"Now, Nilam's group. Please step forward." I glanced at two of my group members that were busy yet silently arguing with each other. I knew that they were not ready but this was not the right time to argue with each other. It has been six days, where the heck have they been? I gave them an ample opportunity to study and yet they wasted it all away.
"Why me!?" Echa complained when I asked her to explain what my group had written. I even gave her some pointer that was currently projected on the screen. All that she needed to do was just read it. Was it really that difficult?
"G..Good morning." Echa finally said something. Both of her hands were trembling when she faced Teacher Marita. She was known to be a little unfriendly. Even if her students made no mistake, they could not escape her sharp gaze.
"My team is..My team, My team is–"
"What the heck are you talking about, Echa? You made a finely written essay and yet you can't present it well! You made this together, no!?"
"Y..Yes, ma'am."
"Tell me the outline of this paper, Salma!"
Salma was silenced. Alright, we were done for. Was it really hard for Echa to read?
"Echa, answer me!?" Echa surely could not say anything as well. I closed my eyes and hoped that some miracle would happen. Everything that I have worked hard for has ruined, everything gone to waste.
"Nilam!"
"I wrote my paper for those who–"
"Enough!" I stopped when she shouted. My eyes almost popped out as I saw my paper, the one I have made until midnight, stroked by her red pen. You know what that means? That red streak meant that my submission was denied. I have lost count how many times I have lost a grade on her subject. Does that mean my work was in vain?
"I gave you a group assignment, that means you must work it all together! Do not let anyone work on it alone! Do you think that I don't know who made this all by herself?" Although the three of us looked down in shame, I was the only one who cried despite my best efforts to hide it.
"In the next session, I don't want to see this mistake again, understand!?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
Teacher Marita went out of the class, I went after her. No, things didn't have to go this way. I must clear things up, I needed her to acknowledge my effort. That was the least I would expect.
"Teacher Marita, please wait for a moment." She stopped and turned around to face me. I could tell that she was still mad at me.
"About what happened in the class..I beg you, please give us another chance to–"
"That's enough, Nilam! I don't want to hear more excuses! I hate to see you bear the burden for yourself! I'll have you know that your brilliance is not unknown to me, but that was not a good reason to work on a group assignment alone, what good will it do for you? None, right? Sorry, but I cannot tolerate that. As you might have realized, you lost another grade on my subject, another mistake like this and your scholarship would have to be canceled, understand!?"
I hoped that it was you who could understand where I was coming from.
Why was there no one who could understand me? It was not my fault. Did I have to suffer because of it? Did I always have to be the victim of those delinquents? If only you could understand me, if only you would listen to me just a little, would you still think the same? If only…
"Standing around like a fool would solve no problem."
I wiped away my tears. I ignored Ricky's words that I did not know since when he stood there. His hands suddenly pulled me away to a place that I did not know. I just could not understand, I just wanted to be left alone right now, why did he always present anywhere I go? Why has he been pestering me lately?
"I want to go." I said. but he remained motionless. He let me go when we had reached a place behind the third-year class building. There were not many people here, only a couple of students. I did not get it, why would he bring me here?
"Cry." he said. I looked up to his face, his calm face still looked very composed. "You're gonna cry, right? Go ahead, cry. That's normal. If you keep it to yourself, acne will grow on your ugly face."
"You don't understand."
"I do understand. I know how it feels to have your effort go unnoticed. I know it all too well."
I slumped on the ground while covering my face with both of my hands. All the anger, pain, and disappointment coalesced into teardrops. Ricky threw his jacket on my head. I had no idea what he meant by that but I did not care anymore.
"Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what–" he stopped as I looked up. He stared at me with an unusual gaze. It successfully made my hair stand on its end.
"What?" he asked me. It was I who should ask 'what'. He helped me last night, he brought me here, and now he sang a nursery rhyme to me. It was I who should ask 'what'. "I sing to give you solace? Can't I do that?" he continued in a slightly higher tone. He sat down right in front of me, facing me. He placed his hands around my face. I was confused and nervous. I could see his winsome face vividly.
"Your hair is funny, your hair volume goes up as you cry. You really looked like a lion."
"..no." I answered while pressing down my hair that went up in volume due to the rain that was pouring down lately. It was not caused by my cries.
"Don't deny it. The weirder you look, the more I like you." He stood up after he said those baffling words. I could not take my eyes off him. He reached his hand out to me.
"Stand up." He told me. I doubted him but I reached out for his hand as well. This would be my second time we physically contacted each other. I felt something..unusual in my life, though I could not tell what it exactly was.
"Sorry."
"Give me my jacket, I don't want your snot to stain it."
"My nose isn't runny!"
"Hahaha, I was just kidding."
Wait, did I really see Ricky laughing? Because of me? This was the first time for me to see Ricky laugh, it felt so weird.
I held my chest as my heart beat faster and faster, I could not tell why, but I knew for a fact that there was something here, in my heart, for him
@@@
"Nilaaam!! We have a situation here!" I was peacefully reading in the library when suddenly Lala shouted at me and I almost jumped off my seat because of her. As far as I know, no noise is allowed in the library, let alone shouting out loud.
"Don't you know where you are now?" I said while I pulled Lala out of the library.
"But we have an emergency here! The whole school has talked about our class by now, everyone is gathering in the parking lot! We must head there pronto!"
"What is going on in there? I have something more important to do now."
"Ricky is messing up with Teacher Marita! He took off her car wheel and now they are at each other's throat in the parking lot, Nilam!
Then, we headed toward the parking lot. What was actually going on in there? Why would Ricky do that? Was it because of me? Nah, I could not be that special to him.
The parking lot was crowded by the students who happened to have not left the school yet. Only a few teachers were seen there because the bell had rung two hours ago. Me and Lala tried to cut through the crowd so that we could see clearly what was going on in there.
I was aghast when I saw that one of Teacher Marita's car wheels was stuck on top of a tree and the car itself was stained with sauce. Her car was not a brand new car, it was a classic car built in the '90s. It was kept in a perfect shape. Once, she said that it was her late husband's favorite car.
"Write a hundred apologies on a paper, Ricky!" Teacher Marita was shouting hysterically while lashing out slap after slap at Ricky's outstretched arms. His white arms were bruised, almost bleeding.
"Violently hitting a student is a punishable offense, ma'am."
"Ricky!" Teacher Marita shouted and struck Ricky even harder.
But Ricky somehow ignored the pain, he looked at Teacher Marita's red hot angry face.
"Why are you doing this!?"
"Because I want to."
"Ricky!" Teacher Marita seemed frustrated because Ricky does not take her seriously.
"Calm down, ma'am. Let me handle Ricky." Teacher Mahmud tried to deescalate the situation, but Teacher Marita did not care.
"What sin has his parents committed, to be cursed with such a mischievous child? I just don't get it!"
"Aw, please don't bring my parents into this, ma'am."
"You dare talk back to me? I'll have you expelled from this school!" Teacher Marita shouted at Ricky again. Ricky nodded and smugly smiled. Somehow he was satisfied with his success at making his teacher pissed off.
"Teacher Hamdan, brought him to the counseling room, teach him a good lesson. As for you, Ricky Adriansyah, your grade for today's assignment will be nullified!"
"Alhamdulillah, why didn't you say that earlier."
"Ricky!" Instead of Teacher Marita, now it was Teacher Mahmud who shouted at him. I believed that both of them had lost their patience after dealing with this particular delinquent.
Teacher Hamdan, closely followed by Ricky, walked among the students like a shark among a school of fish. To be honest, I wanted to know why he would do that, but I dared not. As Ricky approached me, I looked at his face. But again, he did not look at me, he went cold like usual again' like he never knew me at all. I could not comprehend his way of thought.