When Zahra Hussain moves to live with her dad in America and attend the one and only Stanford University to fulfill her parents' dreams of her becoming a doctor, her life takes a thrilling turn as for the first time in her life, she falls in love bu...
I was genuinely worried about who the motorbike person was - how did I climb onto the back of a motorbike of an absolute stranger and let them bring me to university not knowing that the same person also attended the same university as me and could practically be a stalker?!
"Rose! Where is Edward?" I whisper-yelled, pulling at Rose's arm.
"Zahra are you ok? Edward is standing there by the park benches," pointed Rosaline.
I looked in the direction that Rose was pointing at and lo and behold, Mr Pride and Prejudice was standing near one of the park benches on his phone with a glum expression plastered on his face. I decided to do what I had been intending to do for a while and so I walked straight up to Edward.
"Erm, excuse me ?"
Edward whizzed around and looked at me and then did what he usually does and just stood there smirking at me. He looked relieved that we were talking and that it was me who was instigating the conversation.
"How can I help you?" He asked, hands in pockets and his phone gone.
"Look, I know I acted a bit like a jerk the other day when you came to my house and I know that it's made things weird between us and I don't want it to continue being this way. We have to be able to be comfortable around one another because we're spending a good couple of years together at this university where we will undoubtedly have to work together at some point so I'm here to say that I'm sorry and I hope that you can accept my apology," I waffled, all in one breath, not bringing myself to look at his facial reaction.
"Wow. I mean, I certainly was not expecting that long essay - how about you save those for your assignments? Nah, I'm just kidding, of course I accept your apology but it's cool if you don't want to hang out because of reasons that you might not want to share with me: I respect that," smiled Edward.
I sighed, grateful that he understood me but there was still one question that I was unsure of. As I began to walk back to Rose again, I quickly ran back to Edward.
"Can't get enough of me already huh?" He joked.
"Whatever. But seriously though, I have a question, do you by any chance happen to own a brand new edition of the black Harley Davidsons and do you happen to have a matte black helmet to go with it?" I asked. Looking at Edward's face, I could detect hints of anger as his face changed from his well-known smirk to a faked smile.
"Erm no I don't. I usually walk everywhere because I'm staying on campus in the university accommodations - everything is nearby so there's no reason for me not to walk," he said through a fake smile.
Something felt off but I wasn't quite sure what it was. I decided to end the conversation as quickly as I could and headed back to Rosaline who asked me to go with her to grab something to eat.
-
The first semester had ended and it was fair to say that I was extremely grateful that I was taking a break from all the studying. I felt bad for avoiding my mother's constant calls and so I decided to FaceTime her.
"Zahra sweetie how are you? I haven't heard from you in so long! Are you alright? Where is that Ahmad? He's supposed to be looking after you!" were the first few things I could hear from my mum.
"I'm fine Mum and Dad is downstairs watching a soccer game," I replied. I noticed my mother roll her eyes before sarcastically responding with:
"What a surprise there!"
We ended up speaking to each other for an hour before our conversation was cut short with the doorbell ringing. Ahmad had already opened the door by the time I got downstairs and I could see that there was someone with her, that blonde dude from the university.
"Hey Zahra, meet Chase. Chase, meet Zahra. Erm Zahra look we were wondering if you wanted to come with us to the town centre to do some shopping and grab something to eat?" said Rosaline.
I looked in Ahmad's direction but he had already gone back into the living room, not wanting to miss anything from the soccer match. Since this Chase guy was apparently going to be accompanying us often, I decided that it was better if I got to know him and make sure that his intentions were legitimate with Rosaline. I looked at Chase who was standing there with a smile and his arms were wrapped around Rosaline's waist. Rose was clearly smitten and so she obviously would not be able to see if this guy was doing something dodgy, hence the maternal side of me kicked in and I grabbed my bag and jacket and headed out the house after leaving a note on the fridge for Ahmad to see.
As we headed out of the house, Rose and Chase went inside a Mercedes Benz G-Class. It had tinted windows and it was black. I stood there confused as Chase didn't go in the drivers' seat, instead he went and sat at the back. I sighed as I realised that knowing him, there would probably be a chauffeur driving us to the town centre. Chase motioned for me to sit in the front with the driver and I hurriedly went in as Chase and Rose looked at each other and made kissing motions. I inwardly groaned already regretting my decision to accompany them on this trip.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Half an hour later, we had arrived at the local shopping mall and after grabbing some snacks from Starbucks, Rosaline insisted on getting her nails done. Whilst she sat there dictating which nail polish she wanted, me and Chase sat by the benches at the front of the store. I hadn't seen this side of Rosaline before and I was shocked; this Chase guy didn't seem to have the best influence on her if she was beginning to boss people around and become all arrogant.
"So, you're obviously hanging out with Rose for her money aren't you?"asked Chase. I turned around and looked at him in disgust.
"I beg your pardon?" I asked.
"You heard me. You're just in it for the money. You Muslim immigrants are all the same, trying to mint money out of people. How the hell did you even get into Stanford? You obviously don't have the kind of aristocratic links that we do. Oh, let me guess, you slept with the admissions officer didn't you?"
Completely hurt and angry, I grabbed my bag and walked out of the store, with tears threatening to spill. I always knew that people didn't accept me for who I was because of how I looked, but I had no idea that people thought I was a slut. I did everything to prove otherwise, I hardly even spoke to guys! The motorbike incident was a one-time thing but that was a justifiable circumstance! What did he mean by the fact that I was 'in it for the money'? Did Rosaline think that I was using her? I mean, yes she paid for things when we would go out most of the time, but I would always try and repay her and she would insist on not accepting cash. Maybe Chase was right. Rosaline would never say these things to my face but what if she really thought these things?
I stood outside the mall, at the nearest bus stop, biting my bottom lip to stop the tears that were on the verge of spilling. I ended up getting on the wrong bus that was headed in the wrong direction but I noticed a park so I got off at that stop. I went into the park and found an isolated bench that overlooked the play area. As I sat there, watching the children being pushed on the swings by their mothers, I couldn't help but wish that my mother was here with me. She would know what to say and do; Ahmad was not emotional in the least so I couldn't go to him with these kind of issues. I thought of my friends from London who were all hanging out together and doing courses they loved. And that was when the waterworks started and I burst into tears wanting nothing more than to go back home.
