Season-2 Episode 3: The New Trio

School life had settled into a routine.

Wake up.

Go to school.

Survive classes.

Come home.

Repeat.

Simple.

Or at least, it should have been.

The only thing that made school genuinely fun now was my trio.

Samar.

Thamannah.

And me.

Somehow, the three of us had become inseparable during 11th grade.

Samar was the oldest among us, yet somehow the most childish.

Thamannah was the youngest and the biggest crackhead I had ever met.

And me?

Apparently, I was the mature one now.

The calm one.

The responsible one.

The version of me that my old tuition friends would never believe existed.

It was lunch break.

Like always, while most students rushed outside to the school ground, our trio stayed inside the classroom.

The classroom was peaceful.

Well...

Peaceful for normal people.

Not for us.

Thamannah slammed her lunch box onto the desk dramatically.

"I'm starving."

Samar looked horrified.

"You said that during first period."

"I was starving then too."

"That's called being greedy."

"It's called being dedicated."

I sighed and opened my lunch box.

Five seconds later...

The two of them were already stealing food from each other's boxes.

"THAT'S MY CHICKEN!"

"Possession is a social construct."

"THAMANNAH!"

I quietly continued eating.

Samar pointed at me.

"See? Ameena is mature."

Thamannah nodded.

"Exactly."

I took another bite.

Without looking up, I stole a piece of chicken from Samar's lunch.

Both of them gasped.

"AMEENA!"

I shrugged.

"What?"

"THAT WAS MINE!"

"You were talking too much."

The betrayal on Samar's face was priceless.

"See?" Thamannah said proudly. "She's one of us."

"No," Samar replied dramatically. "She's worse."

I couldn't help laughing.

Maybe they were right.

Maybe the chaos wasn't gone.

Maybe it had just found a new home.

A little later, while Thamannah was busy trying to convince Samar that pineapple belonged on biryani—

which was honestly a criminal offense—

my phone buzzed.

A notification.

Nothing important.

But for some reason, my mind wandered.

Back.

To tuition.

To those Friday evenings.

To group activities.

To endless chaos.

To a certain boy who always found a way to annoy me.

The memory disappeared as quickly as it came.

Months had passed.

Life had moved on.

And so had I.

Or at least...

I thought I had.

"Earth to Ameena."

I blinked.

Thamannah was waving a spoon in front of my face.

"You zoned out."

"No, I didn't."

"You absolutely did."

Samar nodded.

"Yep."

Traitors.

The bell rang.

Lunch break was over.

Students started pouring back into the classroom.

The noise returned.

Books opened.

Teachers arrived.

Life continued.

But somewhere across the city...

Completely unaware of my lunch-time disasters...

Suhail probably still remembered the girl who couldn't stay quiet for five minutes.

The girl who argued with him over absolutely everything.

The girl who turned every group activity into a battlefield.

He didn't know about Samar.

Or Thamannah.

Or the new version of me.

The calmer version.

The stronger version.

And honestly...

I wasn't sure if he ever would.

But for now?

That was okay.

Because maybe growing up wasn't about forgetting the past.

Maybe it was about learning how to carry it without letting it carry you.

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