Note: I am so glad wattpad now has the italics option on the app! Eid Mubarak to you all and hope you like the new cover which will also be the chapter pic :)
Ever since the peace-offering the Bin Waleed household became a much more enjoyable place. We fell into a kind of routine Yassin, Laila and I. I'd drop her off to school, Yassin would pick her up, then we'd eat lunch (sometimes I had lunch out with Jax or Bilal) and Laila would bring her homework down to the living room under the streaming sunlight from the huge window. I used that time to watch TV in my room or join Yassin who was always surrounded with his computers. So far we'd held Laila off coming to his room, and she didn't seem very interested in it either.
Then, the next time us three were together was for dinner where Laila made us all wash our own dishes.
That was how it went- all of us minding our own business.
But I was bored.
I was curious about this girl, now that she was so much more nicer. What were her thoughts on...everything? Why did she walk around the house with that hijab on when I'd already seen her hair? Why did she take school so seriously? And I really wanted to play football with her.
On the Friday of the week I stretched as I made my descent down the staircase for lunch after hearing the rickety old ford pull in.
"Assalamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu" I heard Laila mutter as she walked in, followed by Yassin.
"Hey Badr" Yassin called, spotting me, "what's for lunch?"
"Biryani"
I watched for Laila's reaction since I knew she was half Indian but she was already at her study spot, pulling out books and spreading them out on the table.
"Isn't it a bit early to start studying?" I asked as I walked over. She picked up a massively thick book with the epic title:
LEVEL THREE
PHYSICS
"Wow" I remarked, picking it up and weighing it, "you know if I threw this at someone and it hit the right spot I could probably kill them. And with my aim...I'll get that spot"
Laila scowled, snatching her book back, "The only person you need to kill is-" she tapped the authors name, "Steve Dunning"
I grinned, "consider it done"
She sighed and shook her head, "I actually have a physics test on Monday, but I barely know half of the topic so I need to start studying from now"
"No eat-sleep-just study?"
"Pretty much. Now go away you're distracting me"
I flashed a smile and winked at her, "I have that effect on people"
"Badr"
I put my hands up in surrender and she turned back to her books, not noticing as I snatched one book away. I'd hoped to distract her further but she was engrossed in the impossibly boring world of physics.
I carried the book up to my room with a plate of biryani and shut it behind me. I didn't know exactly why I was still holding on to it, especially since the cover read An Introduction to Modern Physics and Atomic Theory and then some stuff about providing exam type questions etc.
I'd dropped out of school before competing my last year but Physics had been one of those subjects I was surprisingly good at. Except I didn't have the time to worry about why things behaved the way they did when I was busy with Cedochi stuff all night every night. Speaking of which it was so strange to be in such a relaxed position- just look after a girl.
Spooning some hydrabadi biryani in my mouth which set my tongue on fire, I flipped open the book, flicking through the pages at random. It looked pretty interesting? Light travels in energy packets called photons, which explains why the expected outcome did not occur if, as most scientists believed, light had wave nature... light contains many different colors- colors are determined by the frequency...
***
"Badr! Open the door!"
"Huh?"
I brushed my hair out of my eyes groggily, blinking. My room was dark as the sun was almost set and someone was banging my door. I realized I'd fallen asleep reading about Bohr's equation. No wonder, I thought looking over the complex examples.
"Badr!"
"Coming" I yawned, stepping out of bed and opening the door.
Laila stood in hallway, looking slightly crazy with bloodshot eyes and flushed cheeks. She didn't give me time to say something witty about that at all instead:
"Badr I lost my nuclear physics book and I have no idea where it is and it was right on the table before I've been looking for it for hours and I CANT FIND IT-"
"Oh-this?" I went back and picked up the slightly crumpled text book. She stared at it for a moment as though an angel had descended from heaven in shining light and then her face darkened.
"You had this the entire time?" Her breathing was coming out very fast. I swallowed mockingly. She snatched it out of my hand and seeming unable to muster a threat big enough she stormed off.
I leaned back against the door, fighting a smile.
Laila was cute when she was angry, wasn't she?