Rana was enjoying breakfast with her parents when a message from Gathan interrupted and irritated her. The woman glanced at her phone screen, not intending to open a message from Gathan.
Saras who saw him rebuked Rana. "Why don't you see it? Who knows what's important, Ran."
"Lazy, ma'am, from an ineportant person. The message doesn't matter either," Rana said indifferently. Busy bribing fried rice into his mouth.
"'You haven't seen it, how do you know if the message doesn't matter?" joked Rajasa to her daughter.
Rana was silent, then opened a message from Gathan.
[Gathan] Morning gorgeous!
P...
P...
P...
P...
(Shutter) what!
[Gathan] Weits, did you have breakfast?
Why are you so fierce? Wk wk wk
(Shutter) What do you want?
[Gathan] No one asked you to go to school together, did anyone?
Just go with me, okay?
(Shutter) No, no, no,
I still have a leg up to get to the bus stop.
Still have money to pay for the bus fare.
[Gathan] Oh, yes.
Then I'll take the bus that takes you to school.
[Rana gaping at a message from Gathan just now.]
"You're Crazy!" Omel Rana.
"Who's crazy?" asked a stunned Saras.
"School friend, Mom," Rana said.
"Just a friend?" Rajasa again teases her daughter.
What the, Dad? It's ah, Rana wants to go to school first." Rana left.
*****
Rana walked down a quiet hallway. Since first grade, he often comes early in the morning. When the school was still quiet and only a handful of people including Mang Daud became the school gardener.
Rana thought about someone bothering her last night. The man he helped that night. She didn't expect coming home late from the cake shop her family would take her to see Gathan. Whether he should be grateful or not, after their meeting that night, it seemed like his life was starting to calm down.
Not in a bad sense actually. Rana feels strange about her feelings, her increasingly crazed heart, her sometimes strange behavior. The man manages to influence Rana. Although Rana was annoyed with Gathan's attitude.
Rana kept thinking about Gathan even when the girl was already in the classroom. As the class slowly filled by his friends. Also when a girl pats her on the shoulder slowly.
"You know what Gathan's name is?" asked Rana quietly.
"Gathan? Ips 1 kid, right? The guy who succeeded Brawijaya," said Kristi.
"He asked me last night," whispered Rana softly, not wanting her other friends to know.
"What! He asked you to date!" Kristi screamed in excitement.
"Sstt." Rana hastily silences Kristi's mouth. "Don't be a snagging. You know gathan is popular. Rumors are little about him being able to attend a school in five minutes. You don't bucket ya," he told Kristi.
"ops, sorry." Kristi just cringed. "So what do you do? When are you guys dating?" he asked enthusiastically. Because after breaking up with Bian in 1st grade, Rana never told me about another man again. As her best friend Kristi is certainly excited to hear Rana's story about the girl's close friend.
"I don't. I even said he was crazy," Rana smiled wincingly.
"Huh!" Kristi screamed in shock. "Lo..." She quickly lowered the volume as the other friends stared at their benches. "You're crazy?"
"Yes, you know that he's popular. There was no wind, no rain, all of a sudden he asked me to date. Just talk never, just fit the time of the night. How can I believe that he likes me. I'm afraid that he..."
"Be a bet," guess Kristi. Rana nodded. "Well, Ran, now it's not the age of girl betting. There's no benefit. Besides, if I think about it, I've never heard of Gathan gossiping about changing girlfriends. There are many rumors that he is close to A,B, C,D to Z, but Gathan never confirmed that. He never had a girl in school."
"Yes if the gandengnya outside how? Or his girlfriend's out there a lot. We don't know," Rana sewot said.
"Uh, yes." Kristi nodded. "What do you say?"
"I don't know, I'm trying to do it. It's been a long time since I've given up."
"It's up to you anyway." Kristi manggut-manggut. "Uh, but seriously you don't want to weigh it anymore. Gathan is so cute, Ran. Tajir too. It's a really nice guy. You have no intention of becoming her boyfriend..."
"No," replied Rana quickly.
"Heleh, at least a few more days lo klepek-klepek with him," said Kristi.
Rana is just silent. It is heart-justifying kristi's remarks just now. Because falling out with Gathan is easy. That's why Rana held her feelings so as not to fall, she knew that their levels were different.
"Uh, what are you doing?" asked Kristi, turning the topic around.
"Hehm? Photography."
"I also want to join karate deh, let there be added value from the non-academic field."
They kept chatting until today's teacher got into class.
*****
"Ran, canteen yuk!" asked Kristi my compatriot Rana.
"Let's go! I've been really laper."
Arriving at the cafeteria they chose a table close to the entrance. Take turns ordering food and chatting while waiting.
Rana circulates his gaze around. His eyes bulge when he sees a figure that last night bothered him, also this morning. When he was still seriously staring at that face, suddenly the face turned and their eyes looked at each other. A shocked Rana immediately turned her gaze the other way, suddenly she misbehaved.
Brak!
So panicked Rana until he put a bottle of soy sauce on the table.
Alhasil, dia jadi pusat perhatian anak-aak satu kantin. Termasuk Gathan yang tersenyum geli melihat tingkah menggemaskan Rana.
Rana diam ditempatnya, malu karena jadi pusat perhatian. Gadis itu tersenyum miris sembari membanarkan anak-anak rambutnya yang menjuntai, menyelipkan ke belakang telinga.
Gathan menghampiri meja Rana dan teman-teman sekelasnya, pria itu kemudian membisikan sesuatu di telinga Rana. "Kalau salting kamu lo lucu banget sih, pipi lo jadi merah gitu. Jangan sering-sering ya, cukup di depan gue aja. Ntar yang lain naksir lo lagi." Setelah mengatakan itu Gathan kembali ke mejanya bersama Binar.
Pipi Rana semakin merah tentunya. Gadis itu menggigit bibir bawahnya saking malunya, bergegas pergi dari kantin sebelum jadi bahan ejekan anak-anak IPA.
"Lo ngomong apaan ke Rana? Pipinya jadi makin merah gitu," tanya Binar ingin tahu.
"Gue cuma bilang jangan cantik-cantik, ntar saingan gue makin banyak," sahut Gathan asal.
Binar kontan tertawa sedangkan Gathan tersenyum konyol.