The Muslim Criminal

Chapter 7 - The talk

I'm late. I'm super late.
"Hurry!" Ibrahim shouts from the stairs.
"I'm coming!" I say as I pin my scarf in place. I woke up early but after Fajr prayer I fell back asleep leaving me only ten minutes to get ready. Because I was so late I quickly put a black dress on with a patterned scarf. What? I'm still dressed in style.
I run down the stairs and out of the door.
"Here" he says as he hands me an apple.
We go in our separate cars and drive off go school.

Me and Ayaan have gotten to be good friends but that's mostly because of Yusra. We talk a lot now and it's weird to think how much I've gotten to know him.
I scowl as I see him sat in my seat.
"Get up!"
"No" he grins.
I roll my eyes and sit next to him.
"You're very late"
"Yeah well. You're always late" I argue. He chuckles making a light smile appear on my face.
It's something special to me when I make someone smile or laugh, it gives a massive burst of happiness to me.

We talk about really stupid things mainly arguing about things.
"Yusra says she wants to see you again"
"Didn't it bother you how attached she became to me?" I ask
"No. She doesn't exactly get too comfortable with people, it takes her some time so you have to be special to her if she wants to be your friend"
I can't help but want to smile but I try my best not to.
"She can come today. We can go get some ice cream"
"Yeah, all four of us"
"No, just me and her!"
"As if! I'm not giving up ice cream"
"Fine. All four of us"

The bell goes and I get up to go to maths.
The teacher sees me and smiles fearfully.
"Hello" she says.
I nod in her direction and sit down next to Ashley. The lesson goes by and I've done most of the work.
"You've done half of the topic already?" Ashley asks in shock.
"Yeah. I think I'll finish it by next lesson. I can't do anymore"
"You realise I'm still on sheet 10"
I laugh at her face. She looks funny. "I realise. I just find it easy" I admit. "You're finding this easy?"
"Pretty sure I just said that"
"No one finds A level Maths easy"
"Well I do" I shrug.

The teacher walks around, her eyes widen with the amount of work I've done but she doesn't say anything. At the end of the lesson I wait for everyone else to go and I shut the door.
"I need to talk to you" I say.
She nods with fear enveloping her.
I sit in front of her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to threaten you especially with something you're so fearful of"
She looks confused.
"I promise I won't tell anyone about it and I can make sure he stays in jail"I continue.
She doesn't say anything. After a while I hear her sniff and see some tears brimming at the surface of her eyes. Urgh, does she have to cry!
"You shouldn't have treated me differently, I didn't like that and you kinda spat at me which isn't very hygienic either. I just got angry and said that" I try to defend myself.
"It's ok" she says "you're really something" she says to me.
"Meaning?"
"You do the things then apologise for them, you regret instantly. I wouldn't think someone like you would be like this."
"Don't judge a book by it's cover" I smile lightly.
"Yeah, I'm sorry for what I did"
"Me too"
"I can't believe this. No one would've ever thought the criminal would say sorry to anyone let alone me. If I tell-"
"You can't!" I stop her.
"Why?"
"I'm serious, no one can know about this"
"But-"
"I can't tell you why. Just know that you can't tell anyone. If you do then I really will put you in danger, I could let him out. I don't want to but I will if I have to"
She nods with fear in her eyes.

"Why do you act like you do?" I ask
"At home he used to treat me like an animal, when I come here no one knows how I am so I make sure they can't treat me the same as he does"
"You realise you become him in school, you shouldn't do that, just be you. Don't be mean or embarrass people just let them be happy and trust me, you will too"
She smiles and nods. I walk to the door and leave.

I feel better now that I've apologised but I don't know if it was a mistake. I still have a lot to do and she can't ruin any chances I have by telling people about me. Urghhh, it's so hard to trust people. I pull out my phone and call Chief.
"I'm confused" I state.
"Walaikumassalam"
"Sorry. Salaam"
"Walikumasalaam. Why are you confused?"
"I want to do the right thing but what if that ruins the future"
"Meaning?"
"Meaning, I threatened a teacher with one of the criminals over there, Isaac, and I apologised today but she said she wants to tell people. I had to threaten her again just to make sure. It's not going to be good if she tells people you know"
"Yeah, we can't let people know how you are yet. It's too soon. You need to keep up that act! Have you found anything out?"
"Just that my brother used to get abused. I'm going to stop that now but that's it"
"Hmm"
"What?"
"If you can find any evidence of both the abuse and the crimes then we could have a life imprisonment, if this was America then it would've been a death penalty but we don't do that here"
"Alright, I'll see what I can do"