LIFE OF A MUSLIM BLACK MELANIN

Stood Up for Me

*(Rahma's POV)*

I continued pretending to be focused on my textbook when the teacher instructed Asif to find a seat. Soon, I felt someone towering over me. I slowly raised my head to meet a pair of green orbs looking at me. Asif sat down next to me, which surprised me to the core. Everyone in the class stared at him like he had suddenly grown a million horns on his head, if that's even possible.

Even Miss Marinette was so shocked that she stopped teaching.

"Hey, are you sure you want to sit there? There is a lot of space over here," a girl seated in front of us said to Asif. I thought to myself with a little bit of disappointment, *(Well, he's about to take up her offer and leave me sitting by myself again)*. I was surprised when he replied, "If I wanted to sit next to you, I would've. I don't think I'm blind."

I felt like bursting into fits of laughter when he said that to her. *(Rude much?)* I asked myself internally.

The girl turned red due to anger and embarrassment, but before she could reply, Miss Marinette told everyone to be quiet and focus back on the topic at hand.

After going through some more classes, I found myself thinking about Asif. This bothered me a lot. I already have a lot to deal with, so Asif is the least of my problems. Well, during the physics class, he didn't bother to talk to me; heck, he didn't even bother to glance at me while I kept stealing glances at him every second like a curious madwoman.

Finally, school was over, and it was time for detention. I went over to Victoria and Margaret to inform them about my detention so that I don't get into more trouble with Mrs. Monroe on why I came back late.

I met them sitting at the most popular bench in the Garden of the school. Boys and girls were all seated there engrossed in their conversation, while some were even kissing and touching shamelessly. Ew, get a room is what I intended to tell a lot of those kids, but instead, I kept quiet. I made my way towards the bench, and once I was there, every person turned quiet and was staring at me. I ignored their stares and looked at Victoria and Margaret before saying.

"I'm having detention in the next twenty minutes, and my detention is for three hours exactly. Please tell Mrs. Monroe that I won't be home early." As if I said something funny, they all started laughing like crazy. Maybe they finally saw how ruined their future is, I thought to myself.

"Who do you think you are to come to the cool kids bench and talk to me?" Margaret asked me in a hateful tone.

*(Well, I'm a person who just wants to kill you and maybe stab you in the eyes right now)* I replied internally while looking at her, and without a response, I turned to leave.

Sadly, I barely took five steps when Victoria pulled my hijab from behind me and dragged it.

"Didn't she ask you a question? How dare you walk out on her like that?" Victoria said, and as usual, I wanted to reply but chose to keep shut.

Well, this is happening in front of the cool kids, and some have even started recording us.

Margaret and Victoria kept looking at me, waiting for me to respond, but I didn't bother to give them a response.

"How dare you filthy bitch keep shut when we ask you a question!?" Victoria said while yelling, and this attracted the attention of others, and soon, a crowd started forming around us.

"I'll teach you a lesson," Margaret said as she raised her hand about to slap me, and I mentally prepared myself for the pain that was coming, but her hand couldn't reach my cheek as it was held by a very strong and veiny arm.

I looked over to see who actually stood up for me, and I was surprised to see Asif glaring daggers at Margaret. He pushed her hand aside roughly, and in the process, she fell on her butt.

I was in awe looking at him. Did someone actually stand up for me? Well, maybe today could be my lucky day. First, I don't get a morning slap like usual, then I actually got away with stealing two sandwiches to survive, and I miraculously got a detention without creating much problems, and now the new hottest-looking guy in school just stood up for me.

"Don't you have any shame?" He asked her in his deep voice, which almost made me faint.

Margaret looked like she wanted to reply but was obviously feeling intimidated by Asif's presence.

"Apologize," he said to Margaret, which made her eyeballs pop out at his request.

"You have no idea what this filthy-" Margaret's sentence was cut short when Asif said,

"A-po-lo-gize NOW!" he said in a frightening voice, emphasizing each syllable, which scared Margaret and everyone else.

Margaret looked over to me from where she sat on the floor, and with a frightened voice, she said, "I'm s-sorry Rahma." Wow, could this day get any better? She actually apologized and said sorry.

Something in me felt rude at that moment because clearly, she only apologized because she was scared.

I just looked over to everyone, and lastly, my eyes settled on Asif before I turned around without a single word. I know it was rude to leave Asif without saying thank you, but I didn't really ask him to do all that. He just created more problems for me because surely I'll have to sleep with a bruised body tonight, thanks to Asif.

I made my way over to detention class, and as I guessed, I was late, so I was given an additional hour of detention thanks to the drama that just happened.

I looked over to everyone in detention, and there were just three people in there: a guy who looked like he just finished drinking, a girl with a scar on her cheek, and a fat-looking guy.

Well, detention is surely going to be interesting today. I made my way over to a free seat and made myself comfortable for the four hours of detention I'm about to go through.

Well, here I go again.

**A/N**
I'm really sleepy, so I have to stop here. The chapter might not be that interesting because I just forced myself to write, but I hope some of you still find it engaging. You might find some errors in this chapter because I really need to sleep and can't edit now. Asif on the page. Don't forget to vote and comment. Please follow my account on IG @toprankingnovels.