The Love I Was Looking For (Halal love story)

||Chapter 4: Confession||

So warm and relaxed, I was half-awake, not wanting to get up. My alarm had been going off for at least five minutes. Knowing my mom, she'd be up here yelling at me to get ready any minute now.

I eventually got up and went through my morning routine. I changed into something cute and then went downstairs for breakfast. I saw my ammi looking at me as I reached the bottom of the stairway. "Assalamu Walaikum, Aisha. Nashta ready hai (breakfast is ready)."

"Walaikum Assalam, what is it?" I asked, sitting down at the table. "Garden Omelet," she said, handing me a glass of milk with it. "Shukria, ammi (Thank you, Mom)," I replied as I ate my breakfast.

I hurriedly ate, grabbed my bag, and went to the bus stop before it arrived. Alas, another day of hell. Even though I'm a good student with high grades, I still find school pretty boring. I guess having Sajid around makes it a bit more amusing. And now, we have two new friends. But after what happened yesterday, I wonder what might happen today.

I arrived at school, but Sajid wasn't here. "Well, jeez, I guess I'll just go to homeroom," I sighed. I walked to class and saw Sajid pacing back and forth. I walked up to him. "Assalamu Walaikum, Sajid. Is everything alright?" I asked, concerned.

He looked back and scratched his head. "Uh, I may have forgotten to do Mrs. Thomas' PowerPoint and homework assignment last night."

I facepalmed. "You're kidding. What were you doing after school yesterday?" I asked, walking into the classroom. He followed hesitantly. "Uhh... Remember how I told you I'm rich? Well, I'm a game developer and I do commissions. People pay me a lot of money to help with their games."

I could feel my mouth drop. He's a game developer? But still, this is a huge project. "Wait, for real? I am too. I use Unity, and right now I'm making a small 2D RPG game. But, I'll help you with the PowerPoint," I offered.

"Wait, really? I mean, you obviously don't have to," he said.

I leaned back in my chair as the teacher called attendance. "No, no, I want to help you. I don't want you to be stressed out about this."

He smiled. "Thank you so much."

Our names were called shortly after. "Alright, so we can either see if we have a free period today or go during lunch to the media center and work on the project," I suggested.

"Sounds great. I got the rubric and requirements with me as well."

"Great, sounds good," I said, looking at the clock. Any second now, the bell would ring. I stared at the second hand on the clock. The bell finally rang. Sajid and I rushed out of the classroom and went to first period before the hallways got packed. We made it just in time. I got two books off the bookshelf; we were starting a class book called Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

I went back to my seat and handed him a book. He looked at the cover and the back of the book. I took a picture of the book and posted it on my story with the caption, "Reading Fyodor's book, BSD reference." Sajid looked at me.

"What's so special about that book that you're posting it?" he asked.

I googled Fyodor's name and put BSD (Bungo Stray Dogs) after it, then handed him the phone. "In this anime, the characters are famous writers in real life, and their most popular writing is their ability. So, Fyodor's ability is Crime and Punishment. He can kill someone with a single touch."

"Oh, that's interesting. I haven't seen the anime though. But, I'll watch it someday."

Mr. Rodriguez started his lesson. Afterward, we all took turns reading a paragraph until the class ended. The day went by, class after class. Finally, in Geometry, we had a substitute.