"Her cheeks turn red, blood rushes to her face, is she in love? No, she's embarrased."
{S Y E D A}
~fast forward to Monday~
I yawn, opening my eyes, squinting as the rays of sunlight blind my eyes. I rub at them continuously to get the sleep off. I just came back from Humayrahs, yesterday at 7:30pm. I barely had any sleep. My feet find the floor as i push myself up, yawning my way to my closet.
I pick out a casual attire, hanging it at the door of my bathroom.
I yawn again.
Damn im yawning alot today.
~after doing my business~
I walk out, fresh as ever.
I put in the books which i will be needing today when my hands comes across the letter Samantha gave to me.
I pack two pairs of clothes.
~at school~
I run through the corridoors as registration starts in like...
*looks at my watch*
...5 MINUTES!!
I finally reach my locker, swinging the chunk of metal open only to find a letter inside.
Great, to add more to my problems
I shove the letter in my pocket.
I'll read it later
Then dump my bag in, taking only my waterbottle, planner and pencilcase out.
I dash to form, kicking the door open, sighing in relief when i don't see Ms Hussain inside.
My eyes scan the room trying to find my three best friends.
I sit in my chair, putting a deaf ear to all the gossips which I, Syeda Muhammad, have absolutely no interest in. However, this one kind of interested me.
"Have you heard, Ms Hussain is leaving and now we have a new form tutor." said the girl in front of me.
"I know aparently he is really young," said the girl back to her.
I huff hearing the words 'he' and 'young' together, seriously i cant deal with another fangirling drama.
I take out the letter ripping it open underneath my desk, it said.
You better come, Scarfie. If not then your loss.
Samantha Hartley, your favourite bully.
I snicker, scrunching up the letter and shoving it into my pocket.
Simra, Humayrah and Nadia walk in, taking their seats.
At that second, the bell rings and now comes the grand entrance of 'Mr Famous'.
Note the sarcasm
I begin to choke on my own oxygen about to die from shock.
I nearly fell off my chair when I saw who it was.
Why on earth is my COUSIN here, wasn't he supposed to be in Pakistan or something?
Humayrah pokes my arm with a pen, raising her eyebrow.
I quickly compose myself and whisper to her,
"It's my freakin cousin. Allah knows what he is doing here I actually had no news about this..."
I was actually rambling on and on cause I didn't want her to get the wrong idea, i mean guys you know how she is.
"Okay, okay chill girl chill," said Humayrah.
Most of the girls in my class have absolute no shame and are looking at him as if they have never seen a guy before.
My cousin suddenly decides to remember what he is doing here and has the audacity to speak,
"Good morning class, my name is Salih Osman and I will be your form tutor for the rest of your academic year, just call me Sir or Mr Osman."
His voice having a hint of a Pakistani accent.
He looks around when his eyes land on me, he starts grinning like crazy and I take that as a bad sign.
I sink in my seat and pull out my reading book and cover my face with it knowing very well what is about to come.
"Umm, Syeda your book is upside down."
I quickly rotate the book, glaring at him through the pages of my book with fire blazing through my eyes. If I wasn't wearing a hijab, you'd probably see the steam coming out of my ears.
I wish I could just throw a waterbottle at him and slap that stupid grin of his face.
Then I realise that everyone is staring at me.
I clear my throat, my face red with anger.
I drink some water, to only notice that everyone is still looking at me.
Irritated i say,
"What?! Have you never seen a person drink water from a waterbottle?"
Simra and Nadia giggle trying to stifle their laughter as much as possible but are clearly failing miserably, while Humayrah pats me on the back with a proud smile on her face, wiping away non-existent tears.
Then my cousin decides to open his already stupid mouth.
"Wow, who knew my cousin had that in her," he says thoughtfully, stroking a non-existent beard.
I was just about to throw the bottle in my hand at him, when Humayrah was just about to stop me.
I look around the room, blood rushes to my face because of the fustration with everyones eyes still on me.
Wallahi, im actually gonna punch someone.
Realising that i'm about to burst and plus am scaring the living hell out of Humayrah, she purposely (but of course in so dumb that i didn't realise it sooner) drops her pen on the floor and says,
"Syeda could you please pick that up for me? My back is for some reason in so much pain."
In a fustrated manner, i go underneath the table and get the pen.
I go up to give it to her buts she stops me,
"Syeda stay underneath the table until everyone has stopped looking at you i know how you hate attention so much," she whispers to me as she takes the pen from my hand.
I sit down for a while until the heat in my face cools done into nothing but my normal cool cheeks.
But then i suddenly become so smart and amazing (note the sarcasm) that i decided to think about all the gossip that is going to happen for the next few days, or even weeks.
And then the heat rushing to my cheeks thing starts all over again.
I bring my knees to my chest and bury my head into it, my hands wrapping around my head.
Then i feel a poke on my arm, i look up expecting to be Nadia or Humayrah or maybe even Simra but guess who it turns out to be...
SALIH OSMAN!!!!!!
I screech in fright and get up but instead hitting my head onto the table.
I rub on the area where i got hit.
"Do i really embarrass you that much, Syeda?" he says, his eyebrows scrunched together.
"N-n-o...no," i stutter in surprise.
I take a deep breath knowing very well that what i am about to say is going to be long and fast.
"No, its just that you put me on the spot when everyones atention is on me just because I turned out to be your cousin and you know very well on how much i HATE attention. Also, now you spoke of me being your cousin everyone is going to start gossi-"
"Okay, okay Syeda!" he says laughing.
"Dont waste so much energy on trying to explain to me."
Then he speaks in voice that suggets that he probably didn't even laugh two seconds ago.
"Look Syeda, im so sorry i actually forgot that you hated attention so much."
I get up,
"Its okay bro, its normal for humans to forg-"
"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUDGE IS THIS?! WHY IS THIS WHOLE PLACE DESERTED?!"
"Oh they were already dismissed and bell rang like two minutes ago," answees salih as if therr is absolutely nothing wrong with me being late for mh first lesson.
I quickly grab my stuff and dash out the classroom in the speed of lightning but not before hearing an evil chuckle.
I dismiss the laugh and barge into my art classroom (again), only to find that it is empty.
OMA!
Whta is this?!
~2 seconds later~
OMA!
This is the food tech room!
I dash out (again) and kick the door ooen in a rush, which alhamdulilah is my art classroom this time. But something doesn't seem right, there is inly liej 10 people in the classroom and the teacher isn't even there.
I look at the clock and nearly flip.
That guy lied to me, it was only 1 minute until the lesson officially started.
I sigh in relief, knowing that now i won't be getting an unnecessary detention.
I'm about to walk in when i spot everyone staring at me
My smile drops.
Why is everyone looking at me?
Well of course everyone is going to look at you like that if a ctazy girl like you barges in randomly and invades their peace.
I give them an awkward wave and go to sit next to Simra, who is thankfully in ny art class, when suddenly,
BAM!
I trip over someones foot, going from walking on my own two feet and now on the flat floor on my face.
"Don't drop your towel, towel-head it would be a shame if i suddenly see that crusty hair of yours."
Samantha
I get up, dust off the imaginary dust on my clothes, turn atound and look at her straight in the eye.
"Oh and barbie-doll, i absolutely hate to break this very inportant information to you but you know, i have to tell you so you aren't left in the dark, a person can fix up their so-called crusty hair and who knows might even get a glow-up but one thing that, trust me, cannot be changed is an ugly heart and just to point out the facts, a pretty face is nothing with an ugly heart," i say to her, my voice laced with fake sweetness amused at her reaction.
"You littl-"
I walk off, sitting next to Simra, not listening the rubbish crap she was about to say next.
~time skip to break~
"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!" screamed Humayrah, earning concerned looks from the people walking past us.
I give them an apologetic look and say to her, trying to calm her down.
"Oh my Allah! Humayrah. Chill. It's not like you won't see me do the same thing again."
"BUT STILL, THIS IS SAMANTHA WE ARE TALKING ABOUT, SAMANTHA!!"
"I'm still gonna tell you to chill out."
"Okay, but if i don't witness this the next time, i will bloody murder you all and make sure it looks like it was an accident," says Humayrah, in her dangerous, warning tone, looking at all three of us as if she is looking into our soul.
I shiver.
"Damn, she's scary," mutters Simra to herself.
"Well you'll get used to it sooner or later, don't worry," i whisper to her making her slightly jump in surprise.
"But she is scarier than Samantha," she whispers to me.
"Then your just gonna have to deal with it," i whisper back to her.
"Oi! You two! What are you muttering on about?!" says Humayrah, raising her eyebrows.
"Wait, guys where's Nadia?" i asked, worry lacing through my voice as i look around.
"Oh my God! I actually thought i didn't exist," say Nadia sarcastically from behind me.
Before i could turn around and say sorry, the bell rings indicating the end of break.
We look at each and smile.
We race to our next class, maths.
~~~
All four of us barge into the maths classroom to find a really angry human glaring at us.
"How many times do i have to tell you...DO NOT BARGE INTO MY CLASSROOM LIKE THAT!!!" barked our angry maths teacher.
All four of us try to stop ourselves from laughing but come on guys lets face the truth, the guy can't shout. He sounds like he's about to his lose his voice.
"Oh and you Simra, when did you become become the 'barging into my room and scaring the living life out of me' person. I thought you were a sensible student."
Simra looked like she was about to say 'sorry' but what made me die with laughter inside was what she said afterwards,
"Oh sir, it was always inside me, it's just that people don't see it, you know?"
Me, Nadia, and Simra composed our laughter but Humayrah decided to do the honours and burst out laughing and she's the type of person who's laugh is more funnier than the joke. So, we ended up all laughing. Although Mr Mathews, looking shocked and disappointed with what he just heard, he still let out a small smile.
We went to our respective seat in the classroom, waiting for everyone to come in.
A few seconds later, people began to pour into the classroom, filling the seats one by one until everyone was here.
And then the lesson began.
~time skip to lunch~
"She stood her ground, finally. She knew if her friends were here they would feel so proud but she couldn't tell them, she just couldn't."
I quickly gobble down my food and by the time all my friends were surrounding me, i was finished.
When Humayrah plopped down next to me with her hugely and unnecessary amounts of food, i was gulping down my water because my throat is for some reason quite dry.
Humayrah looks at me up and down trying to figure out whats wrong with me, Simra has her eyebrow raised in questioning while Nadia squints her eyes at me.
When i finished my water, Humayrah says,
"You alright? You were drinking your water as if you've never drank before."
"Oof, i think i drank too much water," i say putting a hand on my stomach.
"I need the toilet now."
"Well of course your going to need the toilet with how much water you have drunk," says Humayrah obviously going to state the obvious.
I walk out of the canteen.
Gosh, i feel bad for lying to my friends.
I go to the toilet, which is practically empty.
I take out an oversized hoodie, then put my bag and stuff in a secret cupboard which me and my friends found.
I walk out the toilet casually, glancing left, right and back to make sure no one figures out where i'm actually going.
I finally reach the back of the school, which is basically the teachers car park.
I plop the hoodie on the pile of autumn leaves just a few inches away from the door. I scatter the autumn leaves over it to make it unnoticeable.
I walk straight until i turn the corner. Something cold and wet make contact with me. I vaguely see two humans with something big in their hands. I then realise that they threw a freezing bucket of water.
The blur in my eyes vanish and i instantly recognize them to be Samantha's minion.
In a blink of an eye, they are on each of my side, one holding my right arm and the other holding my left arm.
They try to wrestle me to the ground but i have a firm grip so i wouldn't budge.
They give up and both kick me on the back of my leg joints. The pain stung and my knees instantly gave out at the sudeen pressure.
I hear a menacing voice, a voice which i won't ever forget.
"I didn't know that you were that stupid to come here again even though something like this happened in the past," says Samantha, coming out of her hiding place.
A memory flashs, a memory which i never want to remember.
~Start of flashback~
I was in Year 9 and just joined the school at the middle of the year. I was in food tech with Samantha also being in my class.
I over-hear Samantha verbally bullying this girl, who left the same year.
Samantha notices that i'm Muslim and gives me a disgusted look.
"What's your name?" she asks me.
"Syeda," i reply.
"Your name sounds trash just like your hijab," she says to me.
"What's wrong with it," i ask confused.
"Tell me, why do you wear that thing? Are you hiding a bomb in there?"
Oh another racist brat.
"No i don't keep a bomb in there, why do you ask?" i say, acting as if i'm naïve to her words.
"If you tell me why your religion is so strict in making you a towel around your head, i might consider wearing one. Wait, are you forced to wear it?"
I get pissed at her last question.
I open my mouth to say something so she can see the beauty of Islam.
SMACK!!
I feel something wet and sticky but also hard and sharp hit my face. It takes me seconds to realise that it was an egg.
"Hahahaha! Did you actually think i was being nice, you are soo innocent," says Samantha, through her evil laughter.
Maybe i shouldn't have acted to be naïve, i should've given her one bang on the head with a pan.
~End of flashback~
If i think about it, it wasn't only my worst day but it also led me to meet Humayrah and Nadia thus making us friends.
Samantha stalks her way upto me, her hands balled in her fists.
Fire rages in her eyes, ask she lifts her arm.
BAM!
She punches me in the stomach, a stinging pain at my abdomen but i did not scream.
"That was for trying to act smart and humilitate me in front of people today," she says, venom clearly lacing around her voice.
"Oh, did that humiliate you, i'm so sorry," i say to her sarcastically.
By now her nostrils were flaring, it was indeed a funny sight to see.
She punches me again in the stomach,
"Shut up!"
Samantha lifts her arm again and punches me on the face. I taste blood in my mouth and my bottom lip throbs in pain.
"I would like see what you had in store for me, speak your mind,"
She lifts her fist again the third time but the punch never came. I squint my eyes and realise that she rose it to threaten and dare me.
Its funny how she thinks i will shrink back.
I square my shoulders, puffing out my chest in confidence and look at her straight in the eye,
"The Prophet (S.A.W) said..."
Her fist moves a fraction but freezes midair.
"...Be afraid, of the curse of the oppressed as there is no screen between his invocation and Allah."
Samantha swings her fist down, skimming my face and kicks me,
"That sounds ridiculous, girls lets go," she says walking straight past me.
Her minions let go of me and when i mean 'let go of me' i mean by pushing me to the concrete ground face first.
The side of my jaw brutaly makes contact with the ground.
I get up, shivering, from what: i don't know, whether it is the cold wind brushing my face or the cold water which soak me from top to bottom, or maybe even both.
I retrace my steps, well a step, and pick my hoodie and slip it on, pulling the hood up.
I go back inside the building, the bell rings.
I quickly dash into the toilets, which is, Alhamdulillah, empty, and take out my stuff, zooming into a cubicle.
I hurriedly get changed into my the spare clothes i brought with, not bothering to look at the big red circles which swelters on my abdomen.
Putting my wet clothes in a plastic bag and putting it in my bag, i get out of the cubicle with my hijab and hijab pins in my hand.
I look into the mirror and notice the long red, swollen mark running across the side of my jaw. On cue, my jaw begins to thob but i dismiss it, slipping on my undercap and positioning my hijab on my head. I wrap my head, using hijab pins to secure the hijab into place. I clean of the blood on my lip.
I walking out of the toilet, practically half running, half walking to my next class.
I walk in late to my English classroom, my English teacher, Ms Malik lets me off and i go to sit in my seat which is in front of Nadia, who eyes me up and down.
"Why did you change your clothes," she asks, suspicious.
Forming a random and convincing excuse, i say,
"Whilst i was going back to the canteen to meet up with you lot, somebody bumped into me and ended up spilling most of their water over my shirt. Luckily, i had spare clothes with me so it's calm."
I mean technically i'm not lying because water was the whole reason why i had to change, it's just the setting and how it happened.
She again eyes me suspiciously.
She is about to say something but Ms Malik begins to interrupt,
"Syeda you've already came late to class, turn around and stop talking to Nadia!" she screams.
~time skip to after school~
Humayrah looked really pissed when she found out that i changed my clothes.
She wasn't believing my lie one bit.
"Why do i feel like you not say the truth?" she asks.
Gosh, it's like she's got a sixth sense.
"If she's not saying the truth, Allah knows and she probably has her own reasons," says Simra, on her phone with a bored expression, of course stating the obvious.
Humayrah sighs,
"Okay guys, i'm gonna go home now," i say.
"Where's your brother, isn't he gonna pick you up?" asks Humayrah looking around.
"Nobody can pick me up today, so i have to go by bus."
"What about your little brother, aren't you gonna wait for him?" she asks.
"You know how Osman is, he prefers going home with his friends so ends up getting out of school late."
"Oops, i forgot."
I'm about to go, when Humayrah stops me,
"And where do you think your going, did you really think i would let you go home alone, you're going home with me and thats final."
"But.."
"I mean i know where she's getting it from, its not safe, considering that it's gonna be magrib in like an hour," says Nadia.
And just to my luck, a car pulls up in front of us.
The window rolls down,
"Humayrah get in, we need to go to the grocery store," says Husnain.
Just to add to my terrible luck.
"Okay, but Syeda's coming with us," says Humayrah, opening the car door and dragging me along.
"Bye guys, see you tomorrow," says Humayrah waving behind us to Simra and Nadia.
She gets into the car.
"Get in," she order me.
"But-"
"I said get in," she says with a stern voice, repeating her order.
I get in, knowing very well that i can't win the fight.
"Why is she coming with us," asks Husnain.
"She simply has no ride home," she says talking as he was supposed to know this.
"Since you forcefully dragged her into the car, she coming with us to the groceey store because we need to go to the grocery store ASAP."
"What?" i ask not believing with what he just said.
"You understand English, don't you," he says.
Oh God, sister like brother.
I quickly text my mum, letting her know that i'm coming home late.
Umaimah and Rumaisa get into the car.
They look at me,
"What's she doing here," asks Umaimah.
Rumaisa, who seems to have not want to sit at the back of the car, goes to the front.
"Hey it was my turn," whines Umaimah.
"Well it looked you forgot so i decided to do the honours and sit here."
"You-"
"Oh My God! Stop fighting, we need to go to the grocery store," says Husnain, clearly annoyed.
Someone tell me, how many times did i hear this guy say the word grocery store? And I wasn't lying when i said sister like brother.