Freya Arsov sits on top of a world of diamonds and sports cars. Her father is a billionaire, head of a world-renown company, her mother, an esteemed lawyer. She attends the most prestigious boarding school in England. She has four amazing best frien...
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RAINA WAS STILL EMBARRASSED HOURS later at dinner. Of course, Seth would've been gone. He had to be at Arrowsmith for the welcome ceremony, something which she skipped each year.
She accepted a platter of spiced potatoes from her cousin and thought over how much she despised this dinner. It was tradition. But somehow, Saiid was exempt from tradition, already on his plane to Harvard. Raina scowled into her plate.
"Raina, stop moping and eat your food," her mother naturally noticed her brooding and snapped at her across the table.
She lifted her fork and smiled sweetly as she stabbed a piece of lamb with violent vigour. She kept the smile on her face even as she chewed in angry bites.
Her cousins glanced at her weirdly. Her younger sister and brother blinked at her curiously and the adults exchanged looks of exasperation at her behaviour.
"Stop taking your rage out on the mansaf, ya binti," chided her father.
Raina ignored him. She dashed her fork clean through the rice and imagined it was Aeesha's face.
Golden lanterns hung happily in the small courtyard of her home. A fountain lapped peacefully in the corner. Food piled high on the table, some brought in from the best caterers in the city, others made by her mother's own hand. And from the open ceiling above her head, Raina could see the stars. None of this dulled her mood.
She was sour still. From Saiid and his veiled insults and from herself and her foolish heart. And beyond that, she wanted to return to Arrowsmith. She missed her friends. She missed Amelie, who had not answered a single one of her video calls for the summer. The hurt was sharp. She even missed Freya and her scathing sarcasm.
"What is the matter?" Her cousin who sat beside her asked. He was not as vile as Aeesha but she trusted none of them with information. Her cousins were eager to show the world her dirty hands while not at all looking at their own and this made Raina wary of them, to say the least. Arin was her cousin on her mother's side and had thus inherited the coveted green eyes that Raina wished she had. Those green eyes peered at her curiously over his shoulder.
"What's it to you?" She whispered, deciding she'd interrupted her family's dumb dinner enough for the evening.
Arin spoke to her in English. His was not as good as hers and it sent a small spark of satisfaction through her. She remembered scrambling after the language as quickly as she could as a child, just so she could be better at it than Saiid. Years and an English boarding school later, she spoke it perfectly. Saiid's was still better though.
Arin's brows furrowed. "I was only trying to be kind, cousin."
She rolled her eyes. "Don't."
"I met your friends in California this month," sighed Arin, sounding annoyed at her, "not even they are this rude."
