The Love I Was Looking For (Halal love story)

||Chapter 2: The Unexpected||

The new transfer student was a boy. "But wait, why me?" I asked.

"Well, Sajid here is from Pakistan like you, and his English isn't that good. So, I thought pairing him with you would be beneficial for him."

No way, this boy is Pakistani... I mean, he looks Pakistani, but why this school? There are no Desis here.

Sajid walked up a little closer. "Ap Pakistan ka hasay se hain? (What part of Pakistan are you from?)" I stood there stunned. I hesitated for a second. "Main Karachi se hoon, ap bare mein kya khayal he? (I'm from Karachi, what about you?)" I questioned.

"Accha, main Lahore se hoon (I see, I'm from Lahore)." Mr. Clark handed Sajid his schedule. "See, I have no idea what you guys just said, but you can understand and speak to each other in your language. Now, take Sajid to your first period. If he needs anything, tell him to come here and we'll get it sorted out."

"Alright, Mr. Clark. I'll see you later. Bye!" I walked out of his room with Sajid following behind me. We walked outside and started heading to class. He laughed, and I looked at him confused. "Who let you into high school? Shouldn't you be at the middle school down the street?"

I glared at him. "So, it looks like your English is just fine, I see," I said, wanting to hit him with my bag but staying calm.

"I can act like I can't speak English, though. The only reason I pretended was to see who would stay with me and give me a tour around this school." He looked at me dead in the face for a whole minute. "You seem like one of those toxic brown girls, you know, the ones who like guys with golden chains and perms."

I looked at him blankly. That was so random. "No, what the heck? I'm not into guys like that. Men wearing golden chains is haram anyway. I like a guy who has good Deen and who fears Allah (swt), by the way."

He just laughed, making me feel awkward. Like, why would he even think I'm a toxic brown girl anyway?

"Why are you even here in America?" I questioned as he walked beside me but from a distance. I was curious—why America out of the whole world?

"Well, because I wanted to know what America is like. I've never been out of Pakistan, and they gave me this opportunity. Might as well take it."

"How did your parents even consider this idea anyway?" I looked at him.

"Not all Desi (South East Asian) parents are strict and don't deny freedom. Yours just do because you're a girl. Perks of being a brown boy, I guess," he laughed.

That pissed me off, but he was right. Most brown parents aren't as strict with their sons as they are with their daughters. It's honestly annoying. Personally, I don't get much freedom. We arrived at the classroom. I opened the door, and Sajid followed. The teacher looked at us and realized that he was the new transfer student.

"Class, settle down. We have a new student joining us for the year. His name is Sajid. He's an exchange student from Pakistan. I want you all to be respectful and kind. Sajid, you can sit by Aisha over there."

Sajid smiled and took his seat next to me. I had an extra book next to me, so I gave it to him. He looked at me confused. I glared back, whispering, "Don't look at me clueless. You can read and understand English. Look at the board."

All the girls kind of crowded around him. I couldn't help but stare, curious about what would happen next.

"So you're South Asian? That's nice. I always wanted to go to India." Sajid looked at the girl dead in her face. "Mein Pakistani hoon—tum pagal hoon? (I'm Pakistani—are you stupid?)"

I looked at Sajid with my mouth open but then closed it and laughed slightly. "He said he's from Pakistan. There's a difference." I gave Sajid a mad look, and he just acted like he didn't know what he said.