"The school will be in an uproar if you have a relationship with him, Fik," Gina advised her. "Anyway, you shouldn't have anything to do with him. Don't do it! It’s a mess," she whispered while giving advice.
"Yeah, right! I'd rather be with Alan. He's calmer than that guy," Febby commented.
"The guy you like looks like a school thug. As far as I know, he doesn't have any friends in this school," Gina added. Afika's two friends were busy discussing the rumours circulating about Diaz's reputation at school.
Oh my!
Afika wanted to answer Gina and Febby's questions. She wanted to set the record straight so that there would be no misunderstanding. Unfortunately, they didn't give Afika a chance to speak.
"Fik, why are you silent?" Gina was surprised. Because the one being interrogated looked straight.
"Yes. You don't seem to care about the rumours of your closeness," Febby looked at Afika with suspicion.
"How can I answer your questions? If you don't give me a chance to answer them? You guys are just ... blabbering ... all the time. How can I interrupt your train-like speech," Afika protested. Finally, she spoke up. Once she spoke, she immediately made her two friends checkmate.
"Yes, too. So, what do you think? What's your answer, Fik?" Gina was impatiently waiting for Afika's answer.
Sssstttt!
The class leader warned Afika and her two friends to be quiet. Because the maths teacher would be arriving in class soon.
"If you're going to be so noisy, you might as well go outside!" the class leader said sternly. The boy had been watching Afika and her friends who were talking in class.
"Disperse! Let's have a huddle. The class leader is a jerk," Febby snickered.
Afika, Gina, and Febby immediately shut up, sat up straight, and locked their mouths tightly. In fact, Gina and Febby were still very curious about Afika and Diaz's relationship, which had not yet been revealed.
An hour later, when the change of lesson time took place Diaz was told by Helmi. He said, yesterday there was a girl who looked for him in class. Who? He became curious about Helmi's story.
"That's you ... your biggest fan. The one who shouted at you when you were on the field. Do you remember?" Helmi reminded. Oh, it was Afika.
"How do you find her?" Diaz asked further.
Helmi shrugged his shoulders. "I know, she was looking around for you. Didn't know what to do," he explained.
"What's she looking for me for?" Diaz muttered quietly.
"Missing you maybe," chirped Helmi. He heard what Diaz had just said.
"Nonsense!" Diaz was a bit annoyed to hear it. Then, he got up from his seat, left the class and immediately headed for the computer lab room.
"Yaz, wait for me!" Helmi followed behind him. His ‘Betawian’ friend was following Diaz more and more.
Diaz and Helmi went together to the computer lab room. Afika accidentally noticed him from inside the classroom. The tall guy with a height of approximately 178 centimetres looked very contrasting when he walked past the basketball court.
'He's ... cool, too,' Afika admired to herself.
During class time, Afika's attention was diverted to the fussy senior. Her gaze continued to be drawn to his strapping and elegant gait. It's different when someone comes from a wealthy family. His appearance and demeanour are a far cry from the ordinary Afika.
The way Diaz walks, the way he eats, the way he speaks, and the way he looks at people. The difference is obvious. Eh! Afika really knew everything about Diaz. All this time, she had been unintentionally paying attention to him. It was as if she knew Diaz the best.
***
After the lesson ended, Afika left her class and went to the toilet. She was running around because she had to pee. She couldn't stand it anymore, she said. Arriving at the toilet she felt relieved. It felt good. Her burden had been released and channelled properly.
As she was about to leave the toilet, Afika overheard a conversation between two female friends who were talking about Alan. Spontaneously, she eavesdropped first. There was important information about Alan that she didn't want to miss.
"Duh, what are they talking about? Whispering incoherently," Afika muttered softly. She pressed her ear against the door. It was still faint, not clearly audible.
When Afika eavesdropped even closer, someone suddenly pulled the door from outside, causing her to almost fall to the floor. Oops!
There weren't just two girls in the toilet. There were now three of them and Afika was very embarrassed. They suspected that Afika was deliberately eavesdropping on the conversation.
Afika backed away beautifully. She walked slowly out of the toilet with an innocent smile. Then, she turned round to correct the position of her uniform sleeve. Unexpectedly, a boy bumped into her.
BRUUKKK!
"Yeah ... what the hell?" Afika was surprised that the bloke had just spilled Iced Coffee all over her white uniform.
"Oh my?" The bloke was about to help Afika clean her uniform. But, what to use? He himself was confused.
Afika was a little annoyed and almost made a calculation with the bloke who had spilled the Iced Coffee and stained her clothes. However, when she lifted her face to find out who the culprit was, in a matter of seconds her annoyance and anger suddenly disappeared. A sweet smile spread across her thin lips.
"Your clothes are dirty, what do we do?" Alan panicked when he saw that Afika's uniform was dirty.
"Ah, Alan ... it's okay," Afika stammered.
"Is it really okay? But it's a shame your clothes got dirty because of me," Alan regretted. Afika shook her head slowly.
"I'll clean it myself," Afika soothed Alan.
It's okay then. Alan calmed down now after hearing Afika comfort his feelings of guilt. The boy hurriedly left after apologising to Afika. Meanwhile, Afika had to clean up the Iced Coffee stain on her white uniform.
Afika walked to the sink near the field. She would clean her uniform there instead. Because if she went to the toilet, it would be crowded during recess. When she got to the washbasin, the tap didn't even turn on. Can't the tap be used? She thought.
Afika fiddled with the water tap. She was so excited that the water coming from the tap sprayed right into her face. Oh my!
Now, it wasn't just her uniform that was wet. Afika's face was also splashed by the tap water. How to deal with it? She was confused and asked for help. Luckily, Diaz, who had just come out of the computer lab, saw her. Poor thing, thought Diaz who hurriedly helped her.
"What are you doing playing with water here?" Diaz asked in a joking tone. He had laughed at Afika who was almost drenched.
"Who's playing in the water? You didn't see me getting splashed by the tap!" Afika immediately became upset. She didn't like Diaz joking about the incident.
Diaz was still smiling to himself as he tried to unblock the tap. After successfully plugging the drain, his attention was immediately drawn to Afika's white uniform, which looked transparent.
"What are you looking at, huh?" Afika immediately realised. If Diaz had been watching her curves all along, it was because her uniform was wet. Reflexively, she crossed her arms to cover her chest.
Insolent! Afika snorted in annoyance.
To be continue …