Halima’s POV We went back to the class separately and to my utmost surprise, Teemah started taking all her things that were with me and started sanitizing them. That hurt me but I decided to stay strong since I just finished crying and I was well aware that if I cried again I might trigger my new found asthma. I developed it during my holiday in Dubai that’s why I had been learning to control my emotions on my own. Anyways, after doing what I didn’t know might be the reason for she took them back to her locker and then wore gloves, only God knew where she got them from. She removed my own things from her locker and then poured them unto mine. I was still surprised but didn’t say a thing. Normally, Aana sat beside her but I saw that Safiyya was seated beside her, that triggered my anger so I excused myself from the class but as I was about to do that, Teemah yelled my full name, as in Halima She never called me that so I wanted to stay and find out what she was up to. So I waited. I turned around and asked what was going on. “Teemah what’s going on? Why are you doing whatever you are doing?” I waved my hand in between her table, mine and Sophie. “firstly, don’t you ever call me Teemah again, that name is reserved for my best friend, which you aren’t at least you no longer are.” What?! “And secondly take your filthy things and stay away from me. I hope that gets into you thick skull.” She turned to Sophie my cousin. “Sophie, lets leave this place, I can’t seem to get fresh air with someone around.” Sophie smirked and they left the class hand in hand and that was when I realized that my eyes were clouded with tears. Before I could loose control I ran out of the class and went to the school farm. I sat there and remembered my inhaler. I searched for it and found it in my inner pocket. I used it for upto five times before my breath was back to normal. I managed to pull myself together and got to the girls restroom. I looked at the reflection of myself in the mirror I had always carried with me – girls code – and realized that I was a total wreck of the Halima everyone knew, bold and beautiful. But right that moment, the reflection I was looking at wasn’t me. I took some tissue and wiped away the kajal that was starting to come down, gave myself a pep talk for God knew how long and then got out to hear the first period being announced by the bell. Great! Just great! Could this day get any worse!? Ughhh. I literally rolled my eyes so hard till I felt my head ache. I walked to the class and the maths teacher was already there. I walked swiftly and took my seat. He started teaching and by break, I was already famished not because of the teaching. Infact I couldn’t pay attention to any of the things the teachers said, the only thing I could hear was my best friend’s words playing over and over again in my head. I was about to yell Teemah muje(let’s go) when I remembered what had transpired between us in the morning. I still couldn’t believe she did that. The memory of what had happened in the morning still played in my head which had brought tears to my eyes. I was still lost in my own world when the maths teacher, Mr Ben sent Aana to call me. Aana is our friend or at least she was our friend, she’s just my friend. She asked me what was going on between me and Teemah. “Halima what’s going on between you and Fatima ? I saw what she did in the morning, did you guys have a fight or something?” “even I don’t know, or do I?” “I’m lost.” She looked quizzed but I just shrugged and kept on walking. When I reached the maths teacher’s class I took a deep breath and entered. He looked at me and signaled me to come to his table. I did just that and then he started his questioning “Halima what’s wrong with you today? You seem off to me, are you okay or do you need to go home?” I mentally rolled my eyes. “I’m okay sir, I just had a bad morning but I’ll be fine”. “does it have anything to do with….??”. I cut him short because I was getting pissed at the fact that he was pushing the matter. “no sir, it has nothing to do with it. Just a little argument that’s all. Nothing to worry about”. “okay. But if there is any problem make sure you get to me as fast as you can okay?” “okay sir. Thanks for caring.” With that, I left the class and went straight to the cafeteria before anyone else could notice my mood. Food always cheered me up so I bought two samosas and a drink. I went back to the class with my snacks and sat on my seat. Once I was seated I started eating and thankfully the samosas were extra spicy that day so that alone had lightened up my mood. I ate and drank, dumped the nonsense in the bin and was about to start reading a novel Sophie got me. It was tittled 99 days my prince by Ferdeausee. At the sight of the novel I remembered everything. I felt as if it was happening again so I just dumped it in the bin just to avoid an attack. Since the break was almost over, I picked up my physics notebook and headed for the lab. On my way there I met the notorious three of ss1; Freddy, Hamza and Ahmad. The FHA as they called themselves. They were like the spoilt brats who thought they could do anything they wished and get away with it. When they saw me coming towards them, they put on their stupid smirks. It’s not like they were ugly or something like that, they were all good looking. Ahmad is a tall, slim, model like, fair Hausa boy. He always had a round cut which fitted him perfectly. His eyes are round and auburn. His nose a little bit pointed. His lips are always swollen. At first, I always thought it was because of the constant kissing but I got to find out that that was how his lips are. Freddy on the other hand is average in height, a little bit robust and was a little dark. He is Idoma but understands Hausa. I don’t know the color of his eyes because I’ve never seen him up close. Hamza, is the most handsome, shortest, smartest and yet stubborn of all. He was shorter than them but we were the same height, he has a side dimple and vampire teeth. He was also fair and chubby. He was quite a handful though. As I was about to walk past them Freddy held my wrist which was a normal thing in our school. I tried to loosen his grip but he seemed to have gotten stronger than last term. Before I could snap at him I heard a deep voice full of threat. “saketa(let her go).” And then he let go of my hand. I even thought it was Ya Sa’eed but his voice wasn’t that deep. I turned to see who it was but I didn’t see anyone there, both the mysterious guy and FHA were no where to be found. I just continued walking to the physics lab and just as I took my seat at the front, the bell indicating that break was over rang. Everyone was surprised to see me in the physics lab at the front of the class. Not that I didn’t sit at the front, it was just that I normally got a seat booked for me by Teemah. I never came to class early, I always did a last minute entrance. I then saw Teemah and Sophie sit together. I didn’t care now. Alex sat beside me, annoying the hell out of me. The class went on and this time I actually paid attention. The rest of the day went in a blur. Whilst I was in the middle of the field using my eyes to search for any sign of my parent’s driver, I saw Ya Sa’eed looking at me. I ran to him and he pulled me in a tight hug which was just what I needed after a day like this. Ya Sa’eed is actually Teemah’s elder brother and like the brother I never had. I loved and treated him like my elder brother. He was a little bit muscular, dark just like Amal, Teemah’s immediate younger sister . In fact he’s like a male version of Amal, just that he’s a bit fairer than her and he had some allergic reactions which resulted to rashes, in contrast to Amal’s smooth skin. He asked after Teemah and that was when I remembered why I needed that hug. He noticed my change of mood. “yadai? {what’s wrong?} . Why the sudden change of mood?” “babu kawai abu natuno {nothing I just remembered something]. I’ve got to go.” I replied walking away. “toh at least tell me what that something is.” He shouted from behind me. I just walked away pretending not to hear him. I then spotted the Peugeot the driver used to bring me to school in the morning. I walked to it and spotted the driver talking on the phone a few meters away from the car. When he saw me he smiled and signaled me to enter the car. I smiled back and did as told or should I say as signaled. He came back to the car and the engine roared to life but I noticed that we weren’t going home so I enquired where we were going and he said I’ll soon find out. I could sense the happiness in his voice so I decided to go with the flow even though I wasn’t quite in a mood for suspense.