A strong girl

"Are they gone? "

Alizah asked as soon as Linda stepped inside the staff room. 

"Yeah. You can join back now. "

Alizah got up from her place, mentally thanking God for saving her secret, and then went back to work. 

In an hour, it was time for her to take a leave from her first job but she still needed to go to the other one. She used to babysit the kids of an upper-middle-class family for an hour daily. It was the time when the kid's mother used to go to to the gym, so Alizah used to take care of those notorious children who mostly corporated with her in her job except few times. 

She rang the doorbell she arrived and Mrs. Smith greeted her with a warm smile. 

"Right on time as always!"

Mrs. Smith welcomed Alizah inside her home and Alizah put her bag on the table near the door as she directly went upstairs to the children's room. 

"Hey, Jamie. Hey, Lily. "

Both the kids were busy playing with their toys. Jamie was the elder one, who was eight years old whereas lily with baby blue eyes and curly golden hair was just five and a half years old. 

Hamzahahzah

They both said in unison and put their attention on their toys again. 

"Where is Nina? "

"We have no idea. "

Lily said in her cute, baby voice. Nina was their eldest sister and she was a teenager, fourteen years old.

"Nina, you'll listen to Alizah and won't leave the house without her permission. "

Alizah heard Mrs. Smith tell to Nina who doesn't seem to be in a very good mood, as usual. 

"But I don't need a babysitter, mum. I'm grown up and can handle myself. Alizah is barely a few years older than me... "

Mrs.. Smith cuts her off, 

"Still elder, sweetie. She's matured and can take care of y'all nicely in my absence. You still need to learn a lot, better learn from her if you think you both don't have much age difference. And, I want you to behave nicely with her when I'm gone and take care of your siblings. "

Mrs.. Smith planted a kiss on Nina's forehead but she still wasn't happy about it as she closed the door behind Mrs. Smith. Alizah was seeing it all from the steps but didn't say anything. She knew Nina didn't have any personal problems with her, she was pissed at the fact of having a babysitter who was just three years older than thought her parents still considered her careless. But that wasn't the case, Nina was an impulsive girl who did everything out of nerves like every other teenager, the hormonal changes made her aggressive and impulsive. She couldn't be blamed for it and Alizah well understood this fact. 

"Hey, Nina. "

Alizah went to her. 

"Hey! "

Nina replied dryly as she sat on the couch. 

"How's your new session in school going? "

Alizah was trying to build communication with her. 

"Fine. Middle school isn't much fun, but I bet high school is. "

She glared at Alizah through her thick long lashes and Alizah chuckled. Even she sure if high school life would be any better than middle school. 

"Yeah, I guess. "

She said. 

"So, how was your first day in school? Since everyone likes you so much, you must have already made plenty of friends, right? "

"Umm. Not really. I'm new and I haven't communicated with many people in my class. "

Alizah told the half-truth. She didn't tell Nina about those whom, she has talked to, who didn't like her. She refused to tell it to her because it might have sent a bad impression of high school life to her. 

"Geez! Which school are you going to? "

"Avalon High. "

"What?! Isn't that the coolest high school with all the rich money of London going there? "

Nina was  She barely expected Alizah to get an admission in any of the local high school busts instead was a student of Avalon High. Sure enough, it was hard for her to believe it. 

"Yeah. It is pretty cool. "

Alizah admitted. 

"How did you get admission there? "

"I'll tell you the whole procedure when you're ready for high school. For now, I'll bring your snacks. Can you please call Jamie and lily downstairs? "

Alizah asked Nina and instead of going upstairs to call them, Nina started shouting their names in the highest pitch of her voice. Both the kids came running downstairs. 

"What the hell, Nina? "

Jamie asked. 

"Aren't we supposed to be together so that we can keep an eye on you both when Mumma isn't home? You both sit here. "

Nina commanded, feeling like their leader. Alizah just smiled and went to the kitchen and came back with snacks, which they all ate while laughing, chatting, and teasing each other. 

Alizah left their house when Mrs. Smith was back. Now, she needed to head back home early so she can revise whatever was taught in the school today and she even had to start working on her assignment. 

Her house was a dull, shabby lace which hasn't undergone any repairing in years. After all the expenditure, Alizah and her father barely were able to save any money, let go of repairing the house. It had a living room with a d types of furniture and a small kitchen at the corner of it. And a single room attached to the bathroom sideways. Alizah's father let her live in that room so that she can do her work without any disturbance. Her father was proud of whatever she did because even as a child, Alizah had always been a very understanding daughter Due to her father's health issues, he wasn't easily given jobs anywhere and he even lacked academic qualifications that were the reason, why he wanted Alizah to have a good education, and thanks to Mr.. and Mrs. Bradford that his Alizah could study in such a great school. 

Alizah went to her room as her father wasn't home. He has told her that he got a job in a bakery for baking the bread but Alizah didn't want him to work whereas her father couldn't even let her daughter take all the responsibilities of handling everything alone. 

She put her bag on her study table and changed into a loose T-shirt and pajamas. She's been wearing some decent clothes since she started working herself. She never asked her father for new clothes when she wasn't working because she was well aware of their financial condition. She pulled out her second-hand laptop from the cupboard and started researching for her assignment on it with the book that Ronan provided to her with all the things marked. Even though her eyes were burning because of tiredness, she kept her vision focused on the laptop. Anyhow, she had to complete that portion today and it must be midnight when she stretched her body and was done with the first portion of it. 'This should be over by tomorrow then Ronan, will let me know what is to be done next. ' she thought, feeling accomplished. 

The next morning, Alizah had to wake up after only five hours of sleep but this was the optimum amount of sleep she got all day. She pulled herself off her bed and got ready for school. 

"Hope you've started working on the project, if not then you should better hurry because we don't wanna give you fake credits for it without you working hard for it ."

Alizah had just laid step inside the class and Ronan tried to menace her again. 

"I've already finished the first portion of it and the work you assigned to me, would be over today. "

She said and Ronan hadn't expected this answer. He thought he would even intimidate her further when she would ask for extra time for completing the task but this girl was surely determined to complete it on time. Ronan possibly couldn't rant on her anymore for it. Without saying any other word he went to his seat and spared one last glance her way and then the teacher arrived in the class. 

The day at school was going pretty well for Alizah. she even communicated with few girls in the class and they weren't mean to her but somewhere she felt, there was nothing common between her and those girls. Those girls were brought up in rich families and shared the same background. They were talking about things that Alizah had nothing to share about. Their talks were mostly about the celebrity concerts they have recently been to, the designer dresses they had and the fortune amount it cost parties and everything. Alizah felt out of the place and stayed silent. 

During the lunch break, she did not want to go to the canteen but as she used to skip breakfast she couldn't bear the hunger, her stomach growled, which she couldn't ignore. She chose a quiet place at the corner of the canteen and ate her meal in silence. 

"Hey there, Iris."

Chloe puts a hand on Alizah's shoulder from behind and then takes a seat on the vacant chair behind her. 

"I think, I saw you yesterday. "

Chloe said, recalling her memory but everything seemed to blur inside her head as if everything happened so suddenly and she didn't remember anything 

"Is that so...? Where? "

Alizah was pretending to not know about it. She was nervous as Chloe started thinking deeply again. 

"In a cafe. "

She said finally concluding. But she still wasn't sure about it. 

"Cafe? Funny thing, I haven't visited any cafe yesterday. "

She lied as she let out a chuckle but it wasn't funny Alizah had the idea that even if Chloe saw her, she wouldn't remember everything correctly because Alizah's reflex was so quick to the situation. She switched places with Linda before anyone could spot her. So, she tried to lie about it, wishing Chloe doesn't know anything about her part-time job. 

"Oh okay. Maybe I don't remember correctly. Anyways, my point was that II thought if you lived anywhere near that cafe we would have wanted to discuss our assignment in that cafe or maybe in your home We're a group of five teammates, and Cynthia and I live in that lane, and Adam and Lee content farther from there only Ronan is the one who wants us to meet according to his wish and going to his place is such a headache. "

Alizah had no idea why going to Ronan's place would be a headache for Chloe. She thought Ronan and Chloe were friends, then why was she saying that? 

"Why can't we do the assignment somewhere near the school. It'll be comfortable for each of us. "

Alizah suggested and Chloe raised an eyebrow at her. Just as she was about to say something, one of the guys' from their class comes from behind and pulls Chloe's purple ponytail slightly. Adam, if Alizah remembered his name correctly. 

"Ow! What the heck, Adam? !"

Adam chuckled and took a seat in front of her. And smirks at Alizah's way as a gesture of greeting, Alizah's expressions remained undisturbed but she just glared at Adam. She had a feeling that Adam wouldn't treat her any differently from Ronan or Chloe because he was friends with them. She didn't keep any expectation of a warm greeting from him and turned back to Chloe. 

"Who is this hottie, Chloe? "

Alizah's eyes widened at a not-suited comment towards her. No one has ever called her hottie! She was beautiful indeed her features were such. Her big hazel brown eyes, thick long lashes, a pouty mouth, and a straight nose with a pointed chin. Her olive skin glowed differently like it was made of gold. Her long brown hair complemented her simple look. She didn't need makeup or expensive item, she was simply beautiful. She had her d those flaws made her even more beautiful. 

"Ah! She's Alizah. I don't think, she's your type. "

Alizah was even shocked at Chloe's statement. What the heck did she mean by 'she is not your type?'

"Excuse me?! "

Alizah said, reminding her that she was listening to everything they were talking about her and she didn't like even a bit of them about like that. 

"Yeah, don't mind... Or whatever but you seem quite boring. So, we would appreciate it if you don't make it hard for us to tolerate you till the assignment completes. "

Chloe's words were surely insulting for Alizah. She had been doing everything, she could for them to think she was capable. But the only thing they thought about her was 'How boring she was?! ' only if they could understand the hard work and determination, Alizah put into too her every word, they wouldn't have dared to humiliate her by saying such words. 

Alizah was an emotional girl. Her only way of dealing with things was to cry. She had spent many nights crying. It wasn't her weakness, it made her stronger and she never tried to stop herself from crying because he knew it was what gave her strength. And after listening to Chloe's words, she broke down and left the place. Chloe and Adam looked at each other with confused expressions. 

"Why the heck is she overreacting? "

Chloe asked as if she doesn't realize the fact of how harshly she has used her words to belittle her. 

"Aww, you made her cry. Now I need to provide her support. "

Adam said, smirking. His support meant only one thing, he was gonna give a shot on Alizah to impress her with his charms. He thought he was charmful enough for every girl to fall for him if he gave even the slightest of effort for it. He was handsome, rich, and had od fame in high school but Alizah wasn't the type of girl who would fall for someone on basis of such traits. There was no time for falling for someone in her life. She couldn't let a guy enter her life, she doubted, if she could find someone who would understand her problems, so she chose to be single. 

Adam followed Alizah outside the canteen but she went inside the girls' restroom.

"Shit! "

He said under his breath and stood near the restroom door, waiting for her to come out. 

Inside the restroom after crying, for a bit, she felt better in herself. She was determined in her mind that she wasn't gonna let someone's words define her actual self. She couldn't be labeled as something that Chloe said. Chloe had no right to tell about her!