Chapter 1
BETWEEN LIES & LOOKS
Book One
Genre: School Drama • Friendship • Secrets • Jealousy • Mystery
CHAPTER 1
The Girl Who Thought She Knew Everyone
Rachel had always believed that the hardest part of making friends was finding the right people.
She was wrong.
The hardest part was discovering that the people who once knew everything about you could eventually become strangers.
But that was a story for another day.
For now, Rachel was standing outside a classroom, adjusting her bag and wondering whether starting at a new school was supposed to feel this terrifying.
New school. New faces. New classrooms.
And absolutely no idea where she was supposed to go.
Perfect, she thought. First day, and I'm already lost.
She took a deep breath and stepped inside.
At first, she kept to herself. She watched the other students talk, laugh, and exchange stories as if they had known one another forever. Everyone seemed to have someone.
Rachel wondered how long it would take before she did, too.
Then she met Aayat.
It wasn't some dramatic movie moment. There was no background music, no slow-motion entrance, and definitely no magical breeze blowing through the classroom windows.
It was simply a conversation.
One conversation that turned into another.
And somehow, talking to Aayat became easier than Rachel had expected.
Aayat made her laugh. She listened when Rachel spoke and included her in conversations instead of leaving her standing awkwardly on the sidelines.
For the first time that day, Rachel stopped worrying about being the new girl.
Maybe this school wouldn't be so bad after all.
Days passed, and their friendship grew.
They began sharing little things: classroom gossip, silly jokes, embarrassing moments, and secrets they didn't tell everyone else.
Soon, Aayat wasn't just someone Rachel talked to at school.
She was her best friend.
Rachel had known what friendship felt like before. She had a childhood friend named Evanjelin, someone who had been part of her life since before fifth standard.
But this was different.
Rachel believed she could have both friendships without anything changing.
She didn't realise how complicated that belief would become.
At first, the changes were small.
A different tone of voice.
An awkward silence.
A conversation that stopped when Rachel walked into the room.
Evanjelin began acting differently after Rachel became close to Aayat. Rachel couldn't understand why. Whenever she tried to make sense of it, she found herself wondering whether she had done something wrong.
She hadn't wanted anyone to feel left out.
She hadn't wanted to choose between people.
She certainly hadn't expected friendship to feel like a competition.
But slowly, the distance grew.
The conversations became less comfortable. The misunderstandings became harder to explain. And the friendship Rachel had once trusted began to fall apart.
She tried to hold on.
She tried to understand.
But sometimes, no matter how much someone wants to fix a friendship, they cannot fix it alone.
Eventually, things were no longer the same between Rachel and Aayat.
The girl who had once felt like Rachel's closest friend became someone connected to memories that were both precious and painful.
Rachel didn't know exactly when everything had changed.
She only knew that it had.
And she carried that experience with her, even when she tried not to think about it.
Years later, she would meet people who made her laugh until her stomach hurt. She would find friendships that felt like home. She would encounter arguments, unexpected confessions, old secrets, and situations that seemed impossible to explain.
She would learn that people could surprise you.
Sometimes in the best ways.
Sometimes in the worst.
And sometimes, the person who seemed to know you least would end up changing your life the most.
But that was the future.
For now, Rachel was just a girl trying to understand friendship, growing up, and the strange ways people could enter your life and leave a mark.
She had no idea that one day, two childhood best friends would become part of her story.
She had no idea that an old photograph would raise questions nobody wanted to answer.
And she certainly had no idea that one unanswered question could change everything she believed about the people around her.
Because every story has a beginning.
And Rachel's?
It began long before Sadiq ever called her bauni.
END OF CHAPTER 1
Some friendships end before we understand why. Others leave behind secrets that take years to uncover.
