The Rules of Lavender High School

March 11th, 1989

A white sedan stopped in front of the school gate. Jerico, a new student at Lavender High School, got out of the car. He walked through the school gate and headed to the teacher's office to meet his homeroom teacher. That was what he had been instructed to do when he signed up a few days ago.

"Are you a new student?"

As Jerico was just passing through the gate, a school security guard approached him. He looked like he was in his 40s. His appearance as a security guard was fairly neat. He had a thick mustache but it didn't look messy, his height seemed to be only 5'3", his skin was brown and he had a fat body.

"Ha? Oh yes, sir. I'm a new student."

The school security guard looked at Jerico from head to toe and vice versa with an appraising look.

"Are you mixed?"

Jerico was completely confused by the question asked to him. He just nodded in confirmation of the question. Jerico was of American-Indonesian descent. He had been living in America, and moved to Indonesia for some reason.

Jerico was 6'0" tall, had a sharp nose and white skin typical of foreigners in general. But even so, Jerico looked more East Asian than American. Maybe you could say, his face was 60% East Asian and 40% American.

The expression of the security guard turned enthusiastic, "Oh no wonder you're so handsome."

Jerico who was praised could only smile awkwardly and scratch the back of his neck which wasn't itchy at all.

"Let me take you to the teacher's office. You don't know where it is, do you?"

At that time, Jerico wanted to say that he knew where the teacher's office was. But he felt bad about rejecting the kindness of the security guard, so he just nodded and followed the security guard to the teacher's office.

"Your choice to go to school here is absolutely right. Because this school is the best in our province. I have an intention of sending my children to school here."

All the way to the teacher's office, the security guard kept on babbling this and that. Meanwhile, Jerico remained loyal to listen and respond occasionally.

He often heard that his new school was currently ranked among the best schools. But he didn't really care about that. Jerico looked around, and he realized that this school was very spacious. After passing the security guard post, there was a few meters of empty land. The school building was quite far, but not too far from the security guard post.

"Oh yes, you have to obey the same written and unwritten rules here, okay?"

Jerico, who was lost in thought, immediately focused his attention on the security guard.

"Rules? What rules, sir?"

"The written rules are the same as the rules at school in general. You must already know, right? As for the unwritten rules, you will definitely be told by your friends."

By now they had arrived in front of the teacher's office. The teacher's office could be found once entering the building. It was located on the first floor of the school building. Jerico wondered what rules the security guard meant.

"It's here. Welcome to this school, Jerico. Oh yes, don't forget my message earlier." The security guard started walking back to the post. But as he passed Jerico, he stopped and whispered something to Jerico.

"If you want to be safe, just follow the rules." Then he patted Jerico on the shoulder and left.

Jerico's mind was racing because of the security guard's words just now. He tried to digest the meaning of the rules that the security guard had said earlier, but his brain couldn't cooperate. Were the rules so important that you had to follow them if you want to be safe? But safe from what? Jerico closed his eyes because his head was getting dizzy from thinking too much about unnecessary things.

"Jerico Jones?" Jerico was a little surprised when a woman who he assumed was a teacher was already in front of him. She wore a white blouse and a black knee-length skirt. Her hair was collected in a bun using a red hairpin. She looked like she was in her 20s. She held a book in her hand.

"Yes, miss. I'm Jerico Jones, a new student at this school. I want to meet the homeroom teacher for class 2 BAHASA 4." Jerico stole a slight glance into the teacher's office. The room was very neat.

Papers and books on the teacher's desk were all neatly arranged. The arrangement of tables and chairs was the same. He was amazed by the cleanliness that was maintained at his new school.

"I'm your homeroom teacher, Jerico. My name is Kinanti. Let's go to class, the bell will ring soon."

"Oh yes, Miss."

They walked hand in hand towards class 2 BAHASA 4. Jerico stole a few glances at his homeroom teacher. He was very fascinated by Ms. Kinanti's beauty.

"I hope Jerico can be comfortable studying here." Ms. Kinanti said to Jerico while smiling.

"I hope so too, Miss."

"The thing that you should always remember is that Indonesian and American cultures are very different. So if there are things that you think are strange and not in accordance with American culture, please don't be surprised. I don't know how it is in America, but here manners must always be applied in life. You understand, Jerico?"

Jerico was silent for a moment then nodded and smiled, "I understand, Miss."

While walking following Ms. Kinanti, Jerico looked around him. On the first floor, apart from the teachers' and several staff's offices, there were also many wall magazines and a canteen. They headed up the central staircase to reach the next floor.

When they reached the 2nd floor, there was a library close to the stairs. And yes, almost everything that Jerico passed from the 1st floor to the 2nd floor was just a classroom. Likewise on the 3rd floor, mostly there were only classrooms and laboratories. Jerico's class was on the 4th floor. On this 4th floor there were only classrooms and the teacher's office.

When Jerico and Ms. Kinanti were on the 4th floor, they heard the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs in a hurry. Jerico followed the gaze of Ms. Kinanti who was looking towards the stairs.

"Wika don't run around or you'll fall. Just take it slow." Ms. Kinanti said to the girl named Wika.

Wika had long loose hair. Her breath was panting, she smiled awkwardly then shook hands with Ms. Kinanti.

"Sorry miss. I woke up late, so I was late for school."

"Next time, don't do it again, okay? It's really dangerous if you fall. You understand, right?"

"Understood, miss." Wika nodded her head and smiled. She turned her gaze to the person next to Ms. Kinanti, namely Jerico. As if she had just realized his existence, Wika was a little surprised when she saw Jerico. Then she just gave a friendly smile which was returned with a smile also by Jerico.

Moments later, the bell signaling that class was about to start soon rang.

"Okay, now let's go to class."

Jerico and Wika followed Mrs. Kinanti to their classroom. But before entering the classroom, Jerico saw something in the corner of the corridor. He saw a girl facing him. But Jerico couldn't see her face clearly due to the considerable distance, and the girl also lowered her head.