Aziza was nervous.

It was her first day in school and the top of the hierarchy at that, where all the top kids of the society where and their life was completely different from theirs.

Aziza's family were rich, the kid of rich where you went on vacations each year, the kind where they had nice cars but she didn't have her own. So being around people who have deeper pockets than her parents and the arrogance she's heard about is nerve wrecking.

She was dressed in the school's uniform which consisted of a white and maroon plaid skirt which stopped right below her knees with a white blouse and a maroon blazer completing the look.

She fiddled with the strap of her bag as she followed behind the receptionist who halted causing her to do the same. She knocked on a door before pulling it open, and she could see a few students in the front row wearing similar clothes.

The teacher in the class paused taking the timid girl in and he nodded, dismissing the woman and ushering her to come in. The man was middle aged with a few greying hairs due to the stress the students were giving him.

Aziza hesitantly walked into the class feeling multiple eyes on her as she went to stand beside him. He smiled politely at her before gesturing her to the class who already quieted down due to the newest addition to the class.

"Go on." He nodded encouragingly and she stilled before facing the class, her hold on her strap getting tighter as her eyes came in contact with unfamiliar ones, their undivided attention on her.

She could hear some girls chuckling probably making fun of her whilst some deep voices were mumbling from behind and she felt like bolting out of the class but she would be eaten alive by her father.

These are your future friends just go for it.

Make a good impression so they would like you.

"My name is Aziza Mahmoud, nice to make your acquaintance." She pulled her lips in a hesitant smile knowing it looked like a grimace more than anything

The class was dead silent making her wish the ground would open and swallow her up, but she only nodded to her self folding her lips in her mouth. The teacher who she still doesn't know his name pointed to seat close to the window.

"There's a vacant seat there." He said and she nodded walking towards the designated seat, her shoes clacking against the marble floors. She snatched her bag off her back taking a seat placing her bag on her lap.

"We've treated a few topics but you can catch up with your peers notes." He advised and she nodded in response once again. "Where were we?" He turned to the class clasping his hands together.

A light skinned girl with braids raised her hand and she couldn't help but remind Aziza of the popular girls in high school movies who wore heels to school and have pet chihuahua's.

"Yes, Fatima." He acknowledged.

"How Heathcliff was the victim." She answered and Aziza's eyes lingered on her as she rested her chin in her palm turning to her seat mate whispering something to her, laughing in the process.

"Yes. Now have any of you heard of the phrase villains are made, not born?" He asked and the class murmured in agreement. "It's the same for Heathcliff. They maltreated him and reduced him to nothing, no one deserves what he went through and the icing on the cake was - " He trailed off.

"Who can tell me what the icing on the cake was?" He asked.

A male raised his hand and the middle aged man nodded. He leaned back in his chair with a smirk on his face and Aziza knew he wasn't going to say something intellectual.

"His girl left him for a richer guy." He answered with a straight face and the whole class laughed at the deduction whilst the cocky smirk was still painted on his face.

"Naseem let's put it in better words." He scolded.

"Clara wanted a better life." A different guy imputed earning a few chuckles as he slapped his hand against his friend's shoulder who was sitting beside him.

"Her name isn't even Clara." Another girl scoffed but he only waved her off. Just as the teacher was trying to organize the class, the bell rang and he sighed turning to pick his books.

"Let's bookmark where we stopped and we'll continue where we left off next period." He said and only a few answered as he left the room.

This was the first time transferring into the school as she was in her old school her whole life, so this was all new to her. She pulled out a book placing it on the table, staying quiet as she observed the class just as a pair of Dior sneakers came into her view.

"Hey." She looked up to find Fatima standing over her with her arms crossed over her chest. She looked around to make sure she was speaking to her as she didn't want to embarrass herself on her first day. "Yeah, you." The girl laughed.

"Hello." Aziza replied hesitantly, her eyes bouncing from Fatima's eyes to her book, clearing her throat. "You're Fatima, right?" She added and the shorter girl nodded in reply.

"Guess I'm popular around here." She smiled sweetly and Aziza resisted the urge to tell her she knew her name because the teacher called her out, but thought against it. "You switched schools?" The girl went along to sit on her desk, crossing her legs.

"Yeah I was in Grenechen." Aziza bit her lips, hesitant to tell her as she was afraid Fatima was going to cast her away or look down on her. Grenechen was one of the top schools in Abuja but the distance between the two schools were much.

"Grenechen?" Fatima raised her brow. "I know someone there. Don't worry I'm not going to ask you the dumb question whether you know him or not." She waved her off laughing in the process.

"First time changing schools?" Fatima quirked a brow but Aziza's attention was elsewhere. There was a loud cheer coming from Naseem, the guy from earlier as a random male student strolled into the class taking a seat in the group. He was leaned back in his seat with his leg propped on the table, talking animatedly with his friends.

"That's Faisal." Fatima smirked and Aziza's head snapped to her with wide eyes, making the girl laugh. "It's easy to be drawn to him." Fatima said, her eyes lingering on the said male. She snapped out of her daze pinning her eyes on Aziza. "You want to come with?" She offered.

"Thank you. I'd rather be alone." Aziza declined politely earning an understanding nod from the girl as she pushed herself of the desk.

"Well, you're welcome to join anytime." Fatima tapped her shoulder before she made her way out of the class and Aziza's eyes once again fell on the group hanging around, and it was only then she noticed him.

He was wearing a Red Sox hoodie over his head, his head leaned back in his seat. He was also good looking and Aziza wondered if the whole friend group had to be good looking to be apart of it. He was listening to what the other guy was saying, Aziza didn't know his name just as a pretty girl wearing a black hoodie sat beside him and his attention was on her flashing her a handsome smile.

He pushed his hood back revealing his full face as he said something to her. Aziza watched as she pushed his head to the side and went ahead to rest his head on her shoulder but she was quick to push it away earning a laugh from him.

"They say there's nothing going on but clearly there is." A girl muttered earning Aziza's attention as she turned her head to look at her, her brows raised.

"Sorry?"

"Fuad and Maryam. They practically grew up together but it's obvious there are feelings involved." The girl shrugged her shoulders. "Name is Halima." She stretched her hand out and Aziza shook her hand.

"Aziza." She smiled.

"Already know that." Halima breathed out slumping in her seat, scribbling on the cover of her book.

"What about those two?" Aziza asked, her attention on the four students chatting away.

"That's Faisal and Bilal." Halima nodded her head to the guy who still hasn't shut his mouth, whilst the other only listened, scrolling through his phone. "Which school were you in?" Halima asked the most predictable question and she felt like hitting her head against the wall.

"Grenechen." She answered in a timid voice.

"Grenechen? Where's that?" Halima raised her brow, her face blank.

"It's in Abuja." Aziza blinked.

"Never heard that before. Lucky for you, it's a free period. One of the teachers gave birth so she's on maternity leave." Halima explained.

"And they didn't get a substitute?" Aziza tilted her head.

"You'll get used to it." Was only Halima's reply as she faced forward, burying her face in her arms. That was how Aziza spent the whole period in silence, observing the whole class.

It was finally lunch and Aziza zipped her bag up after taking out her wallet, just as someone knocked on her desk making her look up to find Fatima standing over her with a hand on her hip.

"Let's go." She jerked her head in the direction of the door causing Aziza to look around finding the class empty except the unconscious Halima in front of her.

"I don't want to im-" She started but was cut off when the latter pulled her with her, not giving her the choice to decline her offer once again.

They passed by the hallways where different students were scattered around doing their own thing, whilst Aziza was stuck with the overly friendly girl.

"I'm going to give you a full tour tomorrow. Kind of hungry." Fatima whispered the last part, chuckling at her own words. They passed by a building that Aziza recalled to be the cafeteria. They walked in earning a few stares and they approached a full table consisting of four girls and two males.

As soon as they noticed the two girls coming, their conversation died out and soon everyone's eyes were on Aziza, making her feel even more nervous. She rubbed her arm as she glanced at Fatima asking for help.

Fatima dragged her down to sit beside her as she faced her friends. "Everyone this is Aziza." She introduced.

"Well aren't you a pretty little thing." A girl sitting beside Fatima cooed earning a few chuckles around the table.

"Where are you from?" Another girl wearing a maroon turban asked.

"G- Grenechen." Aziza stammered.

"That's interesting." A boy snickered.

"Guys come on." Fatima chuckled. "Why don't you introduce yourselves instead of interrogating the poor girl." She drawled and the boy who spoke last raised his hands in defense.

"Okay then, the name is Abdulhakeem." He smiled, throwing her a wink.

"Khadija." The girl who mocked her earlier piped up.

"Faiza." The girl with the maroon turban spoke up.

The other guy didn't care to introduce himself and stared at her blankly instead, before he resumed tapping on his phone. Aziza forced a smile on her face nodding along to the names thrown at her.

"I'm not sure what's going to go down this year but the last was amazing. Prague was an excellent decision but I want an Asian country this time around." Khadija resumed their conversation as she clasped her hands together, a reminiscent look on her face.

"What are we taking about?" Fatima looked around the table curiously.

"Just wondering where I'm celebrating my birthday this year." Khadija pouted and Fatima widened her eyes as she nodded, digging into her lunch.

"I always look forward to my birthdays because it's new year. Last time it was Dubai, I'm not sure about the next destination. Makes it exciting." Faiza clapped her hands, a low squeal escaping her lips as she envisioned her next birthday.

Aziza looked in between them as they shared their epic birthdays and she could only wish for something like that one day. It made her feel worse than she felt before because there was an obvious difference in money between them and she wondered if she could cope.

"Can we talk about something else besides your epic travels Khadija," Fatima sucked her teeth as she filed her nails, her eyes raising to meet Aziza's doe eyes. "What about you?" She asked.

Khadija was new to the group as she transferred schools not too long ago. It seemed like she was trying too hard to fit in amongst them, but the problem was she didn't say the right words. These people didn't care for the countries you visited because it's something normal for them so discussing it as a way to show off wasn't it.

"Me?" Aziza pointed at herself, letting out a delirious laugh.

"Yes. How did you celebrate your last birthday." Fatima tilted her head to the side. Aziza clenched her hand around the material of her sweater as her eyes raked over the table nibbling on her lower lip nervously.

"Uh- We rented out a restaurant and celebrated with my family and uh- friends." Aziza said lowly as her eyes flickered to the full table. The group burst in chuckles and murmurs making Aziza feel out of place as she looked up, seeing the mocking smiles on their faces.

"Isn't that a normal thing to do?" Khadija chuckled.

"It doesn't seem so special." Faiza scrunched her face as if something smelt bad.

"My father isn't a fan of going out of the country." Aziza lied letting out a helpless laugh as her eyes darted to the unamused faces around the table. She bit her lip as she felt a shiver of embarrassment run through her body.

"Drop it guys." Fatima addressed her friends before pinning her eyes on Aziza. "It's a shame your father isn't open to leaving the country, it's an amazing experience." Fatima said but Aziza could hear a biting edge in her tone.

"That's a shame." Aziza agreed dropping the topic as she assessed the bright cafeteria buzzing with students. It was the stereotypic type where there were different groups in every tables as they conversed with themselves.

She noticed a girl walking alone towards the fridge as she obtained a canned drink. The girl looked awfully familiar but Aziza couldn't remember where she saw her and stared at the girl instead until she was out of sight.

"That's Maryam Rufai." Fatima spoke startling Aziza as she flinched, turning to face the girl.

"You know her?" Aziza raised her brow.

"Who doesn't?" Fatima chuckled. "She always hangs around Faisal like a freaking koala." Fatima said distastefully and Aziza cocked her head to the side, taking in the information.

"She literally feels like she's better than everyone, like I can't count how many times I've seen her laugh." Khadijah chimes in with an equally biting tone making Aziza wonder what she did to make them so bitter towards her.

"Who are her friends exactly?" Aziza asked carefully.

"It's too early to be interested in them. Fatima is a pretty jealous person." The guy who didn't introduce himself drawled causing Khadija to laugh but pressed her lips together when Fatima threw her a glare, further confusing Aziza.

"You're dating one of them?" Aziza raised her brows.

"She wish. She literally slid into Faisal's dms." Faiza cackled.

"No, he slid into mine!" Fatima said defensively as she crossed her arms over her chest, looking away and Aziza had a feeling she did slide into the boys dms.

"The other three are Fuad Waziri, Faisal Bariko and Bilal Dantata." Faiza listed leaning in when she realized Fatima wasn't going to explain further. "There's Faisal, Fuad and Bilal and they are always together, like every time, everyday. It's creepy." Faiza scoffed.

"Maryam isn't even on their level to be honest, they're way better than her and I still wonder why they're still with her." Fatima murmured irritably.

"Maybe they feel she's unattainable so it's more like a challenge for them. There's a reason she only has male friends." Khadija chuckled almost in a mocking manner.

"Can we stop taking about this girl, for once. She hasn't done anything to you." The unknown boy sighed.

"Shut up. You can't judge us when you do the same after every game." Khadija snapped and that shut him right up as he shook his head, digging into the tray of food. Aziza okay looked in between them silently, realizing their friendship was flawed as every friendship was. Even the rich kids were inferior.

It wasn't long and the day ended, the students filling out of the doors impatiently whilst some took their time, conversing with their peers or hanging around the gates of the school.

Aziza couldn't wait to get home. She was walking out of the doors alone as Maryam was called in by their home room teacher. She clutched her school bag as she stepped out of the gates, her eyes running over the students hanging around the gate in groups while some slid in their luxurious cars.

She always thought they were rich as her father came into some money a few years ago, but half the cars she saw here weren't the cars she saw on the road. Their cars were fancy but she didn't even see anyone with a car like theirs, only higher.

She finally spotted her father's navy blue Lexus parked a bit far from the gates. She licked her dry lips walking down the stairs and out of the gates feeling a group of boys eyes on her but she kept her poker face, all the way to the car.

She pulled the door open finding her brother scrolling through his phone and looked up when she did, his brow raising.

"How was the first day?" He smirked earning a sigh from Aziza as she threw her bag in the backseat.

"Hell." She muttered staring out the windshield only to find Fuad walking out of the gates, his bag lazily thrown over his shoulder with his hand clutching the strap, whilst the other hand was tucked in his pocket.

Faisal appeared saying something to him and Aziza had no clue what he said, as she was in a distance. They slapped hands and he slid into the passengers seat of the White Brabus driving off.

•••

"Does it exceed our expectations?" Was the first thing her father asked. He didn't bother to ask her about her day and the only thing he was interested in was her getting more contacts, and his money not going to waste.

"Baba I don't think there's anyone we can get what we want from. They're all young and marriage isn't even something they're thinking about ten years from now." Aziza explained earning a glare from her father.

"And you deduced that from your first day? I told you who to go for." Her father scolded making her glance down, toying with her nails.

"They think I'm below them because of my background." Aziza confessed.

"Do you know what I did to get that scholarship for you? And you're bringing petty excuses like that? For what?" He fumed making her flinch, her eyes darting to his clenched fists. She remained quiet.

"Did you see Alhaji Bariko's son?" He asked after a few few seconds.

"Yes. We met." She lied and he nodded, waving his hand gesturing her to leave and she did, with her tail between her legs.

She got to her room snatching the blazer off her body feeling hot as she stuffed her face in her palms, feeling so suffocated. Her phone dinged and she reached for her phone, only looking at the notification bar, showing it was an instagram notification.

fatima_alkali started following you!

She pushed her brows together clicking on the account, finding it private and she was quick to press on the follow back button, and more accounts showed up and she spotted Faisal's account.

She settled on checking his account. He only had one post which was a picture of him sitting on a ledge, his side profile staring at the mountains was the only thing that could give away it was him.

She could see the comments left on the post which was most of the people from the school, and the thousands of likes on the post alone. She viewed his highlights and it was the same, it was usually the scenery he took when he traveled. The next picture she was was of him, Bilal and Fuad.

They were dressed in sweatsuits as they posed for the picture and the other slide was of Bilal and Fuad playing basketball. It was weird seeing how goofy they both were as Fuad tried cheating but Bilal was quick to shove him to the ground causing them to burst out in laughter, including Faisal behind the screen.

The next slide was the three of them this time around, including Maryam. It was taken in school as she was wearing a lavender sweatsuit, a white turban covering her hair. She was sitting in between Bilal and Fuad as she grinned widely at the camera. The last was a picture of the four of them wearing brown overalls, their background giving away they went to play paintball.

Their friendship was something Aziza envied because she seemed like their little sister with how they treated her. It was obvious they had a soft spot for her and for a moment, she wondered if she could have the same.

There were several pictures of Maryam which were slides for her birthday. They were usually goofy pictures she randomly sent them and he posted it to troll her. One was of Maryam wearing a money heist costume with the mask on Fuad in the background wearing the same costume as he was sitting on the sink using his phone.

She bit her lip hesitating whether to follow him or not and she quickly tapped on the follow button and shut her phone, throwing it on the bed before going to take a shower just as her phone dinged.

•••

Aziza slammed the door shut shooting her older brother a smile and he waved driving off, leaving her in the dust. She walked into the empty school as she came early, because she used anything to escape their house and her father's wrath.

She went to the library because she always liked the vibe of the library, even though she was just going to read a random book on Wattpad instead of the books in the library.

"Good morning." She greeted the librarian who smiled at her politely before getting back to what she was doing.

Her fingers swept over the books as she walked down the aisle, a nostalgic feeling sweeping over her with the cloudy weather. She flinched when she saw a pair of long legs in her view, causing the latter to look up.

"You scared me." She licked her lips earning a dry chuckle from Fuad. He was sitting by the window reading a book, his bag on the floor in front of him.

"Aren't you the new girl?" He raised his brow and she rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest leaning against the bookshelf.

"Don't you know that a new student hates to be called a new student?" She quirked a brow and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Never been there before." He licked his lips looking out the window and her eyes drifted to the book he was reading.

It read Percy Jackson.

"Percy Jackson?" She raised her brow. "I didn't know you were into fiction." She jabbed and he tilted his head to the side.

"It's entertaining." He met her eyes and that was when she noticed his eyes were two toned, enhancing his features.

"Flying sneakers?" She snickered.

"What do you want me to read, Twilight?" He quirked a brow and she looked away, letting out a breath as a laugh.

"Now that's just a bold assumption. Everyone hates twilight." Aziza didn't skip a beat.

"It's a friendly question." He drawled quirking an innocent brow.

"Friendly huh?" She hummed.

"Curious about how you knew about the flying sneakers though." Fuad squinted his eyes playfully, causing Aziza to pause at his analysis.

"Okay, guilty. I watched the movie." Aziza admitted defeatedly causing them to share a laugh.

He stretched his long legs letting it rest on the floor from the windowsill, and she wondered how he could live like that. There was something about Fuad that drew her to him and she could admit this short conversation shared between them that felt intimate made her want more.

Aziza wanted more.