Prologue

My name is Maria Lilika, and I am a 12-year-old sixth grader at Tarakanita 6 Elementary School. Everyone calls me Lily. I am a girl with long black hair that reaches my waist. Cute, isn't it? Many people call me a cute, clever, and a bit mischievous girl. Hahaha, I often get scolded a bit for being noisy and gossiping about others in class. For example, I like to talk about clothes; usually, when I go to a friend's house, I wear a light blue knee-length skirt and a light blue shirt. Sometimes I like to wear black. Today, I plan to help my mom cook at home, so it's better for my friends to come over instead. That's the theme of my gossip every day with my friends.

"Hey Lilika, can you help me with this for a moment?" my friend Shella asked for help.

"I'll do it while eating, okay?" I replied while holding the sandwich I had brought from home. She's probably asking about the parallelogram formula that Mr. Gunardi taught earlier.

"So, how about this one, Li?"

"The base is this. And the height is this."

"What about this one?"

"This one is a bit tricky. First, find the base using the triangle area formula. Once you have that, since this triangle and this one are congruent, you'll find this line."

"I don't understand."

"You were told the area of the parallelogram. Once you have that, you divide the parallelogram into two triangles, right? The area is also divided by 2. Well, since you know the height, using the triangle formula, you know the base. Once you know the base, and you already know the perimeter, you can find the length of this diagonal line, right?"

"Ugh, why split it into triangles? Just flip the parallelogram formula," Elin interjected from my left.

"That works, too. I guess." I shrugged.

"Oh, Elin's way seems easier."

"Well, if you understand it better that way, then go for it," I said. "How did you figure out how to reverse the parallelogram formula? I haven't learned that yet..."

"From my private tutor, of course."

"No wonder she's ranked 2nd," Shella remarked.

"Yeah, I'm sorry for being ranked 5th." I put sarcasm in my voice.

"Ahh, sorry, sorry. Just kidding. Both of you are amazing; I could never even dream of getting into the top ten."

"Ahh, Lily is sulking. Smile, please," Elin teased. Unable to resist, I tried to hide my smile by taking a bite of the remaining sandwich, but they just laughed at my attempt to hold back my smile.

"Yay, she laughed!"

"Stop teasing me!"

RING-RING! The bell rang, indicating that the lesson had started. I helped Shella tidy up her math books while jokingly discussing Mrs. Elisabeth, the Guidance and Counseling teacher who would enter the class later. She was a pleasant teacher, always smiling and beautiful. She constantly encouraged her students to study. I was never in her focus because I wasn't a troublemaker, but some students like Shella occasionally received counseling for subjects where their grades were lackluster.

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Alright, here is the story entry i entered a year ago. i wrote this during my highschool day and was very confident in it. however, it didn't pass, maybe because my prose was too simplistic, or i include SEA culture which didn't resonate with international audience.