Chapter 1 - The New Girl In The Back Row
Class - 12A
The door creaked open. Heads turned, pen paused mid-words. A girl standing at the entrance wearing dark navy hijab, not a single strand of hair can be seen. Her eyes, deep brown and unreadable, scanned the classroom once before she lowered them politely. She clutched her backpack strap tightly, knuckles pale. She had been absent for a whole month. Transferred late into the term.
“Liyana Siddiqui,” Miss Saira said, smiling like she was trying to make everything seem normal. “She’s joining us from today.”
Rapid murmurs can be hear from class.
“Who’s she?”
“She was absent for a month?”
“Maybe expelled from her last school?”
“Why the hijab though? No one here wears that.”
“Is she… like, ultra-religious or something?”
Liyana didn’t say anything. She just gave a small nod, then walked to the second-last bench near the window.
Every eye followed her. Some curious. Some whispering. Some cold. A few Muslim girls blinked at her hijab, none of them wore it, even if they shared her faith.
She simply sat, placed her notebook on the desk, and faced forward.
"Oh, and Liyana," The teacher added before starting the lesson. "If you need help catching up, ask Zayyan Rahman. He’s our class topper."
All eyes shifted again. This time to the boy near the front. Tall, sharp-jawed, with an almost permanent look of disinterest carved into his face. His charcoal hoodie was slightly wrinkled. His books were stacked with precision.
Zayyan didn’t respond. He merely blinked once.
Liyana nodded slightly.
The lesson began. But the room felt different.
---
Break Time
The corridor buzzed with teenage energy, laughter, noise, the scent of chips and coffee.
Liyana stood near the board, clutching her notebook. She hated this part asking, depending. But she had to catch up the syllabus of a whole month.
She saw him. Zayyan was by the window, earphones in one ear, sipping from a bottle of water and scrolling something on his phone.
She took a deep breath. Then walked up to him.
“Excuse me…” Her voice was so soft she wasn’t even sure he’d hear it.
But he looked up. A little surprised. His eyes narrowed slightly when he saw her.
She was standing there, not smiling or anything, just calm and serious. There was something... strong about the way she looked at him, even though she barely showed it.
“I missed the first month,” she said.
“Can I borrow your notes?”
Zayyan blinked. He never gave his notes. He hated when people asked. They always wasted time, barely read them.
But this girl, she didn’t beg. Didn’t try to charm. Didn’t even look like she wanted to talk to him.
And for some reason, without a word, he reached into his bag and handed her his notebook.
Liyana took it. “Thanks,” she whispered, then turned around and walked away.
Across the hall, a group of girls saw it all.
One of them nudged the other.
“Did you see that? He gave her his notes?”
“He didn’t even give them to Maya, and she sat next to him!”
The gossip had already started. So had the jealousy.
But Liyana didn’t notice. She sat back in her seat and opened the notebook.
It was perfect. Super neat handwriting. Color-coded. Highlighted. Literally better than any textbook. She started copying it right away, without wasting a second.
From across the room, Zayyan glanced back.
Just once and watched her.
---
