5 Chapter 5

School ended smoothly. This time I stayed with Micheal for a while before going home.

"Just now, everyone was shocked that you scored perfectly in math! Did you actually start studying!"

"Yeah."

"I see, that explained how you could answer Miss Fitri."

I don't know whether it's a perfect time or not but I'm going to say it anyway.

"Hey, Micheal I have something to say. Let's stop bullying others."

Because I said it out of nowhere, Micheal halted from walking casually.

"Also, no more internet cafes and you should attend your tuition as well."

Not understanding my intention, Micheal returned with a question.

"Why?"

Micheal replied to me in a robotic manner as though he was confused.

'Did I make a mistake?'

"Nevermind that I asked. I'll just listen to you. I'll stop bullying and attend my tuition."

Hm? Did he actually complied to my sudden request?

Anyway, I managed to say that. It should stop him from ditching school as well as his tuition just to accompany me to play computer games at an internet cafe.

Again, it's my fault that he became like this, I have to be responsible for him.

"Andy. Are we not friends anymore?"

He looked at me with teary eyes and it surprised me. The everyday-cheerful Micheal was about to cry.

"I feel like you are avoiding me."

Only after hearing what Micheal was trying to say, I finally understood why he became sad.

Ah, right. These few days, from his perspective, as my friend, I've changed a lot in a short time.

"O-of course, we're still friends! We're best friends!"

I quickly tried to clear up this weird situation by reassuring him that we're still best friends.

"It's just that, I don't want your family to keep worrying about you. So, instead of bullying others, we will be studying together from now on!"

"If you want, I could also teach you! I'm pretty smart if I try hard. I even scored perfectly in the math test."

I boasted how brilliant I am to Micheal and even offered to teach him.

Well, that is if his parents agreed which I doubt will happen.

"Un! I will tell my mom! She will definitely allow it"

Micheal nodded his head fervently, with a big smile on his face. Seeing that he was smiling again, I finally felt assured.

"So, today we're not going to an internet cafe?"

"No, not today. You should head home early. I have something to do, so I can't play. We can probably go there during the holidays."

"Really?! Then during the holidays, it is!"

After walking for a while, we arrived in front of my home.

"Bye!"

"See you tomorrow!"

I went into my house while Micheal was off to call his personal driver to fetch him home.

-----

"I'm back."

For some reason, I uttered those words.

Yesterday I did it too when I got home. I did it without myself noticing it.

It seems like, despite the fact that I'm over seventy, there's a part of me that remains the same age of this body.

The previous Andy felt lonely which is probably why I said it?

Doesn't this resemble Dissociative identity disorder?

Hm...

This answers how I remember many things even though I should've forgotten them.

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and get in."

Hearing the familiar voice, I was petrified for a second.

Why is Mervin home at this time?! Shouldn't he be working at this moment?

I was already shocked to see Mervin but then when I walked into the living room, I saw there's another person other than Mervin.

Not only Mervin was home, but Father was also home too.

Did both of them take a day off?

I took off my shoes without properly putting it in the shoe rack as well dropping my school bag on the sofa where my father was sitting.

"Oi. Your. Shoes."

Only after being glared at by Mervin, I realized what I have done and put my shoes on the rack.

As well as retrieving my school bag awkwardly as I realized I needed it.

Why did I throw my shoes and leave the bag on the sofa again?

Argh, let's stop dawdling and start doing my homework.

I planned to search for a part-time job but since they are home today, I'll leave it to another day.

I continued where I left off yesterday as I still haven't noted everything.

The next few hours were spent on doing homework, studying, and filling up my notebook.

My homework was finished. The notes are also almost done too.

I can finally take it slow and relax.

"Dinner is ready!"

Ah, It's 5 P.M already.

Mervin has finally finished cooking tonight's dinner. I then quickly put down my pen and headed outside.

It's been a while since I smell such a fragrant aroma from food.

As expected of Indonesian Cuisine. If they actually try instead of just fried anchovies, it would be a hundred times better.

I don't know what's the occasion but today dinner is definitely a celebratory feast.

On the table, I can see a huge bowl of soup called Soto Medan, stir-fried vegetables with a special ingredient from Indonesia called belacan, as well as fried egg omelet.

It's a feast! Was today dad's or brother's birthday?

I don't think so...

Hm, their birthday suddenly popped out in my mind but somehow I can't remember my own birthday.

Truthfully, It's not exactly Mervin's idea to cook these today, it was Lee's idea.

To Lee, today was a special occasion, His son, Andy finally became a little bit sensible and obedient. More importantly, he's diligently studying. Of course, he wanted to celebrate it.

Closing the television and stopped watching his favorite channel. Once in a while, Lee sat at the table and ate together with his family.

Usually, he would bring his food to the sofa and eat it there while watching television but since everyone gathered today he didn't want to ruin this special occasion.

Three of us ate quietly but happily.

Our family barely talked with each other, but that doesn't mean that we're not that close. We didn't like to communicate, especially while we're eating.

After we ate our dinner, we then enjoyed the TV together. I didn't particularly enjoy what my father was watching but I still stayed.

After it's 8 P.M, I was told by Lee to go to sleep as there's school tomorrow.

Without arguing, I went and took a quick shower as I haven't got a chance to since I got home.

-----

The next morning, I was dragged by Mervin to the table again. I wonder why I complained a lot back then. It wasn't that bad to be dragged around. If you got used to it, it's actually fun.

I didn't need to walk and I will magically arrive at the table. I just need to climb up.

"Good morning," I said while I lazily got onto the chair, climbing it as though it was a ladder.

"Can you just sit properly?" Andy lightly scolded me as he saw me not behaving properly while eating.

As usual, after breakfast, Mervin left my allowance money on the table and left for work

My school day starts again.

As soon as I arrived at school, without a shred of hesitation, I approached Kervin even though he's being surrounded by people.

I have made up my mind! I won't hesitate anymore!

"I deeply apologize for everything that I've done to you." I bowed deeply at Kervin and apologized.

I did it.

Without realizing people were looking at me with weird stares, I returned to my seat as though nothing happened.

I heard them gossiping but I just didn't care about it since the class was about to start soon.

"What made Andy apologize?"

"Creep."

Ding-Dong*

The class started.

It was Mr.Ridwan's class and as expected of him, his class wasn't that boring. He always has something new to tell the students. The lecture he gave was not entirely based on textbooks which are impressive.

I started to admire him a lot, as a student.

The next class was the most boring of all. It's English class taught by a peculiar looking teacher named, Mr.Robin.

I called him peculiar because his face looked very similar to western people, especially toward the actor named Rowan Atkinson. Just so you know, he's not a foreigner either.

Looking back, if it was for the previous Andy. The most interesting class would be the English Class as learning English allows me to communicate with other people in online games.

At that time, the English subject easily became the only subject that I'm interested in and best at.

Now that I'm learning it again, it has become the most boring class.

I mean, right now we're talking about Middle-Schooler English where you would learn how to greet someone, how to express gratitude or how to apologize.

Sigh*

"Andy, you look bored."

"How about you answer question number five for me?"

Mr.Robin speaks with English slowly and carefully hoping that I could understand him.

Question number five…

-----

Due to the long holiday during the great nine students having the tryout, all seventh-grade students have to complete their English homework from page 50 to 56.

How many students are having the tryout?

A. 5 students

B. 7 students

C. 9 students

D. All seventh-grade students

-----

See this kind of question... What's the fun?!

"The answer is C, nine students."

"Can you explain why you think the answer is C? Why is it not D?"

I'll just explain it in the simplest term to not create any suspicion.

"Because, it clearly said, "The great Nine" students are having the tryout."

I unconsciously explained to them in English because Mr.Robin was speaking to me in English too.

Mr.Robin, he didn't know that I'm the worst child in the class. He never paid attention to those anyway.

Which made him not suspect anything I've said. He simply gave me a compliment and moved on to his class.

"Excellent Job!"

"You should fix your accent if you wanted to sound more British-like."

It's a Singaporean accent.

At this moment, most of the students were shocked to hear Andy being able to speak English.

They didn't even expect Andy to be able to understand what Mr.Robin said to him.

'I barely heard what he said just now. Since when was he good at English?'

'There's also the recent math test where he got a hundred.'

'Is this why he apologized? Was it to declare that he would take the number one spot from me?'

'A trash should stay as trash. Why did he even try to climb?"

Kervin misunderstood Andy's good intentions and created a bigger hatred between him and Kervin.

Out of all possible directions, he misunderstood it in that direction.

The class soon ended, it was finally lunch break. During this time, many approached Andy in excitement.

The reason was that they were very impressed by Andy's performance during class. Not just today with Mr Robin but also the other day accounted for their amazement toward Andy too.

Such as Andy being able to answer questions of different subjects but the most shocking is the fact he scored perfect in the math test.

They have been wanting to approach but were afraid due to Andy's previous image as a bully.

Now. The kids can't hold back their curiosity anymore.

"Andy! Where did you study English? I want to study with your teacher. Maybe my English could be as good as yours."

"Yeah, tell us! Also, your maths tuition, Who's teaching you? I need to meet the teacher, to be able to turn you into this good, he should be able to teach me too."

"What do you mean by that? Andy was very smart. It's just that he didn't want to show it to others."

Uh... This is awkward...

What should I reply to them?

There's nothing such as tuition because I don't have the money to attend tuition outside school at all.

Even if I have one I would rather use the money to buy food rather than use it on tuition as it was the same thing as giving it away.

Kids these days attend tuition because they're too lazy to study on their own. Other than that, they are also lazy to get their homework done by themself.

Which is why tuition is helpful to them. The tuition's teacher will help them do homework for them as well as allow them to have fun with friends.

Tuition is a scam!

The kids surrounding are eager to know where I'm studying at. I can't satisfy them with simply 'I study them myself.' can I?

Oh! I know! That should work!

"My big brother! He taught me everything."

"You have a brother?! Can you ask him to teach us too?"

"Yeah, We'll pay for the tuition fees."

Bingo! Now that they said that, I can reply to this.

"My brother is busy so it'll be hard to teach you guys. The only time he's available was at night."

Kids can't stay up late, so they won't be able to attend tuition at night time. Who would in the right mind study at night time anyway. Most of the kids wouldn't want that.

Well, that is if it exists in the first place. Anyway, this final answer will settle everything for me.

Just so you know, I kept calling them kids because they are kids to me. I am over seventy years old.

"Aw... What a shame..."

"How lucky to have a smart brother."

"Yeah, it's so nice. I don't have a brother or sister, I'm the oldest one."

Each of them was disappointed to hear what I said. The group finally dispersed, all of them left the classroom and went to do their things, either to eat in the canteen or hang out outside the class.

I'm freed…

"Woah, you became popular!" Micheal wore a huge smirk on his face.

"Stop joking around."

"Hahaha, Andy is shy!"