One

"Tet! Tet! Tet!"

The excitement in the class immediately broke when the bell rang signaling the end of the last lesson.

In front of the class, Mrs. Wati immediately cleaned up her equipment on the table and said.

"Remember, this assignment will be collected tomorrow afternoon at my desk. Don't be late. The rules always apply. Being late means deducting points. You don't want your small grades to be even more pathetic by deducting points, do you?"

"Yaaa!"

"Next week, Ma'am!"

"This is not hard labor, ma'am. It's only one night."

"There are many other tasks too, ma'am."

Mrs. Wati shook her head. "It should be next week, if your monthly exams are good. But, in fact, all of your monthly exam scores are destroyed. Just like a building that was hit by an earthquake, tsunami, and tornado at the same time." Bu Wati seemed to think for a moment, remembering something. "Ah, for Eshika, an exception. You can collect them next week."

All eyes immediately turned to Eshika Veraria. A beautiful girl with flowing black hair covering part of her back. Her skin looks clean and her face looks cute.

Eshika is not the prettiest girl in school. His body is not very tall. Probably around 157-159 centimeters. His nose is not too sharp, although not classified as snub either. His appearance also looks ordinary. When high school girls her age start to be obsessed with red lipstick and full color make-up even though they only go to school, she still dresses up like an ordinary girl. Just a light brush of powder and her favorite pink lip tint. In general, it can be concluded that Eshika doesn't look like a seductive high school girl, but unfortunately everyone knows her. Every time the report card is distributed, she will definitely go to the school field. Received an award as the overall champion of the school.

Hearing Mrs. Wati's words, Eshika suddenly felt awkward. She did. Last week's exam was only her who managed to get a score above 80. But.... Eshika bit her lip.

Mrs. Wati doesn't need this either. I feel bad for the other kids.

Swallowing her saliva, Eshika tried to behave politely towards Mrs. Wati. She smiled – albeit stiffly –, nodded, and said.

"Th-thank you, ma'am. However, I will still collect the assignments tomorrow."

Instantly Mrs. Wati's index finger rose and pointed to the whole class. "Look! You guys are really different from Eshika."

Eshika closed her eyes.

"All of you are complaining because the assignments are collected tomorrow," continued Mrs. Wati. "But, Eshika would be more than happy to collect them tomorrow." She seemed to be shaking her head. "Well…, the quality of the brain seems to really make a difference in student behavior, doesn't it. I'm not surprised either."

Inwardly, Eshika cursed herself.

The students in the class looked boisterous after Mrs. Wati said that. So Mrs. Wati needed to raise her hands to tell the whole class to be quiet.

"There's no need to defend yourself anymore. Class ends here. We'll see you next Sunday," said Mrs. Wati, closing her class. "Bye."

"Bye!"

Mrs. Wati steadied the position of several books in her hands. Then, looked out of the classroom. Leaving the hubbub of students going home.

Eshika took a deep breath. Coinciding with one hand that landed on his back. Gently pat it. As if to calm his friend's feelings.

"Already! Just relax. Don't listen too much. Then they will forget about what Mrs. Wati said."

Eshika turned and found her best friend, Velly, smiling as she tried to calm herself down.

"How can I relax?" asked Eshika. "Guys will definitely dislike me even more."

"Actually, Mrs. Wati is the one looking for trouble. Does she need to say that? Instead of making the children motivated, it actually makes the children dislike you." Velly's eyeballs were spinning in any direction while playing with her lips. Then, she looked back at Eshika and said. "But, yes. No matter what choice you make, our friends will think it's all wrong."

Eshika was silent for a moment. Thinking about the truth of Velly's words.

"Listen," Velly continued later. "If you choose to submit your assignments tomorrow, they will say you are pretentious. Let the teacher be considered a really smart child who is an obedient role model." Velly explained with a face that looked serious compared to usual. "But, let's see. If you choose the second option. Which is ... gathering next week. They will always be talking about you. They said you were unfaithful friend. They gather tomorrow, uh you gather next Sunday."

Eshika nodded. "That's true."

"I told you!" said Velly. "If you have been labeled as wrong, you saved the world from nuclear war, you will still be seen as wrong." Velly rubbed Eshika's head understandingly. "Don't listen to them."

Eshika smiled and nodded her head. Just when another of Eshika's friends named Tere seemed to approach her with arms crossed.

"Ckckckck. Always look for the teacher's face," she said. "I'm surprised how come there is a girl who is this lustful looking for the teacher's attention." she snorted. "You can't just get a guy's attention? Aren't you interested in getting a guy's attention?"

Eshika and Velly looked at each other. Then, without a word they stood together as they grabbed their respective bags. As if no one was there, Eshika asked.

"Go straight home, Vel? Or do you want to stall by for meatballs first?"

Velly's hands immediately clapped. She smiled until her dimples appeared. "Hey hey hey. We haven't eaten meatballs in a long time. Having lunch before go home is a perfect choice."

Ignored, Tere seemed to be biting her lip as she let out a long breath in annoyance.

"Hey!" Tere exclaimed then.

The student who hadn't all gone home looked immediately turned to Tere who shouted angrily at Eshika.

"I'm talking to you. And you just tease me like that?!"

Eshika and Velly's footsteps stopped. Eshika slowly turned her body.

*

tbc ....