Nadia

Chapter 1

•Nadia•
Today is my first day, starting fresh and finally living my dream of art school. For the past six years me and my sister have worked our asses off for this school, making sure no matter what i could have the future that i want and not end up working some 9 to 5 with some misogynistic boss and a husband that gets pissed every night. My sister Aaliyah is my biggest support, without her i'd still be in foster care with no dreams or expectations.

After unwillingly rolling off my comfy mattress, I throw on a pair of old sneakers and pull on a sweatshirt and some baggy jeans. I skip into the kitchen grab a cereal bar and shout to Zoya "HURRY TF UP!!" Within seconds Zoya comes running through her doorway with her school bag and her hair poorly tied up. "Come here munchkin, lemme fix you hair for you" Zoya happily sits on my lap and tells me all about her new school and how excited she is. Meanwhile I carefully tie back her bouncy brunette curls in to two cute space buns.

" Thank you Nadiii, can we call mommy before I go to school?!!" Her eyes lit up waiting for my reply, "I'm sorry baby girl, but your mamas in London right now, and it's work time there."
Ever since my sisters business got successful she's been gone 24/7 travelling the world for meetings and new business ventures, leaving me to look after Zoya, a seven year old, who may look and act cute but is a pain to look after. Because of the extra body to look after i have to leave the house early to make it to  school on time, luckily it's only a few blocks away or else I wouldn't have made it this morning.

After dropping Zoya off at elementary school, I sprinted round the corner, slid through the door and grabbed the last seat in the art studio. I had just made it before the teacher, Mr Anderson had arrived. "thank fuck" i muttered under my breath, a late on my first day wouldn't be good for my report. Whilst i pulled my pencil case and headphones out of my bag i could feel eyes on me. I looked up to see a brunette man with a sly grin staring at me. He looked so familiar, but i just couldn't hook where i knew him from so i nonchalantly ignored his presence and death glares as i made my way to the empty canvas in the corner.

Three hours later and my introduction to fine arts lesson is finally over. Surprisingly the lesson wasn't to hard and Mr Anderson didn't live up to his title of being a notorious dickhead. But i couldn't shake one thing from my lesson, the guy who wouldn't stop staring at me. For some reason he looked familiar but still he didn't look at me like we were friends or something in the past, he stared at me with humour and a glint of hate. As if he had something against me or i had done something to him in the past.

Shrugging my shoulders to my thoughts i pushed the studio door open and headed down to the library where my niece and my best friend Valeria were waiting. Valeria and i met on the first day of high school and have been inseparable ever since. "hey bitch, why you looking so damn hot girl!" Valeria belted out across the library sending a wave of disapproving looks from across the library at me.

"Girl you've seriously gotta stop shouting at me, one day were gonna get kicked outta places like this" i whispered while giving Zoya a hug and diving through my bag for some pens and paper for her to colour on. "i only shout that shit to hype you up girl, and anyways you do it to" she snapped back.

For the next hour me and Valeria did homework and revision as Zoya went through piece after piece of paper creating drawings of everyone in the room and handing them out to people. For a seven year old her drawings are really good.

Once the clock hit 6 O'clock i packed up my stuff and headed back home with my girls. Valeria cooked us Jollof rice and i cleaned the apartment ready for when Aaliyah came back tomorrow. After finishing the food Valeria went to her apartment two levels above mine, another reason why we're so close.

After showering i got into bed and scrolled endlessly through instagram searching for the guy from my art class. I found out from a girl in the library that his name is Andres which kinda rings a bell but i still can't put a pin on him. When it had been an hour i decided to go to sleep and end my search online for him. He seemed to be a social media ghost with no accounts or anything.

For the next week i attended every class with the hopes of seeing him and asking him if we know each other, but he didn't show up for any of the lessons. Either he's really ill or he's outta his mind because no sane person misses that many art lessons. It takes up so much time that if you even miss one lesson your going to be behind for the rest of the year.

When i was on the verge of giving up hope after 4 lessons of waiting he finally turned up. As he sauntered towards his seat beside me, i noticed a small cut on his eyebrow and a yellowish bruise on his temple. After contemplating whether to leave it or ask him i decided to talk to him.

"hey, i was wondering if you know me from anywhere." after a few seconds of silence he peared up from his phone and just stared at me with no emotion. "sorry if i'm being rude, it's just you look so familiar." i blurted out trying to avoid the awkward silence. He stared at me for another few seconds then replied with a simple "no" as if i hadn't been waiting all week for his reply for it to be so basic and revealing nothing about him other than the fact that he's a dick with no manners.

As the clock hit 5 O'clock i grabbed my bag and walked out of the studio heading to the library to meet Zoya and Valeria (she picks Zoya up from school somedays.) But as i approached the staircase i felt someone grab my arm. Unknowingly i grabbed them and pinned them against the wall thinking someone was trying to hurt me, only to realise it was Andres. "woah, i didn't mean to startle you" he laughed out. "shit sorry, i thought i was getting attacked or something then" i replied in a rushed tone. He stared at me locking eye contact for a few seconds. Damn his eyes are so fine, the almost black irises look like the night sky with hints of earthy brown. Andres coughed making it clear that i'd been staring for a while, then broke the silence "Nadia right? I'm sorry for being a ass earlier, i was just having a bad morning." i softly smiled "it's fine, i'm used to men acting like dicks" Andres rolled his eyes and subtly mentioned something about knowing me in middle school and then asked for my number, which i stupidly gave to him as soon as he mentioned it.After talking with him for a minute i left to find Zoya and head home.