An American Muslimah

Chapter 10

AISHA'S POV

The weekend went by in a blur surprise, surprise. Haniah and I had fun unpacking her suitcase and catching up. It turns out that she wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up and that she is really good in her sciences. It turns out that Abdullah was three years younger than Suleiman making him 17. They use to be best buds just like me and Haniah were. Mom wouldn't let us play with them as they use to be very violent and active like any typical boy their age would be which explains why I don't remember him. On Sunday evening Haniah and I watched "Catching Fire" in my room before going to bed. In all honesty I don't remember the last time I had so much fun. I guess I had too much fun though because I totally forgot about my math homework.

The next morning i woke up to the alarm on my phone and got up to pray fajr. I woke Haniah up as well and we prayed fajr together. By the time i was done it was time to get ready for school. Before in summer time i had time to sleep because fajr was early but now due to daylight saving time changed. I wore a black abaya and navy blue hijab along with a sweater. Haniah frowned when she saw my outfit.

"What?" I asked.

"Someone might think you're in mourning with all that dark clothing." she said with concern in her voice.

I just laughed. "I love black. Don't worry by now people already know my fashion sense."

We went downstairs and I helped mom serve breakfast. Mom had baked banana tart and she has also made porridge. After stuffing my face up I ran upstairs to my room because I had forgotten my geography textbook on my desk. Suddenly I bumped into the wall. I backed away only to find out that it wasn't a wall at all; it was Abdullah.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry."

He looked down on me and smiled, "Nah its ok."

He then made space for me to pass and thats exactly what I did.

I quickly got out of his way and made my way to my room.

On the way to school Maryam kept on going on about how her baby brother, Yusuf was being naughty over the weekend. Yusuf was 6 years old making him in grade 1.

"Aww come on, he couldn't be that bad." I tried reasoning with her.

"He didnt want to take his shower! I had to literally lecture him how Allah likes those who are clean and how I wouldnt dare give him a hug if he doesn't shower."

I just laughed and Maryam kept on rambling till we arrived to school.

When we entered the front foyer we noticed there was a huge crowd of students huddled into a ring. I turned to Maryam and she gave me a perplexed face. We walked over to them. Some of the students were chanting while others had worry painted all over their faces. Just then I noticed Connor and Daniel making their way through the crowd and pushing everyone aside.

"Stop Abraham he's not even worth it bro." Connor said.

Abraham? That's when i saw the scene in front of me. Abraham was throwing punches at a bloody John. He had blood gushing out of his nose and on his shirt.

"You filthy bastard! How dare you touch her!"

Thats when Connor and Daniel successfully managed to pull him away from John. John just laughed without any humour.

"You think you can stop me? You can never be tougher than me Abraham" John hissed.

Just then Mr.Keith barged in separating the two. It was only then that I saw Abraham. He was pretty beaten up as well. He had a nasty cut on the left side of his lips and a red face.

"Both of you in the principal's office now!" Mr.Keith boomed. "An the rest of you get to class."

"Who were they talking about?" Maryam asked me as we were on our way to our homerooms.

"I don't know." But in all honesty I did know, or at least I had a hunch. Abraham was talking about his little sister, Jennifer. That's the only thing that made sense. After the incident when Jennifer was being harassed and I helped her, Abraham had stopped talking to his so called "friends" which I thought was very strange as the time. But now when I think about it, its probably because Abraham had figured out it was one of them who had done it. Does that mean Jennifer was harassed again? I certainly hope not. No girl should have to deal with that.

****

The next few weeks were rough. It was exam week and everyone practically walked around their books studying. I of course was freaking out which is why I refused to eat anything.

"Aisha eat something! How can you possibly think you can think when you haven't given your brain any fuel?" Haniah asked me.

"But I'm freaking out Haniah!"

"Aww its okay love, I can feed you." She said with a smirk. I gave her a look.

"Fine I'll eat."

When I walked out of my last exam I was so relieved and happy. Alhamdulillah I'm confident I did well. Suleiman came to pick me up. I was opened the front door to sit on the front seat when I saw a figure sitting beside Suleiman. It was a male figure to be precise, Abdullah. So instead I made my way to the back seat. I was greeted with a joyful Haniah

"Assalamualeykum Aisha. How was your exam?" Suleiman asked me.

"Alhamdulillah it went well. I think I'm going to score all A's for this semester.

"Alhamdulillah" Suleiman, Abdullah and Haniah replied.

"Hey Abdullah since we're already here do you want to visit the school. I mean its a good idea to know the place before starting in January." Suleiman said.

Wait. What? Abdullah was going to the same school as me? Of course he is! How did I not think of this before. Their new house was just 8 minutes away from ours so evidently they would be going to the same schools as us.

"Sure." Abdullah said breaking my trance of thought.

Suleiman parked the car and we all got out. I showed him around the school until he pretty much knew the whole school.