Strings Attached

~Chapter 8~

"Either you get my detention scrapped, or taste my wrath forever and a day," I threaten her in an ominously low voice. "Do you get it?!" I ask her, and she nods frantically. Her eyes are terrified, but I don't care at all. "Good. I don't care whatever pretense you invent, but be quick and convincing." And saying thus, I release her from my unrelenting hold. She struggles to stand for a while with her legs shaking but eventually, she goes off on her way, tripping often as if in a daze.

"You were worse than me, you know," Chuck informs me, in a matter of fact way. "I only held her, you pushed and threatened her too." "If you say a word more, you ba*tard, I'll push you right out of here!" I yell hoarsely at him. Chuck comes up to me, levelling his shoulders with mine. "I ain't a girl that you'd scare me away, get it!"

"Look, I'm not in the mood to fight with you man. So, it's better that you back off," I try to warn him. "You can't order me around what to do," he snarls, although I detect a bit of reluctance in his tone. He knows that I'm in an extremely foul mood, and it'd be better not to rile me up further. But his ego is getting in the way. I hope it doesn't result in his destruction.

"You were scaring that girl for no reason," I remind him. "And you were threatening that girl because you landed into detention, because you had caused her a bloody injury! Whose fault is that?! Not yours, most likely, since everything you do is good," Chuck says, mocking me. I clench my fist, ready to pound him, when Seth comes between us. "Guys, guys... guys. Let's just drop it, okay."

"Cool down, both of you. We have no reason to fight over two silly girls, do we?" he asks us. After I've swallowed my ego and salvaged my anger with great effort, I manage a small, "Yeah, you're right, we don't. I'm sorry." And saying that, I get away from there. I've never fought with my friends. It's like, an unspoken rule has been broken, and I feel really bad about it. If I stopped him from harassing that girl, I shouldn't have gone and harassed that veiled girl either. But my case was different. He wouldn't understand that though. He doesn't have to deal with a father who treats him worse than a beggar, at home.

"Hey, Dan, where're you goin'? Wait for me, will ya?" Seth comes shouting, running up to me. "Tell me, where are you off to, now?!" "Nowhere," I answer him in a straight voice. "Look man, it wasn't your fault. Just let it go, okay. It was just an accident, and you got detention over it. I know it was a little unreasonable of Turtleneck. He should've listened to you first."

I halt in my steps, and look straight at him with troubled eyes. He is irritating me now. "If this is your idea of giving me a guilt-free talk, it isn't working, alright! So just shut up or leave me alone." I know he knew this was coming, but still it takes him by surprise, and he stands there stunned, while I resume my walk across the school grounds.

"I found what you wanted me to, by the way," he yells, and I come to an abrupt stop. He takes his sweet time coming towards me. "Quite intrigued by her, aren't you?" he tells me, wiggling his eyebrows teasingly. "Say that again, and I'll slap you hard," I let him know in a cold voice. "Okay, sorry."

"Anyway, I kinda guessed she is a Muslim by the way she dresses, because I'd seen your mom wearing it in one of her photos. So, I went to the school Office and stole the file that has all the names of the people coming through the exchange program. There's no other Muslim girl other than her, so I think it's her. Her name's Hidayah Ali. She has come from India. And her host family is the 'Jabbar' family. You remember Hiba Karim Jabbar, the girl who lives right in front of my house... that's the one."