The Bully: Madison, the basic Queen Bee, who's determined to make the best out of this school year, even if it means making everyone else's a living hell.
The Bullied: Nayla, the shy, sweet, and lovable protagonist who's just trying to get through t...
Nayla's mom wrapped her in a hug. "Thanks so much for doing this honey, you're an angel! Your dad and I like to visit Mr. Brekker a couple of times a month, but we've just gotten so busy with Asad in the hospital and Salma starting school."
Her mom rummaged around in her purse for her credit card. She pulled it out and handed it to Nayla. "Mr. Brekker is so sweet, you'll love him. He's a family friend. Tell him we sent you and just keep him company for a while."
Nayla nodded as her mom gave her a kiss on the check. "Say hi to Asad for me," said Nayla.
"Of course sweetie! I'm headed to the hospital right now. I'll text you the address when I get in the car ok?"
Nayla waved her goodbye as she dashed out the door. Her mom was so busy all the time, Nayla was grateful that she could take something off of her hands.
She checked the time and headed toward the train station.
"Wait," she heard someone scream from a distance.
Nayla turned around quickly. She put her hands in front of her face expecting an attack. She held them in position for a minute and slowly lowered them when nothing happened.
She saw Anwar jogging up the block and laughed. She waved at him as he got closer. "What are you doing here?"
He hunched over panting and motioned for her to wait. "I- I," he took a couple of deep breaths to catch his breath. "I just wanted to see what you were up to. Do you wanna go to the mall?" he asked, fidgeting with his hands.
Nayla laughed and gave him a hug. Anwar was so sweet she thought. Did he run all the way over here to ask her out?
"No silly," she said pushing him away gently. "I'm going to visit a family friend remember?" Nayla paused and raised her eyebrows at him. They had had a similar conversation when he had come over the other day. "You can tag along if you want." she offered.
Anwar scratched his head and nodded. "Sure, sure, sure. Cool, cool, cool."
They walked towards the train station and hopped on the one that was headed to Newsville. It was a 30-minute ride, so Nayla pulled out her phone and headphones. She would've talked to Anwar, but he was acting weird. He kept quoting random shows and ruffling his hair in a nervous manner.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he said, forcing a smile. "I'm fine. Everything's fine. The carousel never stops turning."
Nayla laughed and put her headphones in, she didn't know if she was making him nervous of something else, but he was definitely acting weird.
*** They got off the train at Newsville and took an Uber to the address Nayla's mother had sent her. They rode in silence for a while.
"Hey," said Anwar, pointing at a mall out the window. "Do you want to stop there?"
"Maybe on the way back," said Nayla smiling. Did he really want to go to the mall with her that bad?
They thanked the Uber driver and got out. "That's weird," said Nayla as she looked around.
They were at a jail... or some sort of prison. She called her mom to double-check the address.
"Yes, that's right." said her mom, shouting over the background noise. "Ask for John Brekker."
"Ok," said Nayla, hanging up the phone.
"This is the place," she told Anwar.
He looked at her and quickly looked away. "Nice weather huh?"
Nayla looked up. The sky was cloudy. Her weather app said that it was going to rain later, "not really," she replied.
They walked in and Nayla talked to the secretary, "Hi can I see a John Brekker please?" Nayla asked.
"Do you have an appointment?" The secretary asked not looking up from her computer. She chewed her gum loudly as she pulled up John Brekker. "And are you familiar with the visiting rules, times, and limitations?"
"Yes and yes," said Nayla. "The appointment is under the name Najma Ali, that's my mom. Her and my entire family have been pre-approved and are on the visiting list."
The secretary looked up from her computer. She moved her frizzy hair out of her face and took a good look at Nayla and Anwar. "Can I see some ID?"
Nayla pulled out her school ID from her purse and Anwar took his out of his wallet. The secretary looked them over. "Sorry, you can't go in without an adult."
Anwar exhaled, "Yeah, ok. We'll come back next time." He pulled at Nayla's sleeve and tugged her towards the door.
"Wait," Nayla said. She tried arguing with the secretary, but she didn't budge.
"Sorry, there's nothing I can do." She blew a bubble with her gum and started clicking away on her keyboard.
Nayla sighed in defeat. Her mom was counting on her to get this done. She looked around for another adult to reason with and continued to ignore Anwar, who started tugging on her harder.
"You guys can come in with me." said an old man, coming up to the secretary's table. He gave her his ID
Nayla's eyes lit up and looked at the secretary. She shrugged and pointed them towards the visitor's room.
Anwar paused for a second. "Nayla do you really want to do this?"
"Do what?" she asked, walking towards the visitors' room.
"Visit a family friend?" She paused for a second as she watched a woman walk away in the distance. That kind of looked like Madison's mom....
Nayla brushed the thought off; Madison had been on her mind ever since she had gotten her revenge. Nayla brushed Anwar off as well. She needed to focus.
They got to the visiting room and there was a guard standing outside.
"Hey, we're here to see John Brekker." said Nayla. "Is he in there?"
The guard repeated her words into his walkie and shook his head. "Someone's seeing him right now. You can either take a seat or have a look around."
"We'll have a look around." said Anwar abruptly. He grabbed Nayla's hand and practically dragged her away.
They walked around the prison for a while and stared at the walls. There was nothing to see, it was all just a bland grey color.
"Let's go back now," said Nayla, leading Anwar back to the visiting room. "I'm sure they're done by now."
They got back to the entrance of the visiting room and the guard nodded at them.
Anwar hesitated and followed Nayla to the door. She reached to open it, but someone on the other side got to it first.
Nayla took a step back as a crying Madison emerged from the door.
"What the hell are you doing here?!"
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