SULIVANS

Rescuer

Zalva looked at his school building from a distance with reluctant footsteps.

Last night he thought of a way to ditch today, leaving his eyes closed for three hours.

He even made a numbered list of possible reasons that would work along with strong evidence.

The first was a pain with evidence of an incision wound on his hand, which automatically smeared directly into his imaginary trash can because the evidence was clearly illogical.

The wound on his hand had almost healed; although there was still a slight pain left when the surrounding muscles were attracted or accidentally put on his arm too hard.

Scars that almost dry out completely are obviously ineffective for justification of the reason for not getting in.

The second is sudden diarrhea. This idea arose when Zalva saw her mother go home shopping and put a lot of chili in a special container of chili in her refrigerator.

Zalva thought Bibi would cook a spicy meal menu for dinner with the chili.

It turned out that he only ate potato curry without any spicy taste at all.

Especially when looking at the hot steam of the favorite chili oil of the mother in a large glass container that is left open next to the dishwasher rack.

It was just made from chili peppers that the mother brought home.

He swallowed a glass of water in disappointment.

But Zalva still has not given up.

He intended to wake up on purpose, then said that it was class inspection day. If an exemplary student seemed to be caught late, his reputation would be threatened. The mother who attaches great importance to her reputation and value more than anything will surely melt and allow it.

If the third point does not work, he will walk slowly and take a detour to reach his school. If necessary, he will turn far enough and walk as slow as possible to enjoy the sun.

The next morning, the mother thwarted her plans due to a phone call from the headmaster who said today was class inspection day.

Zalva's eyes are still sleepy because deliberately staying up late forced to open. His brain was trying to process what the mother said about the class inspection as rice and a flat egg entered his stomach.

Although his guess regarding the class inspection was entirely correct, Zalva hated the end result that was not to his liking.

The mother made sure she got to school as early as possible, even lowering herself right in front of the school gate, making the execution of her last plan fail.

Zalva let out a sigh of resignation. Maybe he did have to overcome his awkwardness to meet Sena after yesterday had been caught red-handed.

Despite seeing Sena nod and hearing the word of promise from her mouth when threatening her to shut up, she still doubted her best friend.

Or rather, he doubted himself.

It doesn't look suspicious. From the research conducted by Zalva secretly, Sena is just an ordinary student who does not like to go to school.

One of the points that made her relieved was Sena's awkwardness with others.

He did not seem to know how to answer the pleasantry questions posed by classmates to get to know him.

The apparent awkwardness on his face made the people who asked him become reluctant to prolong their conversation.

It did not rule out that it happened because Sena sat with a human they hated the most in class.

To that point, well, Zalva felt a little guilty.

That's why Zalva is in a dilemma with a case of accidental disclosure of his personal identity; worried and relieved at the same time.

Worried because for the first time there is a person who knows his hidden identity as a member of a motorcycle gang who is reputable as an exemplary student.

Relieved because among the humans who knew him in his night and day life, that person was Sena.

The one now standing looked at him in front of the second-rate main lobby with a shocked face.

Sena circulated her gaze around nervously, then looked back at Zalva who was walking slowly towards her.

Precisely in the direction of the exam score notice board last week behind him.

Where the name of my friend is at the first number of all other names.

Sena clucked in awe, not expecting to be able to compare with the first rank parallel to her school.

Well, so it was like this when his fellow trainers admired him for making the top ten in the preliminary round.

At such a time, Sena returned their congratulations awkwardly one by one; not knowing what to say.

When experiencing it for himself this morning, he really wanted to say the words of admiration that his friends said at that time to Zalva.

Until it is realized that he is the only one who wants to congratulate Zalva.

"That geeky again? Really?"

"Rank one more? Ridiculous very-" 

"Ga may be ranked first if you're not cheating!"

Sena was stunned to hear the various unpleasant reactions around her. His chest felt throbbing even though the remark was not aimed at him.

"If only my father were that rich"

"Pay the principal how much, anyway?"

Sena felt her blood rise slowly, feeling unfair with the crowd's words.

He even witnessed how hard his friend studied!

While everyone else was away spending their break in the cafeteria playing and joking, Zalva ate only one loaf of bread while reading and writing the key points to remember from the book.

How could such a heavy effort be lightly reviled by mouths that never learned as hard as Zalva!

Sena stepped her foot out of the crowd with a feeling of anger.

He was worried that he could not maintain his habits on his second day of school.

Almost his mouth was about to reply to their insults if only he had not turned around and was surprised to find Zalva walking towards him.

"Hey, that's where the rank one comes in!"

Sena looked at Zalva while forcing her brain to think of something appropriate to overcome this chaotic situation.

"Let's see the bribe, tuh!"

Unfortunately, the brain is even stuck in important moments like this.

His concentration is torn between listening to the bad chatter around him and finding a solution to prevent Zalva from hearing it.

"Face without sin, unclean!"

As Sena was busy with her wild thoughts, Zalva was already standing about a meter in front of her, staring at the crowded notice board filled with students.

Zalva caught a glimpse of the mathematical value that the mother continued to scorn, ascertaining her nominal truth.

Ninety-three.

Zalva sighed and was about to continue on his way before Sena's angry look stopped her steps.

The whispers echoed more and more clearly in Sena's ear to make him ride the apoplexy.

He was unable to hold himself back until the tip of his arm was pulled by Zalva.

"Don't get mad. Mr. Pras calls you."

Instantly Sena's anger faded away along with Zalva's hand which removed the tip of her uniform arm.

He followed Zalva's footsteps with teary eyes; the result of the residue of the indignant being harbored without having time to launch it.

Zalva and Sena walked consecutively splitting the sea of students who were increasingly excited to see the two of them.

"What? The geeky has friends now?"

"The theme must be something, too!"

As Sena's footsteps moved away from the notice board, the surrounding whispers disappeared, replaced by the panic of her teary eyes that people could see.

Sena blinked her eyes quickly to prevent a tear from coming down her face.

Especially when he saw the homeroom teacher who was talking to another teacher in front of the class, Sena rubbed her eyes quickly and approached him.

"Yes, Sir? What's up?"

Mr. Pras stopped his chatter, confused by the question without context Sena on a peaceful morning.

Zalva opened the classroom door with a thump, about to touch his throat which suddenly felt itchy after making up a silly reason to say to Sena earlier.

He planned to enter the classroom as soon as the situation got more chaotic because the face of the victim he related, Mr. Pras, looked confused.

"Ah, that paper yesterday! Please collect it soon, yes."

Sena nodded a little late, remembering the paper that was still empty even though it had to be filled with telling her interests, talents, and dreams.

"It doesn't have to be today, anyway. At least Friday's been collected, yeah."

"Yes, sir."

Zalva exhaled, relieved to hear Mr. Pras' conversation with Sena who indirectly saved him.

Although his words to Sena were careless, he sincerely said them.

Zalva spontaneously uttered it because he remembered the incident of Tera who was almost blessed just to defend him.

He was afraid that his compatriots were involved in unnecessary bickering just because they wanted to defend him.

I don't know why the angry look on Sena's face made her happy.

After a long time of ignoring the inappropriate rants made him let out those emotions, an angry person appeared in his place.

He never expected such a deep reaction, either from the long-known Tera or the recently met Sena.

But when one reacts in such a way, his heart is happy.

Maybe he was expecting it.