Chapter 30: Cheering Up Sad Julian
During class, the English teacher only gave individual assignments: to create an attractive poster design in English, and they couldn’t have the same design as their classmates After giving the assignment, the teacher went to the restroom.
Therefore, they gathered in the back row to work together. There were about 10 people gathered in the back row. Some of those gathered in the back row started opening their phones to work on the assignment in a design app.
As they gathered, Wiro, who was to Julian’s right, glanced at Julian, who was working on his assignment with a gloomy expression. Feeling sorry for him, he tried to engage Julian in conversation to lighten his mood a bit.
"So, do you know Anindya’s boyfriend’s name?" Wiro asked.
"I heard his name is Sagara," Julian replied.
"Oh, Sagara, no wonder Anindya wants to, hahahaha" Damar said, laughing and looking at his phone.
Julian stopped working on his assignment, looked at Damar, and then asked.
"Damar, do you know who Sagara is?" Julian asked.
"Yeah, I know. He’s the number one handsome guy in school," Damar replied.
"What?!, Isn’t Wiro number one?" Kaza asked with a surprised expression and tone.
"Wiro is third!" Damar said firmly.
Wiro felt stabbed by those words.
"N-no need to explain" Wiro said with a sad expression and tone.
Seeing Wiro’s sadness, Kaza became even more mischievous.
"Oh, poor our third prince" Kaza said, patting Wiro’s shoulder with a feigned sadness.
"Come on, Wiro. Even though you’re number three, at least you’re still in the top five" Joyce said with a chuckle.
"Why does that sound like you’re consoling someone who failed to get a top spot in class?" Wiro replied with a sad expression.
All their friends immediately laughed, even Julian, who looked gloomy, perked up. After laughing, Julian asked.
"Then who’s second?" Julian asked.
"It’s Alvin" replied Damar, still designing on his phone.
Everyone gathered there was surprised by Damar’s answer.
"Wow! You know a lot, bro," said Ravi.
"Yeah, of course. I accidentally overheard the girls’ gossip in the cafeteria, hehehe" Damar said proudly.
"Oh, by the way, where’s Alvin?" asked Julian.
"He said he was on family business," replied Anto.
"He just sent me a WhatsApp message" Anto continued.
"Oh, so it’s a shame he didn’t hear this" Julian said.
"If he did, he’d probably be proud" Januar said.
"Maybe" Ravi replied with a smile.
"But why does Alvin seem to always reject a lot of girls?, Even the head of the volleyball club was rejected" Agus asked.
"Alvin already has a fiancée" Anto replied quickly, while designing on his phone.
Everyone in the class immediately fell silent. Then, Ravi put his phone in his pocket. He approached and grabbed Anto’s right shoulder, saying
"Are you serious?!" Ravi asked with a serious expression and a low, heavy tone.
"Y-yes" Anto replied.
Ravi immediately removed his hand from Anto’s shoulder, turned around, and said
"ARGH!, DAMN!, That boy secretly has a fiancée!" Ravi said in a heavy voice, covering his face with his hands.
"How did you know?" Januar asked.
"My house isn’t far from Alvin’s," Anto replied.
"So I often go over to his house" Anto continued.
"Oh, i see" everyone said.
After that, they asked Anto again.
"Which major is Alvin’s girlfriend in?" Januar asked.
"She doesn’t go to school here" Anto replied.
Everyone had confused expressions.
"Then where is she?" Agus asked.
"At White Jasmine Senior High School" Anto replied.
Hearing that, everyone immediately exclaimed in unison, even those eavesdropping were equally surprised.
"WUAHH...!" they exclaimed in amazement.
"White Jasmine is an Elite school located at Monas, right?!" Joyce said, her eyes widening.
"Yes! It’s famous as a girls’ school with beautiful and intelligent female students" Anto replied.
"Hee~, No wonder Alvin prefers his fiancée" Agus said with a chuckle.
Ravi, who had been depressed, paused for a moment, turned around, and sat cross-legged again, saying.
"Haa... Alvin is very lucky," Ravi said resignedly.
While they were chatting, their class leader, Silica Clarus, walked to the back of the line. They saw Silica walking toward Julian. When she stood in front of him, she asked
"Julian, can you help me carry the physics equipment?" Silica asked Julian.
"Why me?" Julian asked.
"Just do it with me, class leader!" Joyce said enthusiastically.
"Rejected!" Silica replied firmly.
"W-why?" Joyce asked with a sad expression and tone.
"Because I just want to be with Julian" Silica replied with a smile.
Everyone glared at Julian except Wiro and Anto, who smiled.
"But there’s Ravi, the vice class leader" Julian said, pointing to Ravi, who suddenly pretended to be playing with his phone.
"No, I still want to be with you" Silica replied, holding Julian’s hand.
Julian was shocked and his face started to redden slightly.
"B-but..." Julian said, still hesitant.
"Come on, I’ll treat you to snacks during the first break" Silica said, dragging Julian’s hand.
Julian and Silica left the classroom, Julian’s friends watching them leave.
"Damn Julian! After breaking up with Anindya, now he’s getting close to the class leader!" Joyce said angrily.
"Julian hasn’t broken up, you know" Wiro said.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Joyce asked, confused.
"He didn’t even tell me he broke up" Wiro replied.
"Oh yeah, he was just sad earlier" Dimas said.
"But still, he’s so close to a cute girl like the class leader!" Joyce said, furious.
"Come on Joyce, instead of thinking about that, it’s better to log in Battle of Deathmatch now, so we can push our rank, you’ve already finished your assignment" Dimas said, shaking his phone.
"Haa..." Joyce sighed.
"...Okay, let’s go, let’s destroy them!" Joyce continued, clutching her phone and grinning.
While on the road, Julian forced to let go of Silica’s grip. They both stopped walking. Silica turned to Julian and said
"What’s wrong, Julian?" Silica asked.
"S-Sorry, Silica, we’re not a couple, so we can’t hold hands" Julian said, his cheeks slightly red.
Silica was a little surprised, but soon she chuckled at Julian’s shy reaction.
"So what if we’re not a couple?" Silica asked with a sweet smile.
"Yeah... t-that’s just rude..." Julian replied, scratching the back of his head.
Silica moved a little closer to Julian, causing him to instinctively take a step back.
"I just want to be closer to you, is that okay?" Silica asked, tilting her head slightly to the right, smiling sweetly.
Julian, embarrassed, immediately said.
"N-no, because we’re just classmates!" Julian said with an annoyed expression and tone.
"We better get to the lab now!" Julian continued firmly, stepping past Silica.
Silica smiled slightly at Julian’s behavior, then with light steps followed behind him. When they arrived in front of the physics lab, Silica suddenly said.
"Then, I’ll still treat you after this, okay?" Silica asked, who was behind Julian.
Julian paused for a moment, then looked back.
"No need, I helped out willingly... not because of the treat" Julian said.
"But I’ll still treat you, as a thank you" Silica said with a smile.
"Haa, okay, if you insist," Julian said with a sigh and closed his eyes.
"Oh yeah, and one more thing..." Silica said, putting her right index finger to Julian’s lips.
Julian opened his eyes and saw Silica’s face behind her index finger.
"...Call me Silica, not class leader. I have a name too, you know!" Silica continued with pouting and standing on her tiptoes.
"A-alright, Silica!" Julian said, his face flushed from their proximity.
Silica stopped tiptoeing and she took a step back and smiled.
"Great to hear that!" Silica said with a smile.
After that, they entered the lab and began to retrieve the necessary physics equipment. Occasionally, their hands nearly touched as they lifted the equipment together, making the atmosphere a little awkward.
~To be continued~