y a s m e e n | a b d u l k a r e e m
"Yasmeen! Wake up!", a deep voice shouted at me, slightly waking me out of my sleep, "It's Fajr time.", the voice belonged to my twin brother - ‘Esa. A groan emitted from my lips in response as I pulled my blankets over my face, not wanting to wake up.
"Yas! Wallah, I'll pour water on your ass.", he threatened me. Let me tell you one thing, whenever ‘Esa threatened me he was always serious and it slightly scared me. "You wouldn't.", I growled at him, sitting up immediately, that wasn't such a great idea since I immediately became dizzy from moving so quickly. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, they slowly adjusted to the light which came from the hallway just outside my bedroom.
‘Esa was standing in front of my bed with a sly smirk on his face, oh how I wish I could just slap it off, "Oh, I would twin. And you know it.", he winked at me like the jerk he is. "I can't pray so go do Fajr.", I mumbled under my breath, lying back down. You would think this curly head boy would leave, right? Nope, he stood in the same exact spot and stared at me for a few minutes before finally speaking, "I don't believe you."
"I don't care if you don't believe me. Leave me alone and let me sleep.", I groaned, banging my head on my pillow in frustration, "and don't you even think about harassing me anymore this morning, pendejo.", I cursed in Spanish as he rolled his eyes and exited my room, closing my door behind him. Good boy.
Maybe I should give you a little back story on who I am? Yeah, I'll do that. My names Yasmeen Abdul-Kareem. I'm a teen muslim living in LA. My dad, Ali Abdul-Kareem is yemeni and has been muslim for his entire life, but just started practicing the religion of Islam fully when ‘Esa and I were first born. My mom, Eleena, on the other hand, accepted the religion when I was two years old. I guess you could say I was sort of born into the religion anyhow.
What can I say about myself? I'm obviously a female, in case you haven't guessed that yet by my name or the conversation both my brother and I had about me being unable to pray due to my monthly issue. I have no idea how to explain my looks, if you left it up to me I would say I looked like freaking Big Mama-not really, but you get what I’m saying right? I don't really know what else to say though so um, buckle up and enjoy this bumpy ride - that is my life. - "Yasmeen, mi amor, it's time for school wake up.", an angelic voice filled my ear drums as my blankets were pulled from my body making my body cold, immediately. You see, I'm anemic and I get cold very easily - even though I live in a city where the coldest it ever is, is 78 degrees, I'm exaggerating but whatever.
"Ma!", I whined, attempting to grab the covers back from my mother but she was too fast and had them off of my bed within seconds, "Nope, not today, get out of bed and get ready for school. Now.", she said in a rather stern voice before exiting my bedroom, taking my blankets with her.
A sigh emitted from my mouth as I crawled out of the comfort of my queen size bed, I lazily dragged myself to the bathroom where I stripped from my clothing to nothing. I turned out the shower tap and adjusted the temperature setting too hot, but not too hot and got into the shower, allowing my muscles to relax as the water hit my body. After taking a 20 minute shower and washing my hair, I exited the bathroom with my camp rock towel wrapped tightly around my body and went into my bedroom to find an outfit to wear for today.
After slipping on a pair of undies and a bra, I made my way over to my laptop and opened it up to see that I never logged out of my Facebook the previous night. Laughing lightly to myself at my silly mistake I posted a quick status that read: 'up for school. blasting big sean as i get ready. <33'. After posting it, I went to my iTunes and began to play 'Beware' by Big Sean, himself. My parents weren't the type of parents to yell at me over my music, like some Muslim parents that I know, as long as they never heard the curse words than they were cool with it. I approached my walk-in closet and searched for an outfit.
I had eventually settled for a grey top from F21 with the face of a tiger on it, it had open sides that showed off my leopard print brown and black bra, distressed boyfriend jeans-which my dad HATED- and grey moccasins. I made my way over to my vanity mirror and began to mess with my hair, it was curly from being wet just minutes ago and I decided to leave it just like that before doing my eyeliner and mascara, the only makeup I ever wore, after doing so I applied my EOS lip balm to my lips.
Taking one more look in the mirror, I went downstairs to the kitchen where my parents and twin were seated eating breakfast. My mom wore a beautiful flowy light blue abaya, which was basically a floor length dress with long sleeves, with a white hijab wrapped to perfection. A hijab is just a basic head covering, that covers your hair, neck and boobs. She looked up from her plate and slightly smiled at me, "There's a plate on the stove for you, mija.", she voiced out as my father sent me a scowl, most likely for my way of dress.
"When are you going to properly cover yourself again, like a modest Muslimah?", his deep voice suddenly sounded after a few moments of silence, I sent him a glare but quickly softened my eyes when ‘Esa nudged me, "Asalamu Alaykum to you too, dad.", I said in a rather sarcastic tone earning another nudge from ‘Esa. I rolled my eyes at my twin before turning to my father, once again, who was giving me the same hard glare.
"I'm going to repeat my question, when are you going to dress properly and not like some slut?", I gaped at his choice of words, clenching my fists I proceeded to stand from the table, "Asalamu Alaykum, I'm going to walk to school alone.", I growled under my breath, walking over to give my mom a kiss on her cheek before walking towards the back door. But before I left I heard my dad and ‘Esa begin to argue about me, "That's it she's no longer my daughter!", my father spat as Isa spoke up, "She's like this because of you, dad! God damn it..", but after that I had left and put my earphones in as I continued to walk to my school.
I hate my dad so freaking much, it’s so pathetic-he’s pathetic. Most of the time I wished my mom never married that man, but then sometimes I don’t because well he’s my daddy-I love him. Wait, didn’t I just say I hated him? God, I’m so iffy. A sigh emitted from my lips, I wish winter break would hurry up already so that I could just go to New York and see abulea without him nagging me to wear abaya & hijab. It’s my choice whether or not to wear it, anyhow, it’s not like not wearing it makes me any less of a muslim, right?
“Yas, wait up! Shit, fuck, YASMEEN.” ‘Esa’s voice filled the empty streets of our house, along with the barks of our neighbors dogs-which he had woken up with his yelling, idiot. “Why do you walk so fast?” He finally caught up to me and took a moment to catch his breath, glaring at me. “I don’t know, yalah, we’re gonna be late for class if you’re don’t walk faster.” I mumbled before looking to the messy haired boy who just shook his head at me.
“Why didn’t you take the car again?” ‘Esa began to whine after a good three minutes of walking. “Wallah, I’ve never met someone as lazy as you. Why are you so damn lazy?” I rolled my eyes as he pouted out his bottom lip, like the big baby he is, “I’m not lazy!” he argued almost immediately.
“The first step to recovery is acceptance.” I smirked at how childish he was being at the moment. He glared but didn’t say anything as the lyrics to Jason Derulo’s ‘Marry Me’ filled my eardrums, ‘Esa stole one of my earphones and cringed at my choice of music but I knew he loved this song-I’ve heard him sing it multiple times when he was showering.
“Can I ask you a question without you spazzing out at me?” he asked in a low, soft, tone to indicate he knew how fragile I was and he genuinely cared-like any older brother would, even if he’s only older by 5 minutes. I nodded my head and paused the music and looked towards him to see him avoiding looking at me. “When’s the last time, you .. you know?” he trailed off as his eyes fixated on my bracelet covered arms with a frown.
“Two nights ago.” I answered honestly, 2 nights ago also happened to be second anniversary of when my life took a major turn for the worst-but as far as Jesus knew, it was the first anniversary. He stopped walking and pulled me into his body to hug me tightly, “I’m so sorry that I wasn-” I pinched him to stop him from continuing his sentence which he gladly did, “I love you sis.” was all he said, placing a kiss on my forehead.
-
“Abdul-Kareem's.” Our US History teacher frowned as we entered the classroom, 15 minutes late, "Ms. Bradshaw." 'Esa nodded at her with a smug smirk, I smiled politely at her before apologizing to her for being late. We made our way to the only two seats which were in the back and oh how I hated the back of the class.
"Her mustache grew since last week." he said making me giggle and him laugh lightly, our laughs were anything but loud yet somehow Ms. Bradshaw heard us, "Jesus! Yasmeen! Is there something funny you would like to share with the class?" Unlike at home this entire school called 'Esa by his birth name. "Your face is pretty funny." He answered yet only me and a few others heard his smart remark. Ms. Bradshaw glared at the two of us but didn't say much, I swear she just doesn't like anyone in this classroom at all.
-
"So how was your weekend?" My best friend, Aleema, asked as soon as 'Esa and I sat at our lunch table. Our lunch table consisted of him, Aleema, Austin-'Esa's best friend-and I.
"Boring. I was stuck in the house with that douche bag." I nudged 'Esa with a small smile as he chuckled softly. "Mines was worst I was stuck with the drama queen." he grinned as Austin shook his head.
"What are y'all doing after school?" Austin asked, looking only at me, with a toothy grin. "No-" "We have a family thing." I looked at my brother completely confused about what he meant. Austin looked genuinely confused but didn't say anything else.
Aleema laughed lightly before her blue eyes lit up in awe, let me tell you something about Aleema. She's been my best friend since birth, she's also muslim but unlike me she's a hijabi. Today she was wearing an all black abaya with jewels on the sleeves, a jean vest with multiple patches on it and a white hijab styled to perfection. She always managed to make being a hijabi look stunning.
The bell suddenly rang loudly and everyone began to exit the cafeteria. "I'll call you tonight!" Aleema smiled as I nodded and blew her a kiss. "Maybe I can come by later to play ball?" Austin asked 'Esa as he engulfed me in a hug, typical him. "Yeah I'll hit you up." 'Esa pulled me out of his best friends hold and gave him a five as he disappeared around the corner. "So what's this family thing tonight?" I asked as we walked up the stairs to our Spanish class, "Dads best friend or something is something to come over." he shrugged, not caring.
Lovely, I bet this friend of his is just as much of a cunt as my father.
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Asalamu Alaykum ! Hello ! Hola ! Bonjour ! Ni Hao !
I've been writing this Islamic story for quite sometime now and I have decided to post it here to Wattpad, ONLY BECAUSE I SAW SO MANY OTHER QUALITY ONES AND I CRY AT NIGHT BC BEAUTIFUL.
Wallah: I swear to god.
Yalah: come on.
Asalamu Alaykum: Peace Be Upon You. ((It's basically just muslims way of greeting one another.))