RUN WITH ME
CHAPTER 12: START TO CARE

"Hello, Hera!" With a five-fingered smile, Arunika greeted Hera who had come first to school. Arunika placed her bag on her seat, right in front of Hera. The woman called returned the greeting, then refocused on her smartphone. But then he realized there was something strange about Arunika so he raised his head back and patted his shoulder slowly, making Arunika turn around.

"Why does your face look more lethargic than usual?" Arunika's forehead frowned, "more lethargic how? I feel fresher today because Monday should be welcomed with sunny—"

"For the days to come can be bright as well." Arunika chuckled when she realized Hera was continuing the sentence that became one of her motto in living her days.

"That's right, honey," Arunika replied as she blinked one eye, making Hera shake in thought. People welcome Monday alone is strange, let alone being able to hold on to such a motto, that's how Hera thought. But in his heart Hera realized there was something wrong with Arunika, visible from her eyes that were not as cheerful as usual.

"You sure?" ask Hera to make sure. Arunika fell silent, making Hera more convinced by her feelings.

"What's up, Run?" insist Hera while turning off her phone. Arunika glanced in various directions several times, then asked Hera to come closer. Then the head of the OSIS brought his lips closer to the right ear of the friend.

"Actually I slept late last night because it was too exciting to read a book." Hera closed her eyes, while Arunika distanced herself while turning her head to the right and left.

"You kidding me?" Arunika shook her head loudly, "no! You know I've been reading new books lately. It was originally said to be boring, but it turns out that in the middle to the end it was very exciting, so I forgot the time." Arunika ended her sentence with an oddity. Hera again could only breathe slowly, only to be understood.

"Good then, fear that there is nothing." Finally Hera believed the words of her friend, then looked back at her mobile phone. Likewise with Arunika who returned to face her body forward and exhaled a sigh of relief silently.

Arunika certainly could not tell what she had experienced at three this morning, but her reason about reading the book was correct. He who had woken up could not fall back asleep so chose to continue his reading and finished at six in the morning, the hour to wake up on the school day. Finally after reading, Arunika immediately prepared and went to school in a state of sleep deprivation. Arunika just didn't tell it in full.

Shortly after the school hour bell began to ring. All the students walked into the classroom and their seats. The teacher enters the first hour and the lesson begins.

...⁕⁕⁕...

"So, the Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respectful allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The conflict was based on the ideological ...." Although the voice of the history teacher in front of the class was very loud, Gavin seemed not to hear it and was more busy looking out the window, at one person in the outdoor field who had just completed his running test. The figure landed his buttocks on the sidelines with a gasp of breath, and then straightened his drink quickly. Gavin laughed at him. He came back to know something new about Arunika.

Yes, it was Arunika whom he had been addressing since. Gavin forgot that Arunika is also human, there must be weaknesses and this is one of them, sports. Gavin shut his mouth to hide his laughter when the woman was asked for a retest because her time exceeded the limit. He could see Arunika who was angry with her lips muttering while moving her legs back to run, while on the sidelines stood Hera who cheered Arunika, although laughing.

"Mrs. Kanagara, please pay your attention to me, not others." The whole view turned to Gavin, as did Gavin who was slightly jumped. She's busted. He looked back at the teacher and apologized to her. Floyd who was sitting next to Gavin— in a different line— gave a suspicious look, while the one who was given the gaze just cleared awkwardly and refocused on the book on his desk. The lesson goes back until finally the break comes.

"Who were you meeting?" Floyd's interrogation on Gavin who's still cleaning his desk. Gavin was silent for a moment and then shook his head.

"Nobody." Floyd was suspicious and ready to ask questions again, but Maverick's voice from the door shifted his focus.

"Come, hurry! I'm hungry." Floyd snorted softly and walked up to the man who could not stand still, before long Gavin followed. The three men walked towards the cafeteria on the first floor.

"Today's menu what, huh?" maverick asked as he imagined the delicious food that would likely appear.

"Hopefully broccoli vegetables," said Floyd in a relaxed tone, but able to provoke a face full of rejection from Maverick.

"No, no! God, please don't broccoli. Why are you asking for broccoli, anyway?" reject Maverick while holding his hands together and closing his eyes, praying that the one above should recite his request. Floyd raises both shoulders and lets Maverick hit him freely, while Gavin just smiles after seeing the interaction between his two friends.

"Yes, let's go there." Without waiting for a reply, Maverick immediately pulled the hands of Floyd and Gavin.

"Hello, Miss Bumantara and Miss Courtney, can you sit here?" Arunika and Hera turned to the side to see who came, then nodded afterwards.

"Then I take food first, yes. Don't let the place be taken, "remember Maverick and go first, leaving Gavin and Floyd. Seconds later, Floyd chases Maverick, very curious about the menu today. Because if the vegetables were broccoli, Floyd promised to go to church this week.

Arunika looked at Gavin who was still in her place, "don't take any food?" Gavin blinked his eyes several times and realized that he had been left behind.

"Who? They're gone?" After saying that, Gavin immediately went after his two friends who seemed to have quarreled because the vegetables on the menu today are really broccoli. Arunika and Hera who saw the funny behavior immediately laughed out loud. What's wrong with that guy? As they thought.

Moments later, the trio returned to the table with Maverick pouting, Floyd cheerfully, and Gavin again shaking his head.

"What's wrong?" asked Hera confusedly looking at Maverick and Floyd's different expressions 180 degrees.

"Because he's on the menu today there's broccoli" Maverick recalls pointing right at Floyd's sinless face. The designated man held his hand and lowered it.

"Why do you blame me? If you want, blame the cook, ask why cook broccoli. I didn't know it would come true either" defended Floyd while taking a seat beside Gavin who had been sitting since before him Arunika.

While Maverick and Floyd are busy fighting, and Hera is trying to break up, Gavin opens a conversation with the woman in front of him, "don't you take any food?" Arunika frowned her nose while shaking weakly.

"No lust, still tired from running earlier. Know it? I was asked to retest just because my time exceeded the five-second limit and the teacher was unwilling to give me leniency" Arunika confided with an annoyed face. Gavin grimaced to hear that, but inwardly was a little pleased that it turned out to be true.

"You want cold water?" bargain with Gavin while thrusting his cold drinking bottle at Arunika. Gavin offered to look at the empty bottle and her face was still red.

"Then how do you drink it?"

"Later to buy again, you seem to need more." The casual answer made Arunika finally take the bottle of Gavin because she was still thirsty, but her body was still not strong enough to walk.

"Thank you." Gavin nodded slowly, then watched the woman drink half of the water from the bottle. It really shows how tired he is. After feeling quite satisfied because her fluid needs were met, Arunika suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to bring your suit today, tomorrow, yeah." Gavin nodded back. Actually not returned is also okay because it will be rarely used, his family prefers to buy a new one when there is an event. But he couldn't say it because he didn't want to get a weird view of everyone at the table.

Without them both knowing, the fight between tom and jerry—Maverick and Floyd—had been over and since noticed Gavin's behavior, as well as the conversation of the two who were able to give another guess in the three people there. Before long Gavin realized that intent-filled gaze and like he knew what they were thinking, Gavin immediately explained his reason—though a little awkwardly.

"I offered him a drink because he was still thirsty and about the suit, yesterday I and he turned out to be at the Rosverd family event. Since he was cold, I lent him my suit. It's natural for me, isn't it? I'm just trying to be nice to others." Hera, Maverick, and Floyd just nodded at the reason with meaningful faces. In fact, in their hearts they lack trust.

Arunika frowned confusedly, "what do you mean?"

...⁕⁕⁕...