Chapter 3.3: Erika

The bakmi stall located in the turn near the school was the headquarters for bad kids at my school. Unlike me, who had direct safe-free-and-secret access to going in and out of school, all the kids at the bakmi stall were kids who’d come late and preferred skipping classes rather than getting punished in the on duty room. Unlike the school canteen, the noodle stall had never been raided by the school (or more precisely, Rufus). Even if a teacher suddenly appeared, the strategic location of the stall made it easier for us to detect the arrival of the teacher from a distance and gave us the opportunity to escape without being seen. Another plus was that this shop had really delicious noodles and were also cheaper than the noodles in the school canteen. Anyway, this stall was the dream stall.

“Late again, Mir?” I asked Amir who seemed to be going through his third portion of bakmi if referred to the pile of two bowls in front of him.

“Waiting for my younger sister to come out of the bathroom, Ka,” Amir replied after swallowing his noodles with difficulty. His red lips looked swollen from the spiciness. “You know well that my younger sister loves to doll up. Just to take a shower she needs two hours. “

“Then you wait?”

“Of course not. I had to go without taking a shower, but still, I was late. ” It turned out I was not the only one who didn’t shower around here.

“How bout you, Wel?”

Welly, Amir’s friend, whose body was super skinny with robot-like movements that made everyone believe when he claimed himself as an android, immediately responded with enthusiasm, “It’s called solidarity, man. How can I still go to school when my seatmate is skipping school? Being a loyal friend is a must as a human. If there is no loyalty, our country could fall apart. Don’t you watch television when those politicians accuse and blame each other? Made us gag, right! “

“That’s a lot of bullshit you just said. Just admit you’re just too lazy to see the teacher’s face at school. “

“Well, that’s too.”

“You, Niel?” I asked Daniel as I punched his big tall posture. There was some tea that he liked playing the piano in his spare time. But I had never proved it. He was a guy who was being aimed for by many girls at school. Sometimes I had to admit, his style that resembled a professional flirt was indeed attractive. But yeah, he was Daniel, the broken kid. Nothing can be expected from him.

“Me? I’m just hanging around, Ka. See there? Right in front, there is a bus stop with beautiful college students often perched over there. It’s a shame if I just passed them up. “

What a cheap player.

“How about yourself, Ka? How come you didn’t show up with the ojek driver? ”

“I’m obviously a diligent child, not like the three of you,” I said pretentiously. “From earlier I was already at school. Unfortunately, I forgot to wear shoes. So I was punished by Rufus. Because I was hungry, I just went away for awhile. So, it’s different from you, I have to hurry back so I don’t get caught running away. You know, since one of our high school students has gone missing, the teacher would become easily paranoid if someone disappears for no reason.”

Yep, actually it has happened. Dozens of people just disappeared from Jakarta and its surrounding areas, including the area around our school and our house, as well as a couple from grade XII of our high school. There were no demands for ransom or signs of violence to suggest they were coerced so the police could not conclude these incidents were kidnapping, murder, or anything else. The point was, they were also very confused, and the only thing they could do was ask us not to wander off as we please.

My gaze turned to the boy who was sitting at the end of the bench and my face turned sour. “Heh, why is A̲n̲u̲s̲ here?”

^{A̲n̲u̲s̲1}, a.k.a Martinus — who asked everyone to call him Marty but we all prefer to call him A̲n̲u̲s̲ — was the most annoying guy in our whole generation. He was a stout guy, but not as fat as Amir who looked like a rolling barrel. His face was annoying, always had an arrogant look, with a nose and mouth that always frowned, as if no one on earth was nice enough — or smelled good — for him. If you wanted to talk about being overdramatic, A̲n̲u̲s̲ was the most over dramatic guy in our school. He thought he was the richest, most handsome, and strongest boy in our school. In fact, his wealth was only because his father was a shop owner who was notoriously stingy, he looked no cooler than Daniel — in fact, i think Welly was even more pleasing to the eyes— and whether he was strong or not, I didn’t have to talk about that anymore. I once punched the boy until he cried. What’s so strong about a crybaby boy?

“I don’t know either,” Welly snorted. “He suddenly was hiding there.”

“I’m skipping school, you know!” A̲n̲u̲s̲ replied in a pretentious tone, as if truancy was something to be proud of. In fact, we all skipped school not because we wanted to look cool, but because we didn’t have any other, more fun choices.

“Fucking greeny kid, you’re really still wet behing the ears” Amir sneered. “Just because of skipping school, you’re so proud?”

“Just punch him again, Ka, let him cry,” Daniel replied with a chuckle.

I glared at A̲n̲u̲s̲, who immediately raised his two fists in front of his face. I glared once more as I approached him, and his two fists were immediately used to protect his head.

“Go away, you shit!” I snapped, waving my hand away.

With a bright red face and hurried steps he quickly left the shop. A second later, his head popped out at the stall door.

“I’ll report all of you to the principal!” He said with his gaze fixed on me, indicating that the threat was mainly addressed to me. Hmm, interesting. Apparently, this guy had a grudge against me.

Amir, who was closest to the door, immediately swung his fist, and the poor A̲n̲u̲s̲ immediately fled as fast as lightning.

“Useless shit,” grumbled Welly. “People like that would only embarrass our names.”

1. She and her friends nicknamed Martinus with A̲n̲u̲s̲, which is literally the organ for pooping. I think English and Indonesian use this word to name that body organ. Yeah, it’s literally the A̲n̲u̲s̲. They mocked him.

Bakmi: similar to chicken noodle