Who We Were

Chapter 1

The alarm went off at exactly 6 am and Mia groaned, rolled over to her side and whacked it with her hand. 

"I'm not going anywhere today," she murmured to herself under her breath and pulled her comforter over her head. 

"Mia!" her mom's shrill voice broke through her hazy daze and jolted her awake. 

"What?" she yelled back. 

"Get up! You have to submit that speech you've been working on today." 

Right. The speech. The speech she'd spent all night perfecting for her graduation. 

"Ugh!" Of course this had to happen on  the day she had decided to not show up to school and ruin her perfect attendance. 

Begrudgingly she rolled off of her bed and made her way to the bathroom where she spent another twenty minutes cursing the day out. It was going to be a bad one, she had decided and nothing could change her mind. 

It only got worse when she sat down for breakfast and her mom broke the news. 

"Your dad had an early meeting and my car's not back from the workshop  you're going to have to ride with the Zaman kids." 

Great, she thought, just what she needed. A morning car ride with her broody classmate Ahad Zaman and his nosy little sister. 

She'd known Ahad for three years, both their families had moved to the city at the same time when their dad's jobs posted them there and so they were both the fresh bait in high school together. She had thought that would've resulted in a friendship- a bonding over being the new kids in the middle of high school in an unfamiliar country but boy was she wrong. 

"I can walk." Mia declared and shoved her bowl of cereal away from her. 

"No you can't," her mom threw her a glare, "Security is tight this week, your dad specifically told me not to let you go out anywhere alone." 

"Dad's been saying security's tight for three years now," Mia rolled her eyes. It was true that her dad's posting came with risks but she always believed her dad was a little too careful. There were two guards outside there house at all times and they were always given an escort wherever they went. Mia found it all very unnecessary. Sure, her dad and his organization pissed a lot of powerful, barbaric men off but would anyone really dare to pull something in broad daylight? 

"You're gonna be late," Mrs. Noor leaned forward, gave Mia a peck on the head and disappeared. Probably off to organize another lunch with the ladies. Her mom kept busy, and Mia understood why, it was hard adjusting to this city with it's newness and unfamiliar climate. Her mom stayed far away from the news channels and buried herself in lunches, banquets and organizing charity events for her dad's organization. They had all found their rhythm here. 

Mia's phone buzzed and she looked down to find a text from her sister. Now Jana was something who hadn't found her rhythm here. Lucky for her she was out of high school and off to NYU within six months of their move. 

Congrats on getting into oxford! so proud xx

The text read. Mia beamed to herself, pretty soon she's gonna be out of here too. Her acceptance letters started rolling in a week ago, and she could not have been happier at the prospect of getting out of this town and into the world.

Putting her phone away Mia walked out, nodded hello to the guards and jumped over the hedge that divided her house from the Zaman's. 

"Morning Miss Noor," Saf, their driver said and opened the car door for me. 

"Morning Saf," Mia replied and slid into the car. 

Ahad, rude as ever, said nothing. Didn't even look up from his phone. 

"Where's your sister?" Mia asked as Saf started driving. 

"Not feeling well" Ahad replied curtly. 

Mia rolled her eyes and settled in her seat. Ahad Zaman had no trouble fitting in and although she'd thought they'd have a hard time fitting in at high school and then be friends, their entire batch had accepted him whole heartedly, welcomed him with open arms. And she knew exactly why. 

He was good looking, unbelievably so. His brown hair fell perfectly on his face and his hazel eyes sparkled only when he was amused, which was rare. He was tall, serious, broody, mysterious. All the things any nineteen year old girl would find attractive. Add his dad's position, power and money into the mix and you had your perfect high school stud. 

"Congratulations on getting into Oxford Mia," Saf called out from the driver's seat, breaking her out of her reverie. 

"Thanks!" she replied. 

"You got in?" Ahad, looked up for the first time, meeting her gaze. 

"You're surprised?" she challenged.

"No," he shook his head, "Congrats." 

"Thanks." 

"Is that really necessary?" Ahad groaned as two cars pulled up in front of us and two behind us, full of armed guards and mine locaters. 

"It's protocol this week," Saf explained, "We're on high alert, your dad got a couple threats last night." 

With a grunt Ahad returned to his phone and Mia stared out the window. She let herself feel sorry for Ahad, if only for a minute. If she thought she had it bad, what he had was just plain torture. His dad was more of a public figure which meant more security and more surveillance and that's the last thing a high school kid could want. 

Not that it ever stopped Ahad from anything, Mia scoffed thinking about the stories she saw of him drinking and partying over the weekend. 

"What's so funny?" Ahad asked and as Mia opened her mouth to answer a loud explosion rendered her speechless. 

"What was that?" she looked around but saw nothing, the sound was faint and distant. It came from behind them. Her brain immediately jumped to her mom, she was alone in their house. 

"What are you doing?" Ahad shouted as Mia threw open her car door. 

"Mia stop!" Ahad yelled from behind her but without looking back she started running back towards her house.

Far in the distance she could hear yelling and gunshots. Please no,  she thought. Please no. She repeated over and over in her head. 

"Stop it!" Ahad's hands came around her and lifted her off the ground. "Don't be insane." 

"Let me go!" she screamed and kicked but Ahad's grip was firm. 

"Get down on the ground!" Ahad yelled in her ear and then everything went dark.