When Mariam returned to school hell broke lose. That was what I would have said if the almighty trio had not tried their best to turn my school life into hell for the last two weeks anyway.

To Noaf and me it was obvious that Mariam had turned on the fire alarm and somehow played the audios of Layan and co. It was hilarious! Finally they were getting a taste of their own medicine and were even punished. Unfortunately some funny posing of them in their orange jumpsuits apparently made up for the humiliation of walking around in them. How could they turn out everything the way they wanted it to be?

Later that day we were gathered inside the auditorium for some anti-bullying play. I almost laughed at the irony of that. As if that would stop the almighty trio from continuing their tormenting.

Although I had to admit that I liked the thought of being Layan the victim in the play. Thanks Miss Abeer. Yet no one dared to play the bully. At least I thought so as it took a while for the woman on stage to find a volunteer. But then she said: "Yes. You at the back."

I was surprised to see that it was Noaf. "Let's get some payback", Noaf whispered to me before going on stage.

"Eh ... you tell me your name", the woman requested.

"Noaf", she stated with a slight grin. It made me fall in love with her even more.

"Okay, Noaf. We're going to imagine that you really don't like Layan", the woman instructed.

"That's easy", Noaf replied casually and everyone started laughing including me.

"So ... Layan is minding her own business and you walk past her. Now both of you visualize the situation. Work together to improvise a conversation. Alright? Okay, let's do this! And action!"

Layan made a scrunchy face and made herself look smaller earning a chuckle from some girls. Meanwhile Noaf purposefully bumped into her.

"Hey!", Layan exclaimed.

Noaf made a disgusted face. "What's that smell? Do you know personal hygiene? I guess not", Noaf proposed getting even more chuckles than Layan before. "When was the last time you took a shower? You stink." Now laughter echoed through the room again.

"Yeah, I don't actually smell. We're just acting", Layan quickly defended herself.

But Noaf signaled that Layan was actually smelling and the laughter continued. Even Miss Abeer had a smile plastered on her face.

Noaf made more gestures pretending that she could barely stand the smell around Layan.

Layan lost it and walked up to Noaf. "You should watch what you're doing, Noaf", she threatened her.

But Noaf did not back off. Instead she responded: "And you shouldn't come any closer. Stinky Layan." Then Noaf pushed her forcefully away.

Noaf pointed her finger at Layan and repeated the words 'stinky Layan', while gesturing us to follow her example until the whole room was filled with the hurtful nickname combined with clapping.

Layan was obviously overwhelmed by that and approached Noaf again telling her to stop. But the latter simply continued with a grin on her face.

"That's enough", the woman interjected and pushed the two girls away from each other. "That was getting out of hand."

Noaf was grinning provocatively at Layan.

The woman sent both of them back to their seats and when Noaf sat down next to me I immediately took her hand.

"That was amazing", I whispered excited.

"It felt amazing as well", Noaf agreed.

We evaluated the play before being free to go.

Later on we were at the tryouts for the soccer team. Actually I did not want to be on the team anyway. So I did not really try. I saw Noaf talking to Mariam while I was playing, but soon got exchanged for Mariam.

"What did you talk about?", I asked Noaf while sitting down next to her.

"I explained her why I couldn't help her and that she should be careful."

"Maybe you should be more careful yourself, although I really enjoyed the show Layan and you were presenting to us earlier", I recalled.

"Ow! Shit!", Layan cursed when Mariam accidentally? kicked the ball against Layan's face.

A smile immediately adored Noaf's face and I mirrored her. At least until Layan stormed toward Mariam and Miss Jumana had to interfere to prevent anything from happening.

"Layan's on edge", I noted on the way to our classroom.

"But she hasn't confronted you today, has she?", Noaf reassured.

I shook my head. "Probably because of all the tumult and Mariam being back", I assumed.

But I had a bad feeling about this. An angry Layan would not be helping us in any way. Though I had to admit that I envied Mariam for her boldness.

When school was over Noaf and I headed for the bus together like usually. But today it was different. Noaf froze in place as Ruqayyah presented her something before pushing Nisma against the bus.

Without hesitation Noaf ran up to them and of course I followed her. Rania immediately took a hold of Noaf, while Nisma was calling out her sister's name.

Meanwhile I simply pushed Layan out of the way and attempted to snatch the device from Ruqayyah's hands, which luckily worked out.

Without wasting a thought on it I pulled Nisma into my arms protectively.

"Shh, it's fine. You're safe now", I comforted the younger girl softly.

We had gotten closer as well as Noaf and I had been hanging out every day since the first time, sometimes also at my place.

After Nisma had calmed down I returned her asthma spray to her and she quickly used it.

Now Ruqayyah backed me against the bus. Her brutal grip would surely leave bruises on my wrists.

"Don't interfere. This has nothing to do with you", she growled.

"You've no clue", I shot back.

I tried to get out of her grasp but to no avail. She was pretty strong. I flinched when she put even more pressure on my wrists.

"Don't mess with us", Ruqayyah warned me before letting go and leaving with Layan and Rania.

Noaf was already holding her little sister in her arms and sent me a look that was hard to interpret. It was a mixture of guilt, sadness, anger, frustration and helplessness.

When Nisma had calmed down Noaf approached me. I was rubbing my wrists absentmindedly.

"Hey, are you okay?", Noaf reassured.

I nodded. Seconds later I was enveloped in a hug.

"Thanks for helping Nisma when I couldn't", Noaf stated.

"Of course. As if I could just stand by and watch", I replied.

Noaf let me go and took Nisma's hand.

"Let's get home", Noaf proposed.

I let the siblings sit next to each other in the bus and returned home alone instead of joining them. They had to settle all of this with Inaya after all.

At home mom was surprised to see me on my own, but I just made up a lie for Noaf and hid my wrists from her eyes. My wrists had already turned slightly blue. But I worried more about Noaf and Nisma and quickly sent Noaf a message to keep me up to date.

As I waited for an answer the exhaustion overpowered me and I fell asleep.

Mom woke me up for dinner. It was strange to eat without Noaf. Somehow I had already gotten used to her constant company.

"Are you sure that nothing happened today? You seem down", mom noted.

"Today was Mariam's first day after the suspension", I recalled.

My sister started telling another story and quickly the conversation with me was forgotten. For once I was grateful for it.

When I heard the buzzing of my phone I jumped up and got my phone. Noaf's message told me that she was at Mariam's place. What was she doing there? A pit formed inside my stomach. I knew that it was stupid to be jealous but I could not help it.

I apologized for standing up from the table so suddenly and joined my family again. My mom was suspicious. I could tell that. But luckily she did not push me to tell her anything. I might have lost my temper in that moment.

On the next day everyonewas excited about the school festival. The other girls were hyped up to be able to meet some boys but I was not looking forward to it at all. Noaf and I had not really talked since the incident with Nisma. Instead she was hanging around Mariam and I could not get myself to join the duo. It felt like they were up to something and I was completely left out.

After school I waited until most girls had gotten dressed. So the restrooms would not be that crowded. When I left my stall after getting dressed up a bit I noticed Dina walking out of the restroom with a red stain on her white trousers. Layan and co. were laughing and looking at Layan's phone.

I took off my headphones. "Dina! Wai..." Rania's hand covered my mouth to keep me from warning Dina. I forced her hand away, but Dina was already gone.

"Oh, look at you", Layan stated. "Who are you dressing up for? It seems like your two crushes decided to be together instead and leave you behind all alone."

I intended to simply leave the restroom but Ruqayyah pulled me back. "Where are you going? Not up for a little chat?", she questioned with a smirk.

"Just fuck off", I hissed.

"Seems like we hit the right spot. What hurts you more? That they both replaced you with one another or that they actually don't give a shit about you?", Layan mocked me.

"You've no clue what you're talking about. Just let me go", I demanded.

They laughed at me.

"We don't understand? I rather think we understand it too well for your liking", Layan concluded.

"You're really desperate. Things don't work out with Mariam so you throw yourself at the newbie? What a slut", Ruqayyah added. "But the newbie isn't any better. I didn't think of her as a player. At first raising your hopes and then throwing you away like an old toy."

Something inside of me broke at Ruqayyah's words leading me to punch her straight in the face. It was one thing to insult me, but insulting Noaf? That was a different story.

"What the hell?", she exclaimed and shock was clearly written over the girl's faces.

Layan hit me back in the face and soon her and Ruqayyah were beating me up. I had been stupid to start a fight on my own against three, especially because I did not want to fight them. I had simply lost my temper for a moment and the punishment hurt.

Laying on the ground I could see Rania's horrified expression. It confused me slightly but I was too focused on the pain to think clearly anyway.

After a while they finally left and I slowly forced myself back to my feet. My whole body hurt and when I looked at the mirror I could make out dark bruises on the left side of my face.

I carefully cleaned my face and brought my school uniform to my locker. My hair was hiding my face but if anyone took a closer look at me they would definitely notice the bruises. Though the rest of my body felt even worse than my face.

Actually I had to get to work at the entrance of the festival, but the thought alone of facing Rania and Noaf made me feel sick. I wished I could just go home and lock up inside my room. I did not even have any make-up to cover up the bruises on my face. How was I supposed to explain myself? And when had I started to feel anxious about telling Noaf the truth? I did not want whatever relationship we had to develop like this.

Hence I ignored my anxiety and decided to go and do my job. But when the stand came into sight I saw Mariam and Noaf talking and suddenly Layan's words returned to my mind.

Tears came to my eyes and I quickly left before the duo would notice me. I got swallowed by a downward spiral. The thing when you feel awful and suddenly you remember everything painful that ever happened to you including all securities you ever had.

I sat down on a bench and tried to cry as quietly as possible. The last thing I needed right now was anybody to spot me here, especially a teacher.

After a while somebody sat down next to me silently. Of course it was Noaf. I knew it without looking up.

"(f/n), what happened?", she asked softly.

The sobs became even worse and everything inside of me screamed to escape, to spare me from more emotional pain.

"(f/n)." She took my hand leading me to look at her. A shocked gasp left her lips.

"Please tell me", she requested caressing my hand with her thumb to calm me down. Surprisingly it worked.

"Why are you here?", I wondered.

"I wondered where you've been. A few minutes later Rania told me that she saw you walking into this direction", Noaf explained.

"Rania?", I questioned.

"Yeah. Now what happened to your face? It was Layan, wasn't it?"

"Doesn't matter", I mumbled.

"Of course it does."

"What's up with Mariam and you? I know that something's going on", I changed the topic.

"Okay. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but Mariam and I originally didn't plan to tell anybody. We're getting revenge. Planning to give Layan and her friends a taste of their own medicine", she enlightened me.

"But you didn't talk to me at all. Literally not one word about anything", I reminded her.

"I didn't want to lie to you and keeping it a secret was hard. But if you want to, you're in", Noaf offered. "But first you gotta tell me what happened", she added.

"I started a fight with Ruqayyah", I confessed.

"What? No way!" The amused expression on her face was priceless. "Why?", she asked.

"She provoked me", I stated timidly.

"But usually that doesn't lead you to a fight", she remarked.

"Layan and Ruqayyah were making me feel insecure and then Ruqayyah insulted you. I couldn't just let her go off with that", I clarified.

"So you defended me?!", Noaf concluded. "Now I feel even worse for leaving you hanging. Does it hurt badly?"

"I'll get over it", I reassured both of us.

Noaf touched my bruised cheek gently. I winced slightly but did not pull away.

"Looks nasty. I bet this isn't the only injury", she assumed.

I shook my head. "Honestly I'm feeling a bit nauseous", I admitted.

"If you want to go home I'm sure it would be fine. I could tell the teachers that you're feeling sick. But it'll be hard not to attack Rania before the festival starts."

"Actually she's been the only one who didn't hurt me", I recalled.

"And she told me where to find you", Noaf remembered. "Never mind that. So do you wanna go home or borrow some make-up?"

"I guess I choose the latter", I proclaimed and let Noaf pull me up.

The night was just about to start.

----------------

Thanks for your comments! They really motivate me to continue writing. Hope you like the chapter :)