Get Up Again

-two-

I kept walking until I heard a lightly accent voice say, "I think you're looking for me."

I turned to see someone who I didn't know, but someone that I really wanted to know as I set my eyes on him. 

He was taller than me. Even though everyone for the most part was, but his height was towering over me, like Taif. He was wearing a black leather jacket over a plain t-shirt. His eyes were coffee brown, but they were so beautiful. His hair was messy and gorgeous, black like the night sky. And then I noticed, he was Asian. 

Subhan'Allah. That's the hottest Asian I have ever seen. I couldn't help but stay speechless. He was like a Asian greaser from S. E. Hinton's book, The Outsiders. 

"Hello," I finally said. "You're Hiro?" 

"Yeah, that's my name." He nodded and I had to bit back a loud squeal. I bit my tongue so hard it drew blood. "You're Neya, the gym teacher's sister?"

"Yeah." I smiled at him, trying not to show how I wished to just move away from him. "I like your name, it's Japanese?"

"I'm from a Japanese family. It's a common name." Or is it? "I think you saw the movie Big Hero 6? The main character is also Japanese." 

I recalled the movie that was about a nerdy tech boy named Hiro and his brother's marshmallow like robot. "Yeah, I remember it. His name was Hiro too."  

"That's right." He smiled. "Glad you like the name though." Damnit stop smiling!! It's driving me insane!!! For Allah's sake, PLEASE STOP!!!!

"Taif said that I am to be your tour guide?" I had to change the subject. I wanted to pull myself to my room and fix myself up. To look more me. But that wasn't very possible. "Do you wanna go anywhere first, or let me lead you to wherever I want to take you?"

He shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I don't really care. Take me wherever." 

I looked around us. We were on the floor of the dorms, for both teachers and staff. There were corridors, but they were useless, since the whole school got to choose their own dorm in the beginning of the year. There's always a couple left empty. 

"Ok, so first, my brother told me to give you a certain type of lollipop." I handed him a mango pop covered with chili powder. He gave me a confused look. "I'm a walking candy shop." I explained. "I use my allowance to buy candies from around the world. So my brother told me to give you this one." 

"Where's it from?" He asked as he took it from me. I made sure our fingers didn't touch as I moved my hand away. 

"Mexico." I answered and I started for the elevator. I heard footsteps and the plastic wrapping. I had to stop myself from looking back at him and giving Hiro a big smile. 

I stopped in front of the elevator and pushed the button for down. I put my hand in front of my mouth to hide my smile. 

"That tastes good." Hiro came up next to me. I gave him a side look. He was looking at the lollipop itself. "Really good." 

I dropped my hand. "I have a bunch of them. There's also strawberry." He looked at me, eyes wide. I love that look on him. 

"You're kidding." He popped the lollipop back into his mouth, probably to hide his shock that I already had seen. 

"I'm not." I said, and the doors opened up to the elevator. We both walked in, and I popped a lollipop, which was just like Hiro's, only strawberry, into my mouth. The light spice created the right amount of heat to quell the sugary sweetness of the strawberry. Oh thank Allah for candy. "I can't lie." 

"Why not?" He asked, something that I expected. 

"Because I'm a Muslim." I answered. "And in Islam, if you lie for no valid reason, it's considered a major sin." 

"I know that." I was shocked to hear this. He looked grim as he said this, like it was making him think about things he didn't want to think about. "Some of my father's friends were Muslims." 

"Were Muslims?" I was startled. "You mean, they left Islam?" 

"Yeah." His voice sounded tight. "It's complicated."

This guy is full of surprises. I looked at the doors, praying to Allah that they would open soon. How am I supposed to tell him that I hate ex-Muslims? Should I even tell him that? 

How can I like them? They give Islam a bad name. People use them to show people that Islam isn't the truth. Because of them, people say that Islam is a horrible religion, when in reality, that is not the case at all.  

Just thinking about that made my head hurt. 

"Where are we going?" Hiro's voice shattered my thoughts. This I needed, because I started to lose my cool thinking about ex-Muslims.

Because when I thought about ex-Muslims, I thought about a man who I hoped that I never saw ever again. 

I thought about my father.