His Secret

Chapter 1 - New Beginnings

It was a warm November morning, and Isr'a Siddiqi was waking up in her bedroom. As her alarm clock went off, she got up and got ready for her first day at her new high school. Transferring from Atrium to Nakami High School was quite hectic, not to mention moving three months into the school year. At least her friends would be there, she grabbed some breakfast and made her way to school, nervous and prepared for a fresh start.

The school was huge, fifteen thousand acres of land, a huge field with bleachers left of the school, a running track towards the right, and not to mention the school's entrance; a huge white arch wrapped with amaryllises and Nakami High in cursive at the top. A huge fountain was placed in the middle between the entrance gates and the school. The school building itself was a mix of red, white, and yellow, with four floors, and some areas even had balconies. It was even better than what was posted online, and as the multi-coloured leaves fell off the trees from the chilly November wind. The dying grass was still covered in morning dew, and the landscape was painted red, yellow, and orange.

Taking a deep breath, Isr'a walked up to her best friend Zareen and the duo made their way into the school and walked through the hallways full of lockers and students, many of whom were getting books for the first couple of classes. Classrooms in different areas of the hallways were full of teachers and students ready to start the day; It was overwhelming, to say the least. As the girls walked from one hallway into another, Isr'a noticed students smiling, waving, and nodding their heads as a way of greeting. The school seemed to have a good atmosphere, that was very good.

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Isr'a POV

This school is massive. Navigating it is like navigating inside a mega mall, but this is even harder. Speaking of which, I need to get winter sweaters. It's almost December, and I need to stay up to date with all the newest winter trends. Zareen's voice broke me out of my thoughts, "How are we going to remember which class is which?". Zareen Hashim was my best friend. She was a relatively tall girl with the most vibrant green eyes I've ever seen on a person, she was decked out in a baby pink hijab and had substituted her usual black abaya for a dark blue satin abaya and a baby pink belt.

She was referring to the many different classes, and due to there being so many, I wouldn't put it past me to accidentally show up late due to being in the wrong class. I looked towards her and just said, "I have no idea. Can we just find the principal's office?''. She nodded and fixed her gaze on the ever-continuous hallway in front of us, "Good idea, let's do that. We'll figure out the details later." We walked for a bit until we reached the school's foyer and near the exit doors toward the left was a room, "the principal's office!" we exclaimed in unison.

We walked inside and immediately met eyes with who I presumed was the secretary, she appeared to be quite young and was a fair-skinned woman of average height and slender build with onyx eyes and jet-black hair; She was in a short bluish-black sundress with white trimmings, and white flats. "Ah! You must be the new students, I'm Mrs. Soodeen, pleasure to have you here, I have already met Zareen during our meeting last week, so you must be Mr Yusuf's daughter, correct?", "Yes ma'am, Im Isr'a Siddiqi," I affirmed, nodding my head. I wasn't able to show up during the meeting last week due to a fever. I was in bed for a week, not to mention my nose and throat were so swollen after that.

She turned towards a huge shelf, pulled out four papers from a file, and handed two to each of us, along with an empty school ID holder from a shelf in her desk. "Here are your schedules and locker numbers, and as for these, come to the library twenty minutes after dismissal, you'll be given your syllabus for the year and your ID pictures will be taken", she said, turning towards her desk chair and sitting down.

We nodded and with a few final words she clapped her hands and said, "Alright, let me call down a student to take you both to your first class, in the meantime you may sit in the waiting area", she motioned to the room to the left of the office while she picked up the office phone. We made our way to the waiting area and sat down on the fabric couches.