A Woman In Hijab

AN AWFUL LUNCH BREAK .

     Chapter :4

      
               It's my second week in this school . I haven't spoken to anyone besides Nusaiba and Faridha.  There aren't much Muslims here other than 4 other girls . My classroom strength is 48 . Woah!  That's really a lot . I know . And as it is obvious , my class teacher finds it difficult to manage . And today also we sit together in break .

Nusaiba opens her lunch box . "Egg." She says eyeing Faridha with a slight smirk .

"I love eggs." Faridha  says with stars in her eyes .

A boy interrupts our conversation.

"Hi ! My name is Irfan . I hope I don't have to give a full fledged information about me ." He was referring to the chemistry,  math and hindi class . Where the teachers were new and didn't know us . So they needed a small introduction . It was so exhausting . I mean who gets exhausted from self introductions , but it's possible if you have to do it over and over again .

Faridha and Nusaiba stared at him in what looked like shock . Well , my reaction was mirroring them so ,no surprise there .

I nudged Faridha under the table slightly . She looked at me and saw the discomfort on my face .

"Hi Irfan ,I'm Faridha , this is Nusaiba and that is Nawal . I'm sure you know our names . Nice to meet you ." Though her words sounded friendly her face showed otherwise .

It was as if telling him 'so what do you expect from me , the egg?'  I was laughing to myself in my mind thinking about the words blurting from Faridha's mouth . Yeah , that's how much she likes eggs . I've learned that during that past few weeks I've spent with them . It was always fun with these two .

"Umm... Let's just be friends ." He said raising his hand as if he was saying 'shake hands with me please' . His hand was in front of Nusaiba and she looked uninterested . Faridha said , "Umm. ...Nusaiba can you please pass that bottle to me ." Nusaiba quickly took the bottle and avoided his hand and gave it to Faridha . Now he looked really ignored . I think she wouldn't have ignored him had he not blatantly been staring at Nusaiba during our whole conversation . He quickly retreated to his seat .

"Girl the next time you see him run away to our class teacher's staff room ."

"And what will I say to ma'am ?" Nusaiba asked Faridha .

"That you want a chalk piece ." She spoke smiling .

Nusaiba gave a dumb look to Faridha and then we all burst out laughing .

"Hi , I'm Irfan ." Faridha mimicked him. We laughed .

"Hey , he said my name is ." I pointed out and again we were a laughing mess .

Friends are really fun to be with . I was so happy to have these two . At that moment , nothing could wipe that smile off my face . Cause I knew that they'll stick up for me no matter what happened , and I'd do the same for them .

We took a quick break to the restroom to wash our hands  . While coming back I saw the same bullies from earlier . An instant force took over my chest and I realised that , I was feeling fear towards them .

Suddenly they saw me . They saw the word 'fear' written all across my face and quickly made their way towards me , giggling all along the way .

"Hey look , it's that girl ." The senior dragged the word 'that' as if mentioning me with some hidden meaning . I looked around trying to make my way out . But this time there were a lot of them .

I could feel my face growing wet with my tears .

"L-let me g-go ." Oh no , now even my words are broken . I fell down on that dirty floor . I felt disgusted with myself . I was unable to speak up and defend myself .

Those sisters were so scary .
"Where's that kiddo from earlier ?"

I said nothing , knowing that they were referring to Faridha .

"You see , we have a small business with her ." The other one said .

"I-I d-don't know ." I said .

"Aww... Come on now . No lying .

"Yaa , we're well aware that you two are pretty close ."

"Ya , you roam around the school together ."

"We're not that close ." I managed to say without stammering this time .

"Look , the little gal grew a head of her own ."

"Then , we'll just break it ." They were looking ready for a fight , and that's when my eye sight started to dizzy out .

And that's also when I saw the bathroom door being kicked open and the light from outside streaming in . There were 3 girls running in with someone , a teacher probably . But then I couldn't see anything else . There was darkness around me and I was sinking in it .

----***----

When I finally woke up I was lying down on a bench surrounded by my friends who are also my guardian angels . It was at that moment the instances that previously occured hit me and soon tears were rolling down my eyes . I felt pathetic for not being strong enough , I felt bad that I couldn't protect myself . I was heaving hysterically , but that's when I felt someone hug me , comfort me and that made me feel a lot better . I hugged them and cried on their shoulder .

"Let it out , let it all out ."

"It's okay . We're here ."

And that's all the reassurance I needed .

Faridha's POV :

We went back inside the class. a girl came and sat with us . The girl who came was Ameena Tasneem . She said that she prefers being called with her second name.

She pulled a bench and sat with us . She said ;
"Irfan has been staring for a long time at you , Nusaiba."
"He should have." Faridha said smiling brightly . That showed that she had another joke in her mind .

"Why?" Ameena asked.

"Because today is Nusaiba's father's special . Which means the egg is very spicy. "

She says and laughs and Tasneem join in the laughter.

"Hey, how do you know that it was my dad who cooked today?" Nusaiba asked surprised .

"In the entire world it's only your dad who can make the white egg red."
Nusaiba giggled and we all joined her .

I think Tasneem had real fun with us because she sat with us again the next day during lunch .

Tasneem has a heart shaped face and she looks like a matured kid . She is short and cute . She has a good sense of humour and mingles with everyone. She behaves like a kid at times , which is perfectly normal for her . She often fights and creates some mutual misunderstandings . Though you'll feel warm under her shade .

That day was not so awful because even though Nusaiba brought egg , Irfan did not ask for it . I think he felt awfully insulted yesterday.

But in the end Nawal remained silent . She believes that we didn't notice , but I did . I don't pry , and I won't . I know she'll come to me when she needs to .