#FewWords
See everyday as a new chapter in your life. The past is over so don't live there. Stagnation is dangerous. Honestly, you don't want to be stuck there. Move along with firm belief that the Almighty has planned well for you and your loved ones. Go on. Write that next chapter!

RECAP
"What's this? Your eyes are red and swollen" Jackson turned

"Face front please, you are driving" Salma started rubbing her eyes.

"How am I here?" she asked

Nasir just laughed
"Nasir carried you and..."

"Nasir what?" She screamed

Nasir immediately started hitting Jackson as he stopped the car.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Third Person's POV
"You are so meannnn" Salma said as they walked into the school compound.

The coach didn't give them any chance to joke around, he didn't even waste time to ask Salma the reason for her lateness because he knew she can't do something like deliberately.

At the airport, they were all checked in and Hammad couldn't stop himself from asking Salma the reason for her lateness.

"I slept away..." Salma bent her head down, her voice was in a tone that didn't give Hammad any chance to ask her further questions.

In two hours, they reached their destination and boarded the bus which was provided by the host school.

"Your eyes are still red u know" Jackson bent down and told Salma in a really quiet voice, he walked to the seat behind and sat down.

"Heyy, listen here, I need you all to dress decently and smartly when we get to the hotel..." The coach started listing all the rules and regulations through out their stay.

"You all should go to your rooms and get back down for a meal, dress up and get back down on time" He instructed all of them after every two students were given a key assigned to two students.

Hammad and Nasir were given a key to a room which was opposite Jackson and another player's room on the same floor while the girls were in the floor up.

Salma was lucky to be in a room alone, her room.

Salma's POV
"How could Nasir carry me? That's really not good" she complained as she started unpacking her bag.

In no time, she finished unpacking and called her aunt.

She changed into an ash abaya and wore dark shoes that matched a very small purse which contained her phone, a pen and colorless lip gloss.

"Yeahhh, have you seen the picture I sent you?" She asked her aunt on a voice call.

"Yeah, you look very good Salma, why don't you use some powder?" Her aunt asked

"Noooo, I'm ok like this, I have lip gloss at least" after 10 minutes, they ended the call with Zainab nagging that she should use some make-up.

"Who's it?" Salma walked to the door when she heard a knock on the door.

"Nasir" a voice

"Hammad" another voice came

"And Jackson" a voice laced with laughter and cheerfulness came.

"You guys are unbelievable" Salma commented as she opened the door wide enough for no one to go in.

"Won't you let us in?" Jackson asked and she nodded

"It's not Islamically ok to..." Jackson started but Salma interrupted him

"Alright come in buh if the coach sees you here, I have no idea what you all are doing" she raised up her hand and sat down on the edge of her bed.

"You know what?" Jackson asked everyone and none of them answered, they just looked at him questioningly.

"Salma is looking different today" he commented

"Oh please, don't start with this now" Salma said

"It's time for the meal" Salma said as she walked to the door.

"This meal is delicious" Hammad said as he was digging into his meal. They were all eating but Salma's plate looked untouched and her face was clearly not in its usual look.

"Won't you eat?" She read the message that popped up on her phone, she just looked down and quickly typed a reply that said she has eaten.

She stood up and went to her room having the coach's voice at the back of her mind telling her to be back in the next thirty minutes for an introduction.

As she walked, she heard some students from another school discussing how a person like her being the senior prefect of such a big school.

"She is a Muslim for God's sake" a girl commented and they all laughed.

Immediately she heard what they said, she quickly walked upstairs clearly irritated.

When Nasir noticed her absence, he started looking for her but didn't see her, he went to her room and found her there.

"You didn't eat" he said

"I can't eat in public" she said while her eyes were fixed on her laptop.

"I can't eat food in front of such a large amount of people, they are much, even in school I find a less crowded place to eat" she added.

Nasir just listened to her and suggested they have a meal at the restaurant now since almost all the students have already left.

"It's 5 minutes to the introduction" she said

"Let's go to the hall then" Nasir stood up and they went to the hall which was downstairs.

The entire Schools present for the match were introduced to each other. The students were all dressed smartly in different attires. After the introduction, the host school invited them to enjoy themselves in any part of the hotel. Jackson had already made a new friend from another school, Hammad had to go back to his room because he was feeling uneasy.

"OMG, you need to see the club" Amelia squealed into the phone

"I just came out of it, the boys are just handsome, I feel like..."

"Oh please, you've started, any guy you see, you start daydreaming about him" Darby cut her mid sentence

"Get the hell out of the entrance door if you want to blabber about boys" Nasir raised his two hands up and made a quote when he said boys.

"Excuse me please" Amelia looked him up and down, then averted her attention to Salma who was standing behind.

Amelia hissed and left the place placing her phone to her ears.

Most of the students were all enjoying themselves doing one or another. Nasir dragged Salma to a corner that was very scanty in the restaurant area of the hotel, Jackson had already made new friends from other schools. Hammad was with them too but Jackson did all the talking.

They both waited for the food they ordered.

"Hope you'll eat" Nasir said

"I told you not to bother yourself, I'm not hungry" she put her head in her hands

"Just chill and eat, I won't watch you as you do" Nasir looked at her

"Hmm, let's do it this way, I'll call Jackson and Hammad and we'll take the food to my room, let's get junks" Salma suggested as she already picked her phone to call Hammad

Nasir opened his mouth to oppose but she already called him, Hammad was happy and immediately pulled Jackson out of where they were sitting.

"Please take the food to this room number" Nasir gave the man a paper.

Salma finished her meal in no time, at first, she couldn't eat but after a few minutes and she noticed no one was actually paying attention to her.

"I'm so full, this young lady has made me eat a double dinner today" Jackson laughed and they joined him too.

"Let our comedian here, entertain us" Nasir stretched his hand towards Jackson

"Jack, your jokes are just a case" Salma uttered between her laughter.

"This is my room guys, take it easy please, I don't want anything to be misplaced" Salma widened her eyes instructing them

"You just came in here today and..." Nasir raised his eyebrow questioningly and Hammad just kept on laughing

"Hammad stop laughing please, Nasir is equally a neatness freak" Salma pouted

"Heeeeee! Don't bring me..."

That was how their conversation went on, at some point, they will support each other and oppose to what Salma is saying but sometimes two-to-one and so on.

"That Amelia has a low mentality, could you believe what Nasir heard her say..."

"Guys, leave her alone please, leave these girls alone" Hammad didn't even wait for Jackson to finish his sentence.

"Salma is sleepy, let's get out of here" Nasir stood up and walked to the door with his friends following him.

The next day things were normal till in the evening when Nasir got a call from an unknown number on the new SIM card of the country.

The phone rang but he didn't pick, he was with Jackson and Hammad when he was called.

"I've not shared this number with anyone apart from you guys so who could this be?" He randomly asked diverting their attention from the topic at hand. The phone rang again then he picked this time.

"Hello?" He spoke into the phone a questioning manner.

The other end was quiet, he spoke again and no one answered.

Nasir ended the call, Jackson and Hammad asked him who it was but he told them he didn't even know the caller.

"Tomorrow is Monday, the program Salma will represent our school in, I pray she wins" Jackson smiled

"I trust that girl, do you know how many awards that girl have won for our school?" Hammad asked

"Of course! We've being together since junior high" Jackson replied

"What's up Nasir" Jackson asked Nasir when he noticed the sudden silence that overtook him.

"I'm just having a funny feeling that something bad is coming up" he looked down and raised his head up.

"Well, let's go and pray..." His phone started ringing again, he quickly picked the call.

"Hello, listen to me and listen to what I'm going to say, I know that since you have come into this school, you've taken the popularity from Jax, Jax Abram..."

"Hauwa?" Before she could continue he guessed the person on the other end and his guess was right. By that time, they were all in their rooms.

"You guessed right, I'm the most social girl in school, can literally get whatever I want, I just called to make a deal"

"What deal are you talking about? How dare you..."

"Don't you raise your voice at me, okay?" She interrupted him

"Salma, your little friend is in danger, Jax is planning something big for her"

"What do you mean?" He asked

"He is going to drug her and she won't be able to perform tomorrow" She replied

"What do you mean?" He asked

The phone was on speaker, Hammad heard all that was on.

"Well, you owe me one for this" immediately she said that she ended the call.

"Let's go to Salma's room" Hammad rushed to the door

"What do you mean? What are we supposed to do there?" Nasir asked clearly confused

"I think that the only time they'd drug her is Tomorrow, that's the only option, they can't go into her room and drug her" Nasir ranted

"I think we should tell her not to eat anything from anyone tomorrow" Hammad suggested

"Yes, that's true" Nasir supported him

They quickly walked out of their room and took the elevator to Salma's flour.

"What do you think you are doing here?" A security personnel asked them

"Hmm, well.... there's a document on my phone..."

"Yeahhhhh, it's on his phone...the document"

"Anddd we have a friend..."

"Nooo, it's our sister..."

"Our sister? Our friend turn sister"

That was how Hammad and Nasir kept on blabbering while the security personnel just turned from this side to the other. When he got tired, he had to just allow them leave.

"Damn, this girl can sleep like a log" Hammad complained after 15 minutes of knocking and she didn't open the door.

"Let me call her" Nasir suggested

"Open the door" Nasir said immediately she picked up.

"What are you two doing here?" She gnashed her teeth as she made way for them to go in.

Hammad and Nasir just smiled

"Well, we came to help you, help youuuu, prepare for your presentation, yes, your presentation" Nasir blabbered

"Yes...yes, that's true" Hammad raised his hands up and dropped them back

Salma just stared at them.

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End of Chapter 21, thank you so much for your reads and don't forget to vote, comment and share.

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You can contact me on Instagram and Telegram with @jimeh_khadijah as my handle respectively.

Thank you so much for your reads, hang in there for the next update.

Apologies for very late updates, my schedule has been so tight and Ramadhan too💙

In Sha Allah, they'd be more frequent updates.