The Easiest Target

Look At Her

Goosebumps lick me all the way up to my scalp. A tear falls from Tokyo's eyes. He presses his lips into a thin line and shrugs his shoulders up again, "You're my Hadeel and you're married to the biggest asshole at school because of me."

I gape at him, backing away until I'm against an empty wall in the relatively bare room. I shake my head; he thinks I'm easy. He's ignored and bullied me for years and expects me to believe a word of this garbage?

"I'm not falling for that," I say, humiliated that I almost just did. "You didn't deny it at your apartment —"

"I was shocked at how he interpreted what I told him."

"How else would anyone interpret —"

"I told him that you aren't difficult — he took it as me saying you're easy," he says in a low voice. "I told him you don't care much for material possessions — he took at is you being poor. You aren't like the girls he dates translated to ugly to him. You live in a small apartment turned into you smell. You're sweet means stupid.... "

He turns away and cleans his face of tears, pacing the room for a moment before stuffing his hands in his pockets again. "I'll be right back," he says in a low voice. He doesn't give me a chance to recuperate before he returns with an icepack, a smoothie, fruit, tissues, and some sort of dumplings.

"Eat. My shift is almost over. I'll take you where you need to go after, kay?" He pulls up a folding chair and sits it beside me, puts the tray on another chair and takes the strawberries out of the fruit bowl he gave me. He stops when he glances at me. "You're still allergic?"

My chest knots up tight: in all the chaos, I realize Athan's been giving me strawberry smoothies. That's why my stomach hurts. I forgot I'm allergic.

Someone calls him. He holds the icepack gently to my cheek until I take it. Then he hurries out.

I sink down against the wall next to the trays, my head throbbing painfully, my heart quivering.

I cover my eyes for a second — just for a second, and the next thing I know, I'm back in sixth grade, wearing the hijab for the first day in my life.

I can't wait until lunch time. For the first time in two years, me and Toki aren't separated by a fence because of our grade. We're both in middle school this year so I can be in the same playground as him again. I wonder if he'll be mad that I'm happy he got left back. Did he miss me while I was in Yemen. I find him standing with his head hung in a group of boys with Adam.

"Toki, let's go to the library!" I take his hand like it's the most natural thing in the world and he yanks away. Silence falls on the group. "Toki?"

"Leave me alone!" he snaps, startling me.

I blink at him, confused. "Let's go to the —" I take his hand again and he yanks away and shoves me back so hard I fall flat on my butt.

"JUST PISS OFF! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

The guys around us laugh and I watch Toki's eyes, frantically avoiding me, his face red, his expression terrified. He's on the verge of tears. I don't know what to think that moment so I pick myself up and wait for him. "Toki —"

"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE! I DON'T WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH A TERRORIST!"

My heart sinks slowly yet I'm more concerned with the tears that fall from his eyes as he refuses to look at me. I clench my baggy sweat pants tight for courage. "Okay," I say heavily and walk away. Because that's what he needs me to do right now.