The corridor overlooked a central courtyard, affixed with a badminton net, where some students were currently playing a game of volleyball while others milled about mostly in groups, their collective chattering a loud buzz to them sitting on the fence wall on the second floor.
Their half empty shoulder bags were gathered on the floor in a corner against the pillar, beside their swinging legs as they ate, goofed about with the food, talked and laughed.
It was Monday afternoon, the sun gliding imperceptibly towards the west, creating long shadows on the earth on its way.
Ma'az, the most studious and goody two shoes of the lot, was in quite a mood today and was insisting the six of them bunk the classes and maybe go out to a nearby cafe before lunch break ended.
The way his friends looked at him at the said proposition, he knew he had broken one of his own rules. And hence he retreated before any of them put their hopes too high enough for him to reach, and told them he was only testing their devotion to studies, which though he already knew to be as weak as sand castles that wash away at the first wave, he couldn't say he wasn't a bit incredulous.
"When you pathetic losers are getting rejected from one place after the other because you don't have the required GPA, you'll regret you never listened to me and God, how desperately you would wish you had been more like me, smart, responsible, sens-"
"Ma'az. Shut your stupid face." Leila snapped, stopping him mid drone, before he escalated into proper lecture mode.
Sasha heaved a huge, dramatic sigh of relief, "Thank goodness, I was thinking of pushing him off the wall."
"He'd probably bounce back because of his inflated head." Leila muttered, rolling her eyes as Ma'az launched into a steady rhythm of tut-tuts.
"Hmm, a bullet to the head would be more effective, you know, it would leak out all the stuff he's got it filled with." Sasha mused.
"You guys look so cute, all jealous and threatening, in the most innocent way possible of course." Ma'az smirked, popping a cracker into his mouth as he aimed a kick at Leila's foot.
She scowled, pulled away her legs immediately and chucked towards him the wrapper of a chocolate bar she was holding.
"You utter swine, don't you touch my sandals, those are Prada."
"Ugh, shut up. I hate all of your whiny voices. They're making my ears bleed." Hadi mumbled, throwing his head back against the pillar and bringing his hands up to cover his ears.
Rafay chuckled.
"Oh, you bunch of sorry children, let Ma'az celebrate his A+ in English. Since things like our team winning never really turns him on, he needs this to sustain him."
"Ugh, that's what this is about?" Hadi looked at Ma'az, who smiled at him, trying to be shy about it, blinking his eyes and tilting his head.
"Ugh," Hadi muttered and let his head fall back again.
"Seriously though, we watched Les Miserables together, all of you should have gotten A+." Ma'az shook his head, trying to look disappointed, but just ended up grinning, proud of his own achievement.
Rafay rolled his eyes, spreading his legs out in front of him as he finished the last of his lunch.
"Hey, hey, remember last Saturday's pool party?" He asked suddenly.
"Obviously," Leila drawled, "and I know what, more specifically who and what part of them you're going to talk about next, so please spare me."
"It was terribly funny though," Sasha smirked, looking down at her painted fingernails, "not only did her shirt ride up, but her skirt slid down too. And she fell into the pool. And broke her wrist. Good God, I mean, you think she's done, but oh no, there she goes again." She snickered softly as Rafay outright laughed, his eyes squeezed shut with mirth.
"Honestly, I'm surprised she hasn't killed herself yet." Leila said.
"I know," Rafay chortled, "remember-"
He was cut off as Bilal stomped over towards them, clearly in a strop, threw his bag down on the floor and his books in Hadi's empty lap, who, already startled upright, jumped with the force of them.
"I swear to God, I'm going to fucking kill that whore." Bilal spat, moving his hand through his hair and pacing agitatedly up and down the corridor.
"Calm down, tiger. Who are you talking about?" Hadi asked, his eyebrows raised nearly to his hairline with surprise.
Though he felt the urge to laugh, he knew better and instead just waited for his best friend to reply, staring down his face which was pinged with fury, chest puffed as if attacked at the sore point of his being: his masculinity.
"Calming down is the last fucking thing on my mind," Bilal growled, glowering at all of them.
"Welp, let's leave you to it then. Break's almost over, we should be heading to class." Hadi chirped and got up, the rest of them following him, barely able to control their amusement at the unfolding drama.
Bilal swore and stopped pacing, his hands clenched tight by his sides.
"You're such a bastard Hadi, I should throw you in front of a bullet train." He growled again, low in his throat, the tendons in his neck taut with tension.
"Ah," Hadi nodded solemnly, while the rest of them waited impatiently for the story to be revealed, "and what makes you think I'd be any more interested in whatever the fuck happened as a corpse?" He continued.
"Oh, for fuck's sake, ignore this dick and tell us what happened, Bilal." Rafay snapped, shoving at Hadi's shoulder, who rolled his eyes.
Bilal's jaw locked darkly and his nostrils flared as he tried to calm down.
"Fucking Mirha Qadeer. She-"
"That annoying, all smiles freshman with a head scarf and horrible taste in fashion?" Leila interrupted.
"Who does that piece of filth think she is, that makeshift pious hoe!?" Bilal threw his hands up in the air in sheer frustrated fury.
Hadi rolled his eyes so hard he feared they would stick that way.
He cleared his throat, "If you'd care to en-" he began slowly but Bilal didn't let him go any further.
"She slapped me," his friend shouted, abruptly resuming his pacing, "that whore. Fucking slapped. Me!"
"Whoa."
"Ouch."
The girls commented.
"Well, I suppose we should actually be talking about her corpse now." Rafay whistled softly, sliding his hands into his pockets.
"Oh," Hadi furrowed his eyebrows, the matter bigger than he had expected.
Bilal flushed further and glared at his best friend furiously.
"Oh! That all you've got to say?! I swear on your life I'm going to fucking kill her."
"Would you stop shouting? You're attracting unwanted attention," Hadi raised his palms placatingly, "and besides, you're not a bullseye for random slaps, you must have done something wrong to incite that response."
Hadi raised his eyebrows pointedly, ignoring Bilal's furious panting and face flushing a deeper shade of red at the accusation.
"Oh oh, look!" Sasha exclaimed, diverting everyone's attention, "Speak of the devil." She pointed at a girl with a yellow scarf over her head and looped around her neck. She was coming up the staircase on the adjacent corridor, a book and a water bottle clutched in her hands, her stride purposeful and quick as she turned left and disappeared from their view.
They slowly turned back towards Bilal, who looked like smoke was going to issue out of his ears any moment now. He stood rigid in one place, eyes boring holes into the space the girl had been seen in.
One look at his friend was enough to tell Hadi he couldn't be more serious at the moment. He'd do what he said he would. He'd definitely try, at least.
"I don't think that's a good idea. Especially because you swore on my life. I don't want to be associated in any way with your illegal shenanigans."
"Shenanigans." Leila snorted. "Hadi, you ponce, you sounded like old Miss Tab."
"I'm serious." Hadi protested.
"Sasha, slap this idiot here, hard as you can, and we'll see what his uptight, disciplined arse says then." Bilal moved his hands down his face then through his hair and rested them on the back of his neck, trying his best to calm his nerves.
Hadi rolled his eyes, again.
His eyes gleaming wickedly, Rafay strode forward to stand beside Bilal, facing the rest of them eagerly. "Guys, I have a better idea."
"Nope, not you. Your ideas are disgusting." Hadi walked up to Bilal too.
Rafay scowled, but shut up.
"Look, I'll tell you what, give me a few months, I'll make her trust me. Then I will bring her to you. Do whatever you want then. You do something now, just after you got slapped in front of everyone, people'll know you did it and you'll invite more trouble than you can handle." He just wanted to end this, he didn't intend to follow through with his plan. Bilal would probably forget in a few months. Hadi hoped he would, at least.
Bilal with a thirst for revenge was bloody difficult to stop. If they did something, and it escalated, no one would be able to stop it.
And to be honest, he despised a mess, which is what it would become if he wasn't careful.
Standing around each other by the fence wall, the girls passed each other a look, and his best friend looked up at him, for a moment thoughtful, and then the corners of his lips curled up.
"Let's see how pious she thinks she is when she's close friends with a boy." Bilal murmured
Hadi felt relief wash over his heart.
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