01 | toilet - until read

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"Heh, very much so."

That's Edelyn. When a harsh curse comes out of her mouth, my friends and I always call her Udel. It means navel in Javanese. As my Javanese grandmother used to say, 'Nek bicara sak penak udel e dewe.' Or if translated, 'When she talks she likes to do whatever she wants.' Exactly like Edelyn when she's annoyed.

Not just when he's upset, though. It's become a habit, and he often calls us that. Especially to me, since we're deskmates.

"What's up, dude?" I replied. Of course, I didn't want to lose.

"Oh, so you can curse now." Edelyn chuckled. I snorted. I looked at her lazily. "What? What do you want to do?"

"Let's go to the bathroom? I suspect the cake has already been eaten. It feels like it's damp or something."

"Yes, yes, Jing. No need to continue. Bring the Japanese bread first, if not, take it from my bag. In the usual place." I said, cutting off his explanation. It could spread everywhere if I didn't stop him soon. Because yes... besides having a mouth full of garbage that kept overflowing every time he spoke, his brain was also polluted by waste. I don't want to blame anyone, only blame some demons who were gathering behind the classroom. I don't know what they did but I guess it resulted in sin.

Edelyn returned, embracing me out of the classroom and leading me to the girls' restroom under the stairs in the second-grade corridor. In the pocket of her gray skirt was a faint lump of what I assumed was Japanese bread. Hm, apparently this girl isn't very pro at this.

The girl, a few inches taller than me, entered one of the stalls. She had previously threatened me with a few threats and glares, urging me to wait and not leave her. I simply smiled drily and waved my hand, urging the creature who had been my best friend for half a year to go to her place.

The sound of water flowing quickly from the faucet rang out. Edelyn went about her business. A few seconds later, she screamed excitedly, calling my name and telling me what had happened. "WOW, YOU'RE A DOG, JO. THERE ARE SO MANY FROM THE FRONT TO THE BACK. HOW CAN I NOT BRING ANOTHER SH*T!" She exclaimed.

I didn't care. I chose to face the mirror and smooth out the stray strands of hair that had fallen over my forehead and temples.

Unexpectedly, the toilet door was suddenly forced open. Someone ran in and quickly closed it. Their body pressed against the door, their eyes closed, and they gasped for breath. I froze. I studied the person for a moment, then fell upon the name tag on their shirt pocket.

Hayden Sam. H.

"What are you doing, Sis? You didn't enter the toilet by mistake, right?" I asked cautiously. Afraid to think about the news from the news portals that often came in my phone notifications. About violence, harassment, abuse, even murder that occurred in the toilet. Besides, why would a man enter the women's toilet when there was a clear sign and information posted in front of the door.

"No." He said, moving away from the door, looking around the entire room, then stopping at the far end of the room. "I want to hide there. If my friends or anyone comes looking for me, just say you don't know anything." He explained, walking towards the room.

"Your name is-"

"Hayden. I'm Hayden." He interrupted quickly, then closed the door to the stall just like that.

"I know, Sat. I just wanted to say that your name is similar to the name of my senior from junior high school, man. And they're both handsome too." I muttered, facing the mirror again. Smiling cutely while posing as if I were taking a photo shoot. Honestly, you've probably done this before.

"I hear you," said a deep voice from the other end of the room. I instantly felt goosebumps for some reason.

The toilet door was forced open. A man's head appeared, staring straight into my eyes as his eyes scanned the room. "Have you seen Hayden?" He asked straight to the point. I shook my head. With the innocent face of a first-year student who loves to put on an act in front of handsome seniors. I did it for two reasons. One, to please the person who was guarding the end stall. And to maintain Ryena's innocent image in front of handsome seniors. Because the man, to be honest, was really handsome and a little bit pretty? Although it was a shame because he didn't seem that much taller than me compared to the towering stall person.

The handsome, messy-haired old man nodded, saying a quick 'Thanks' before closing the door. Honestly, his Australian accent was really thick even though he only said one word. I kind of know, because I once dreamed of being a student there. Please say amen so we can go to school wherever we want. Okay, this isn't that important.

Because of the handsome grandfather, I almost forgot about Edelyn, who had just emerged from the cubicle. Her face looked fresher. She must have been carrying a travel-sized facial wash under her bulging skirt pocket. She grinned after I snickered and told her she was taking so long. "Yeah, sorry. I was just washing my face inside."

"Why not here? There's a mirror."

"Just eavesdropping, hehe. According to the level of the cog detector in my brain, the owner of that heavy, wet voice must be handsome, right? You admit it, right?"

I scoffed. "Oh, you're really using your brain?"

"Bastard," he cursed. "Don't underestimate my shrimp brain, you midget. My chubby-detecting radar might be a trillion times more sophisticated than yours."

"I'm not a dwarf, mate. Just because you're three centimeters taller than me, you can feel like you're the tallest." I said, annoyed. I couldn't accept it, of course. Hell, I'm not that dwarf.

"Who's the midget?" the voice of the person guarding the end room asked after opening the door. We both turned to look at him, who was staring at us with a lazy gaze. Either he was sleepy, or he didn't want to stay awake, or maybe he just had narrow eyes.

As I expected, Edelyn stared at the man with pursed lips and a muffled, exaggerated exclamation. No wonder, she's always like this. She'd clearly been listening to our conversation. How could she act so surprised to see a man in the women's restroom like this?

Edelyn the overreacting human.

"You too, don't act like you're tall and you can say things like that, as if you're mocking me," I said to the person in the corner booth. I don't know how many times I've called him that. It seemed like a fitting nickname for him, who seemed to have a mysterious gray shadow behind him.

The booth attendant raised an eyebrow. "Ugh, you're so handsome."

But... he's truly handsome. There's no denying that. If he were in a band, he'd probably be the number one visual.

Just forget it.

"Well, you're really short. Try coming closer, it won't even reach my shoulders." The room attendant said dismissively. "It doesn't reach you, you know! You're using your eyes!!" I replied quickly. I was already annoyed with his super-cool behavior.

Then he shrugged innocently, walked towards the door and opened it. Before closing the door, he turned around and said, "Bhay, my concubines." Then he left a wink that made my stomach churn instantly. Unlike Edelyn, who almost jumped up and down if I didn't hold her.

Edelyn the overreacting human.

"Come on, how long are you going to keep the egg here? Are you going to go back to class?" I asked Edelyn, who seemed dazed.

"Huh? Oh yeah, let's go." She replied after blinking. Maybe she was regaining her composure and taking back her soul. Then she opened the toilet door and left me first, making me have to chase after her who suddenly became running with enthusiasm like that. I don't know, maybe it's a mood swing. So if Edelyn suddenly gets angry for no reason... don't be surprised.

I arrived at class just in time before the bell rang. Luckily, I had brought my lunch, so I wasn't too worried if my stomach suddenly growled. Edelyn was the laid-back one, she could ask for food anywhere. So was I, we were partners everywhere. As Edelyn put it, we were like Krystal Jung and Jessica Jung. Sisters who were so close they were like twins. We were the opposite, best friends who were so close they were like sisters.

To make it quicker, I just said yes.

I was still watching Edelyn, who was still searching for food around the classroom, searching for food to share with me once she had gathered enough. Suddenly, Jeandra, or Jeje as I often call her, ran into the classroom and shouted in her dolphin voice, saying that the teachers were having an impromptu meeting, so the next two periods would be free.

"But it won't be a free class," Jeje said, shattering the imagination of all of us who were ready to relax.

"Oh, a dog." As expected, it was Edelyn.

"Wettt, you're so cool, boss." Jeje looked at Edelyn, pretending to be scared, "What I mean is we still have our school fees, but we're given assignments, hehe. Don't gang up on me!" Then the guy closest to me in the class ran here and there, avoiding the girls who were ready to go on a rampage. Edelyn? No, not really. Maybe she wasn't in the mood, if she was excited, she would definitely be at the front of the line.

Yes.

Oh my gosh, when will my class be able to calm down?

Rina, the girl who always looks cute because of her round face, walked towards the blackboard after talking to someone in the doorway, holding a piece of paper in her left hand. She wrote down the details of the assignment given by the teacher, to which I immediately responded with a lazy sigh as I took a book from my bag and began working on the problem.

I'm halfway through the problem, and I feel dizzy. I'm too lazy to read the complicated sentences, and there are many unfamiliar words. Luckily, my phone has the KBBI (Indonesian Dictionary), so... just click-click-click-click and it's done.

Edelyn, who had been lazily copying my assignment with her head resting on the table, suddenly straightened up. This confused me, who had been paying half attention to the problem and half to herself. I frowned, "What are you doing?"

Edelyn glanced over for a moment, then shook her head and put it back down. Don't be confused, she's usually that random. Maybe tomorrow, if her mood improves and I ask her about what just happened, she'll say she suddenly saw a handsome guy walking by, or whatever.

I shrugged and continued working on the remaining three questions. If you also hate long questions with only one short answer, raise your hand. You're my friend. Yes.

"Are you done?!" It was Rifa, the class champion who always spoke as loud as a loudspeaker when surprised or annoyed. It was the same now. She picked up her notebook, looking at the blank numbers she hadn't filled in yet—asking why my answers were this and that. My answers were this and that, too. It was hard to convince the number one.

"Oh, what's wrong Ren? The bell's almost ringing." Edelyn spoke after a moment of squeaking, probably because Rifa's loud voice disturbed her sleep. I glanced at the clock, huh... almost there—

'TEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTT!!!'

—the bell rings.

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eh so what do you think about part 1?

Thank you for reading(*'˘'*)ー❣❣

ーatéleia, 2O2O