Chapter 4

It was finally time for lunch. Anna  drummed her fingers on her desk as she impatiently waited for the Math the teacher to shut up and leave. 

At last, the man left, not before giving them an assignment but Anna didn't care. She just wanted to go to the cafeteria and put some food in her stomach. 

When she got there, it was already full. She quickly bought her food, luckily found an empty table and settled down to eat her ham sandwich. 

As she ate, she heard someone laugh loudly. This caused her and everyone else except maybe the seniors, to look up to see three girls coming into the cafeteria. 

From the way they looked, Anna could see they were the queens of the school aka first class bitches. 

″I just can't wait for the Siromani girl to get here. I'm sure she and I will be very good friends″, the one in the middle who Anna guessed to be the leader said. 

Anna snorted. ″Yeah, right,″ she muttered, ″I hate you already.″

She really wondered how these students got to know of her arrival before she came. Anna thought that was supposed to be classified information. She just decided to ignore those girls and go to the library. By now she had finished eating. She took the empty tray and put it in the trash can. Then she walked out of the cafeteria. 

″Hey!″ she heard someone call when she got to the door but decided to whoever. That is, until someone blocked her way. It was the boy from the morning. 

She finally got a good look at him. He looked like a senior. He was a very tall boy, blonde hair, sea blue eyes, and very broad shoulders. 

He snapped his fingers in her face. ″Hey, are you listening to me?″ he asked. 

″Nope,″ Anna replied, ″what were you saying?″ 

″I was asking if you have a guide yet″, he said. 

That reminded her that she hadn't seen Brooke since Physics class.

″Yes. Why do you ask?″ she answered.

″I thought to help out″, he said as he shrugged.

″Sorry dude. No can't do. Not after how rude you were this morning″, she said as she walked  out on him. But not before seeing his shocked expression. 

Some tiring hours later, school was finally over and Dexter came to pick her in the same limo of the morning. 

″So how was school today?″ he asked as he drove them home. 

″Nothing much. Though most people were surprised that I'm the Siromani daughter″, she said.

″Really?″ he asked, ″why is that?″

″Apparently, I wasn't what they were expecting. They expected someone else, maybe someone who is a total bitch and overly glamorous″, she answered.

″Oh, okay. Can I ask you something Annabelle?″ he asked afterwards. 

″Of course. What is it?″ she answered.

″Annabelle, I want to be your friend because you look like you need one. But I need your permission for that″, he said. 

″You don't need to answer now. I just wanted to let you know″, he continued when Anna didn't say anything for some minutes. 

She still kept quiet. What he said reminded her of her home. She missed being surrounded with her friends and she highly doubted that Regis high could give her friends. Dexter looked very nice, she thought. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to give his request a try. 

″Okay Dex. We'll give friendship a try″, she said. 

Dexter beamed. ″Thanks Annabelle. Now, we'll start with you giving me the details of your first day″, he said. 

Anna wanted to tell him to stop calling her by her full name. That was what the mad woman used to call her but she decided against it. Hearing Dexter say her full name that way sounded nice. 

″Do I really have to?″ she whined. 

″Yes, you do,″ he said rolling his eyes, ″now start talking before we get home.″

″Fine″, she said then began to recount the day's events without leaving out a single detail. 

″Wow. These kids sound shitty″, he said when she finished. 

″They are,″ she agreed, ″I want to lay low for a while. Mostly to see how the queen bee will react when she doesn't see the Siromani daughter she's been expecting.″

″Okay kiddo. Just be careful″, Dexter warned. 

By now, they had gotten home and were in the garage.

″Thanks Dex″, Anna said as she clambered out of the car.

Then she remembered something. ″Dex, I have a question″, she said.

″Shoot″, he urged. 

″How old are you?″ she asked.

″You wanna marry me?″ he teased. 

″Very funny. Don't feel yourself too much″, she said as she rolled her eyes.

″Oh sweetie, I know I'm hot″, he said as he dramatically gestured at his body. 

″Yes, you are but do not do that, it's disgusting″, she said holding her nose.

″I'm 25 kid″, finally he answered after laughing at Anna's face. 

So she guessed his age right. 

By now they had gotten to the front door. 

″Okay. Thanks Dex. I'll see you tomorrow″, she said as she opened the door. 

″Sure kiddo″, he replied. 

The first thing Anna did when she got in was to look for Katherine. She didn't know why but she just found herself looking for Katherine. She wasn't in the kitchen so Anna thought of changing from her uniform then going to her apartment. 

She got to her room, had a shower and wore a white polka dotted shirt on blue jeans. Then she put her uniform in the wash basket and went to Katherine's place. 

The cook opened the door when she rang the doorbell twice. 

″Belle? You're home already?″ Katherine asked, looking confused. 

″Of course. It's 4pm″, she answered. 

Katherine screamed, ″what?!″

″What?″ Anna asked with so much confusion. 

″I'm so sorry. I slept off. You should be hungry″, she said as she closed her door. 

She took Anna's hand and dragged her to the main house. 

″Kathy wait″, Anna said when they got to the kitchen, ″I didn't come to see you because  I'm hungry.″

Katherine just stared at her like she had gone insane. 

She continued, ″I came because I wanted to see you. I like your company. ″

″Wow,″ Katherine said after a long while, ″okay. You wanted to talk?″

Anna nodded and she smiled. 

″That's nice. You can tell me how your day went while I dish out your lunch. I made you spaghetti″, she said as she turned to the stove. 

That really touched Anna's heart. So Katherine went out of her way to disobey her parents just to please her? There weren't many people who could do that.

″Thank you″, she said.

″You're welcome dear. Now tell me how school was″, Katherine urged her. 

Then Anna began to recount the events of the day as she ate her lunch. When she was done, she told Katherine that they would see that dinner time. She wanted to do some homework. 

She set to work as soon as she got to her room and was done in an hour. She still had some time before dinner. Then she remembered that she hadn't called her friends since they got here. 

″I've been a terrible friend″, she said to herself. 

She logged into WhatsApp and the messages began flowing in. She hadn't had time for the app since they got here. 

Anna smiled when she saw the number of messages from her friends in their group chat. There were one thousand messages in total. She didn't bother reading the messages but called them instead. 

″Hey guys″, she said excitedly when they picked up.

″Dude, why did you have to call now?!″ Anas screamed in his usual manner. 

Anna rolled her eyes. ″I knew you guys would be awake by this time″, she explained.

″Yeah right. And you couldn't call for how many days?″ Haniya said as she eyed Anna. 

″I'm so sorry. I haven't really had time″ she lied. 

″Quite lying,″ Anas said, ″you forgot us so soon.″

He cried dramatically as he said this while Anna and Haniya laughed. 

″I'm sorry,″ Anna said when she stopped laughing, ″but I never forgot you. You guys are my world.″

″Oh look Niya! She's trying to make our heads swell!″ Anas exclaimed. 

″Stop being a drama queen″, Ahmed interjected. 

″And Mr. Cool finally comes″, Haniya said sarcastically. 

Ahmed ignored her. ″How are you Ameera?″ he asked Anna. 

″I'm fine. How about you Ahmed?″ she said. 

″I'm surviving with these idiots″, he said referring to Anas and Haniya who immediately started making monkey noises. 

This made both Ahmed and Anna laugh.  

Anna just loved her friends. They could change her mood at any time. Anas was the total idiot, Ahmed was the cool and collected one while Haniya was a hybrid of the both of them. Anas was like a brother to her, Ahmed, more like a crush and Haniya was the sister that she never had.

They  talked for about an hour until her friends started yawning. She bid them a good night and went downstairs for dinner. 

″How was your first day Annabelle?″, her dad asked. 

Anna almost choked on her food. She wasn't used to receiving any kind of care from her parents. She sort of expected that question considering their recent behavior but having it come from her dad was surprising. 

She and her dad were never close.He barely talked even to her, not in Pakistan at least and she didn't expect that to change. She wasn't even ready for it to change. 

″It was fine″, she said. 

″Nothing spectacular happened?″ he probed. 

She shook her head. 

″Oh darling, there's always something special about the first day in a new school″, her mom said.

Even if there was, what makes you think I'll share it with you? Anna thought. 

″Nothing happened″, she told them with a tone of finality. 

Her parents exchanged glances but didn't say anything after that. 

When dinner was over and Kathy had cleared the dishes, her dad excused himself while her mom stayed. 

″Sweetheart, I have some designs to make. I was wondering if you'd like to join me″, her mom said. 

Anna's mother was the owner of 'Your Style' fashion house. She had several branches in different countries and had recently moved her head office in America to New York city. 

″No mom,″ Anna said standing up, ″I have to get some sleep.″

Her mom looked downcast but agreed anyway. 

″Okay dear″, she said as Anna left the table and went to her room but not before wishing Katherine a good night. 

″Basha″, Riley Siromani called her husband when she got to their bedroom.

He was sitting on the bed. ″Yes, Li″, he answered. 

″Basha I'm worried about Ameera″, she said. 

She couldn't call her daughter Ameera in her presence anymore. Anna had forbidden them to do that. 

Basha sighed. ″I'm worried about her too″, he said, ″and it seems she doesn't trust us.″

″That is  true. But you can't blame her though. We've always been too busy with work to pay attention to her″, Riley said.

″I know Li. But our jobs don't give us breathing space, ″ he said as he subconsciously tapped his foot on the bed, ″we'll look for a way to make it up to her.″

″And fast″, Riley added.

Two hours after dinner and Anna couldn't sleep. The insomnia was visiting again. She had two lovely hours spent tossing in her bed. She didn't bother watching a movie or listening to music because she already knew they wouldn't help. The sleep would come when it wanted to