It was a drizzling morning in the city of Bandung. The air was cold, perfect for pulling the blanket back up. Ratna turned her body to make herself more comfortable in bed.
"Ratna, wake up! Ratna, wake up!" her mother shouted while knocking on her door.
That day, all three of the Ardiansah children woke up late. They usually had two fried eggs for breakfast. The children woke up in a panic. They ate hurriedly and started running on the street.
Ratna was running with her new shoes. She had bought the shoes yesterday at a store near the market. Her father usually bought shoes at the market, but this time they decided to try buying them at the new store near the market.
The new shoes Ratna was wearing should have been good and strong, they should have...
But... the rain was quite heavy that day, and because she was late, Ratna ran along with her older siblings. Her foot accidentally stepped into a puddle, and the new shoes were completely soaked. Since she was already late, Ratna didn't pay any attention to her wet shoes.
Inside the public transport (Angkot), the sole of one shoe started to peel off slightly. Ratna couldn't do anything about it; she didn't want to skip school just because of a shoe problem.
When she arrived at school, the atmosphere was already quiet; the students had gone inside. Usually, there was a little time between when the students entered and when the teachers walked into the classrooms.
Ratna quickly ran towards her class. In the distance, she saw Mr. Subrata walking. Today, Mathematics, taught by Mr. Subrata, was the first lesson. Suddenly, the sole of her shoe completely detached, and Ratna had already taken a few steps forward. If she turned back to pick up the sole, she definitely wouldn't make it to class on time. Ratna decided to run straight to the class, leaving the shoe sole behind..., she thought she would pick it up during the recess bell.
It was Geography class. "It's raining today, kids, and there was a funny incident apparently... one student left their shoe sole behind. Maybe they were late and didn't have time to pick it up," said Mr. Iksan, the geography teacher, laughing.
Ratna felt a little embarrassed hearing the story, her eyes focused on her shoeless sole. But she was a little relieved because it seemed no one knew the sole belonged to her.
Another time, because she had to
walk to school, and her housing complex was still new, there were still paths that hadn't become sidewalks, so Ratna's shoes always carried mud to school.
This naturally made her friends, who had never experienced walking on muddy paths, look down on Ratna. To them, Ratna looked odd, even dirty.
Therefore, Rani and Vera, who were mischievous girls, enjoyed throwing paper or making paper airplanes to aim at Ratna's back. Rani and Vera were truly satisfied watching Ratna get annoyed by their paper throwing.