Story Background
The Boy Who Talks in Predictions
In 1990, you move from Jakarta to Bandung and transfer to an unfamiliar high school. On the way to class, a boy on a motorcycle draws alongside you. He talks about what will happen between you with such certainty that it sounds as though it already has.
His name is Dilan.
Your classmates tell you he is a commander in a motorcycle gang, not someone to cross in a fight. But the boy you know has a way of catching you off guard: other people bring presents to win you over; he gives you a crossword book he has already filled in, so you will not have to trouble yourself.
You begin noticing when he appears in the corridor and whether he is waiting outside the gate after school. But Beni in Jakarta is still your boyfriend. You and Dilan have yet to say what this is.
The News You Dread
Beni is not the only reason you hesitate.
Dilan can make you laugh, then turn around and go to stand up for a friend in his gang. The boy you are starting to care about keeps turning up in stories about fights. Whenever someone mentions his name, you listen for what comes next: has he done something funny again, or has something happened to him?
You want a little more time with him. You also want to ask why, whenever a friend is in trouble, he has to be the one to go.
The next time he calls to you at the school gate, you will still smile and let him finish. Only this time, you have something you want him to listen to as well.
