Meanwhile, the school cafeteria was buzzing with activity. The students' conversations abruptly fell silent when three boys entered the cafeteria. Curious eyes immediately turned toward them, accompanied by whispers coming from every direction.
Of the three, the one who drew the most attention was a new student named Bagaskara.
Tall, handsome, and wearing a smile that seemed permanently fixed on his lips, Bagaskara had become the center of attention from the moment he first set foot at Pemuda Nusantara High School. It was no wonder so many girls were sneaking glances at him, already curious about the boy who was rumored to be joining Class 11 Science 1.
“Oh my God... he’s so handsome. What’s his name?” Alice whispered, her eyes shining as she struggled to look away.
“Bagaskara, Alice,” Pinkan answered flatly, as if she were already tired of watching her friend make a scene every time she saw a handsome guy.
“That new kid?” Alice asked again.
Pinkan merely nodded.
Alice wasn’t the only one. Martha and Kania were captivated too. When Bagaskara flashed a warm smile at someone, all three girls immediately became flustered—even though they knew the smile hadn’t been meant for them at all.
Seeing her chance, Alice quickly rose from her seat. With complete confidence, she briefly smoothed her hair before walking toward the table where Bagaskara sat with his two friends, Nathan and Rafael.
The three boys were absorbed in conversation as they enjoyed bowls of the cafeteria’s famous meatball soup. Every now and then, their laughter burst out, completely unaware that several pairs of eyes were watching them from a distance.
Alice drew a slow breath, put on her best smile, and stopped right in front of their table.
“Hi,” Alice greeted them with a sweet smile she had deliberately made as appealing as possible. “Can we get to know each other?”
Bagaskara paused with his spoon halfway to his mouth and lifted his gaze toward the girl.
Beside him, Nathan and Rafael exchanged annoyed looks. They knew Alice’s reputation well: she loved seeking attention, especially in front of popular boys.
At their table, Pinkan could only let out a resigned sigh. Martha and Kania, on the other hand, held back their laughter, amused by Alice’s shameless boldness as she walked straight up to the new student on his very first day.
Bagaskara set down his spoon for a moment, then stood and extended his hand.
“Bagaskara,” he said briefly, accompanied by a friendly smile.
Alice immediately took his hand, her face lighting up.
“Alice. By the way... you’re really cute.”
The compliment made Nathan and Rafael glance at each other, while Bagaskara only gave a faint smile. Rather than respond to the flirtation, he simply nodded politely.
“Thanks.”
His answer was brief, carrying neither encouragement nor rejection. He remained friendly, but it was clear enough that he had no intention of prolonging the conversation.
“Alice! Hurry up and get back here!” Pinkan called irritably, drawing the attention of several nearby students.
Alice pursed her lips in annoyance. She actually wanted to keep talking to Bagaskara longer, but Pinkan’s sharp look made her abandon the idea.
“We’ll continue this later, okay?” Alice said with a sweet smile at Bagaskara before finally turning around and returning to her friends’ table.
Once Alice had walked away, Nathan slowly shook his head, while Rafael only chuckled at the girl’s self-assured behavior.
“You’d better stay far away from her, Gas. Don’t end up dating an attention seeker,” Nathan quipped as he resumed eating his meatball soup.
Bagaskara frowned in confusion.
“An attention seeker?”
Nathan nodded firmly.
“Yeah. Just be careful. She looks sweet on the outside, but her behavior... well, you saw it. She thinks she’s gorgeous, and she’s always looking for attention too.”
At that, Rafael immediately flashed a mischievous grin.
“Wait, don’t you think she’s pretty too, Nath? She used to be your ex, after all.”
Nathan, who was drinking at the time, nearly choked.
“Hey! That’s in the past, okay? Stop bringing it up.”
Rafael and Bagaskara burst out laughing at Nathan’s flustered expression, while Nathan could only snort irritably at once again becoming the target of his two friends’ teasing.
That was Bagaskara’s first day at Pemuda Nusantara High School. Before that, he had attended school in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where his Dutch father lived and worked.
For some reason, Bagaskara had decided to return to Indonesia and finish his final year of high school in his mother’s homeland. His transfer immediately attracted the attention of many students, not only because of his handsome face but also because his background was different from that of most students at the school.
“After this, we’ll take you to the soccer club room, Gas,” Nathan said as he finished his last bite of meatball soup.
“That way, you can meet the team. It’ll make things less awkward when practice starts later,” Rafael added.
Bagaskara nodded slowly.
“Sure. I want to look around the school too.”
“Don’t worry,” Nathan chuckled. “With us around, you’ll know every corner of this school within a week.”
A short while later, the three of them left the cafeteria. Bagaskara, Nathan, and Rafael walked down the school corridor toward the soccer club room. Along the way, Nathan and Rafael kept joking around until Bagaskara was laughing along with them.
They were having so much fun that Bagaskara accidentally bumped shoulders with a girl walking in the opposite direction.
Thud.
The girl lost her balance and fell to the floor.
“Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean to,” Bagaskara said reflexively. He immediately extended a hand, intending to help her up.
But the girl only glanced at his outstretched hand with an expressionless face. Without saying a word, she got up on her own, straightened her uniform skirt, and continued walking away from them.
Bagaskara stood frozen, his hand still hanging in the air.
“What’s wrong with that girl? I already apologized,” he muttered in confusion.
Rafael merely shrugged.
“She’s always like that. Don’t be surprised by her.”
“What do you mean?”
Nathan chuckled softly before answering, “She’s known as the quietest girl in our grade. Don’t expect to hear her talk. That’s why everyone jokes that her voice is basically a limited edition.”
“Limited edition?” Bagaskara repeated, frowning.
“She talks so rarely that people joke her voice is incredibly rare. Some even say they’ve never heard her speak at all.”
Bagaskara turned toward Aletta’s back as she grew farther away. For some reason, the blank look in the girl’s eyes only made him more curious. There was something different in her gaze, as if it held a burden she couldn’t express in words.
“What class is she in?” Bagaskara asked. For some reason, his curiosity about the girl had only grown stronger.
Nathan and Rafael exchanged a brief glance before Rafael answered.
“Class 11 Social Studies 5.”
“Her name is Aletta,” Nathan added. “She’s always been quiet. She never hangs out, never talks to anyone. She comes to school, studies, and goes home.”
“That’s why you shouldn’t think too much about her,” Rafael continued casually. “She’s like that with everyone.”
Bagaskara nodded slowly. But his gaze remained fixed on the end of the corridor where Aletta had disappeared a few seconds earlier.
“That’s exactly what makes me curious,” he murmured, so softly that his two friends could barely hear him.
For the rest of the school day, the image of the girl he had accidentally bumped into continued to fill Bagaskara’s thoughts. Her blank stare, her cold demeanor, even the way she had refused his outstretched hand without saying a word all made it difficult for him to concentrate.
“Weird...” he thought.
At his old school, almost everyone had been friendly toward him. This was the first time someone hadn’t even been interested in looking at him for more than a moment.
Rather than feeling annoyed, Bagaskara gave a faint smile.
“She’s kind of interesting.”
Before he knew it, time had passed and the final bell rang, signaling the end of his first day at school.
Bagaskara quickly slung his bag over his shoulder. He couldn’t go straight home that day because he had to attend his first practice with the school soccer team.
When he reached the field, he warmed up with the other team members. But before practice began, his gaze accidentally fell on a girl who had just stepped out of the classroom building.
Aletta.
Class 11 Social Studies 5 was located right beside the field, so anyone coming out of it was clearly visible.
Aletta walked alone, her face expressionless as she stared straight ahead without paying any attention to her surroundings. The yellow cardigan she wore looked faded from frequent use, while the bag over her shoulder was simple and noticeably out of style compared with those carried by the other students.
Bagaskara watched her for a moment. Not because of her clothes or appearance, but because the girl truly seemed different. Amid the crowd of students joking around after school, Aletta walked by herself, as if the world around her had never been part of her life.