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There were 2 things that were bound to happen on a not-so-typical Friday in this incredibly stressful August.
One: XII-B had a sudden maths exam with roughly 1 hour to study the whole material (which everyone deemed as impossible unless you keep reviewing the lesson every night before you go to sleep).
Two: today is Ara’s 17th birthday.
Except no one remembered — or that’s what they wanted her to think because they prepared a glass chocolate cake with cherries and colorful decorations on top! Well, it might not be her all-the-time favorite or the first type of cake she’d buy if she were to go into a cakeshop, but who wouldn’t like to be celebrated on the exact day they’ll no longer be considered a minor?
And so the day started in class.
Dawn hadn’t even broken through the sky, yet here they were standing on artificial grass and preparing their legs to run another 2km in the morning. The teachers’ say it’s a healthy routine and the air wasn’t contaminated much by pollution, although many would likely disagree with the latter.
Nadine walked down the amphitheater at a fair pace, following other students who streamed down their classes and rushed towards the field. The amphitheater was newly renovated, and it was the one of the only few excellent decisions their school made. That said, it was clear that they had a fondness of naming certain things with Roman terms (it’s literally just stairs), which made it hard to pronounce or say daily, so some simply called it the ‘amphi’ for short.
A happy-go-lucky figure appeared in the distance. “Nadine!” called Ara. Her face was exceptionally smiley today, pink cheeks following the glint of her eyes. Well, you know what day it was.
Nadine walked closer, joining the crowd, hugging her friend. “Hey! Finished doing last night’s review? Too many questions to be honest.”
“I lowkey think there’s some of the things he hadn’t even taught in class.” And while that was true, it’s better to check Ara’s reading history to know what she read most last night, and it’s either her math notes or finishing her book collection.
“Yeah, I don’t get him either.”
“Araaaaa!” Of course it was Jasmine. She constantly displayed positive energy, more so knowing it’s 5.30 AM. A type of face you’d make if you saw a cute video of a cat rolling around a carpet, or finally buying the book in a to-read list.
Ara turned around just in time to get pulled into a hug so enthusiastic it nearly knocked her off balance. “Jas! Oof–”
“Happy–” Jasmine caught herself, biting down on the word so hard it practically made an audible click. She cleared her throat instead. “...Friday. Happy Friday, Ara!”
Nadine had to actively turn her face into neutral. Her corner of her mouth was twitching in the telltale way that meant she was holding back a laugh. Even if Ara noticed anything, she didn’t show it. Her hearty laugh followed, breathless from the hug and the early morning cold. “Happy Friday to you too.”
Her friend nodded back. “Heard you have a math exam today? Spill the questions please…”
“He didn’t even teach in our class, lol.” A quieter voice cut in from behind them, Nayya had appeared.
“You just have to have the confidence,” Jasmine said, tugging Ara along toward where the rest of their year level was starting to gather in sleepy clumps on the field. They wore the purple TO shirt, which was honestly not the best color to have on such an exciting school event.
The whistle blew, cutting through the morning chatter, and the loose clumps of students reorganized themselves into something resembling lines. XII-B should be clustered together near the flagpole, but the field didn’t even have the space to separate each student in their own groups, so assimilation had to be done.
“2 kilometers,” Vania groaned, stretching one arm across her chest. “2 kilometers before 6 AM should be illegal. This is basically a human rights violation.”
“I can see that, lol,” Vinca said, not even looking up from retying her shoelace. Yes, it was evidently obvious that Vania didn’t even bother to brush her curly hair this morning, and even if she did, she was undoubtedly the least competent to display a lying face.
Nadine glanced sideways at Ara as they started jogging, watching for… she wasn’t sure what. Maybe just to make sure Ara didn’t realize anything, or maybe her friend just didn’t expect anyone to say happy birthday to her. Well, Ara just looked focused on pacing her breathing, ponytail swinging. Nayya, jogging steadily beside Nadine, exhaled something that was almost a laugh.
By the time they filed back into XII-B, damp-haired and slightly out of breath, the clock read 7:00. Forty minutes until the exam. Truth be told, they could hardly care what score they’d get, but taking remedial exams are still as tireful as it can be.
“Okay, is question 9 from the PDF even doable,” Nadine said loudly, dropping into her seat and pulling out a half-eaten bread from her bag. “Because I stared at it for 20 minutes last night and all it did was stare back.”
“It’s not that deep, just count the chances of the dice,” Vinca started.
“I don’t want a lecture, Vinca, I want the answer.”
“That IS the answer.”
Aretha, unwrapping her own breakfast, glanced over at Ara’s desk. “You didn’t bring anything to eat?”
Her friend waved a hand. “Not hungry yet. I’ll eat after.”
Which was, Nadine noted, a very Ara thing to say and also possibly a lie, because her stomach chose that exact moment to growl audibly enough that Jasmine burst out. “‘Not hungry,’ she says,” she wheezed.
“Shut up,” Ara said, but she was laughing too, cheeks pink.
Eventually, Nadine turned her chair around, putting her tablet on Ara’s desk. “Ra, what’d you answer for number 14?”
“Hm.”
Yes, she’s definitely sulking at us.
The exam papers made their way down the rows, passed hand to hand. Their teacher, Pak Haris, wrote the time on the whiteboard and took his seat at the front, already scrolling through his phone.
The room dissolved into the soft chaos of an exam in progress. The supposed silence made it easy to hear pens scratching, someone’s leg bouncing against a desk leg two rows over, even a certain classmate who flipped all over to the last question. Nadine got through the first six questions on muscle memory alone, review packet logic still fresh enough in her head to be useful.
Question 7 made her pause.
Question 9 made her want to cry a little.
By question 12, she’d resorted to the true strategy of writing down something and moving on, promising herself she’d come back to it.
The bell rang at 9:10 sharp, and Pak Haris rose. “Pens down. Pass your papers.”
There was the usual scramble. A few last frantic scribbles before hands physically pulled papers away, someone in the back groaning “wait, WAIT—” and getting ignored, papers shuffling forward row by row until they landed in a stack on the teacher’s desk. He flipped through them once, counting, then left with the stack tucked under his arm and zero further commentary, which was somehow worse than if he’d said something. Perhaps he was astonished by this class’ creativity to jot down any type of answer that appeared in their heads.
The bell rang, and XII-B spilled into the hallway, everyone beelining toward the canteen. Jasmine announced her arrival before she physically arrived.
“Guys can someone buy me a drink please… I left my wallet again.”
“You say that every week,” Diva said, not even looking up from her phone.
“And every week someone takes pity on me! It’s basically tradition now.”
“It’s basically theft now.”
Jasmine gasped, clutching her chest like she’d been physically wounded and jogged to catch up, still talking at full volume about absolutely nothing. It was some video she’d seen last night, a football match Vania immediately added to the convo to argue about, whether the canteen’s dimsum was better than the noodles, and so on and so on.
Nadine trailed a little behind with Diva, both of them keeping half an eye on Ara without being obvious about it, or at least trying to. Ara was walking beside Nayya, quiet, nodding along to whatever thing Aretha was saying, but it was easy to notice that she wasn’t really contributing much back.
“She’s so quiet today,” Diva murmured.
“Well, she’s always kind of quiet next to Jasmine. Actually, everyone’s quiet next to her, no?"
“That’s not what I meant.”
Up ahead, Jasmine had somehow roped Ara into the debate, throwing an arm around her shoulders. “ARA. Back me up. Fried rice, right? Tell Vania she’s wrong.”
Ara blinked, needing a second to catch up to the question. “None, I guess.”
“The betrayal…”
“Lol, sorry,” Ara said, and there was a small laugh in it.
Nayya, walking on her side, didn’t say anything. Just glanced sideways at her for a second too long before looking away again.
Adzan just finished, and they were hanging out in class. There weren’t much things to do besides doing homework or doing whatever with their things. Nayya had gone with the rest of the gang, leaving Nadine with Ara. They were sitting side by side, but none managed to utter a word.
This is bad… Can I even bring her later? Nadine thought. Bad scenarios came gushing into her mind.
Suddenly, a sharp notification rang from her phone. It was a message from Nayya, bring her to the lab, cepetan.
“Hey, uh… ra?”
“Yeah?” She answered, a flat expression on her face. She was clutching onto her tablet, reading something from her collection. It was hard to read her.
“I’m going to the lab to get my stuff, mind if you accompany me?”
“Uhm, I think I’ll just stay here.”
Fuck, she muttered under her breath. How could she ever force Ara to come with her and make the surprise? It was only a matter of time and place to deliver the chocolate cake.
Eventually, Nadine took a short breath. “Ara… happy birthday. It’s your 17th, right?”
She smiled, just barely, but the glint in her eyes came back, just slightly. “Yeah… thanks.”
“And uh… I think I left a lot of stuff in the lab. Please help me?”
And there they were walking through the hall to the stairs. None of them uttered a word, but both of them were smiling.
Nadine slowly opened the door, and then…
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARAAA!” Everyone inside the lab shouted vociferously, hands in the air, confetti in the air like falling raindrops, and balloons of her newly acquired age accompanying the cake. It was a spectacular scene simply put.
“Hey… please don’t be mad at us! We didn’t want to be the asshole-”
Suddenly, Ara bursted out laughing, both of complete felicity and joy of playing in her friends’ faces. “Guys, I’m just following the act. Of course I won't be mad at you guys!”
The cake was cut, and everyone took big bites, their mouths filled with vanilla cream and smiles, while warm wishes and congratulations spread through the air.
“But don’t you at least have one thing that you like, ra?”
“I like a lot of things, but I love you guys the most.”