I let myself fall onto my bed. The exhaustion finally overpowered me as I had survived the countless questions of my parents about the school trip. Of course I had not told them about the incident with the man at the pool or the conversations with Rania and Layan.

What had I gotten myself into again? Now I was supposed to find a solution to end the cycle of torment. Why had I declared to have a great plan? Honestly I did not know what to do. I had just run with the idea of stopping this disaster of bullying.

A sigh of frustration left my lips. There were few option if I thought about this realistically. Mariam would not be satisfied if Rania and Layan simply left her alone now. She wanted them to make up somehow. But getting Layan to agree to this would be another nearly impossible challenge.

Suddenly an idea flashed into my mind. One that could actually work out.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On the next day at school I immediately approached Rania and Layan, Noaf always close. She knew the plan by now.

"Hey. I wanted to talk with you about the plan", I greeted the two friends.

Rania chuckled, probably because of my bluntness.

The duo signaled us to follow them and led us to an empty room.

"So ... what's the plan?", Layan wondered.

"You have to take responsibility for everything you have done. Work to atone for your doings", I began explaining.

"What do you mean by that?", Layan questioned.

"You always took the easy way out, Layan. Threatened the principal with your dads power to keep her from punishing you. If you want all of this to end then you have to change", I proclaimed.

"About what kind of punishment are we talking?", Rania chimed in.

"I would say cleaning duty for the rest of the year and making it up to the people you tormented, especially Mariam. Maybe she would agree if you two fulfilled tasks for her, kinda play her servants for a month."

"No way", Layan interrupted me. "You want us to serve this snitch?!"

"Layan ... chill", Rania interfered calmly. "After everything we have done that's a great deal for us."

"Mariam is angry and hurt right now but all in all she's a considerate person. I think I could persuade her to agree to the deal if you two truly mean it and act on it", I considered.

Rania pulled me out of the room with her to talk privately.

"Let's do this! You talk to Mariam and I to Layan. I'm sick of all of this myself. I will gather the courage to handle Layan", she assured me.

I nodded with a smile on my face. "Then I will go now. Please tell Noaf that I will see her in class and Layan that she shouldn't do anything reckless", I asked her.

"Sure", Rania replied and disappeared inside the room again.

I had to entrust Rania with Layan now. Rania appeared to be reasonable herself. It helped that she was on my side.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It took me a while to find Mariam. She was sitting outside with Dina.

"Hey Dina. Could you leave for a moment so I can talk to Mariam alone please?", I wondered.

"I don't think there's anything I have to say to you", Mariam stated coldly.

"Just listen me out and I will leave you alone afterwards. If you still want me to then", I suggested.

She sighed. "Fine."

Dina sent me a quick, encouraging smile and left.

I told Mariam about the deal and waited for her response.

"Why should I agree to that? After everything they have done this is not enough", Mariam exclaimed.

"They will never torment anyone again and cleaning duty aside they will serve you for a whole month. Just imagine them carrying your stuff, providing you with food and following you around like obedient dogs in front of the whole school. This will be hard for them too. I know it's not the pain you wished upon them and not the one you had to endure but it's social torture for them. And do you really want to ruin their lives? I know you want them to pay but you're stronger than this, Mariam. I always admired your strength and confidence."

"They crushed it", Mariam mumbled.

"This is your chance to crush their superiority complex", I shot back.

Now Mariam seemed to be considering the deal. I did not know what else to do to be honest.

To my relief Mariam reluctantly agreed.

"Why are you so relieved by that? This isn't really your problem anymore", Mariam noted.

"How could I just watch and standby with everything going on?", I remarked.

"And admired ", she joked.

"Seriously Mariam. I meant that. I'm glad you didn't lose yourself completely in your pain and wrath."

She smiled at my words.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The start of the deal was a bit rough. Rania had persuaded Layan and together we had talked to Miss Faten and Miss Abeer. They had agreed to the atonement without informing Rania's and Layan's parents.

In the beginning Mariam enjoyed it to order Rania and Layan around as much as possible. But over time as Rania managed to calm Layan down whenever the latter was mad the trio actually started talking from time to time and managed to establish a relationship that was more or less respectful.

Even after the first month the duo did Mariam some favors sometimes. It seemed like they felt regret now after all.

"You know that you accomplished all of that, right?", Noaf claimed with a grin as we were cuddling on a bench outside on school grounds.

"I just helped a little. They are doing all the work", I replied with a smile.

"You can say whatever you want. For me you are the hero of this story", Noaf proposed.

"Since when are you so cheesy?", I teased her.

"What did you just say?" Her voice sounded playfully threatening.

Seconds later Noaf started tickling me.

Besides the tickle fight between us that now erupted school life had become peaceful after all.

It felt strange to think back to Noaf's first day here. I had been a completely different person. Anxious and therefore obedient.

Despite all the pain I had experienced during the last weeks I would not change anything of it. The struggles paired with Noaf's support had made me grow beyond my own expectations of myself. They had helped me to gather the courage to get to know who I wanted to be.

My true self.

-----------------------------

Hey, thanks for waiting for so long. Honestly I didn't know how to end this story. So the thoughts of (f/n) at the beginning when she realized that she didn't have a plan after all were actually mine. Jokes on me.

However thank you for supporting me throughout this story. I appreciate it and read every comment. Feel free to switch to my asfg scenarios and oneshots and make requests there if you want to.

That's it for this story. Wishing you a great day/night!