At 5 A.M on a beautifully bleak night of December in Eljadida, there is a girl, or rather a woman (She'll soon be twenty one let us not infantilize her!) having tea and some toast an maybe a couple of digestives if she's still hungry, with her early breakfast she always listens to some podcasts or watches video essays on YouTube or the likes of it to keep herself informed on the world around her. And what a world do we live in!

At around six she turns off her alarm as usual and decides to pray two rakats before Fajr so that she could be amongst the richest of this world. Even though she wakes literally earlier than the chickens, she still manages to be late.

Now it is almost eight , her phone chimes loudly in the quiet house, for her parents and siblings are still asleep and are not to wake up until a quarter or two of an hour. It was her ride, her prince in his white Uno, as she liked to call him, hiding his annoyance as well as he could and almost threatening to leave without her. Mona puts on her sunscreen and takes another look at her room to make sure she hasn't forgotten anything. Her books, pens, thermos, snacks, phone, keys, tissues, some change just in case, a bottle of water, and headphones. All of that mysteriously fit in her tote bag.

Upon descending the stairs Mona stumbled on Tux, her cat as one would imagine, short for Mr Tuxedo, because his fur is black and white as if wearing a tuxedo, as a bonus his little paws are white as if wearing a pair of white socks. He slowly blinks at her as she reaches to scratch behind his ears.

Speaking of socks, our protagonist exited the house with mismatched ones but they were well hidden under her dock martens. And so, with mismatched socks, blue fingers, a stuffed nose and fifteen minutes late, she finally was able to join an impatient Said Bennani.

- 'Come on hustle, hustle.' He said with a hurrying gesture. Mona quickened her step and when she noticed his outfit, suspenders, oxford shoes, new shirt and new tie, his jet black hair was styled , her response was:

- 'Ooh, someone's got a presentation today, what's the topic?'

- '"To what point does a person's outfit influences our judgement"'.

- 'Love the irony. She sniffed, what's this? It smells like, like Eid?' He pulls out a perfume bottle from the compartment at his right side, the label said "Eid vibes".

- "I got it when we were in Fez, there was this shop in the ancient medina called "Scents of Bih", as I passed in front of it I smelled the orange flowers with hints of oud and a little something that I can't quite describe and realised that I finally found my signature fragrance. What about you, up to anything new?'

- 'Not really. Just the usual, assignments.'

- 'Who do you have this year again?'

- 'Habib'.

- 'Right, the one we had in freshman year.'

On and on they went on talking about various topics, their speech however was not vain for they had a lot to catch up on after autumn break. They finally arrived at their school,'L'Académie Lachelier of Arts and Humanities', just as the security guard was closing the portal.

Though they were getting a bit late, Said insisted on telling Mona a joke.

- 'How many narcissists does it take to change a light bulb? Just one, all he has to do is hold it in place while the world revolves around him.'

Mona almost snorted her coffee out of her nose, but rain instantly wiped that smile off her face. She tried to take off before her concealer wiped away.

- 'Got to go. Take care.'

- 'Wait. Your shoe laces are un-'

Said was now staring at his sister's eye, red, blue and a yellowing green at the edges, all primary colours. For some reason he felt a bit betrayed, Mona couldn't look him in the eye because she knew it would make her cry and now was no time to. They stayed there, in the middle of campus, raindrops falling on their heads, he tried to shield her from gossiping eyes. She nodded at a question he only asked with his eyes. He gently pats her head with a hand smelling of orange flowers and Eid gifts, it felt warm .Said searched his pockets for something that could be useful in these kinds of situations. Said handed Mona two caramels that had already melted but it didn't matter. Then followed some more non-verbal exchange between the two , their secret language, in which she told him he didn't have to be worried and that she'd tell him everything after class, he simply nodded and each went their own way.

###

Before joining her class, Mona first went to the bathrooms to reapply concealer. She had to sneak in discretely for there were some girls chatting in there, she locked herself in one of the stalls and cried a little, heavy, hot tears painted her entire face red. It wasn't a problem since she can always blame it on the cold. The class had already started, her entrance was somewhat dramatic and Nizar Habib was going to make it even more.

-'Ah, look who's finally decided to join us!' He extended his arms inquiring for a hug. Mona tried to ignore him, herself and a few snickering students. On the wall there was a projection of today's lecture.

- 'Before I shall continue did any of you dimwits do their bloody homework?'

A few students got up and delivered their assignments on the desk, Habib kissed the hands of a girl with a Metallica hoodie, and one could only imagine what would more than often happen under that desk. Anyway, the male attendance on the other hand received another treatment.

-'Hamza, you son of a noble woman, where in the world is your paper?'

-'I forgot it.'

-'Well I see you didn't forget to do a quick thirst trap before hopping on the bus this morning.' Everyone laughed, even Hamza so as not to pass for a stuck up.

'At least he's got some moves, right? , Habib said to his public while mimicking a little dance. 'I'll see you at the cabaret, pretty boy.'

Despite all his bullying and obnoxiousness, AL's star lecturer is, well, a star on campus. Mainly among the folks who haven't made their way past that middle school phase where we think swearing is cool and edgy, as well as girls with daddy issues and need their daily dose of male validation from a 'loving' and 'accepting' father figure. He was often seen with a bunch of female students hovering around him and giggling, like his very own personal harem. The activities he enjoined with students also included gambling, drinking, smoking and you can only imagine that their bond only gets stronger during exam season. Gross.

Now the lecture is over and the rain has stopped, Mona picks up her bag and listens to 'Hogwarts library sounds'. She takes a seat at the cafeteria and eats her second meal of the day, the rest of her coffee, barley bread with cream cheese, a yogurt and the caramel that Said gave her. Speaking of Said, they didn't meet today as per usual, probably because it would disturb the natural flow of events. The discussion they were going to have had to be private and uninterrupted, conditions which a fifteen-minute break could evidently not provide. And so there she was, warming her frostbit fingers on a teal thermos while listening to library sounds. Said Bennani, on the other hand, was in an actual library. Psychology students are supposed to do an incommensurable amount of reading, your summer reading challenge doesn't compare at all. His friends from econ would often joke about how he's making the most of his glasses. Behind those rimless, almost invisible, glasses were two tired eyes characterised by dark circles and crowfeet. Although his wrinkles made him seem somewhat friendly, approachable, paternal even.

When he wasn't burning himself out in his studies, Said had a part time job as a sort of counsellor at a primary school. He would go out to the school yard during recess, introducing himself to curious students and checking in on them from time to time. During class, he would be found at the library doing some tidying, checking his mails and of course he also offered counselling.

Later on, Mona was waiting for him near the parking lot, it was the first time she was the one waiting. They stayed silent during most of the trip back home, could be heard only sounds of breathing, the howling wind of December and the car's engine. That is until Mona decided to reply to his joke from earlier:

-'How many Marxists does it take to change a light bulb? None. The light bulb contains the seed of its own revolution.'

Said looked in her direction and tried his best to give a smile of support and comfort, even though it is covered, he still sees the massive and brutal bruise on the left side of her face meaning that the one who did that to her was right-handed but obviously this information isn't helpful, for he already knows the identity of the aggressor.

It's the first time in a long while Mona Qassimi was found hurt, and he was going to make sure that would be the last time.

As he parked his Uno in front of the two-storey house where the two families lived, Said told Mona that his mum had something to give to her in order to distract her. It's not like he was lying, his mum does have something to do with Mona and the timing was golden.

Said knocks at his neighbours' door, though he seemed as calm as a lamb the light blue veins on his hands and forehead were bulging.

Taha, Mona's brother, AKA the artist behind her black eye opened the door for him.

- 'Hey, bro. Good to see you.' Taha said as he went for a fist bump. 'What have you been up to? '

-'The usual. You?'

-'Same.'

-'You sure about that?' They were now in the living room, TV was playing a live football match, and the local team was playing against the raja.

-'Anything you want to talk about?' Said tried to say it as casually as possible, but no can do for a warm blooded Taha Qassimi. The bloke's nostrils flared, he knew what he had done yesterday evening and now he knows Said knows about it as well.

-'Okay. Why did you do that? '

-'Do what?'

-'Hit your sister?'

Taha let out a laugh.

- 'Is that what she told you, mate? She fell'

To that Said laughed even harder, one could say his laugh was hysterical and could be heard in the entire house.

- 'Fell on what? Your fist? '

Taha got up from the couch they were both sitting on and advised Said to get out.

- 'Stay out of this. What, you got a problem or something?'

- 'Whoa, calm down I'm not here to stir up trouble. Let's just discuss things a bit.'

- 'I got nothing to say'

Seeing as Said had absolutely no intention of seeing himself out, Taha got very close to his face, his eyes were enraged and he grabbed Said by his collar. Things escalated quickly. He doesn't want to hurt him but he also doesn't want to get hit, so with he used his two hands to slap Taha's ears making him lose his balance. He then propped him against a wall and put his arm behind his back.

- 'I told you I don't want trouble.'

Suddenly, he heard keys jangling near the front door, it was Mona. She hadn't had time to speak a word that the eldest of her family, Oumayma, cried:

- 'Turn on the news, quick! Something happened at your school.'

Mona took the remote and put on the second channel, the headline at the bottom of the screen said: "Professor of ethics at L'Academie Lachelier found dead on school grounds. "It was Habib, the same Habib she had seen just this morning alive, breathing, and frolicking like a bird in the season of spring. The news anchor was explaining the matter in further details:

"A student discovered the body of Nizar Habib, Professor and researcher at AL, lying in the Men's bathroom. Report suggests the cause of death to be a drug induced suicide."

Said freed Taha from his grip and the four of them stood quiet in the room. At that moment Mona's eyes flashed and she bore such expression on her face as though a light bulb just lit up above her head.