I’ve been on bed rest for the past week, I wasn’t allowed to leave my house for seven days, unless it was for a doctor’s appointment. Now, I’m getting ready to go to school. It’s currently 6:30 in the morning and I’m getting dressed in a cute outfit, might as well make it cute since all eyes are going to be on me today. “What to wear, what to wear.” I mutter walking into my closet trying to think of what to wear. I end up bumming it out for the day, but in a cute way. I wear my neon pink Victoria’s Secret sweatpants that have Pink written down in shiny diamonds. I wear the matching sweater with a white t-shirt underneath just in case I get hot.
Tamara wakes up just as I bring the outfit to my bed. There’s a knock on the door and I go to open it. “Hey, are you guys almost ready? You’re not going to take the bus anymore until you’re okay to walk without the crutches, so I’ll be taking you girls.” Jihad says with a smile on his face.
“I’m almost ready, I just need to get dressed and put some mascara on. Tamara however just got into the shower.”
“Well we have to be out of here by eight if we want to make it to homeroom on time.” He says walking away. I walk back in and knock on the bathroom door.
“Tamara, hurry up in there, Jihad says we have to leave soon.” I yell through the door leaning on my crutches. She yells something back to me and I go to the mirror to add a little bit of the makeup that my mom forgot in here. Once I’m happy with the way my face looks at slowly put on my sweatpants making sure the cast doesn’t ruin the pants. I put on a plain white t-shirt and throw the sweatshirt in my bag.
Tamara is now ready and someone knocks on the door. Jihad walks in and hands me two bagels and two water bottle. “Give one to Tamara, once you finish eating we have to leave. Yeah?” I nod my head nervously.
“Jihad?” I ask once he starts to head back. I continue to talk once I see that I have his attention. “What am I expecting when I get to school? Do I have to watch out for anyone?”
“No not really, trust me, they learned their lesson, if anyone does have a problem with you, they won’t confront you, after what they saw what Tamara could do.” He says making me laugh. “Don’t worry, you have me, Tamara, and the girls who will stick by your side.” He says and starts walking away again. “Oh, I can’t forget about Kevin and Troy, they have a soft spot for you Sara.” He says and I look at him confused. “Earlier in the week baba told me something, that he told me I can’t tell you. So I’m keeping my promise and not telling you anything. You’ll find out when the time comes. Now hurry up in here, we have to get going soon.” He then walks out and Tamara walks into the bedroom with a towel covering her body.
“Finally, I thought he’d never leave.” She jokes walking to the dresser and grabbing a bra and underwear and going into the closet to get her outfit on. She walks out wearing cute color baby blue skinny jeans with a black top and blue jewelry.
“Well look at you looking all cute and dressed up. Are you trying to impress someone?” I ask jokingly. When she looks down embarrassed I knew that she was hiding something from me. “Well, well, well,” I say crossing my arms looking at her with raised eyebrows. “Who’s the guy?” I ask her.
“What? What are you talking about? There is no guy.” She starts to blush.
“Mhm, no need to lie to me, I could tell when you’re lying.”
“Okay, okay, fine I’ll tell you but it’s between me and you, okay?” I nod my head and she looks at her feet and mutters something.
“What? I didn’t hear you.” I say putting my hand on my ear just trying to get her to speak louder.
“I like Kevin.” She mutters.
“Kevin? As in Jihad’s best friend?” I ask shocked. She nods her head and I look her in the eyes. “Since when?”
“Not long, I mean I always thought he was cute, but than him and the other kid from the bus just came to see you at the hospital and he was being concerned for you always asking if he could do anything. That’s when I noticed I liked him. He was just being so sweet and concerned over your leg. I mean so was Troy, but honestly, I could see that he likes you.” She tells me and I blush deeply.
“Oh my gosh. Could you not start talking about people liking me? Please I beg.” I say with a small smile on my face. She nods her head and I hand her the bagel and water bottle.
“Yallah girls, we have to get going right now.” Jihad says knocking on the door. We finish the bagels together two minutes later and gulp down the water bottle. Tamara grabs both the bags and we head out. Jihad helping me down the stairs by carrying me bridal style. He places me in the front seat and Tamara takes the seat behind me. “Do you guys mind if I pick up Troy and Kevin?” He asks looking at both of us as he pulls out the driveway.
“It’s your car, your friends. You could if you want.” I say and he just chuckles.
“Last I checked, you were their friends too.” He says speeding out of our road.
“Okay, first of all don’t speed like that, Tamara and I were just in a car accident. And secondly, what the hell are you talking about?”
“Well, the way you talk to them and they talk to you, it seems like you guys got to know each other.” He says and I look at him with my mouth wide open.
“The only thing I know about them is their names. So just stop.” I say. “I don’t want a friendship with anyone in that hellhole. You think I could trust anyone?”
“Well as you see that you’re the one everyone’s talking about. Mr. Tobin said if she lays a hand on another student he’ll expel her.”
“Well I think she’s lucky I forgave her. People would have pressed charges. I’m not like that.” I say turning on the radio not wanting to talk about Brianna or whatever else goes on at the school. We pull into someone’s driveway a few minutes later and see Kevin running out with a piece of toast in his mouth. His backpack swinging with every step he takes. Once he’s in Tamara and I start to laugh.
“What’s so funny?” He asks looking at us two curiously.
“Nothing.” I say through my light giggles. He just chuckles and settles in his sit next to Tamara. I look at Tamara through the mirror and see her blushing. I smile to myself before changing the station since the commercial is getting annoying. “I love this song.” I say as the DJ plays the Way by Ariana Grande. I start to sing along with the words. As soon as the song ends we pull into another driveway, this house is a little bigger than Kevin’s. Jihad beeps and Troy walks out the front door.
“Hey kids.” Troy says sitting next to Kevin. Everyone rolls their eyes at him as I make the music louder. Jihad presses the gas pedal a little more.
I look to see he’s almost going 50. “Jihad, slow the hell down.” I yell at him. He looks at me and I look at him shocked. He slows down a little and I cross my arms over my chest and look out the window.
“Sara, why are you making it such a big deal. Fifty isn’t even a big number.” He says.
“Whatever. This is the first and last time I get in a car with you.” I mutter. He tries talking to me but I pretend I don’t hear him. I give him the silent treatment until we pull into the school parking lot. As soon as he puts the car on park, I get out and try to get away from everyone. I notice everyone’s stares and whispers as I’m heading to homeroom, which is upstairs, and the elevator is on the opposite of the school, so I guess I’m going to have to deal with the stares. I just look to the floor and make my way to the other end of the school. As I’m about to get to there I bump into someone. If it wasn’t for the person to catch me I would have fallen down, again. “Sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” I say quickly before I start to walk away. The person takes my hand and spins me around to face him.
“Next time, watch where you’re walking, not many people would catch you before you hit the ground.” He says in my ear. He lets me go and I rush into the elevator. I shake my head and press the button. The doors close right away as soon as I’m on the second level, I rush to homeroom. Thank god it’s not on the opposite side this time, it’s just down the hallway. Since I’m early enough that the teachers not here, I have to wait in the hallway so I’m just resting myself against the wall and I see Troy walking towards me. He sees me and smiles. I smile back shyly and look at the floor.
“Hey Sara.” He says coming up to me. I look up at him and see he’s smiling.
“Hi.” I say quietly and notice Tamara isn’t here yet. “What’s up?” I say.
“Nothing, how are you feeling today?” He asks.
“Good, I’m fine.” I say quickly and nervously. “How are you today?” I ask trying not to seem rude.
“Great actually. Well, I just came to tell you that I’m here if you need anything. Just let me know. If anyone bothers you.” He says.
“Thank you.” I say just as the teacher walks up to the classroom. “Well, I’ll see you at gym?” He nods his head and walks away to go to his class. It was so easy to talk to him when I first got here, but now that Jihad and Tamara are teasing me about him liking me, I’ve gone shy around him all the sudden.
It’s gym now, Tamara and I are walking into the gym and Troy walks up to us. “Hey girls. What’s going on?” He asks.
“Nothing, I’m going to go get dressed, do you need anything Sara?” Tamara asks before throwing our backpack by the bleachers. I sit down in the chair that Mr. Levi has set up for and I sit there and watch as everyone head out of the locker rooms one by one.
“We’re going to head out for gym. It’s not hot to run track.” The teacher says blowing his whistle to have everyone start head out. “Sara, Troy, if you want, you could either stay in here, go to the library, or come outside and enjoy the beautiful day.” The teacher says. I shrug my shoulders and get up grabbing my crutches.
“Let’s go outside.” I say throwing my phone in the small pocket of my pocket and throwing onto my shoulders. I follow all the other students out to the back of the school. The teacher starts screaming out instructions. You could either play soccer, football, or walk the track. I guess Tamara decided to walk the track with some of the girls we became good friends with. I take out my phone and plug in my headphones. I play old throwback songs that Jihad introduced me too from when we first came here. I take out some of the books from my classes trying to decide which work to do first. I choose math since I have trouble in that class and if anything I have Troy to help me with the problems.
A few minutes later, I start nodding my head to the new song that is playing and Troy takes one earphone out and places it in his ear. He starts to rap along with the rapper and I look at him shocked. “I didn’t know you rap.” I say surprised by how good he is.
“There’s not much you know about me than. I love to rap.” He says with a small smile on his face. I smile back at him but look down at the homework sheet thinking about how I should do this problem. I start tapping the pencil onto my shaky leg. “Need help?” He asks out of nowhere and I almost look at him startled but stop myself.
“Please.” I say shyly. He just moves closer to me and helps me with the problem. By the time we finish the math homework, the bell rings letting us know that we have five minutes left of class. I walk up to Tamara. “Do you mind if I go straight to class? I don’t want to be held up in the crowded hallways.” I ask her.
“No go ahead, do you want me to take your bag with me? Or is Troy walking with you?” She teases.
“I don’t know if he’s coming but even if he doesn’t, I still could hold my bag.” I say embarrassed. She smiles at me and waves me off. I walk out of the locker room waving bye to my friends. Thank god by third period today all the whispers stopped.
“Ready?” Someone says from behind me. I turn to see Troy walking closer to me. He takes my bag from my shoulder but I try to resist until he insists. I shrug it off my shoulders before settling myself comfortably onto my crutches again. He’s holding my bag by the small hook on the top of it. His is on one shoulder hanging. “I have a question.” He says as we’re walking down the hallway towards the elevator.
“Okay.” I say look up at him as he pressed the button.
“I know it’s like against your religion, but is it against your religion to talk to boys on the phone?” He asks embarrassedly. I turn to look at him.
“Honestly, I have no idea, you’re the first guy that ever asked me this, in Palestine it was always guys and girls in separate classrooms, they were very strict so I never really had guy friends growing up. You’re the first one that I’ve talked to in this school besides Kevin.”
“So, like we could text?” He asks really hopeful and it brings me back to what Tamara told me this morning.
“Um, I don’t know, how about I talk to my father tonight, and I’ll text you tonight with the answer?” I say and he smiles. We get to my class a minute later and we’re both standing there. He gives me his number and I put it in my backpack with a smile.
“So I’ll see you tomorrow?” He says looking me in the eyes with the most genuine smile on his face. I blush and nod and he walks away.
~*~
It’s the end of the day and Tamara and I are walking towards the main entrance. She just told me a joke and I’m laughing at it. Someone walks in front of me and I stop short. I look up to see the same kid I bumped into when I first came in today. “Okay, you bumped into me this time.” I say looking him in the eye. He has black hair that covers his forehead and ears, green eyes, and a tan face.
“Yes, as a matter of fact I did. Look you can’t come into here thinking you own the place, you’re new here, and it’s going to stay that way. You’re just crying for attention, so just stop. You don’t know shit about this school. Did you really go through surgery? Or is it just you begging for attention?” He says coming close to my face. Tamara pushes him off of me.
“You don’t know shit asshole. Just leave us the hell alone.” She says as Jihad comes to us and sees what’s going on.
“Josh, leave my sisters’ alone, or we’ll have major problems.” He says pushing him away from Tamara. “Trust me next time I see you next to them you’ll have bigger problems than those drugs you try hide in your locker.” Jihad says and Josh opens his mouth wide.
“What? What the hell are you talking you talking about? I didn’t do anything to those losers.” He stutters and walks away.
“Yeah right, I heard everything.” Jihad mutters before leading us out the doors. I sit in the front and elevate my leg on the dashboard. Troy and Kevin open the door to the back and slide. “You guys want to come over to chill for a little?” Jihad asks his head they both shrug not caring what they do, as long as they don’t have to go back home.