Ferdi's Big Mouth

Chatter filled the classroom that morning. It was raining hard outside, then students were only playing uno cards, chess, doodling, or even having a chit-chat. Almost all of the boys were sitting on the floor circling Ardi and Fathan who were playing chess. Half of them were on Ardi's side, and the rest of them were on Fathan's. 

None of them cared about the fact that there were two of the class' boys, Ferdi, and the newly moved boy, Serkan, were sitting on a chair at the other corner of the classroom. They seemed to be engaged in a very exciting conversation.

Serkan looked excited that his eyes were wide open listening to what Ferdi was telling him. As a new student who had just moved here for two days, Serkan was not yet aware of the fact that Ferdi liked making things up. He liked to boast almost everything he said. No wonder the whole class was staying away from him, except for Serkan. He was attentively listening to Ferdi and imagined in his own mind what Ferdi was saying.

"Assalaamu'alaikum," suddenly Pak Usman opened the classroom's door and said salam. Nobody was even aware that the first lesson that morning should have been started. 

"Wa'alaikumsalam," they replied. As Pak Usman asked them to tidy up and get ready for the first lesson, they did it and got ready. Ferdi walked back to his desk and Serkan cleaned up his.

***

At recess, when Yana was sharing some snacks with Serkan, she asked him what he talked about with Ferdi. He explained that Ferdi told him about his latest RC cars which cost more than 5 million rupiahs. He also that he had more than 3 cars, where each of them cost more than 2 billion rupiahs. 

Hearing that, Yana laughed. Serkan got confused and asked her, "Why do you laugh? It's not funny, is it?" Yana replied, "You need to be careful when Ferdi tells you something big, Serkan. OK, since you're new here, I'll tell you a few things."

"So, all of us have caught Ferdi told us lies. As he also told you, once he told us that he had more than 3 cars which cost more than 2 billion rupiahs each. One day, Rangga and Ardi saw him in the mall. He was with his parents. His car was not the one that expensive. His father even told us that they used the only car they had and it cost only less than half a billion rupiahs. At that time, he said that the car wasn't fully paid."

"Not only that, the RC cars he told you are just something he keeps dreaming of having since his father doesn't have enough money yet to buy something like that. So, none of the things he told you was true."

Suddenly Ferdi showed up from behind. He looked angry and said, "Yana what did you tell him? Why don't you like to see me being happy and having a friend!" He shouted almost crying. Everyone in the classroom came closer. Ferdi started crying.

In less then a minute Pak Usman appeared inside and asked what was going on. Yana explained what happened. Ferdi sobbing. Pak Usman continued, "OK. So, Ferdi, you need to apologize for saying something not true." "Alright Pak," he replied. "Yana, you also need to say sorry for hurting his heart. Although what you said is true, you need to care about the feelings of others." "Then, since everyone is here, Ferdi, you also need to promise not to repeat that again. Just be and say whoever you are and whatever your condition is. They want to make friends with you not because you have three fancy cars or expensive RC car toys. They want to become your friends because you're nice, kind, and helpful. Understand? If they want to be your friends just because of your money or whatever you have, they're not good friends." Ferdi then replied, "I do Pak." 

Ferdi then apologized to Serkan for telling lies and to Yana for yelling and being angry. Everyone circling him came closer and hugged him. In his heart, Ferdi promised himself not again tell lies. He wanted to be accepted as he was. Then no more "Ferdi the Big Mouth" he would hear at school.