white tulips

Eight

I had to go to school tomorrow again and definitely wasn't ready. Man I still got cramps. However, after I packed my bag for tomorrow I layed down in bed and opened Instagram because I got a following request. It was from Tae. I accepted it and followed him back. His profile was public.

As I scrolled through his posts, I saw a picture of him in a soccer jersey. I didn't know he played soccer. There were other pictures of him with his teammates, probably from his hometown. I wonder if he still plays. But that was a question for another time. It was already 10:30 pm and that meant for me going to sleep.

The next morning I woke up surprisingly early and had extra time left to eat. I heard Hamza coming down and looking at me confused. "Since when do you wake up this early?" "I don't know, just felt like it." It was true, something made me happy to wake up early and start the day. I just couldn't figure out what did.

Hamza drove us to school and I was singing with the radio. "It really should be illegal singing with that voice you have." I punched him in his shoulder. "Dude I'm driving." "I don't care. Nothing you say can make my day go bad." Hamza just laughed it off and we arrived. I was walking into the school and couldn't find Grace. Instead I saw Jonah standing alone and decided to walk up to him.

"Hey Jonah.", I said with a smile. "Do you know where Grace might be? I can't find her." "Grace decided to skip school today. She didn't feel like going." "Oh my god. Does that mean I have to suffer this day alone?" We both started laughing. "At least you're not completely alo-" Someone interrupted him. "Hey snickers." He looked at Jonah. "Mind if I borrow her for a second? Just kidding I'm not returning her back. Come on snickers, I've got to talk to you."

I followed him until he stopped in front of a random locker. He looked at me but didn't say anything. "So, what did you wanna talk about?" "Nothing. Just missed you, snickers." "Missed me? I was only absent for two days." "Yeah but bearing Mr. Campbell without my favorite lab partner was torture." His favorite lab partner? "Whatever. See you in class."

I got bored in first period and decided to draw something instead of listening. It felt like Mrs. Adams would never stop talking and I almost fell asleep. When the bell rang I didn't waste much time and went to science. I saw Tae already sitting on his seat and I wondered how fast he came here. As he noticed me, he started smiling and I did too.

He was doing something on his phone and I was curious about it. "What are you doooooing?" "I'm trying to find good soccer teams I can try out for. But this town doesn't seem to have many." "I was meaning to ask you, since when did you play soccer and why didn't you tell me?" "There's a lot you don't know about me snickers." What was that supposed to mean??

"Then tell me about yourself." "What do you want to know?" "Everything."
"Miss Khan, is there something you'd like to share with the whole class?" Shit. "No, Sir." "Then I suggest you stop talking and start listening." I just nodded and looked over to Tae to signal him to tell me about himself later.

It was time for lunch and I looked for Tae. I couldn't find him so I decided to sit alone at a big table that was free. I began to eat my food as someone was sitting down infront of me. Looking up, I saw Jonah smiling at me. "Hey Khadi. I didn't want you sitting alone, so tell me, what's up? Is that guy who called you snickers your boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend? Dude you know I don't date. What about you? How is it going with Liz?" "Good actually. We're planning to go to Stanford together." "Ohh that seems nice." I was about to say something else but I could see Tae walking towards us. "Heyy and hey. You don't mind me sitting there, do you? Could you just- Yeah thanks. So, what were you lovebirds talking about?"

Lovebirds? "What do you mean?" Jonah stood up while looking at me and Tae. "I should go.", he said and went away. What the hell was going on? "Tae. What's up?" "Nothing. Why were you sitting with this boy and talking to him again?" "Why do you care?" He didn't answer and was avoiding eye contact. "You know what, Tae? How about we change the subject. Tell me everything about yourself."

"I don't know where to begin." "Then let me think of a question.. Why were you in the hospital on that day?" "I fell from my bike. I was okay but the doctors wanted me to stay for a night to check if I had a concussion or something. How about you snickers, why were you there?" I swallowed my food before I answered.

"Well my sister has leukemia and I try to visit her as much as possible." "Shit I'm sorry. Hopefully she'll get better." I just shook my head. "She won't. She only has like 4 months left to live. But it's okay. I truly believe that she's going to make it to Jannah, so there's no reason to be sad." "If you want to talk, talk to me. I'll always be there for you Khadijah."

"Thank you. That nickname you gave me, that snicker was for my sister. I had to walk to the other end of the hospital to get her one." Tae was shocked and I started laughing. "Oh my god I'm so sorry. If I knew I would-" I laughed even more. Seeing him concerned about his reputation was such a funny thing to see.

"It's okay, Tae. But do you want to meet her some time? Then you could apologize to her and not me." "Are you sure? I'm scared." This boy was hilarious. I never thought I would say this but I actually enjoyed his company.

Authors note:
Would you like Tae's pov next?