Chapter 4 - First Class
"Is this seat taken?" the big guy spoke.
"..." Akmal was speechless. He thought that the guy wanted to start a fight with him. He stared menacingly at Akmal and it was no wonder he assumed it like that.
Luckily, that was not the case. 'I have been staying out of trouble all this time and it is weird that someone suddenly wants to beat me up.' He felt relieved.
"No, this seat is empty," Akmal replied.
Suddenly, the big guy gave a big silly smile at Akmal.
"???" Akmal was wondering what it was now.
"I looked scary earlier, right?" the big guy grinned.
"..." Akmal did not know how to reply to that. However, he realized that the big guy was messing with him earlier. That did not feel good. He was scared a lot, 'No, I am not scared!' Akmal denied it in his mind.
"I apologize, hehe," the big guy apologized while chuckling. At the same time, he pulled the chair beside Akmal out of the table and sat on it. Since the big guy was quite big, the chair looked smaller.
"I want to give a good impression to my deskmate who I will be studying with for three years," the big guy chuckled.
'That is not a good impression at all but you did give me a memorable impression of you,' Akmal thought as he was speechless with the big guy's statement.
"I am Basir. Basir Daffa," Basir introduced himself as he reached out his hand for a handshake. "I don't need to tell my father's name too, right?" the big guy smiled.
"Akmal Badri," Akmal introduced himself too and shook Basir's hand. Basir's hand was quite soft, like baby skin. 'Did this guy use an expensive hand cream?' Akmal thought.
"Your name sounds like Arab," Akmal added to start a conversation with Basir. Although the guy joked around earlier, Akmal could feel that he was a nice person. His method of giving the first impression might be a bit too much but that did not mean he was a bad person.
"Many people said that but I am a pure Malaysian," Basir replied with a chuckle. It looked like Basir was a cheerful person.
"I have never seen you before. Are you from another school?" Akmal asked.
"I am from another state," Basir smiled and added, "I am from Malacca. My parents' jobs were transferred here, so I am going with them."
Malaysia had fourteen states and Malacca was at the southwest of the country. Malacca was also a neighbor to Negeri Sembilan, the state that Akmal was currently living in.
Since Malaysia was a small country, the distance to travel from Negeri Sembilan to Malacca was not that far.
"Welcome to Negeri Sembilan. Although I am a native of this state, I cannot speak in their accent. Sorry about that," Akmal smiled.
"Hahaha," Basir laughed happily. "No need to worry about that. I am happy to have a nice first friend in a new place," Basir already regarded Akmal as his friend.
Akmal did not mind that since Basir was a nice and approachable person. The duo chatted for a bit to get to know each other.
Nothing was amazing or weird about Akmal and Basir's background. Both of them were as normal as the most normal a person could get. Due to this, they felt more comfortable with each other.
While they were chatting, more and more students came in and all the empty seats were filled. Everyone had arrived.
Basir was quite a chatterbox and he also started chatting with students from the neighboring seat. As for Akmal, he was mostly quiet and only talked a lot with people he was close to.
A few minutes later, a female teacher came in.
"Assalamualaikum everyone," the teacher greeted the students.
"Waalaikumsalam Cikgu," everyone greeted back chaotically. Since they were all busy chatting with each other, when the teacher came in, they were unprepared. Some of the students immediately scattered back to their seats.
(A/N - Cikgu is the Malay word for Teacher)
"Everyone is here and I am sure everyone knows that there will be no class on the first day but that does not mean we have nothing to do," the teacher smiled sweetly.
"First of all, let me introduce myself," the teacher went to the blackboard and wrote her name clearly on it with blue chalk.
"I am Siti Zubaidah Binti Rahmat and starting today, I will be your class teacher. Possibly for the next two years too," Cikgu Zubaidah spoke while smiling.
"Some of you may have known this but I will still inform everyone that I am going to teach this class Bahasa Malaysia," Cikgu Zubaidah added.
Bahasa Malaysia was the official language used by Malaysians. Every Malaysian would speak this language.
Due to Malaysia's close ties to Singapore and Indonesia since ancient times, these two countries could talk and understand Bahasa Malaysia too.
The same with Malaysians where they could understand and talk Bahasa Indonesia too. These two languages were mostly the same with a few differences here and there.
Other than Bahasa Malaysia, Malaysians were versed with English too as English was the second language in the country.
However, Bahasa Malaysia and English were not the only languages spoken in the country. Mandarin and Tamil were used widely too but they were mostly used by the Chinese and Indian people. As for Malay people, a small group of them could speak and understand Mandarin and Tamil.
"Let's take the attendance first and I also want to get to know everyone here. I know some of you but most of you here are new faces," Cikgu Zubaidah smiled.
As such, Cikgu Zubaidah called the students' names one by one and took their attendance. Since it was the first day, everyone was there.
After that, the teacher gave everyone the timetable for their classes and a list of teachers that would teach them that year.
There was also a list of core subjects they needed to take and elective subjects they could choose to take.
Akmal and Basir discussed what elective subjects they wanted to take and fill in the form given by the teachers.
Next, the teachers started choosing the Class Monitor and other important positions in the class. If the students wanted to enter a good University, these important roles might improve their resume later. So, many of them volunteered to have a role.
Akmal was not interested in this, so he did not participate. He felt that what he had now was enough and as long as he did well in his SPM, there was no need to worry about the small position like the Class Monitor.
After that, they talked about seat arrangement and because Cikgu Zubaidah was kind enough, she let everyone choose wherever they wanted to sit.
Akmal and Basir decided to stay there. Akmal loved this location while Basir's body made him unsuitable to sit at the front. Moreover, since he acknowledged Akmal as his friend, he decided to stick with him.
The class went on until afternoon and it was time for everyone in the school to choose what to do for their co-curriculum.