The First Change

"Um, your name is..?"

"Agus."

"Right, can you help me?" 

That's how a usual conversation starts for me.

I'm a typical loner high-school student. Not because I'm shy, but of choice. I've got good grades and attendance, but not particularly close to anyone.

Today was just like any other Tuesday. I overslept and woke up seeing the clock at half-past seven, leaving me half an hour to get to school. Took me a good minute to be conscious, but after realizing how screwed I was, I hurriedly got ready. 

After showering and putting on my white and black uniform for the day, I left the rental house I've been living in for the past year. School's a quick 15 minute ride away, which fits perfectly with how much time I took.

After taking out my bike from inside, I took a glance at my house. It's not my dream house or anything, but it has its perks. With its white and blue aesthetic, and being just affordable enough, it's perfect for me. Would've liked something bigger, but I've got other things to buy. Putting that aside, I locked the house, sat on my bike, and went to school.

The road was peaceful, fresh air brushing past me. I'm starting to get used to the area here.

Many shops were just opening up, making a nice scent of different kinds of food. Thankfully, the way to school's just a simple L-turn, where you turn right in front of the cheap bakery, then go straight until you see the school on the left.

I'm quite bad with directions, but I can at least put up with that. I'm planning to skip breakfast and eat some light food at the school later. 

Usually I'd have bread, but perhaps something sweet would be nice today. 

The scenery here's also pretty nice. It's a suburb with many houses decorated with plants, so it's not polluted and industrialized, at least for now. Before I knew it, I had now been in front of the school's gate.

I got down, brought myself to the bike parking area, then locked my bike to the given area. Before going in, I took a deep breath, and I'll try to do my best.

***

I went inside to my classroom, 11A, then sat down at my table on the bottom left. It's a comfy place, far from view.

Checking my time on my phone, I've made it just in time. But I also noticed a chat message on my notification. It was sent by my friend, Reza.

"Say I'm in the toilet"

I cracked a smile. He's consistently 10 minutes late during morning class every Tuesday, and I always had to excuse him, saying he's in the bathroom.

Just on time, the class went quiet and sat down after the English teacher came, except 2 tables that were empty.

"Good morning students."

"Morning, miss!" The class replied.

"I'll be taking attendance now. Agus Hauza?"

"Present." I said while raising my hand.

After 10 or so more people, it's Reza's turn. 

"Reza Kusumo?"

Just when I was about to reply, the door opened loudly.

"I'm sorry miss! I was in the bathroom." He said, while putting his head down.

"Ah, sit down." He did so, while the entire class looked at him. Though, he didn't seem to care.

His seat is to the right of mine. After sitting, I teased him a bit.

"Not too late, are you?"

His eyes gleamed with excitement.

"Have you played the update?" 

"What update?"

"Tower of Chronos, Klifka just released yesterday, and I got her!"

Aha, so this is why he's always late. Playing a weekly-update gacha game that releases new characters every Monday.

"You're jealous aren't you, Agus?" Mischievously laughing.

"Not really, I'm not a big fan of games." I said.

"What? Manga or manhwa don't compare to games." He nonchalantly blurted.

I looked at him dead in the eyes. How dare he insult art like that?

Unlike him, I'm a man of taste, that's why I distance myself from foul, energy-wasting activities like those Gacha games.

Before replying, the teacher interrupted us.

"Quiet down please."

We stopped at once. Tsk, good for him. I was just about to eat him alive right then and there. Well, so be it.

***

I yawned, then put my head on the desk. I saw the scenery of trees and the school's field from the window. Since the lesson's covering grammar, I could afford not paying attention.

Tenses are pretty easy once you've gotten enough exposure. I mean, languages are used for communication, so the best way to learn it is to find information using said language. You'll get used to the rules and nuances without realizing it.

I don't get why people have a hard time learning English. But people have their strengths and weaknesses, I guess. I'm pretty bad at subjects others deem easy, too. 

Especially subjects that's full of memorization, like Biology or History. Then a question in my head popped up.

Is it because I'm bad at memorizing Biology that I don't like it, or is it because I don't like Biology, I'm bad at memorizing it? 

As you can see, I like to dwell on things that aren't really important. You could take it as a strength or a weakness if you take it from different perspectives. 

But for me, it's both; just depends on the situation.

Continuing to think, I saw something strange in the distance. In the distant sky, gray clouds moved quickly. 

But it's not just a cloudy sky. It seems something like gathering upward in a spiral. And it had something like a… purple hue on it? 

As if small continuous lightnings are happening inside the circulating storm, emanating a deep violet undertone.

While I was fully focused, a bell rang from the class' speaker. Then the teacher stood in front of the class.

"Okay everyone. Since our time's over, let's pray to end today's lesson according to everyone's personal belief… Praying done,"

"Thank you Miss Bella!" The class said.

The class is over already. 

After the teacher left, the others got up to do their own things. While I continued watching the view from the window.

It's strange… yet mesmerizing. It's hard to say just how far it was, but I could see it. It's definitely moving, and it's moving towards here.

What is that? It's like the cloud's gathering upward in a spiral. That's definitely not normal. Is it a storm? I definitely didn't think so.

I probably sat there for a good 5 minutes before a hand reached my shoulder.

"Hey, what's up?" It was Reza.

I just looked at him for a few seconds, not answering.

"Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah."

I decided to point out the window.

"Say, do you see that?"

"Hmm.. it's about to rain?"

"It's more than that. Can't you feel something off about it? It's kinda purple, right?"

He took his time to look at the window for a minute.

"Stop with the bullshit, it's just cloudy. Let's eat."

Took a long glance at him. Did he not see what I saw? Whatever.

***

We decided to eat some chicken rice in the cafeteria. A neat thing about this school's that every student and teacher can freely sell anything at the school during breaks.

Unfortunately, we came late to buy the chicken rice that a friend sells. Since there's no queueing policy yet, it's a first come first serve kind of purchase. There's already a couple other people before us.

Reza promptly went past the crowd and called for him.

"Acep, where's mine?"

"Oh yeah, here."

Andi gave two boxes with a light smile. Reza quickly took it with both hands and came back to me.

"Here's yours."

I see, he already preordered two portions for us. I'm surprised at how thoughtful he is. I took one of the boxes and asked him.

"Where are we going?"

"The rooftop, obviously.'

***

We finished our food while having a conversation. I'm a slow eater, so I had to hear him yap before finishing mine.

"I mean, the student council is a mess right now. So no doubt Lila will try to fix it as hard as possible if she's chosen. Personally, I would rather have someone more laid-back, you know? But Yuni's pretty stuck-up too."

I closed my now empty box, put it aside, then swallowed my last bite.

"So, what are you trying to say? That every candidate sucks?"

"Exactly! All of them are just pretentious pricks that only care about social status."

"Well, what does complaining to me for the last 5 minutes accomplish?"

"Jeez. I get it, you asshole."

"Lila's gonna win anyway, so why should we care."

"Oh? Why so?"

"You really don't know anything do you? First, she's smart and good at talking. No doubt her public image is top-notch. Second, she's friends with every social order, from upperclassmen to juniors. Third, the most important part, she's on good terms with the old student council. They could rig it for all I know, and no one would give a damn."

"How do you know so much? You must have a crush on her or something."

I was not going to entertain his joke. But I am mildly interested in the topic.

"I'll predict that the upcoming debate will end in a landslide. Even if Yuni can get the big shots, she won't be able to win Lila's wide reputation. Though, in a debate she might win."

We chatted for a while, before the class bell rang.

"Phew- Let's get going."

***

Walking to the conference hall, we saw Yuni talking to some friends. She was blond, average height, and had a half-up hairstyle. 

She was being motivated before the debate.