Monday morning at Budi Mulia International High School looked like anything else. The clean hallways were decorated with trophies and the students were dressed in their neat uniforms. However, the tranquility was just an illusion, which could be shattered at any moment by their presence: "The Most Wanted".
Dava Alendra walked with steady steps in the middle of the hallway, surrounded by his four best friends. Alex was on his left, discussing the futsal match that afternoon. Fahri and Daren laughed out loud at Reyhan's silly joke. Everyone they passed moved aside, making way. Not only because they were handsome and came from the richest family in the school, but also because of their reputation as troublemakers.
A young teacher tried to reprimand them.
"Dava, you should be in class, not walking around during first period!"
Dava didn't look back. Alex replied.
"Calm down, ma'am. We're just looking for 'inspiration' for the lesson later," she said with a sweet smile that was not at all sincere. The teacher just sighed and left, giving up.
At the end of the hallway, three female figures appeared. Bella Putri Himawan, with her beautiful face but always radiating dislike, along with her two best friends, Anindi and Zara. As soon as she saw Dava and her gang, Bella immediately sneered.
"Look who it is. A gang of bullies looking for prey," Bella whispered to Anindi, but loud enough for Dava to hear.
Dava finally stopped. His cold eyes stared at Bella.
"Is there something we need to talk about, Putri?" he said, using her last name deliberately to insinuate.
"What we need to talk about is that you and your thugs should be expelled from this school before we destroy more facilities," Bella replied fearlessly.
Reyhan stepped forward.
"Wow, a new hero? Be careful, Bella. Your mouth is a tiger."
"Rather than my mouth, your behavior is more like that of animals," Zara said, defending her friend.
Dava raised her hand, stopping Reyhan who was already getting heated.
"You're wasting time. Come on," Dava ordered her friends. They continued walking, leaving Bella who was still staring with a sharp gaze.
"One day, Dava, I'll see how you get what you deserve!" Bella shouted.
Dava didn't look back. He was used to it. Fighting with Bella Putri was a boring routine.
IT class should have gone smoothly. Mr. Raditya, the IT teacher, gave them an assignment to work on a basic coding project in the computer lab. The lab was the pride of the school, full of the latest computers and servers.
Dava and his gang sat in the corner. They were actually smart, especially Dava when it came to IT. But today, they were more interested in tinkering with the school's security system than doing their assignments.
"I'm sure we can break into the firewall," Daren whispered.
"For what? Just to change the picture on the homepage to a cat?" Dava replied, typing quickly. "Childish."
"Then what for, Dav? I'm bored," Reyhan complained.
Dava thought for a moment. His eyes fell on Bella who was busy working seriously on her assignment across the room.
"Bella is too confident with her perfect grades. I want to see her panic a little."
"What's the plan?" Alex asked curiously.
"We take control of her computer. Remote access. Just for a moment, enough to delete her assignment file. She'll definitely get a headache and we can have a laugh," Dava explained with a thin smile.
Fahri looked doubtful.
"I don't mean to defend Bella, but that's a bit too much, Dav. Her assignment is a big project."
"So you're a coward?" Dava challenged.
Finally, they agreed. Dava quickly found a security hole and gained access to Bella's computer. His fingers danced across the keyboard.
"Three... two... one... and... deleted," Dava muttered.
They looked at Bella. A moment later, Bella looked confused, staring at her suddenly blank computer screen. She opened a folder, rummaged through it, and her face began to pale.
"Oh my gosh! Where are my files? They're gone!" Bella screamed in panic.
Mr. Raditya approached.
"What's wrong, Bella?"
"My assignment files, sir. They're all gone. I saved them earlier!"
Dava and his friends tried to hold back their laughter. Their plan had worked.
But their laughter didn't last long. Suddenly, all the computer screens in the lab turned blue. A loud creaking sound came from the main server in the back rack. A thin smoke began to billow from one of the units, followed by a strong burning smell. The lights in the lab flickered and then went out, leaving a dark and chaotic scene.
"WHAT HAPPENED?!" shouted Mr. Raditya in panic.
All the students rushed out of the lab in chaos. The fire alarm blared loudly. A few minutes later, the principal and the teachers rushed to the scene.
After the situation had calmed down and the technicians had checked the damage, everyone was gathered in the hall. The principal, Mr. Handoko, looked angry.
"Who is responsible for this?" he shouted. "The main server is badly damaged! All the final exam data could be lost!"
Everyone was silent. Then, another IT teacher came and whispered to Mr. Handoko. Mr. Handoko then glared at Dava and his friends.
"Dava Alendra! Are you the ones messing up the system again? We have logs of suspicious activity coming from your computers!"
All eyes were on Dava. He stood, his face still cold.
"We didn't damage the server, sir."
"Don't lie! Only you guys have the ability and... habit to do something like this!" Mr. Handoko snapped.
Bella suddenly stepped forward, her eyes blazing.
"Earlier, before the server crashed, my assignment file suddenly disappeared! I'm sure it was their doing! They wanted to bring me down because they were jealous of my grades! Dava, you're not only evil, but also a coward!"
Dava stared at Bella with a glare that could freeze lava.
"I didn't do that to you, Bella."
"It was definitely you! Who else could do such low things? You and your gang of thugs are the scum of the school!" Bella shouted, her voice filled with anger and frustration at the loss of her assignment.
Dava's four friends defended, protested, stating that they only deleted Bella's file, not damaged the server. But their voices were drowned out by everyone's condemnation. The teachers, the students, even their classmates, all looked at them with accusation and hatred.
Dava stood tall in the midst of the storm. On the outside, he looked so cool and unconcerned. But inside, for the first time, there was a painful sense of injustice. Yes, he deleted Bella's files, that was true. But he didn't damage the server. Someone had used his actions to do something far worse. And now, he had to bear the blame for a mistake that wasn't entirely his own.
He looked at Bella who was still staring at him with hatred. And in Dava's heart, something began to change. This wasn't just a game or an ordinary argument anymore. This was war.
Punishment and the Beginning of Revenge
The chaos in the school hall continued. The sound of teachers arguing with each other, students gossiping, and the alarm finally going off created a tense atmosphere. Dava Alendra still stood in the middle, surrounded by her four friends who also looked serious. His cold gaze did not change, even though the accusations continued to come.
The principal, Mr. Handoko, finally made a decision.
"That's enough! Dava, Alex, Fahri, Daren, Reyhan. The five of you, come with me to the teacher's lounge now! The rest of the students, return to their respective classes under the supervision of the homeroom teacher!"
Bella threw a final triumphant look at Dava before turning around and leaving with Anindi and Zara.
"Don't worry, Bell. They will definitely be expelled this time," whispered Zara.
"It's only right," Bella replied in a satisfied tone, although still upset about her missing assignment.
In the teachers' lounge, the atmosphere was even more tense. The five members of "The Most Wanted" stood in a row in front of the principal's desk, while the other teachers sat with sour faces.
"Your explanation!" snapped Mr. Handoko. "The technicians have confirmed that there was a hacking attempt that caused the server to overload and eventually crash. The activity logs point to the computer you were using!"
"We were only trying to access Bella's computer, sir," Fahri tried to explain. "Just to delete her files. That's all. We didn't touch the server."
"You idiots! By breaking into the security system for a 'joke,' you've opened a gap for something worse!" snapped Mr. Raditya, the IT teacher. "Anyone on the network could have exploited that gap!"
"But we didn't," Dava spoke for the first time, his voice even and calm. "Yes, we were wrong to disturb Bella. But we didn't destroy the server. Someone else took advantage of the situation."
"Classic excuse, Dava!" interrupted Mrs. Siska, their homeroom teacher. "For the past three years, you have always been the cause of trouble. From fighting, skipping school, to playing pranks on teachers. Now it has escalated to damaging school facilities worth billions of rupiah! Don't you have any sense of responsibility?"
"We are responsible for what we did, ma'am. Not for what we didn't do," Dava replied firmly.
The principal took a deep breath.
"Believe it or not, the evidence points to you. Punishment must be given. I am considering expelling you."
Alex, Fahri, Daren, and Reyhan's faces immediately tensed.
"But," continued Mr. Handoko, "considering your... good academic achievements, and of course, your parents' influence, the expulsion punishment has been postponed."
The five children relaxed a little.
"Instead, starting tomorrow, you will be subjected to community service. You will clean all the school toilets every day after school, for a whole month! In addition, your daily test scores for all subjects will be reduced by 20% for the next month. And lastly, you will be banned from all extracurricular activities, including the martial arts club, for two months."
Dava frowned. The punishment was severe, especially the ban on joining the martial arts club. It was the only activity he truly enjoyed.
"Is that clear?" asked Mr. Handoko.
"Yes, sir," they answered in unison, in a disheartened tone.
"Get out. And don't cause any more trouble!"
The five of them left the teacher's lounge in a gloomy mood.
In the deserted hallway because class was still in session, Reyhan cursed.
"Cleaning the toilets? That's disgusting! And getting a grade reduced? My dad could beat me up for a dropped grade!"
"Calm down, Rey," said Alex. "The important thing is that we didn't get expelled."
"But this isn't entirely our fault!" protested Daren. "We were just messing with Bella. Someone else broke the server."
"But who?" asked Fahri. "Who has the ability and the will to do that?"
All eyes were on Dava. She stood by the window, looking out at the empty schoolyard.
"I don't know," Dava answered shortly. "But someone must have done it. And they're using us as scapegoats."
"Then what should we do?" asked Alex.
"First, we serve this punishment. Second," Dava turned around, her eyes narrowed, "we have to find out who's behind this. I don't like being pushed around."
"Are you serious, Dav? Why? We're used to being called thugs," said Reyhan.
"It's different," interrupted Dava. "We may be delinquents, but we're not vandals. I don't accept being called vandals. And most importantly, that person used *us*. No one should use 'The Most Wanted' and get away with it."
Tension radiated from Dava's aura. His four friends were idle, understanding how serious Dava was.
"Okay, let's investigate," Alex agreed. "Where do we start?"
"From the server activity logs. I need access to that data," Dava said.
"That'll be difficult. The teachers must have secured it," Fahri said.
"Nothing is impossible," Dava replied confidently.
Meanwhile, in grade 12 Social Studies 1, Bella was still irritated. She had to redo her assignment from scratch.
"Dava is really heartless, Ndi," she complained to Anindi. "Just because he doesn't like me, he deleted my assignment."
"He's mean, Bell. But at least he got the punishment he deserved," Anindi consoled.
"He should have been expelled," Bella grumbled. "He and his whole gang are poison to this school."
Zara, who was playing with her pencil, suddenly said,
"I heard from a junior who is close to the technician, that the server damage was quite severe. It took weeks to fix it and recover the data."
"See? They did even worse!" Bella added.
The teacher came in and the lesson began, but Bella's mind was still filled with anger at Dava. Her revenge had reached a new level. She was determined to make Dava pay for more than just cleaning the toilets.
It was after school. Most of the students had left the building. Dava and her friends, with gloomy faces, stood in front of the cleaning supplies warehouse. A school janitor, Mr. Joko, handed out rubber gloves, brushes, and buckets.
"Here are your supplies. Do your job well. The restrooms on the first to third floors must be clean before you go home," Mr. Joko said disapprovingly. He was clearly not happy about having to supervise spoiled rich kids.
Reyhan snorted at the strong smell emanating from the nearby men's restroom.
"I'm throwing up, I promise."
"Just start," Dava ordered, grabbing a bucket and filling it with water and disinfectant.
They entered the first-floor men's restroom. The sight inside was unpleasant. They began to scrub, clean, and mop reluctantly.
As they worked, a group of students passed by, including Bella, Anindi, and Zara, who seemed to have deliberately passed through the hallway.
"Wow, what a rare sight," Zara remarked loudly. "The Most Wanted are cleaning up their own mess."
Bella stopped and crossed her arms.
"It seems to suit you guys. Finally you're doing something useful."
Dava, who was scrubbing the sink, didn't look up.
"Bella, if you want a picture, pay. If you want to smell, go ahead. If you just want to say something, just leave. You're distracting us."
Bella was bright red.
"You think this is a joke, Dava? You almost destroyed the entire school's data!"
"And I already told you, I wasn't the one who destroyed the server," Dava replied, finally turning around. His face was sweaty and there were splash marks on his uniform.
"Liar! You always lie!" Bella shouted.
"Believe it or not, it's up to you. Now, if you'll excuse me. We have work to do," Dava said and went back to scrubbing.
Bella bit her lip, angry at being ignored. She turned away and walked away quickly, followed by her friends.
"One day, Dava Alendra, I will bring you down," Bella muttered to herself.
Meanwhile, Dava, with increasingly vigorous brushing movements, also made up her mind.
"Someone will pay for this. And Bella, you will see that you were wrong about me. Very wrong."
This chapter 2 sets the stage for a deeper conflict, showing Dava's determination to prove her innocence and Bella's growing resentment, while introducing the mystery of who actually damaged the server.