A Halal Love Story #Wattys2019 - BEING EDITED

Chapter 19

Recap...

As soon as he says that, every girl besides Umme and Saafiya runs up to Hamza and asks him if he wants to be his partner. I look at Umme and Saafiya but they just look at me sympathetically.

"I'm sorry Layla but Mr. Chase said to be in a pair." Umme says and I internally sigh when I see Saafiya wink at me.

"Hamza do you want to work with me?" I hear a girl wearing a mini skirt beg him.

"Work with me Hamza!" Another girl asks him.

"No Hamza, work with me." A girl from the back of the crowd of girls that want to work with him says.

"Sorry girls but Layla begged me first." He says and gets up to go write our names on the board with a smirk on his face. What a jerk!

"He'll pick us over you any day!" A girl says once he's out of earshot.

"I mean look at you, your not even pretty." Another girl wearing a low cut top tells me with a disgusted look once she looks me over.

I just ignore them and wait for Hamza outside of the classroom. I feel hot angry tears welling up in my eyes, but try my best to not let them stream down my face. I don't know why but what they said truly broke me in more than one way.

Chapter 19

As I wipe my tears away on my shirt, I try to look any where but up because I'm afraid that Hamza's going to see me crying. I hear him getting out of the classroom and I feel extremely self-conscious; which is a feeling that I hate because I know that Allah (swt) created me the way that he desired.

"Why are you crying?" Hamza says coming out of the classroom.

"It's none of your business." I say looking down and wiping away my tears away that seem to not want to stop pouring down.

"Tell me or we're not going anywhere." He says gently but I know that he's serious.

"It's stupid." I say still looking down.

"If it's something that has made you cry, then no it isn't." He says.

"They said that I wasn't pretty or good enough for you. I told you it was stupid." He doesn't say anything but just walks back into the classroom. I don't enter the room because I don't want to face them.

"How dare you say that Layla isn't pretty! In my eyes, she's prettier than any one of you that told her that she isn't or that she doesn't deserve me! If you think for one second that I'll pick you over Layla, you should know that you are nothing but wrong! If I see her crying one more time even over you guys, I'm going to report you to the principal!" There is silence as he finishes yelling at the girls in the room.

My tears stop rolling down my eyes because of what he said. Will he really pick me over them? I start feeling admiration for Hamza because honestly any girl would be lucky to have him. Although a tiny part of me feels like I'm betraying mystery man; a huge part of me feels that I'm lucky to have Hamza in my life.

"Jaza Kallah Khair." I tell him with a weak smile as soon as I see him. I have a bad urge to hug him, but then again Astagfirullah. He just nods at me and leads us to wherever we have to go.

"You heard that?" He says and when I see him scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment, I smile.

"Yes, and it was the sweetest thing that I've heard come out of your mouth since I met you." I say with a huge smile on my face. I see his face turn bright red, and I laugh.