Converting the Bad Boy ✔

Chapter 39

I LOVE THIS CHAPTER!!! Sorry just wanted to declare that before you read it and hopefully love it too! Dedicated to Erio123 for leaving hilarious comments and making me laugh 😂😂😂

^Pic of the cast! Cheeky video of one of my childhood arabic songs - Baba Fein.

(Edited)

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Damian's POV

Mariam's aunt's house was pretty big. Like, even bigger than mine. Which was a good thing, because Mariam had a pretty big family. So big that I was barely noticeable, until I was noticed.

"Who's that?" a young boy pointed bluntly at me, and beside him a girl who looked about my age, maybe younger, scrutinized me.

"I have no idea," she replied dryly, placing a protective hand on the boy's shoulder. "But he's pretty damn fine." She smiled at me the way girls usually did, and she wasn't half-bad looking, so I shot her one of my trademark smirks, until I felt a hand clamp on my shoulder. "Let me save you from my crazy cousin," Nasr hissed, dragging me away.

"Hey, I'm not crazy!" the girl cried indignantly after us.

"She is, trust me," Nasr muttered to me, and I chuckled. We were now in the backyard, via the living room, but there were so many people sitting on the couches talking and laughing that no one really noticed the non-Arab dude being dragged by an Arab dude.

"Where's Mariam?" I asked, because as soon as I had stepped into the house, I had lost sight of her, even though we had come in the same car.

"Oh, she's probably with her girl cousins gossiping or something," Nasr said dismissively. He then called out, "Oi, Amir! Come over here!"

I turned to who he was speaking to and felt something tap against my foot. I looked down and realized it was a soccer ball, and a smile spread across my face. It had been so long since I'd played a proper game, mainly because I had no one to play with.

"Who's the new guy? Some distant cousin or something?" I looked up at the source of the voice, and a tall guy with bushy eyebrows and thick black hair shaved at the sides cocked an eyebrow at me.

"This is Damian," Nasr introduced me, slinging an arm around my shoulders sine we were practically the same height. "He's a Muslim revert."

The guy raised his eyebrows which looked quite comical. "Really? Wow, man. That's pretty cool. Salamu Alaykum, I'm Amir."

"Wa Alaykum musalam, Amir," at my reply Amir looked even more awed. He glanced at Nasr in amazement.

"You weren't kidding!" he burst out.

"I never kid," Nasr said soberly. He then kicked the soccer ball from me and hollered, "Let's play some soccer, boys!"

"Hold up, Nasr, we need teams," I interjected, and Nasr nodded.

"Yeah, you're right," he laughed. He waved his arm and yelled, "Yallah, boys, we're playing soccer!"

Suddenly a whole herd of boys ran onto the lawn, some young, some...old. In fact, I was pretty sure a few of them were uncles! And they all had a gut, but as we split up the teams and started to play, that didn't seem to hinder their performance. Though after a while a few of the older uncles were breathless and decided to quit the game, so we young hooligans continued to play.

I dribbled the ball and scored a goal, and all the boys on my team cheered my name and slapped me on the back as if we were old teammates, and not complete strangers that had just met. Honestly, as I played with Mariam's cousins, I enjoyed myself and had a good time, which was ultimately what Eid was about, and it had been a while since I felt this puffed out and pumped with competitive adrenaline. It had been a while since I had been a part of a team that was on my side.