white tulips

Three

When I was younger I used to get mad at Aaliyah every minute. And that for the tiniest things. Like being in my room all the time or taking my clothes. Now that I'm older I realised that she only wanted to spend time with me. I regret not being the good older sister I was supposed to be. And now I do not have the opportunity to make up for it, because you know..

"Dude are you still sleeping? You should better get up now before I drive to school without you so you can walk." Well, Hamza is right. I didn't oversleep, I just didn't want to get up. I guess I was just too drained up in my thoughts. "I'll be ready in 3 minutes.", I say. "Good because I will not be waiting for you."

With that I put on a dark blue abaya with a matching hijab. I told my parents and Abdul goodbye and Hamza and I drove to school. "So, I heard you were at Tae's last Monday", Hamza begins, "Were you guys alone?" "Are you serious? You know I would never enter a house with a male without females inside that building. He actually has four sisters and I have met one of them... and a maid and driver." "I know you wouldn't. But even though he's my friend, he's non muslim. And you know that many of them don't care about Islam and our rules that apply to us."

"Yeah I know and you're right. But I made sure with him, before I got there. More importantly, since when are you guys friends? Didn't he recently move here?", I ask. "Well I don't know if you can call us friends, but we sit next to each other in English and he was really funny to talk to. I wanted to meet with him that day but he told me that you guys were doing your project thingy and that's how I know." "Okay that makes sense."

We arrived at school and repeated the same schedule as everyday. But as I got into science class I saw Tae already sitting in his seat. Wow. He really meant that when he said he wouldn't be late again. I sat down as the rell bang and Mr. Campbell didn't waste a second to start his lesson. Today was the deadline for our first project and he obviously called on me and Tae first to present.

As we started to walk to the front often the class I started sweating. I really hated public speaking. My breathing quickened with every step I took and I began to scratch my hand really fast. I blured out everything around me and my breathing got even heavier. If it didn't stop any second I was going to faint. "Khadijah." I looked up. Tae was focusing on my hand and then looked me in my eyes. "Relax. You're going to do amazing.", he said. His voice was calm and somehow made me feel better. We started to present and it was way better than I could have imagined.

"And that was how different types of light affect the vitamin c content in fruits." Everyone clapped. "Good job, Miss Khan and Mister Jeong. A+." I couldn't believe it. Mr. Campbell gave me an A+? How was that even possible? That man hated me. I looked up to smile at Tae and I saw that he was already looking at me. "See? Told you that you would do amazing." "Thank you.", I said. "That was the first time you called me by my real name." "Don't get used to it, snickers.", he says with a grin. I wish I could punch him right now.

School was over and Grace and I planned to do a girls night with Liyah. Better said girls evening since we couldn't have a slumber party at a hospital, but you get the point. I got us face masks and some snacks and Grace brought some make up for Aaliyah for her to feel pretty. Not that she needed it but she was feeling down because of her pale skin that she had since she's sick.

But in my eyes, she was the prettiest girl on this earth. Her eyes were brownish with a little green in them. In the sun it looked like a forest melting right in her eyes. And she had the most beautiful nose and not to forget, her lips had the perfect size with a natural reddish tint in them. I wished she could see herself from my perspective and acknowledge her beauty even more.

"How is it going with that 'annoying' boy Khadi?" Oh no, not this again. "What boy?", Grace asked, "oh. my. god. there is a boy and you didn't tell me?! Tell me everything. Now." "There is no boy. It's just about my lab partner who keeps calling me this weird nickname." "Oh do you mean this asian boy? He's cute go grab him girl." I hit her with a pillow. "First of all, ew. Second, he isn't even muslim. And third, ew."

"So no brother in law before I die? Boo dude." I hit her slightly. "I'll send you to Allah earlier if that's how you talk." We all started laughing. Deep down I wished she could witness my nikkah one day. I always imagined getting married with her as my maid of honor. Even though we didn't really have this in our culture. Her being by my side while getting married will forever be an unfilled dream.

We had a wonderful time with Grace doing Aaliyahs make up and us talking about everything you can talk about. I always had a lot of fun being with them. It was like I was a phone and Grace the charger and Aaliyah the electricity that I needed. I was so thankful for having them in my life. Unfortunately Grace and I had to go home so we went up and hugged Aaliyah goodbye.

"Bye sis, bye Grace. Love you both."
"Love you too Liyah." Grace and I said.