The Van Til House: STRAF SABBAT
Chapiter 2

The light emanated out of room 111. There was laughter a lot. Magisna draped her backpack on her shoulder and stepped inside.

The laughter of the child in the room stopped when he entered.

A short, thin yellow-haired guy wearing a flannel-dika Alisyah shirt, a classmate of Magisna, was doodling the blackboard. Her hair fell on her face.

A quiet girl sits at the front desk. His name is Novi Artikasari. Magisna knows him from every OSIS board meeting. She is petite and slim, wearing a brown sweater and khaki pants. His thick, long hair was tied slightly at the temple with a butterfly-shaped hairpin to the back of his head. The biology textbook opens in front of him. He shouldn't be here, Magisna thought. He's one of the exemplary students.

Two other people were sitting at the back of the class. A round-faced girl had little curls, but the thick makeup around her eyes made the girl's face look hard. He wears a rock concert T-shirt and tight jeans. He blew a bubble of gum and looked at Magisna. Magisna tried not to look him in the eye.

Magisna knew the last guy just from his reputation. Hendra Dwi Maulana, the son of the devil-the real bastard. He wore a torn army jacket, a torn T-shirt, and torn jeans. His pitch-black hair was left to extend to the jaw. His eyes had locked onto Magisna's eyes ever since he entered.

Wow, Magisna grumbled in her heart. Not my usual gang.

He knows the story of Hendra. Everybody knows. Charming. Smoking in class. Firecrackers in the boys' bathroom. Even worse. He said Hendra stole the car. But nobody knows for sure.

"Emh, hi," Magisna muttered. "What's here punishment class?"

"No, it's a surgical class" Hendra said harshly. "A dead mouse is coming soon."

"Gua is getting impatient" said Magisna, trying to sound relaxed.

Dika chuckles. "Dead mice can be great pets know," he said. "You don't have to take a walk."

"Your throat." The girl with the menor makeup rolled her eyeballs. He threw a lump of paper at Hendra.

Hendra caught the paper and put it on the table. Then he grabbed into his jacket pocket and took the gas lighter. He opened the lid, flicked it until it lit up, then brought the paper ball closer to the flame.

It was only eight in the morning and they were already intending to burn this place down! thought Magisna.

The paper burned in an instant.

"Yow!" yelled Hendra, dropping him on the floor.

"Lu could trigger a tau water sprinkler system" Novi warned.

Hendra scoffed. "Keep why?"

"Gua doesn't want to get into trouble anymore" replied Novi.

"Who wants to?" the girl menor back.

Novi is back in his book.

"Heh, Gisna," called Hendra suddenly.

****, he knows my name, Magisna thought amazed.

"Wouldn't you sit down? Make the cave nervous."

"Sorry," muttered Magisna. He put down his backpack and sat by the door.

"Hi, Ka." Novi glanced at him. "Would you make trigonometric PR?"

"Huh-ha. Funny right." Magisna smiled widely, grateful to see a friendly face. "What the hell was your fault?"

"Too much licking," muttered Dika interrupting them.

Magisna took a closer look at what Dika-graffiti was drawing. In circular letters, he wrote: I PROMISE NOT TO.

Next is not written.

Novi didn't ignore it. "Lu frog surgery isn't in biology class either?" tanyakanya.

"Yeah" Magisna replied without interest. Thinking of the sticky gut and the smell of formaldehyde made her stomach rebel. "That's disgusting."

"The cave doesn't want a frog operation" Novi said, frowning. "Free. We don't learn more than we do in the diagram. Why do we have to have frog surgery?"

"Lu's being punished for not having frog surgery?" ask Hendra from behind them.

"His head is dead, Novi," Hendra lapsed at Novi.

"Certainly? You like it if they also have your surgery after you die?"

"You mean frog? Cave surgery? Ha-has... Cave kok ngarep ya tu frog can cave surgery," Hendra replied. "Then they can learn something."

Novi snorted and looked back at Magisna. "Cua just doesn't want to have a frog operation."

Magisna shrugged her shoulders. He had no moral objection whatsoever when it came to dissecting frogs. It's just disgusting.

"Biology teacher, don't you give this punishment because of it?" dika asked as she widened her eyes.

"He gave the cave a choice anyway" said Novi grimly. "Pick what frog surgery is punished for, what will write a thousand-word report about amphibians."

"And you chose this?" ask Dika again.

Novi shrugged his shoulders.

"For the size of a pinter," said Hendra, shaking his head, "Lu really t o l o l."

"The cave doesn't bother you, Hendra," said Novi.

"Your right now" sergeant Hendra. He ripped off a few pages of the textbook and waved it like a card. He flicked the lighter and burned it.

"Woy--lu crazy! Want to stop you?" bentak Novi's.

"The cave can't" said Hendra. "Which cave doesn't really know which one is wrong, inget?"

Burning paper fragments floated in the air.

Magisna lowered her head avoiding him. He wondered in his heart what Hendra would do if the fire burned his finger.

Hendra again tore the paper from the book in front of him.

"Weyyy--well, Shucks!" Novi scolded him again.

Magisna turned around quickly and saw Mr. Isa at the entrance. "Turn it off-now too!" his yell.

"OK, okay," said Hendra. He walked slowly forward and dropped all the debris into the trash. Then he took the vase from the teacher's desk, pulled the flower out, and poured water on the fire. He put the flower in an empty vase. Then he turned towards the headmaster and smiled smirked at him. "Satisfied now?"

Is he crazy? In Magishna's heart he asked. What the hell is he trying to prove?

"I hope you don't have any plans for next Saturday, Hendra" said Mr Isa. His voice shakes with anger. "You must return for punishment again."

"S I a l a n!" Hendra patted his own forehead. "Not watching cricket."

The girl in menor makeup giggled while covering her mouth.

Magisna couldn't believe it. He and his friends also do not like Pak Isa. But he would never intentionally be disrespectful to her. It's the same as looking for.

Pak Isa stepped closer to the giggling girl earlier. "If anyone has to shut up, it's you, Alexza. You've been ditching enough times to spend another year at Van Til Hogeschool. You want?"

Isa now turned to Dika. So far he just wrote up: I PROMISE NOT TO DOODLE.

"Sit, Dika."

Dika pout. He dropped the chalk on the floor and walked with heavy strides towards the table in the first row.

Isa observed the chalk painting. "Unfortunately you did not think to use chalk while doodling the school bus," he said. "Your style needs to be fixed."

"You're an art critic?" Dika.

"Perhaps if you don't follow Hendra too often, you can take your talents more seriously" the principal told him.

Dika just shrug.