Took Me By Surprise [Zayn Malik] ✓

Chapter 1: Changing Directions

   Only Leesha would wake up extra early only to send me a farewell-SMS. With a smile on my lips, I swiftly replied: The bags are packed and I'm changing clothes :) gonna miss you so much, Leesh :(

   Time to put my Hijab on. Actually, I don't always call it Hijab, most of the time I simply call it a scarf. It was a plain one, as most of my scarves are. I didn't like going out with a rainbow around my head, like my best friend does.
   Five pins. I didn't use one more, only five, and all of them were in the same colour. I smiled at the thought of one of my classmates, Bassma, who tends to wear various coloured pins on her scarves.
   Another message from Leesha came in as soon as I sat onto my bed: Me toooo :'( can't you take me with youuuuu plsss??? The vacation will be SO boring without you :( <3

   She was funny! I was the one being not willing to go, and she wanted to come with me! Not to mention the fact that her parents wouldn't be able to afford the flight. I didn't even know how my parents collected the money to send me abroad. Did they win the lottery without me knowing? Ah, I forgot it was Haram.
   But if they were able to afford the flight, why weren't they able to find a suitable place for me to stay? A place where I wouldn't feel like an abandoned street dog..
   My thumb made that awkward dance over the keys  it always does when I was not sure what to write, but the vibration of the mobile made me stop. Incoming call from Leesha.  
   "Jennaaaaa." She moaned by the time I picked up. "Can't you just stay here with your father?"
   I groaned. "Leesh!" how often had we discussed that the past weeks? How often did I have to talk about that topic?
   "Ya ya, I know." She said and I made myself more comfortable on my bed. In the next hours I will be having a lot of chances to cool my heels. "It's okay, I'm getting over it. But PLEASE use your laptop there, okay? For me?"
   I nodded, but then I realized she couldn't see me so I said: "Of course. And I promise you to use the Facebook account you created for me, Inshaallah." I grinned.
   She laughed. "Good. I'll be online for you 24/7."
   "Thanks." I chimed into her laughter and looked at my laptop bag beside the door. The laptop inside it was an old model of my father's and it was only used for writing essays for school. But a promise is a promise, so I will stay in contact with my friends via internet, it seems. I think it will be awkward. In Leesha's point of view, I was a strange alien living under a rock. She could use words and expressions like fangirling, feels and Twitter  and I would just be like: Huh? Are you even talking in my language?
   Since maybe one year she realised there was no hope in me, and stopped talking about celebrities. Elhamdulillah!
   "Okay, I gotta finish the last things now.." I started slowly, leaving my thoughts about things I know nothing about, and throwing a look at my luggage.
   "Of course. My thoughts are with you, J."
   "Wish me luck."
   "You won't need it, I know you." She said jokingly and made me roll my eyes.
   "Don't forget me there." She added. "I love youuuu."
   "Haha," I laughed "Me too. Salam!" I quickly hung up before getting emotional, and put the mobile in my small handbag with my wallet, keys, passport, a disinfectant, some important papers and handkerchieves. I took my glasses with the black frame out of their case and put them on, now being able to recognise the time on the clock. It was late, I had to hurry. Hastily, I grabbed my suitcase, the laptop bag and left my room without looking back once again. I turned to the right and already was in the wide sitting room, seeing my parents standing near the door, talking.
   They stopped mid-sentence when I came around the corner, and gave me thin smiles. One look at their faces and I knew they had been talking about something I shouldn't hear. "Do you have everything?" my mother asked. "Passport, wallet, mobile..."
   "Yes." I interrupted her and dragged my luggage towards the door. So apparently I was old enough to live without my parents for a couple of months, but still too young to collect everything I needed for the flight. I see!
   "Well." My father came over to me. "Let's go." He wasn't the kind of person who would speak a wordy text. He was simple and said only the bare necessities. After giving me a hug, he took my suitcase, opened the door and left our flat.
   My heartbeat increased by the thought that the moment of farewell has come. "Will you come with us to the airport?" I asked my mother hopefully, turning to her. But when I saw her face I knew the answer. "Oh, dear. I..."
   "It's okay, mama." I tried to smile.
   Busy. That's the word which describes her the best. Always busy.
   She hugged me tightly but that couldn't take my pain away.
   "I'm so sorry, Jenna-darling." She whispered into my scarf. "If you need anything, you can call me at any time."
   I nodded slowly into her shoulder. She kissed me and I noticed that her eyes were sparkling. I hope she won't cry, otherwise my self-control would totally collapse. I swallowed hard and said with a weak voice: "Salam, mama."
   She smiled sadly. "Salam, Jenan. Take care of yourself."
   I nodded again, opened the door and in the next moment I had left the flat. Quick and easy. "And let me know when you arrive, okay?" she called down the staircase. Of course I will do that. Isn't that exactly what daughters do when they take a plane and leave their mothers for a long time? At least, that's what happens in books and movies. I couldn't add my own experience to that point. "Sure!" I called back.
   The sight of my father sitting behind the wheel made my heart clench. Every vacation, he always drove me to places all over the city when I wanted to meet my girls. But not this summer..
   I chased away these thoughts and got into the car. My father looked at me (sadly?) as I closed the car's door behind me. He started the vehicle, and I put my laptop bag and my handbag on the back seat with the suitcase. To my own despair, the airport was less than 15 minutes away. I didn't want to arrive there quickly, I wanted to enjoy the sight in front of me; goodbye sandy ways, goodbye blue sky, goodbye people in Galabeyas..
    "Don't worry. Everything will be alright." My father suddenly said, interrupting my goodbyes with a smile in his eyes. I smiled too, an unhappy smile though.
   "Thanks. I'm just afraid."
   "Why?"  he swerved the car to the right getting onto the main road which lead to the airport. I started to become nervous.
   "Why?" I repeated. "I am flying across the Mediterranean sea for the first time of my life, alone. I'll take a taxi when I arrive, which is ridiculous because I haven't even used a taxi here in my hometown. I'll be in a strange city with strange people and on the top of all of that I'll stay with strangers for the whole summer vacation. Without you or mum or my friends. In other words: I'll be completely on my own."
   "Other kids would be happy if they had a chance like you." He said slowly. Oh, father!
   "You know me, baba. I'm really not that type of people."
   My father sighed. "I know."
   I made the conversation drop by looking out of the window again, but this time I didn't think about the scene in front of me. Instead, I mentally returned back to the moment were it all began..