My True Self - Noaf x fem reader (AlRawabi School for Girls)

Chapter 1 - Guilt

Being different. Standing out. Expressing yourself. It was unimaginable. At least as long as you did not want to become the next victim of the almighty trio, how I liked to call them. Ruqayyah, Rania and Layan. If you became their target once you would never get rid of that status again. That is what they clearly showed by bullying Mariam. I did not know why they were so fixated on her, but I was sure that I did not want to steal this role from her.

Therefore I was more than stunned when I spotted our new classmate. Her appearance practically screamed to challenge the trio with her piercings, makeup, and black clothes. Honestly she amazed me right away.

I had to force me to rip my eyes away from her. She was sticking out as we were all wearing our plain school uniforms.

On the one hand I despised our uniforms. It felt oppressing to wear them. But the pressure to fit in was immense anyway. Because on the other hand the school uniform made us equal at least in one category. One thing less to worry about.

After the introduction, some rude comments from Ruqayyah and the struggle to find a seat, Noaf sat down in front of me out of all people.

"Thanks for offering the seat to her, Dina", I thought sarcastically.

How was I supposed to concentrate on the lesson now? And why did I have to get a crush on the new girl? And seriously ... love at first sight? More cliché had not been in for me, had it?

The ringing of the bell at the end of the day felt like my savior. I hurried to push my stuff into my backpack and headed to the bus to get home.

Inside the bus I chose some random seat, put my headphones on and looked out the window watching the students get to their own buses.

Suddenly someone kicked my foot softly. I took off my headphones while turning to the person. Of course it was Noaf. How had I not noticed her this morning? The question subsided when I remembered that I had been sleeping through the whole drive.

"Is this seat taken?", she asked me casually.

For a moment I was overwhelmed by the question. But after my short panic I managed to offer the seat to her.

"I'm (f/n) by the way", I introduced myself forcing me to stay calm.

She simply nodded mumbling a 'nice to meet you' before pulling out her phone.

I decided to go back to listening to music and she followed my example.

Two stations before mine Noaf left the bus.

At home I immediately entered the kitchen. Mom had scolded me for years that she wanted me to tell her about my day. But every time I tried to now my little sister interfered. So after a while I gave it up once again and set off toward my room.

On the next day at school we had P.E., the subject I dreaded the most. Not just because of the fact that we were supposed to get ourselves sweating during some ball game I did not have the necessary skills for. Or because I hated pulling down my whole team with me. What was worst about P.E. was getting changed.

Some paranoid voice inside of me was telling me that everyone around me would be able to tell that I liked girls during changing. That they would over-interpret some random look from me or whatever.

To my horror that was the exact thing that happened to Mariam today after P.E. with the difference that she was not even into girls. At least that was what I assumed. But of course Layan was up for some drama after getting a scolding by Ms. Jumana for throwing the basketball at Mariam.

"Guys! Did you just see how she grabbed me?" Layan's upset voice echoed through the changing room.

"But I didn't touch you. What are you talking about?", Mariam justified herself.