight to my class, but before I reach the classroom, I am greeted by my pal Ryan, the class rep, who hurried to get out.

"Oi Richan, how are you ?" Ryan greeted me, and I replied, "Cool, what's going on here? "

Hearing what I just said, Ryan looked at me with a confused face. "What do you mean what's going on? Let's go to the courtyard now?" I looked at him perplexed and replied, "Eh, why must I?"

Ryan was surprised to hear what I said. "You serious? It is Monday, the flag ceremony as usual," he said, and I realized what was happening. "Oh crap, you're right," I said back to Ryan while hurriedly getting into the classroom.

I immediately go to my seat and place my bag, and when I'm about to take my hat from my backpack, I suddenly realize that I forgot to bring my hat; at that moment, I search every bench locker in the class for an abandoned school hat.

And thank God I found one, but it's a bit dusty. Well, beggars can't be choosers.

I barely made it to the courtyard on time, but that's all going well. Regular class starts from 8 am to 10 am, and we get a 30-minute rest. After that, Ryan, my three other friends, Edwin, Eris, and Deva, and I went to the canteen to buy food and snacks.

But I have already brought lunch, so I think I'm just buying some snacks for later.

We meet her, Yana, and her friends on the way back to the classroom. She is not the most beautiful or famous kid in the school, but I have a crush on her.

We always got into the same class, but I wasn't confident to approach her as more than just a friend.

Because I lack pride and in the fact that I'm fat and I have no skill to be proud of, I'm just an ordinary student with gaming as a hobby, reading comics, and no talent in sports or academics; I don't know if someday I can be brave and tell her that I like her.

When we saw each other, I greeted her as usual and chatted.

"Hey, Chan, how do you do? You look good today," she greeted me with a friendly tone, and I replied, "Oh, what's up, Yana? I'm good, thanks. You're beautiful as usual, too."

She seemed a bit happy. " Haha, so where do you guys come from?" she asked me.

"Meh, we just bought some snacks for stock at Mr. Cahya's class; it's self-study time, by the way," I replied to her; she said to me again, "Oh really??? Then I might need to buy snacks too, see ya later then.", then we parted away.

After their group was away, Ryan and my other friend suddenly talked silly.

Ryan asked me, "Yo bro, do you just want to stay like a friend with her?" Edwin said, "Yeah, there is no way you and she are just a friend; you guys seem so close."

I know what they mean, but I act like I don't know, "What do you mean, guys? We are just friends, and that's it, "but then Eris butts in with a little high tone.

"What the, are you a fool? For how long are you going to be this naive? I bet she likes you too, "he said to me.

I replied to what Eris had just said, "Oh come on, Eris, we're still 14 years old. It's not time yet for us to get on romance." he shook his head, hearing what I just said, and then Deva talked to me.

"Be honest, Chan..; you like her, right? " but I kept silent because he was right about what he said; then Deva talked to me again after looking at my reaction to what he just said.

"Well, it's okay if you can't be honest with your feelings, but what do you feel if someday she gets a boyfriend and it's not you?"

After Deva said that, I was speechless when I imagined Yana with another man; my heart hurt listening to it. I have had enough of this topic, I said to all of them.

"Let's stop talking about this. We must return to the classroom; it's 10 minutes until Mr. Cahya's class."

After returning to the class, we set up our laptops and then played LAN games together for the entire time we were in self-study.

Five minutes later, I saw Yana coming back to the classroom. She smiled at me, and I smiled back. That simple event makes my thoughts from before for now, and I continue playing, but until then.

"OI Eris, Deva, watch out for the flank from the jungle on your left," Edwin said at them, then Eris said to Deva, "Deva, back to the tower, we must play defensive first, watch out for flank."

But then Deva died in the game.

Deva shouts at Ryan, "What the heck, Ryan, you're supposed to report for enemy missing; what are you, an idiot?" not knowing that Ryan stopped playing a while ago and why he stopped.

"Who is the idiot?" said menacingly someone behind Deva, and… it's Mrs. Anna, the discipline teacher.

Deva, Edwin, and Eris are surprised because Mrs. Anna is standing right behind them the whole time. He swears Me and I are safe because we are on the opposite side and pretending to do some assignments from Mr. Cahya.

Mrs. Anna scolded the three of them. "What are you two doing in the middle of the class?" Deva answered Mrs. Anna. "I'm sorry, ma'am. We just thought it was self-study time," Mrs. Anna said sarcastically.

"And if it's a self-study, you little guys are playing?" They were silent for some sec, and then Eris said, "No, mam."

Mrs. Anna shook her head and told them, "Go make a self-reflection report and, ask your parents for their signature, submit it to my table tomorrow morning."

Deva, Edwin, and Eris replied, "Yes, mam."

After Mrs. Anna left, Ryan and I finally could take a breath and end our pretending.

But then Edwin told me and Ryan," Yoo, why are both of you not telling us when Mrs. Anna comes?"

Ryan replied, "Woah, we already told u guys when Mrs. Anna came, but u guys did not listen." Then Ryan looked at me, and I said, "Yeah, even I almost yelled to warn you, but you did not listen.

Hearing what Ryan and I just said, Eris sighed and said to himself, "Oh well, just our luck then, my mom gonna kill me." Deva kept silent after being scolded by Mrs. Anna; I tried to comfort him. "Deva, you're okay ?"

Hearing what I said, Deva looked at me and replied, "Ahh no, I was just wondering if I could tell my father about this."

I don't know why Deva said that, but I do not dare to ask why; we've been close friends for almost three years already, and I think he's been a good friend to me; for that, I don't want to butt in on his private problem that I am afraid for offending him.

I tried to talk to Deva again. "Uh Oh, if u want someone to talk with, maybe u can ask me; I hope I can help." Deva sighed, then he looked at me and replied, "Okay, thanks, bro," I said again, "Anytime."

After that, we still had some classes left until 3 pm; usually, when it was 1 pm, my head was sleepy and depended on the teacher. When the teacher is Kind enough, they let me take a nap.

But if the teacher is too strict or a killer like Mrs. Anna, I just hope I can survive.

School ended at 3 pm; then I went back home on the usual route with my friends, Deva and Edwin; we got onto the public transport and chit-chatted until Edwin stopped, and then Deva Stopped.

I was left alone in the car until it hit my stop. It was around 20 minutes.

I listen to music on my headset and daydream, thinking about how smooth my life is right now, so I think how nice it is every day, every time I can be like this, having a friend who always supports me.

But then I realized this life would not go well forever; I had to go to senior high school and make new friends from scratch again.

It would be such fun to have a best friend who always goes with me anywhere, anytime, and not feel awkward about it.

After arriving at my stop, I walked into my house, greeted my parents, took the third daily prayer, bathed, played games until 6 pm, and then took the 4th prayer and dinner with my lovely family. At the table, we chatted like an average family, told the summary about today's activity, etc.

After dinner, I take a glance for a study review, not long, eh, maybe like 40 minutes. I'm not the Kind of brilliant student who gets perfect marks in every lesson; I'm the type who studies when it's near exam week; it's not like I am stupid.

I am just lazy, and I don't have any passion for studying. Strangely, I found biology and accounting interesting, but I don't care about them.

When it's around 9 pm, I'm doing ablution, and I take the 5th prayer for today; at the end of my prayers, I remember what I daydreamed about this afternoon, and then I pray to God.

"O dear God, can you give me Some Friend that can accompany me for my entire lifetime?"

After I make my wish, I don't know why my tear suddenly drops, and I feel sleepy, and my head feels so heavy, so I wash my face, go to my bed, pray to God, and go to sleep.

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