The Love I Was Looking For (Halal love story)

||Chapter 18: Culture Day||

I'm finally back to school, after that amazing spring break. I had fun at my cousins wedding and touring around Chicago. Most important I loved the fact I went shopping with my friends and the necklace Sajid bought for me. It's so beautiful, I never take it off ever. 

It's so precious to me, like he bought it just for me. He should have saved that money though, if I'm being honest. Knowing Sajid, he always gets away with his charming acts. Speaking of that boy where is he?

I look around the class and I don't see him yet. He wasn't even in homeroom. I text him on Snapchat, "Assalamu Walakum sleepy head,  tum kaha ho? (Where are you?)". The message stays unopened for like maybe 20 minutes and he texts back. 

"Haa ji, main a raha hoon sabr", (Yes, im coming wait). I stare at the message and smile. What am I going to do with this boy. 

Someone knocks on the door a few moments later. And here he walks in, walking towards me.  "Chalo, explain karo.  Kyun aap deer ayahi?", (Come on, explain, why did you come late". He puts his bag down to the floor and sighs, putting his head on my desk. "Yaar, main had se ziyadah sogaya", (Man, I overslept), he says. 

I laugh and smile, "Awww, is my jaan sleepy". He looks at me, but his head still on the desk. "Shut up", he said putting his head down again aggressively. I laugh more, "Noooo". 

We go back and forth for a while until the teacher stands up in the middle of the class. "Settle down everyone, I have an announcement. The school has just confirmed that next week we will be having Culture Day! So everyone can dress up from their nationality, bring flags and each person will be doing a trip-fold of their nationally. If there's more than one of you that's from the same country please work together if you wish", he says handing out the rubric.

I look at the paper and skim through it. I look at Sajid, "so, when should we get started?". He lift's his head from the desk, "Ugh, I don't want to do work. You do it", he says.

"Get up sleepy head, we have a project to do". I get out a piece of paper and pencil, I fold the paper into three and like into a tri-fold. I write Pakistan as the heading in the middle. "So, how are we going to do this?". 

"Hmm", he turns his head to me. "In the middle put pictures and the sides with information", he says pointing at the paper.  

"Alright, information like... countries population, it's political information, types of biomes, animals. Important people and important places. On the other side we can have, culture like food, clothing etc".

"That sounds good, you do the work and I'll be here for moral support", he says poking the pencil at me. 

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah yeah. So what are you going to wear?". Like, I only seen him in shalwar kameez when he's at home. "It's going to be a surprise", he says yawning. "Oh, a surprise? I see. But, what if we matched, it would be cute". 

"We will see later, just let me sleep okay", he says putting his head back on the table. I look at him. What am I going to do with this boy-?

                                                                             - Week Later-

It's the morning of Culture and here I am getting ready. The poster is done, Humza and I worked on our presentations.

I get up from bed and head to my bathroom to take a shower. I had my clothes ironed and prepped yesterday so I wouldn't be busy with it today. I make sure look my best today to represent Pakistani beauty.

I get out of the shower and dry my hair. My hair is dark brown and very thick mashallah. It does take forever to dry and brush it sadly. I take off the straightening iron and let it sit as I get my red and gold gharara on. 

When the iron was hot enough I start straightening my hair. It took a little white but it looks amazing. 

After my hair was done I sit at my make up table and moisturize my skin to apply foundation. It's time to put on my make up. I'm not really sure of how to do Pakistani styled make up... 

Ummm, I should look on YouTube. I go on my phone and type "Pakistani makeup tutorial" and I click on the first one. I watch it through to see how it looks and surprisingly it looks easy and it didn't take long. 

I start applying the other make up products one after one until I look like the girl in the video. I was stunning- Like the look was amazing and all that's left is my jewelry. 

I went downstairs to my mom. "Haye, itni pyaari ho meri shezadi (Omg, you're so pretty my princess)", my mom said to me as she puts my hands on my cheeks. I smile and laugh. "Shakira ammi (Thank you mom)". "Meri gold chain aur churias kaha hi? (Where is my gold chain and bracelets?)". 

"Idar ao, main dekhti hoon (Come here, I'll look for it)", she says as she grabs my hand and we go to her room. 

I really can't wait to show Sajid how I look. I can't for his reaction. But sort of nervous to represent to people who walk by our table in the gym. My mom hands me all my gold things. "Thank you mama", I kiss her cheek. She smiles as she puts my chain and earrings on me. 

As I was done getting ready I text Sajid to see if he was ready and that he isn't forgetting the board. 

I went to the kitchen to put the somosas the ones my mom made for our presentation in a big container as free samples. 

I get my bag and the container and go to the bus stop and wait for the bus. As soon as I get to school I go to the gym thinking he would be there already. And to my surprise he was. I look to the side of the gym and see our table and Sajid. 

Oh my god, I can't help but to look away. He's wearing a black kurta with black embroidered patterns and his silver watch. I really feel like dying- Like he's so handsome- 

The bell rings and the teacher makes her announcements. I put the stuff on our table as he looks at me. He looks into my eyes and makes eye contact with me. I look into his brown lights which are prettier and lighter than mine. 

He smiles and I just melt on the spot. It literally feels like I'm in a desi drama. As soon as we were dismissed to start setting up I look up at him. "Kya kara ho? (What are you doing) Lower your gaze", I pout and look the other way. 

He laughs, "Agar main niche dekhta hoon tho mujhe be bhi ap ke sar ka opery hisah nazar ata he (if i look down i still see the top of your head)", he says as he starts wheezing. 

I really wish I could smack him for making fun of my height. Like it's not my fault I'm 5'1 since 5th grade. He's short too though, he's 5'3 and he's making fun of me. 

As everyone got settled in the gym and started setting up I noticed we're pretty diverse. We got people from Palestine, India, Mexico, Congo, Taiwan and the Uk. So many people from our class are from different nationalities. 

And of course us, we're from Pakistan. Sadly, he calls me white-washed though- Because I never been able to go to Pakistan and can't speak Urdu fluently. It's not even my fault-

The other classes start coming in the gym and touring around. A group of students are walking towards our way. "Oh wow, I love all's fit, it's super cute!", one of the girls says. "Thank you", Sajid says showing them the board. "So as you can see, we are from Pakistan, a country in the South Asia that boarders China, Afghanistan and India."

Sajid and I go on and on presenting our board to groups of students one by one. They enjoyed the samosas I brought and that made me happy. Hours pass and we decided to go around touring ourselves. 

We enjoy the food we received from other booths and tables. I really feel like this year's Culture Day was a success. Everything turned out great and we both had a lot of fun. Learning about others nationality was very interesting and dressing up in traditional clothes is literally so fun. And we look so amazing, like I cant even. 

I took pictures of literally everything and will keep them for memories. I took pictures of me and Humza and ones with our friends. Today was definitely worth it. The amount of fun we had today was unbelievable. 

To also see Sajid dressed up is so cute. I can't stop smiling at these pictures. Can't wait to match with him in the future inshallah...