The Two of Us

Chapter 25 - The Rumor Queen

Chapter Twenty Five - The Rumor Queen

Sabrina spent the majority of the weekend thinking about Khalid.  Obviously, she'd been thinking about him more frequently since he'd proposed and saved her life, but the events on Friday had shaken her. If she had to be completely truthful to herself, she would admit that she didn't think her parents would ever reconsider the thought of letting her marry him. She had hope, of course. But it was hesitant and weary. Now, however, after seeing Khalid jump in front of a car to save a child, she felt like the universe was trying to say something.

And maybe it was working, too.

On Sunday night she decided to bring the matter up at dinner. Her mother had made her absolute favourite dish and he father also seemed to be a in a good mood. She waited until he was absorbed in the cricket match that was on T.V before clearing her throat.

"So," she began, carefully putting her thoughts into words. "That was a really great thing Khalid did on Friday, wasn't it?"

She'd directed this to her mother but saw her father look away from the television upon hearing Khalid's name. 

"Yes, yes." Her father grunted, brushing it off. "For a boy who'd nearly gotten you killed, anyway." 

Sabrina sniffed. "It was his gang that nearly got me killed."

"It was because of him leaving his gang which means it was because of him." Her father stated, in a firm voice. "That boy is not good news, baita. He nearly got you killed and here you are defending him!"

Sabrina averted her eyes, her heart sinking. Where was her father's empathy? Khalid may have been into stupid crap in the past but that didn't make him a terrible person. He'd also just saved her father from running over a small kid and living with that guilt for the rest of his life! He turned back to watching the cricket game.

"He may have been the reason I was almost killed, but he was also the reason I wasn't." Sabrina whispered to herself.

* * *

"So besides fangirling over Khalid saving the day and rescuing a small kid from getting run over by your dad, what else is new?" Leila inquired, leaning into her locker to grab a highlighter.

"I'm not fangirling over him." Sabrina made a face and after a pause: "also how can I not? What he did was amazing and noble and just...amazing!" 

"Right." Emaan giggled but before she could say something else, her face went sour.

Sabrina looked over her shoulder to the cause of Emaan's bitter face and sighed. Hiba. Leila also straightened and the three girls watched as the curly haired, green eyed girl made her way down the hall, surrounded by her minions. Hiba's voice was loud enough to hear and of course, she was talking about Khalid and Sabrina's break up.

Sabrina glanced at the time. It was too early to deal with this crap. She considered grabbing her friends and running up a random stairway. She didn't particularly keep up with the rumours circulating her school, but none of them were any good or true. And pretty much all of them had one source: Hiba. She was pretty much the queen of the rumour mill. 

"Oh my God, it totally makes sense why they broke up though." Hiba was saying in a high voice. 

It was clear she knew they were listening and as her friends hung onto her words, she flicked her glossy hair over her shoulder and knitted her eyebrows together. The girl was putting on some kind of act and Sabrina definitely didn't want to be there for it. She tugged Leila's sleeve and mouthed 'lets go' to which Leila nodded her head at and began to close her locker.