Model this story off of Camus' The Plague.  It should be much faster paced and shorter so as to appeal to younger audiences.  

Several conflicts:

1.  Inner conflicts of the characters

2.  The conflicts of the group.  None of them are friends nor do they want to be simply because they are Muslim.

3.  The conflict of leadership:  The narrator attempts to convince them that they should be friends, act like friends, have social gatherings, etc.  The story is about how the narrator goes about keeping them together.