Irritated by the annoyance, I rotated my head to see the face of the person who shouted at me. Two seats away from me, on the same bench I was sitting on, was the second-year handicraft club member, Ayunda. She sported a casual plain headscarf, a white T-shirt that was hidden behind our school's alma mater, and a skirt so long that it almost touched the ground and hid her vans shoes.
Ayunda looked at me with a pout and furrowed brows, visibly disgruntled from being ignored by me. "You looked so tense. What are you thinking about?"
"Ah, nothing. Nothing at all." I said as I put my palms on the sides of my face. My thumb and my index finger were sandwiching my ears, as a means to ease myself from the painful shout she had directed at me a few moments ago.
"Sorry for shouting at you."
"Okay. Though it really made my ears ring."
Her dejected stare made a turn into one of concern. While she flung away her hands in panic, she apologized once again. "So sorry! I didn't mean to...!"
"It wasn't that bad." Now I was sorry for her being sorry.
To shift the focus of this sorry exchange, I asked her, "Erm, you just arrived now, right?"
"Yes. Sorry for being late. Shall we prepare our stall now?"
'There she goes apologizing again.' I muttered in my heart. I had intended for her to rest a bit. It would be very cruel of me if I didn't let her catch a breather. "Take your time. I wouldn't dare to make you work right away. You must be tired from the road, right?"
"Not really. I can pretty much prepare our stall right away. So... Let's?"
"Alright."
As soon as we reached an agreement, we lifted our butts that were glued to the bench and went toward the storage room. Our first destination was quite bustling with students from various clubs taking out things for their respective agendas. In effect, I and Ayunda had to take turns with other students to enter the room, though it didn't take long for us to take out the things we needed from the storage.
Truthfully, it was possible for me to carry our club's necessities without help from Ayunda, or Jiwo, had he arrived earlier than her. Nevertheless, I decided to wait for them. There were two reasons for that.
First, while it was possible for me to do it alone, it also meant that any amount of burdens to be carried would be all placed onto me, instead of being shared. The problem lies not in the weight of the items, but in the volume. Imagine taking out a table in an awkward position. No one in their right mind would put their body at risk of injury.
The second reason was that it would be too arrogant of me to do it all myself. To quote my father, there's no such thing as someone doing everything in a team effort. I did try to refute him by telling him cases when it happened, but in response to my claim, he said, "It's a fool's sacrifice. People will only take such a person for granted, and he won't be remembered or appreciated in any way. Especially when he failed."
Thus came the decision to wait for a helping hand.
From the storage room, we went straight to the student hall and immediately prepared our stall. In the middle of our hectic schedule, Bob from the student council entered the hall and distributed a piece of rice cake for every club committee to boost their day.
By the time everyone in the hall was ready with their goods, several visitors could be seen walking around to sight-see. School neighbors, students' parents, or friends from other schools were entering the hall to and fro. Over time, the spacious hall became more and more bustling with visitors that it seemed quite difficult to walk. To illustrate more clearly, the student hall became a giant pack of sardines.
All these things were quite good for me to distract my mind from my worries, though sometimes the thought of Shakira's problem returned to my head and made me giddy. When it became hard for me to focus on customers, Ayunda or Jiwo would pitch in to talk with them.
"You don't seem to focus at all," Ayunda commented. Instead of being angry, she looked at me with a worried look. "Are you alright?"
"Need water?" Jiwo jumped into the conversation with an old joke.
"No, thanks. I'm hydrated enough."
Since we got a moment of leniency from the human wave, we decided to take the chance to chit-chat, like a true Indonesian. It was just neutral talk, until the moment Jiwo tapped my shoulder.
I looked at Jiwo, with a curious gaze. For him to make a gesture for a secret talk... Perhaps there was something important he had to tell me, so I closed the distance between his mouth and my ear.
"I got something amazing." He whispered. And then, at an angle that blocked other people's gaze, he took out his phone and faced the screen at me.
For a split second, an ill foreboding crept up inside me. I prayed that my hunch was incorrect. However, hoping for something that had already happened behind the scenes is futile. What Jiwo showed me was the video Laras shared on our class group chat.
In the spur of the moment, my rage took over my body. I reflectively grabbed Jiwo by his collar and talked to him in a repressed shout. "Delete it."
I looked him straight in the eyes. I glared at him. In exchange, he gave me a terrified look. Perhaps he was confused about my reaction, but it didn't matter to me. What mattered was him obeying my command.
"Delete it." I repeated, reinforcing the demand.
"awawawa... D-d-don't fight!" Ayunda, who had noticed an internal dispute, tried to diffuse the situation. But I didn't have the time to give attention to her, so I kept staring at Jiwo.
Jiwo hadn't complied with my command and tried to switch his gaze to our surroundings. I shook his body slightly from his collar so that he was reminded that I was directing my anger at him.
"A-a-alright." Jiwo said nervously, then he swiftly tinkered with his phone as I told him.
As soon as he finished the task, he turned his phone to me. "S-see? I d-d-deleted it."
I let go of his collar and grabbed his phone. My thumb was violently tapping and scrolling his phone's screen, thoroughly doing a confirmation. By the time I was convinced that he said the truth, I returned his phone roughly.
I tried to stabilize my emotion by closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. When I opened my eyes, I looked at my surroundings and noticed that our club's neighboring stall attendees were staring in my direction. Some visitors were also showing their curiosity.
Being suddenly in the center of attention had put me in a self-conscious state, thus reducing my angst.
"Sorry." I said to Jiwo when my mind calmed down.
"... Y-yeah. No p-problem." He answered, visibly still in a state of fear.
"Um... Uril?" Ayunda called for my attention, so I faced her. She seemed like she was going to inquire why I behaved roughly, but then, she turned down the idea out of her fear of me. "Aieee... Sorry, don't mind me."
Perhaps I was unintentionally giving her a sharp stare. I felt guilty and concerned that she will develop Uril-phobia. Not wanting it to turn into a full-blown disorder, I said, "Sorry, I need fresh air. Can I take a break?"
I decided to take myself away from her. Not only was it good for her peace of mind, but it was also beneficial to me. My brain couldn't focus on the festival anymore after I learned that the demoness Laras' crime had rippled to another class.
Ayunda put her fingers on her chin. While she seemed a bit exhausted by the suddenly tense air, she still took her time to ponder for a bit. She was judging whether it was a good thing to let me ditch the club work, and after some time, she reached a conclusion. "Yeah... okay."
Glad that I got what I wanted, I said, "Thanks."
To make the best of this chance that came my way, I immediately left the stuffy student hall.