After dinner I sent Noaf a message to get to know where she was and then joined her on a bench outside.

"She can't think clearly, no surprise considering what they did to her", I broke the silence.

"They hurt you a lot as well", Noaf reminded me.

"Yeah, but they didn't incite the whole class against me. The diary thing went way overboard. And I was never alone. You have been with me, but we let Mariam down."

Silence settled between us until I raised from the bench. "I will try to talk to her again. Maybe I can somehow stop her from selling Rania and Layan out." However I should do that.

Back in my room Mariam blocked me off immediately. Actually she ignored me.

"Fine. Then I will just tell them the truth about everything", I declared but Mariam stopped me from leaving the room by placing herself between me and the door.

"No, you can't do that! What's gotten into you? I thought we were friends", she spat out.

"You might not see it right now but I'm doing all of this to help you too", I claimed.

"So you are betraying me for my own sake?", she shot back sarcastically.

"We don't know anything about Rania and Layan, especially not about their families. Keep Ruqayyah in mind. Playing with her led to ruining her whole life."

"They ruined my life as well!"

"That's exactly why we should know better. Hurting them won't make your pain vanish."

"How can you be on their side after everything they've done?! They hurt you too!"

"Mariam, this isn't about sides. It's about making good choices and learning from mistakes. Maybe we could solve this conflict by talking to them. They seem to be considerate. There must be a reason they're acting like they do."

"I don't care! They never considered my perspective either."

This conversation was pointless. So I shoved Mariam to the side and left the room going to Noaf's.

"You should drop the make-up", I stated as soon as I entered the room.

"What?", Rania replied with a mocking chuckle.

"You should remove the make-up. I need to tell you something important. If you don't want to get into trouble you should stay here tonight."

"Are you threatening us?", Rania questioned.

"Let's just do it", Layan suggested and pulled Rania into the bathroom.

"What are you doing? Are you seriously planning to tell them?", Noaf worried and pulled me down onto her bed.

"If we don't want everything to get out of hand this is our only option", I assumed.

"It was a mistake to get Mariam back on board", Noaf finally recognized.

"Yes, but it's too late now. We can only try our best to fix everything now."

Mariam's name appeared on my phone. She was calling me.

"Don't tell them", Mariam pleaded. "This is our chance!"

"I'm sorry that you're feeling betrayed but I stayed silent far too long. We need to solve this properly." With these words I hung up.

"So what is all of this about?", Layan asked me as the duo returned to the main room.

They sat down on their bed and observed me carefully.

"First of all this is about solving a serious problem. So please, let's stay reasonable."

They did not respond anything leading me to continue.

"We know that you're planning to meet your boyfriends tonight at a party", I confessed.

"Wait! Who is we?", Layan wondered.

"Noaf, Dina, Mariam and me. Mariam's going to sell you out if you're doing anything forbidden. So you should behave for a while", I advised them.

"This little snitch", Layan cursed.

"She wants revenge for what you did to her", I explained.

"Just as Dina and me", Noaf added. "You embarrassed Dina in front of the whole school when she trusted you. And stealing Nisma's asthma spray could have killed her. I'm not even mentioning everything you have done to (f/n)."

"We're responsible that Ruqayyah had to leave our school as well. We created a fake profile on Facebook to fool her", I enlightened them.

Suddenly Layan grabbed me by the collar and pinned me against the wall. Wrath was written over her face and Rania appeared to be in the same space.

"You ruined her whole life. We can't even meet her anymore. Her mom is trapping her inside the house without her phone", Layan growled.

"Let her go", Noaf instructed calmly and grabbed Layan's arm. "(f/n) is actually the most innocent out of all of us, including you. She wanted to persuade us to stop long ago, even tried to stop Mariam when we got the picture from Ruqayyah."

To my surprise Layan complied.

"Ruqayyah is exactly why we have to stop all of this before more pain is caused", I resonated. "We played with Ruqayyah's feelings and posted her photo basically destroying her life and we hacked your phone, Layan. You bullied Mariam for months, ridiculed her in front of everyone. You beat her up so badly that she had to be brought to hospital. You spread lies about her harassing you sexually, when she didn't even tell the truth about what you did to her. Mariam visited a psychologist because she was in such a bad state and had to take pills to get control over her emotions and yet you continued tormenting her. You even published her diary, the only safe space she still had. And that is just what you did to her. I'm not even talking about Dina, Noaf, Nisma and me. Don't you want this suffering to come to an end?"

The duo looked guilty for the first time since I knew them.

"Whatever. I did everything I could. Honestly I feel like I'm trying to get little children to make up", I mumbled and laid down on Noaf's bed.

Rania's laughter made me sit up straight again in a matter of seconds. "Hell! I didn't know you were so ... I dunno ... hilarious? You actually did what I was too afraid of doing the whole time. You stood up for your opinion no matter what your friends thought about it. Impressive."

"You were afraid to express your opinion?", Layan reassured shocked.

"What did you expect? I know best how you treat the people who mess with you. And when I gathered the courage to confront you with the diary thing you were furious", Rania recalled. "I never wanted any of this but I didn't want to lose you either. Layan, you're my only support. Now that Ruqayyah is out of the picture more than ever."

"Oh god. I'm sorry, Rania", Layan exclaimed and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"I think it's time to overthink our behavior. Just because we don't have any control at home doesn't mean we should control others", Rania considered.

"What do you mean by no control at home?", I questioned.

"My brothers are control freaks. I have literally no privacy at all", Layan enlightened us. "And I don't have any freedom either. It's the same for Rania."

"With the only difference that my dad is the one who sucks. His moods change just as quickly as I score points during sports games", Rania proclaimed. "And one of Layan's brothers even has a gun."

"They didn't need to know that", Layan protested.

Rania shrugged her shoulders. "Doesn't matter anymore. After everything we have done to them the least we owe them is an explanation and an apology of course. I'm sorry for everything, although I know that it doesn't make up for it."

A smile crept onto my face. "Thank you. I'm also sorry for Ruqayyah."

Rania nodded. "I'm glad that you warned us. I don't even wanna know what would have happened if our parents had gotten to know about us sneaking out."

"Me neither", Layan agreed. "Sorry for hurting you. I will try to improve."

"Okay", I replied. "There isn't much more you can do. But you should definitely talk to Mariam."

"Not looking forward to that at all", Layan muttered.

"I can see why", Noaf chimed in.

"I think you should do it right away but without Rania. It's less threatening", I assumed.

After gathering the courage Layan actually went to Mariam to talk to her.

"Do you wanna talk about your dad? I'm sure it's rough", I initiated another conversation with Rania.

"There isn't a lot to talk about. He's an alcoholic. Whenever he's home he is either drinking quietly in the living room or he's yelling at mom or me. From time to time he hits me but that doesn't happen often", she admitted bluntly. "It's not like it's a big deal. I'm used to it by now."

"It is a big deal. Your home is supposed to be a safe place", I remarked.

"That's Layan for me. But lately she's changed for the worse and I didn't know what to do. I just hope that all of this is going to be over soon now that we have talked about it", she noted.

We talked until Layan returned to the room. Her facial expression revealed that she had not been successful.

"She's angry, also at you for telling me everything", Layan explained.

"Just give her some time and don't do anything risky", I suggested.

"Do you think she will calm down?", Noaf wondered. "Because I doubt it."

"I have a plan. As long as none of us attacks the other anymore everything should work out", I proclaimed.

This had to end. We would break this cycle of hatred and suffering.