Later towards the end of the school week the group met up outside school property.
"Wow, I'm amazed the newbie didn't crack under Pangborn's gym pressure," Harold commented.
"Yeah, he's calm and fit already," Susie chimed in, then something came to her mind. "Hey, since today's Friday, how 'bout we bring him to the Java Lava?"
That got everyone else to jump in with her idea.
"Good idea; that way he can socialize with a bunch of people at once," Tommy said.
"Uh, Java Lava?" Mike asked? "What's Java Lava?"
"It's a place where we usually hang out over the weekends," Phil simply explained. "You should join us; the enviorment's really relaxing."
"Sounds good; I'm down with it."
Shortly after they brought him do the Lava.
"So this is where you all hang out?" Mike asked them while looking around. "It's pretty nice; I like the vibe here."
Tommy nodded. "Yes, Chuckie's and Kimi's parents own the place, and the twins' mom also works here."
"You should try the smoothies," Phil offered him. "They're really good."
"Sure, why not? Surprise me, Kimi."
Kimi then went to make him one of the special smoothies. Needless to say, Kimi preparing the smoothie with her ninja-style technique has impressed him.
Kimi served him seconds later. "Here you go, enjoy."
"I have to say, this is actually really good," Mike complimented after trying the beverage. "And the way you were all ninja-style was like dynamite."
"Well, I am Japanese, and I've been doing this for a few years now."
"Heh, no kidding."
"And Kimi's the only one who makes smoothies the ninja way," Phil went on to say.
"Well, Chuckie does too, but we all know Kimi's better the show," Angelica added.
Kimi chuckled a bit. "Aw, come on, Chuckie's smoothies are equally as good; and he makes some good coffee to you know."
Kira arrives at the Lava shortly after.
"And who's the polite looking Indian-ish guy?" she asked.
Kimi introduced Mike to her. "His name's Mike, and yes he is relatively new here. Mike, she's my mom."
Mike just let out a friendly smile. "Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Finster. And I'm actually Indonesian as opposed to Indian."
"My bad; I thought you're Indian by the looks."
"It's okay; some people mistake my Indonesian for Indian, and I'm cool with that."
Kira smiled. "Well, it's always nice to meet new friends of my children. Hope you enjoy our smoothies."
Mike politely grinned. "Sure we are."
Mike managed to settle in a one bedroom apartment about 5 minutes on foot from the Rugrats' neighboorhood since he was new to the school. As several months pass by with them all in the next grade, he has gotten along well with the gang to the point they saw him as a 'dad' or big brother in the group, much like Susie being the 'mom' or big sister (despite he's the third oldest behind Angelica and Brianna, and that Susie's a smidge more mature than him) due to his compassion, kindness, toughness and maturity. At school, he's enrolled in singing arts and boxing (despite he is also good at other hand to hand combat, including Judo, Tae Kwon Do and Karate). He has been a calm person with no interest of fame (while most schoolmates admire him) and mostly focused on the task at hand while achieving decent grades.
At lunch break, most of the Rugrats're pranking Mike by blindfolding him and giving him a taste test.
"Let's see if he can identify these snacks," Brianna said, handing him a churro on his left hand while his right a shrimp cracker. The rest of them just snickered.
"He really hates these shrimp crackers Kimi likes," Tommy whispered to the rest. Mike took a sniff out of the cracker.
"Aw my god! Smells like someone stuck this up in their ass, I'm sorry to say that!" Mike exclaimed after smelling it. "Penelope, where the hell'd you get that from? This isn't a joke, is it? It's not a joke, right?"
Brianna let out a small chuckle. "It's... it's from your culture."
"If it's Phil, he'd do something really stupid on this."
He took a tiny nibble from the churro. "Cinammon, sugar... too much sugar." He held up his right hand with the cracker. "Wow... Brianna... you just reminded me of my WORST nightmare of a salad back in Indonesia..."
"Kimi seems to like them," Penelope told him.
"Who?"
"Kimi."
"Aw my god! Kimi, you have a bad sense of taste... I..." Mike exclaimed after hearing it, with the others laughing so hard.
"It doesn't taste as bad as it smells," Kimi explained to him.
"No, I don't care; if it smells bad, it most likely tastes bad. What am I even eating anyways?"
Angelica took his blindfold off to reveal his bag of shrimp crackers.
"Shrimp cracker?" Mike examined the bag. "There's no way it's shrimp."
Kimi just shrugged and shared the bag of shrimp crackers with Phil and Lil.
"So, how is it?" Tommy asked Mike.
"Ugh, disgusting. Where did you get that from?"
"Down at some Asian market, my favorite snacks," Kimi answered.
"Damn, don't buy it, Finster."
Just two minutes later the bell rang, but an announcement over the PA got Mike's attention.
"Will Mike Purnomo please report to Vice Principal Pangborn's office?"
"Now that's just bloody great!" Mike said. "What does he want me for?"
"Probably it's because you did something without realizing it," Dil told him.
"Guess it fits... well, see ya guys later."
They all wnt to their respective classes while Mike makes his way to Pangborn's.
'Okay, Purnomo... it's nothing too fatal. Just act cool.' Mike thought to himself, hoping Pangborn doesn't kick his ass. He opened the door while knocking.
"You wanted to see me, sir?"
"Have a seat son," Pangborn ordered him. "I've been looking at your overall grades at every class and tests resuts. You, my friend, are one of the few who never cracked under pressure, even in my gym class. Fit body, decent grades... you're like this perfectly genetic student. I'm gonna see you as 'Exhibit A'."
He went on to say. "Tell me son. What's your secret?"
Mike just answered simply. "Well, I have to thank my father for that, 'cause he's the one who taught me to never crack under pressure. Does that mean I'm in detention,sir?"
"No, but you are a force to be reckoned with amongst the other students."
He asked Mike a question which was something personal to the duse. "So.. how's your mother, Purnomo?"
Mike was confused at hearing this. "Sir?"
"Come on, you think I wouldn't look at your records?" He continued. "I know what it's like to have a rough childhood too..."
"So am I free to go?"
"Yes... Just be sure to tell me or any of the teachers should any of the kids give you a hard time." He escorted him out.
Shortly after Mike made his way to his next class, Science, only to find out that Mr. Nicholls was absent, and was replaced by a substitute, who marked Science period as a free-class. He sat in his seat with Chuckie, Angelica, Susie and Brianna, who were curious of his business with Pangborn.
"So, what's with you and Pangborn?' Brianna asked him, curious.
Mike just simply replied. "Let's just say he's kinda amazed at my overall performance; he said I'm a 'perfectly genetic' student who doesn't crack under his pressure."
Susie was amazed at hearing it. "Whoa, you're one of the few who impressed him a lot. You're surely making it big in this school."
Mike chuckled. "Truth is, I never wannted to be popular as some other kids. Sure, it's great getting respect, but at the end of the day I just wanna be treated normally."
Angelica smiled. "Don't worry. You can still be treated normally."
Later at the home bell Susie came with something she remembered. "You guys heard of the talent show in two weeks?"
"Yeah, but I don't think we're gonna sign up," Angelica said. They all agreed aside from Mike, who's got something up his sleeve.
"Guess it's just me," he said, shrugging.
Tommy patted the dude's back. "Don't worry, we'll be there for ya."
"Thanks."
Two weeks later right before the school talent night, the auditorium was crowded with all the high school students.
"Looks pretty crowded compared to last year," Phil commented.
"That's because Susie's not competing. She always wins, so when she didn't participate there're more people who have a better chance in winning," Lil said. "Remember, it's our job to support Mike as much as possible as the judging comes down to our votes."
One by one, the performers performed thier talents, all recieving decent praise. Just before Mike's turn...
'Okay, Mikey.. you got this... Win or lose, you did your best to entertain the crowd,' he thought to himself.
"And now for the last act of the night, the new kid on the block, Mike Purnomo!"
He took a deep breath and grabbed the mic from its stand. "Okay, uhm before I begin, I just wanna dedicate this song to a very special person who's probably out there. If you're out there, this song's for you."
Savannah whispered to a couple of her classmates. "Looks like he's gonna flee before he even starts."
"Hey, give him a chance!" Brianna defended him.
"Yeah Sav, not cool you know." Susie chimed in. Savannah huffed to see the Purnomo boy's talent.
He performed a cover of Nick Jonas's song 'Jealous', which was a popular song at school so most of the crowd started to like his act. Meanwhile on the far left side, Angelica started to fall in love with Mike.
'He's such a mature man; angelic voice, fit body, good style. He's too perfect.,' she thought to herself while staring at him performing. Chuckie started to realize, seconds later, his girl's staring at the Purnomo, getting him to snap his fingers at her.
"Sorry, Finster," Angelica apologized.
"Sure like his act, huh?"
"Yeah. Who would've known he has a flawlwss voice in falsetto mode?"
Towards the end of the performance, the audience erupted with praise. Brianna however, was speechless, crying tears of joy.
"Oh, M-Mike... That was the best voice I've ever heard! I-I-I never knew you had it in you! I... I can't believe it! Such an angelic voice." she said, beaming with tears leaking out of her eyes. The rest of the group had similar opinions at hearing his angelic talent.
"Man, he's gotta win," Susie insisted. "If he doesn't then we're all gonna get pissed."
The votes were counted a few minutes later, and fortunately...
"And the person with the most votes with just a difference of 0.3%, Mike Purnomo!" The whole audience cheered for the dude including the Rugrats group.
"Man, who would've thought your boyfriend's voice was so angelic?" Savannah told Brianna, who was beaming.
"Hey, he might not be cool to your standards, Savannah! But he's the best boyfriend I have!" She turned towards Mike. "You're mine, Purnomo! All mine!"
Mike noticed Brianna amongst the crowd, who was still beaming and waving at him, and he blushed.
A few minutes later as the auditorium was empty, Mike was seen putting away some of his stuff at his locker.
"Hey there, Purnomo."
He turned to see it was Brianna and blushed a little. "Oh, Brianna. Thought you went home. So uh... you liked my song I sang?"
She smiled. "I don't like it... I LOVED it! How come you didn't tell us you were good at singing?"
"Well, I didn't wanna tell the whole world."
Seconds later the rest of the group showed up.
"You got one talented voice, man," Dil complimented.
"You're basically the next Zayn Malik or Nick Jonas," Lil added.
"Maybe we should do a duet," Susie finished.
"Thanks for the compliments, ladies and gents," Mike replied. "It's just something I had in me that I didn't wanna let people know due to anxiety up until recently."
Angelica patted the guy in the back. "You should expand your talent; don't be afraid of what people'll say. Sure, there'll be some haters, but others'll be fans. It's the way it is."
"Yeah, guess you're right, Ang."
"Let's all take a selfie featuring the next Zayn Malik," Tommy said, taking out his smartphone. They got into position, and Tommy uploaded to his Instagram with the text 'New Zayn Malik'.
"I look kinda decent," Mike told him. "But come on, it's getting late. Let's all go home." They agreed with him and left the school premises.