3

Tuesday 11th October

The rest of the day passed in flash, with them having Modern language classes right after lunch following Social studies. She zoned out through Spanish and doodled during Civics, nothing new happened of course, her Spanish teacher spoke about how many tenses existed in Spanish and the Civics teacher would not be quiet about how fascinating Private Economy is. In truth -according to Zahrah- it's not if only people didn't overcomplicate everything to make it look more cooler or more productive. 

She rolled her shoulders hearing her back crack, gym sounded like a good idea at this point but she didn't want to go because that was everything all the guys would talk and flex about. She scrunched her nose just thinking about the horrors, talking about how much she benches or how long she runs on the treadmill with them. It wasn't something she was afraid of but it was something she best preferred to avoid. 

Her back relaxed on the chair she was sitting in, after an unproductive day she was ready to just cannonball into her bed. Yet the school has proven once again its devotion and love to her that she has to stay up and complete her Civics assignment on Private Economy. She'd been productively procrastinating that assignment and finally, it needs to be handed in tomorrow which has given her enough reason to start and complete it. 

Getting rather comfortable in her chair Zahrah switched from her working tabs to her personal tabs, it was time for a break, she felt like she deserved one (she didn't but for her well-being that's exactly what she told herself). In front of her now was a tab reading Shatter Me, it had been only a month since she last read the whole series but she craved more of Tahereh Mafi's writing. It was so beautifully written, tempting, and luring, once she started she couldn't stop reading it. 

Right before she finished chapter 17 a small tap echoed through her whole room. Someone was eager to enter her room even at this damned hour. "Come in," she groaned lightly, rolling her shoulders back. She watched keenly as a tiny boy flitted around her room. 

"Rara! Why've you been in your room all day?" the little boy complained. "I've got no one to play with!" He was quite annoyed with his older sister, his eyebrows bending inwards as he eyed her. 

"Oh, I'm so sorry Nico! I lost track of time!" She chuckled, trying her best to sound true. In turn, she knew about staying cooped up in her room all day, she did it on purpose but she could never tell her little brother, oh no, she couldn't bother hurting that fragile soul. It would break her heart so much more if Nico figured out that she wanted only to be with herself and not with him. "How about we go play a bit now before heading to dinner?" She smiled, a generous one from ear to ear. 

Her little brother squealed in delight, urging her to come outside and be with him. " Come! Come!" Nico stretched out his tiny little hands for her to grab as they both left her room, in search of something to play with. It had been quite some time since Zahrah last played with her little brother, not avoiding him through excuses but rather not having the time to, since she vigorously agrees to being time effective -in truth she's really not. 

The two of them finally came across a good game to play, as they settled down Zahrah's mother walked into view, her eyes tired but focused on what was going on around her. "Darling, have you finished your assignment?" Her mother asked, hands instinctively fitting in the dip of her hips. Zahrah kept quiet, she glanced at her little brother before looking back and forth till she finally looked at her mother. Her mother arched her eyebrows in dismay, understanding immediately that she hadn't completed it. 

"I'll go work on it," Zahrah sighed, she tried to keep herself from giggling because she knew this would happen. If only she had started the assignment earlier if only she hadn't told her mother about the assignment once she got home. If only. Yet now there was nothing she could do about it... unless she wanted to sit and complain about it -which she eventually did but concluded that it will only continue ruining her sleep the more time she was awake and working on this damned assignment. 

Once she settled back in her room she switched to her working tabs and hit shuffle on her playlist. If she wanted to power through this the only way was to have her one hundred percent focus on The Weeknd. Wait, scratch that. Her Civics assignment. Her fingers mechanically tucked her loose strands behind her ears before pushing the chair closer to the desk, she had written ten words and the majority of them were connectives trying to help her prove her point desperately. 

Zahrah groaned. As if this wasn't enough work, an email appeared on her screen. Her eyes scanned the sender before opening her mail on a separate tab, she frowned as she read what had been written. 

Test 2 Graded - Score 79.0 

She gulped, a high C wasn't so bad supposedly, but the real question was would her parents agree with her? Zahrah shuddered, her mother was an A-level student in practically any and every subject back in high school -she graduated with a degree that could blow someone right off their heels, and her father? Oh, don't get her started. Graduated with not one but two degrees, as if one wasn't enough to impress her mother.

There was also her older brother but he preferred to keep his school life out of his personal one, Zahrah didn't know much about his grades apart from how he comes home with an average B, every other assignment would be an A or a C. A sly fox he is. Zahrah chuckled wryly, thinking about how well-educated her whole family is, and then there was her. 

Shaking that thought and the unpleasant feeling that came with it Zahrah switched tabs and flexed her fingers. Tonight was definitely going to be a long night if she did not focus properly. Even with a decent sleeping schedule, she could start to see that her school work blurred the times, from sleeping at around 9 in the night to sleeping as far as midnight on a regular school day. 

Just then her mother called from downstairs, it appears dinner was finally ready for the family. She didn't realize how much she needed a break from her assignment till she got out of her chair and sighed, a quite large one at that. Relief trickled all over her body as she made her way to the dining table. The food consisted of perfectly seasoned chicken with white rice, all of it was oh so close to her, Zahrah's mouth desperately drooling for the food in front of her. 

Without any further delays she moved to the dining table and settled beside an empty chair. Her little brother Nico on her left and her older brother Alistair to the right, Nico with one hand resting it on his cheek covering his face with those tiny little fingers. His other hand clutched a table knife as if his life depended on it, his knuckles almost turned white before Alistair leaned over to take the knife away from his baby brother. "If you're going to hold the knife, don't point it at people, Nico," he eased the knife out of Nico's hand before setting it aside. 

The dinner went quite smoothly, her mother seemed to bring back her unfinished assignment every time the topic changed, as if Zahrah were to forget once she was done eating - she probably would have if only Alistair didn't either have a social studies assignment to turn in. That's when she brilliantly devised a plan, after this she would politely ask -demand- Alistair to help her finish up her assignment because he was a good older brother. 

And just like that, Alistair rolled his eyes and smirked, heading up with her, a feeling of relief blossomed in her chest as her brother flopped onto her bed with his own computer. "So, what could you possibly need my help for?" He eyed the open computer on her own desk, the one sitting idly in front of her, the document had two...three? Paragraphs she had written but that was it, unlike her brother's document, with revision notes all from middle school -as if those were truly going to help him now-. 

"Okay, tell me about the education part of it, like, how does this work with Private Economy?" She frowned, with the help of her unnecessarily smart brother she managed to finish a couple parts of her project, including the educational, the medical and other factorial parts that come underneath the private economy. 

Her brother knew so many things, she often wondered if he ever did anything non-related to school or just perhaps been out with his friends, don't get her wrong, her brother isn't a nerd...Okay he kind of is, but that's not the point. What she did have to know was that if her brother cheated on tests and things, she still couldn't believe he was this smart -no she's not in denial-. He chuckled watching her try to understand her work but it wasn't working for her, she still had more points to cover before she could even turn to the idea of sleep. 

"Al?" She asked spinning her chair to face him. The room had grown uncannily silent after she watched him shift his body to face her. 

"Yes, Zap?" A nickname she had adored since he started calling her that, it had been quite some time since she had heard her older brother say her full name, but every time he did say it it normally meant that something bad had gone down. "What's wrong now?" 

"Can't I just do this tomorrow?" She whined, her eyebrows arching down, fed up, tired of this assignment. "I mean, I'll actually go to school early and finish it, please!" Zahrah dragged out the e, hoping her brother would have a little sympathy for her poor self. 

"And how can I be sure that you'll do it?" His voice filled with concern as he sat up, his legs planted onto the wooden floor beneath him. She fumed, the time was nearing 12 in the night. One way or another she told herself she would be in bed by 1 am. 

"I promise, now can I go to sleep?" Her eagerness to sleep sent a ripple of laughter out of Al's mouth, he seemed entertained by her complaints, as if she really was going to sleep after being put to bed, especially at this time. 

"How 'bout we make a deal?" He bargained, she nodded hesitantly. "Finish one more part and I might consider letting you go to bed," his lips formed another smirk. After what felt like years she finally finished explaining the difference of social economy. Al was fully focused on his work with headphones in, but that's just what Zahrah thought, he could've actually been listening to what she was doing but working on his stuff. 

Just then her phone flashed on, another notification, as if one wasn't enough for her. To her relief it was not a school notification rather one from a friend of hers, it was from the guy she'd called charming at school. Al proceeded to watch her reaction as curiosity sparked her imagination, she opened the notification, expecting something completely random. A question about her day or perhaps on the assignment -there were a lot of active accounts on the assignment instructions when she first checked-.

Even though Al was watching her now, Zahrah paid no attention to him, her entire being, every singular cell was focused on what the guy had sent her. Although she had expected something else, a question popped up. 

But there wasn't any question. It was a question that sent literal shivers down her spine. She tried to keep her expression as neutral as possible but it was hard to contain herself. She read it over and over again just to make sure it wasn't from someone else. Was she expecting it from someone else? She made sure that it was him who had sent it and nobody else, her breath hitched as she finally read it clearly, the two words of a question. 

"You up?"