The next day, Hanan sat inside of her living room waiting for the doorbell to ring. Amina had insisted upon carpooling with Hanan so that they could go to her house later. Hanan was relieved that their friendship had been restored, but she was still worried about the dance; was Amina still insistent upon going, or had she finally seen sense?
The doorbell rang and Hanan jumped up, grabbed her bag, and rushed to the door. She opened it to be met with Amina's wide smile. "Salaam!" she exclaimed, before glomping Hanan. Hanan giggled and hugged her tightly.
"Wa'alaikumussalam," she greeted back happily. Amina released her and the two made their way to Amir's car. "Salaam," she greeted Amir politely.
"Wa'alaikumussalam," he replied, his eyes briefly flickering towards her before gazing back ahead. Such behaviour never hurt Hanan because it was proper etiquette; a brief exchange of salaams is the most that is necessary. Anything more is weird depending on the situation. These thoughts filled Hanan's mind as she slid inside the back of his car, Amina sliding in beside her.
"Guess what, guess what!" she said giddily.
"What?" Hanan asked, humoring her cheerful friend.
"Noor is coming home next week!" she shrieked. Hanan gasped.
"NO WAY!" she exclaimed.
"YES WAY!" Amina shouted. "And she's staying for two weeks!"
"Amina, please stop shouting in my car. I need my ears so that I can listen to the professor's lectures," Amir scolded from his driver's seat. Amina pouted while Hanan stifled a laugh.
"You always have to rain on my parade!" she sulked, her eyebrows drawn, lips puckered, chin tucked in, arms cross, and back slouching.
"Sit straight, slouching is bad for your back," Hanan chided jokingly. Amina just glared at her while Amir struggled to keep a straight face.
"Quit ganging up on me!" she whined. Hanan laughed and hugged her friend.
"But it annoys you and annoying you is so much fun," she said, this time her being the one to pout.
"Wow, your relationships must be healthy. I wonder what your future husband would say," Amina teased. Hanan just gaped and Amir choked, something that did not go unnoticed by her. That little--! Thankfully they had finally arrived at the university, so no further conversation was made.
After stepping out of the car, the trio made their way to Amir's first class for the day, Cell Biology. After attending the previous lessons, Hanan was relieved to say that she understood a lot of what she heard. There were a few confusing things every now and then, but for the most part, she understood the lectures, so she was fairly confident that she would understand the lecture given in this class. Before they walked in, Amir turned around to face the girls.
"Listen, I don't want a repeat of what happened yesterday," he began, his eyes staring intently at Hanan. "When class is over, we'll be the last to leave, so stay seated until most of the students have left. Do you guys understand?"
The girls nodded. "Good," he said, as he opened the door for them, and like the day before, ushered them in. Hanan quickly scanned the room and was relieved to see that that blasted Jake wasn't there. "Jake doesn't have this class," Amir assured her, as if reading her thoughts. Hanan smiled in gratitude. They sat in the back of the class, like usual, and the professor walked in to begin his lecture.
The rest of the day went by in the same fashion, and finally it was time for Amir's last class, Immunology. The trio had been resting in the courtyard and eating a late lunch; well, late for Americans at least; 2:00 wasn't late in other parts of the world. Anyways, they had been eating when Amir said, "By the way, Jake has the next class with me."
Hanan nearly choked on her sandwich. She forced the bite down and started coughing, Amina pounding her back to help her breathe again. "Why?" she wheezed when she had finally regained her breath.
"I have no answer to that," Amir said, apparently amused. Sadistic jerk. "Don't worry though, I dealt with him so you don't need to worry about him harassing you again," he assured her. Did someone say sadistic jerk? More like Prince Charming!
"What did you do?" Amina asked. Amir grinned.
"I just told him that next time he did something stupid, I'd make sure that Hanan did more than just kick him," he said proudly. Amina burst out laughing, and Hanan smiled.
"The was pleasantly unexpected of you," Hanan commented.
"How so?" Amir asked.
"It's just that you're always so mature and patronizing. You never threaten people like that, you just lecture them until they agree to never repeat their mistake again," Hanan said.
"True that," Amina agreed. Amir pondered for a moment.
"I suppose you're right," he told them. "I was just so angry at him for the way he had treated Hanan, I wanted to do more than just lecture him," he admitted. Amina raised her eyebrows.
"Would you have felt the same way if he had harassed me?" she asked him suspiciously. Hanan's ears burned. She knew what her friend was thinking, and she didn't like it. But she had to admit that a small part of her was also curious; what was she to Amir?
"Of course! You're my little sister, no guy has the right to treat you that way!" Amir declared.
Oh.
He just little sister-zoned her.
Hanan wasn't that upset. Maybe she wished that Amir saw her as woman, but considering the fact that she's friends with his younger sister, she wasn't surprised that he only saw her as a little sister. Also, if Amir did see her as a woman and admitted that to her, then Hanan would lose all respect for him, because such an action wasn't acceptable; she admired Amir for his virtues and faith, so she was relieved that he didn't show any signs of interest.
She said all that, but she still couldn't forget Amir's reaction when Amina had mentioned her future husband...oh, he probably just didn't expect that comment. No one did. Choking at such an unexpected comment is a normal reaction.
Amir told the girls it was time to go, so they packed their stuff and made their way to the last class of the day.
...
The week had gone by rather quickly. Hanan encountered with no more trouble with Jake, thanks to Amir, and she had a much clearer understanding of what she wanted to do in her future. She had fun teasing Amina, and Amina had even more fun putting Amir and Hanan in uncomfortable situations with her stupid questions. She was upset that their week had ended, but she couldn't wait for the next, when she would be shadowing an actual doctor, and most importantly, when Noor would come and stay for two weeks.
"Hanan, do you know who you'll be shadowing next week?" Amina asked, breaking Hanan from her thoughts. They were at Amina's house, in her room, writing their essay for Mr.H.
"Yeah, I'll be shadowing my uncle. Do you want to shadow him as well?" Hanan responded.
"Can I?" Amina asked.
"Of course!" Hanan exclaimed. She knew that her uncle wouldn't mind.
"Thanks so much!" Amina said happily. Hanan smiled at her friend. Amina was very dear to her. They had been friends since childhood, and Hanan was determined to make their friendship a lifelong one. That's why she needed to stop Amina from going to the dance; she had to stop her friend from making a stupid mistake for the sake of her future happiness; she had to save her friend.
Someone knocked on Amina's door. "Come in," Amina said. The door opened to reveal Amir.
"Hey, can I borrow one of your guys' notes for Immunology?" he asked. "I can't find mine anywhere."
"I think I have my notes for the class," Amina muttered as she looked through her notes. She sighed unhappily. "Sorry, mine isn't legible," she apologized. She looked over at Hanan's notes. "Hanan, yours look neat. Could you lend your notes to Amir?" she asked.
"Sure," Hanan complied. She was a bit nervous because she liked to doodle on her notes, but they were neat and detailed, so nobody could judge. She handed her notebook to Amir, who accepted it with a thanks, before quickly examining the notes.
"You're definitely ready for college," he remarked before leaving. Hanan was pleased with herself, even if it was just her notes that he had complimented. She looked at Amina's notes and started reading a few sentences absentmindedly. They were written in a neat handwriting--wait, neat handwriting? Hanan grabbed Amina's notes despite her friend's protests.
"These aren't illegible!" Hanan accused her friend, giving her a pointed look. "They're even neater than mine!". Amina laughed nervously.
"I just wanted to help?" she said uncertainly.
"I can't believe you!" Hanan exclaimed. She huffed and turned away from her friend, deciding to continue working on her essay before she exploded like last time.
"Hanan, I know that you don't agree with--" Amina began, but Hanan cut her off.
"Amina, please, I don't want to hear it. Let's just work on this essay," she said exasperatedly. She couldn't wait for Noor to come and knock some sense into her friend's head. Amina remained quiet and worked on her essay. An hour passed before someone else knocked on Amina's door.
"Come in," Amina said. The door opened and Noor walked in. Hanan and Amina stopped typing and stared at her.
"Salaam," Noor greeted nonchalantly. Both girls scrambled off of Amina's bed and rushed into Noor's arms, screaming in excitement.
"WHEN DID YOU GET HERE?!"
"I THOUGHT YOU WEREN'T COMING FOR ANOTHER WEEK!"
"HOW LONG ARE YOU STAYING?!"
"COULD YOU PLEASE STAY FOREVER THIS TIME?"
The girls bombarded Noor with their questions and jumped up and down in excitement. Noor laughed at their reactions. "Calm down you two, you're scaring the neighbors," she chided. The two immediately quieted down. Before any of them could speak, the door burst open and Amir rushed in with a panicked expression on his face.
"What happened?! Why were you guys screaming?!" he asked worriedly. He quickly spotted Noor and his panicked expression changed into a surprised one. "Noor?!" he gasped.
"Amir!" Noor exclaimed as she rushed into her little brothers arms. Amir quickly broke out of his trance and hugged his older sister tightly. It was cute to see how much taller Amir was even though he was the younger sibling. Ugh, men.
"You've gotten so much taller!" Noor said as she stood away from her brother and looked him up and down from an arm's length.
"I have not, you're just imagining things since it's been such a long time since we've seen each other," he said bashfully. How cute.
"Are you calling me schizophrenic?" Noor gasped in mock offence as she smacked him from atop his head. Hanan and Amina enjoyed watching Amir being the young, patronized sibling for once, especially Amina who had it rough everyday.
"A'udhubillah! Don't say such things, it might actually happen!" Amir scolded.
Nevermind.
Amir will always be the mature, patronizing sibling. Not even Noor could change that.
Hanan and Amina laughed as they watched the spectacle. Both were obviously happy about Noor's return. Hanan stopped laughing as she remembered why Noor's return was so important. She gazed at Amina, who was still laughing, thinking about the upcoming winter formal. How would Noor take care of it, she wondered.
Would it really be all right?