Dollar Girl

Chapter 42 Repeating

Although the national exam is over but does not mean they are free, they must remain alert if at any time called for the benefit of the school. Moreover, they must wait for graduation, if they pass all they need to prepare for is to enroll in the High School they want, but if they do not pass they must study again and take the exam again.

"Ratna." call Sapardi who just came home.

"What's dad?" tanya Ratna approached.

Sapardi's face looks happy with a big smile, in his hand there is a swish package that is held tightly.

"Look!" said Sapardi opened the package which turned out to be shoes.

"When the father worked the host gave him these shoes, he said the shoes were new but his son would not wear them because of the smallness. Do these shoes fit on your feet?" tanya Sapardi finished telling the story.

Ratna smiled and immediately tried the shoes, it turned out to be the right size. Ratna tried to walk, feeling the comfort of the shoes.

"Your shoes fit on my feet" he said.

"Good, you can wear these shoes to go to school. After I have the money, I'll buy you two pairs of shoes"

"Why bother? one is enough"

"Whatever may be enough, after high school your learning hours increase not to mention in extracurricular added. You have to have two pairs of shoes so that your feet do not blister wearing the same shoes for a week" Sapardi replied.

At the moment, he is short of money. They had to work hard to earn money and save money, but Ratna never lacked affection and attention. Seeing Sapardi's struggle he became wondering why his late mother chose divorce in order to marry a rich man who is inhuman, what's the point of being rich if eating good is not delicious.

"Dad, I made a doughnut do you want to try it?" ask Ratna.

"Of course, let's eat" Sapardi replied happily.

Time went by quickly, third-graders were called in to receive a graduation letter. That day anxiety surrounded Ratna's heart until she was groggy, in a room of the school coconut pack leading the course of the event by conveying the things they needed to pay attention to from now on.

Long enough, the secretary spoke until the impatient students began to get upset, finally after waiting for a long time one by one the students were called to receive the letter.

In the count of three they would open the letter simultaneously to look at the results of their exam, eagerly shutting their eyes. Praying for him to get what he had hoped for all this time, the teacher led the count followed by the students.

One....

Two....

Three...

Srek

The roar echoed in the room, they hugged each other and congratulated. Happy faces were evident among the group of disciples, the teacher who witnessed it was happy and let them for a while.

"For those who do not graduate tomorrow must come to school, so for today" the general teacher who does not want to talk at length.

"Are you graduating?" ask Jimy.

"Of course, what about you?" answer Ardi.

"I managed to graduate, ah. My mother must be very proud of me. What about you?"

"You're kidding me, I might not graduate" Amus said.

"Then... Where is Ratna? I didn't see it"

"You're right, where did he go?" said Ardi.

They decided to look for Ratna, but in the whole room Ratna was not there. Amus tries to search out and finds Ratna out of the teacher's house, he is about to call but suddenly Ratna runs.

Amus tries to catch up but as he passes through the teacher's room his homeroom teacher suddenly comes out so they collide.

"Ah, I'm sorry ma'am accidentally" he said.

"What are you doing? why run around the school hallway?"

"I'm going after Ratna!" the answer.

"You better not go after him" the teacher replied with a sad expression.

"Why?" ask Amus in wonder.

* * *

A letter he held tightly until his hands turned white, tears fell from earlier and did not want to stop. In his mind the face of the father who was heavily disappointed in him, it was more painful than when his late mother died.

It felt like his chest was so tight that it was difficult to breathe when he was in an open space, a breeze like a typhoon that could make him collapse.

He wondered why everything should happen, why he was not as lucky as others when he never complained and always fought hard. Every night he studied, every time he tried but did not produce the results he wanted.

In his hand was a letter stating he 'Repeating' which means not passing clearly, at that time he immediately met his homeroom teacher only to ask if the letter he got was true.

His eyes that could not see clearly due to tears looked at the sky with a smile and said.

"What was my fault that YOU tested me in such a way? first the farewell with my father, then the bastard sister, then the departure of my mother and now what should I say to my father?"

No one answered the question, only the sound of the wind whirring the leaves. His cry slowly grew, accompanied by continuous cursing and shouting until his voice ran out.

When the twilight has changed the night Ratna realized she can not be there continue, her father would be worried because he has not come home too.

"Fuck, why should I be afraid? if I'm punished for this let my body get it, I'm used to receiving all of it" he murmured.

The negative side in him appeared to cover his tenderness, as much as possible he thought he would be angry or hit and for that he had prepared himself. Although he actually knew Sapardi would never do that, what he feared was not anger but the face of disappointment that Sapardi would display to him.

Ratna washed her face with mineral water to remove her tears, after tidying up she walked home. The closer the distance his house the faster his heart beat, cold sweat even poured out of his forehead.

Until he reached the door of the house, taking a deep breath to stop his trembling hand he pulled the doorknob.

"Dad.. I'm home!" yelled Ratna trying to sound ordinary.

"Oh you're home, why is it so late? have you eaten yet?" ask Sapardi.

"Mm, I seem to be going straight to sleep" said Ratna who was unable to show her graduation letter.

"Alright, after all, it's been a good night's sleep" replied Sapardi who then walked to go back to the room.

"Dad!" call Ratna who can not hold back, he can not hide the letter any longer because in the end Sapardi will know.

He walked slowly closer to his father, with trembling hands given him the letter without being able to look at Sapardi's face.

"What's this?" ask Sapardi.

"Letter..my graduation" replied Ratna Parau.

When Sapardi took the letter from her hand, Ratna could only bow her head in preparation for any reaction her father would show.

"Oh yes, go get some rest" said Sapardi made Ratna lift her face.

Ratna was surprised to see her father's usual expression.

"Dad I didn't pass" she explained.

"Then?" ask Sapardi.

"Dad! is this what a father's expression is when he finds out his daughter has failed?" ratna asked confusedly.

"Hey! who said you failed? here it is clearly written REPEATING is not not not passed, meaning you are not completely failed" Sapardi replied while showing the contents of the letter.

"But still..."

"Aish. At that moment you can't walk, you fall and your mother tells you to repeat it again until you can finally walk. In this exam it makes no difference, it is clearly written here to repeat it means you have to repeat it until you can. So why are you sad?" ask Sapardi.

"But my friends graduated"

"Why indeed? every human being is different and has their own advantages, do not look at those who succeed with desperate eyes. You're just going to fall and it's not good, I don't care if you're stupid even if you're still proud of you. Because this father's daughter is good at taking care of the house and can even make money at a very young age, not all children can do the same thing as you"

"Father." call Ratna while embracing Sapardi.

His tears fell again but this time the tears were happy, his fear disappeared instantly even he was back in excitement.

A few hours ago Amus learned that Ratna did not graduate from their homeroom, which is why he was asked to let Ratna be alone first. Amus was quite hit by this news, he did not expect Ratna did not graduate even though he knew Ratna had worked hard all along.

His homeroom teacher explained about the possibility of why it happened, and he was told that Ratna had to go to school every day to get extra lessons so that in the next exam she could pass.

After a long chat that Amus was willing to leave, he chose to go home even though the beginning of his plan he would celebrate graduation with his friends. When he arrived home he remembered the fate of Ratna who certainly did not have the courage to say this to his father, he took the initiative to tell Sapardi for the sake of Ratna.

At first Sapardi was shocked to hear this news, but with the explanation given Amus slowly he was able to accept it.

"Uncle need not worry, Ratna did not not pass completely. In this test the answer sheet is checked by the computer so it could be a computer error, because even though the answer given by Ratna is correct but the way to fill is not neat the computer still considers it wrong"

"Then what about Ratna's future?" asked Sapardi who did not fully understand.

"Uncle, Ratna will do the exam again. This second exam was the determinant of his graduation, therefore Ratna only needed to study again so that he passed the second exam. After all Ratna was not the only one who did not pass, in total there were ten students who did not pass even one of them was the class champion"

"really?"

"Yes, our homeroom teacher told me. In fact, he had also suspected that in this school year there will be students who do not pass because the graduation determinants are only taken from the national exam. Now all you have to do is keep supporting Ratna, don't tell her that uncle knows about me because it'll embarrass her"

"Uncle understand, thank you for telling uncle" Sapardi said solemnly.