Please, Befriend Me

Tina hesitantly dropped off her car. Her father and mother were warmly staring at her eyes. They were assuring her that the new school would be great. She almost cried. There were two drops of tears on both of her eyes. As a shy and silent student, getting into a new school, for the first time in her life, feels like going to a battlefield. Indeed, it was a battlefield in her mind. 

"Tin tin!"*

The sound of honking horn of a car behind theirs woke her up from her daydream. Her father pulled down the window glass to greet two friendly-looking teachers who welcome all students at the drop-off area. Her parents smiled at them and greeted "assalaamu'alaikum"**, then turned back at Tina. Their stares seemed to say, "Trust us, honey. It's not gonna be as bad as what you've been thinking." 

Not wanting to make them upset, Tina grabbed her bag, put it on her back, and open the car's door. Before getting out of the car, they kissed her in the forehead and shook hand with her. 

The teachers who greeted her parents, were now greeting her with "assalaamu'alaikum" and their warmest smiles. They did that while reaching out her hand to have a handshake. She then kissed their hands in the wrist. Quite surprisingly, her anxiety got decreased. The greeting calmed her down a little bit. Ibu*** Norma, One of the teachers asked, "Are you the new student? What's your name?" "Eh, eh, mm-yyy na-me is Ti-na." she replied with a low and trembling voice. "Hi, Tina. It's me, Ibu Norma and this is Bapak**** Adi. We've heard that we would have a new student, and I guess it's you," she added. "Welcome to our school." 

"Thank you," she replied.

"You know your classroom, don't you?" 

"I do. It's on the second floor, the closest room to the stairs." I guess I need to be there soon, Ibu Norma. Bye."

"Bye Tina." 

As she walked along the hallway, she just looked down and just take a look straight up her way e few times. Once she got to the front of her classroom, her new classmates were lining up and getting ready for Testimony, one of the school's obligatory morning routines. There were two lines, of boys and girls. A boy was leading, and a homeroom teacher was standing right beside him. 

"Hi, Tina. You're just on time. We're getting ready for testimony," Ibu Wulan, her new homeroom teacher greeted her with her warmest smiles. "OK class, before we start it off, please welcome the new girl in our class. Come closer, Tina."

"Hi, hello Tina," all members of  the class made a chorus as a choir.

"You know what to do, Tina. It's a new place for you, you know nothing about them, and at the same time, they do not know much about you," Ibu Wulan explained. "I just told them yesterday that there was gonna be a new student in our class, and here you are," she added.

There was a little pause. Tina hesitated a little bit. 

"You know you can do it, Tina. As I told you in the administration office when we first met," she encouraged her.

"A-assalaamu'alaikum, everyone. M-my name is Tina. My full name is Sabrina Marvella Tinasakti. I'm from Bogor. I now live with my parents at the Hyarta Regency. Please befriend me," she finally could introduce herself quite fluently. 

"Of course, we will," Vino, the leading boy, responded. 

"We absolutely will," a few girls stated. 

"We all will, Tina," Ibu Wulan added. "Since the first time I told them about you, they have got very excited. They'll befriend you, for sure. Please now take a position after the last girl," Ibu Wulan instructed. "Everyone, you can dig out anything you wanna know about Tina later on in class. Vino, let's get it started," Ibu Wulan ended. 

And the Testimony began.  

* Indonesia's onomatopoeia for honking sound

** the way Muslims greet one another at any time of the day 

*** the way Indonesians call a female teacher 

**** the way Indonesians call a male teacher