Innocence vs Experience [ZAYN MALIK]

(01) How We Began

"Zara," Mother says. "Why don't you come with me to meet our new neighbours?"

"Okay, Mother," I say in my peppy ten-year-old voice.

Mother holds out her hand and I take hold of it. She leads me down the stairs and out the front door. We walk over to the only other two storey house on this street and onto the porch. Mother knocks on the giant double doors and a beautiful dark haired woman answers it. She smiles when she sees me hiding slightly behind Mother's legs and then introduces herself to us.

"I'm Trisha," the woman says. "Trisha Malik."

Mother smiles. "Sara. Sara Holt."

"It's lovely to meet you."

"Same here. I live just next door, so if you need anything, just come over and I'll try to help."

"Thank you, Sara."

I move slightly and Trisha looks over at me, her smile getting bigger.

"And who might you be?"

I stick out my right hand. "Zara Holt."

She shakes my hand. "It's nice to meet you, Zara. I'm Mrs Malik, but you can call me 'Trisha' if you want."

"Thank you, Mrs Malik."

Mother and Trisha start chatting about random things and I stare at my feet, watching them twitch from side to side. I hear a boy yell and then a thud sound. Trisha runs back inside and straight up the stairs. I hear her talking and then a little boy crying slightly. She then appears at the top of the stairs with a little boy with jet black hair, and leads him down to us. She apologises to Mother and then introduces the boy.

"This is Zayn," Trisha introduces. "My son."

"Hello, Zayn," Mother says warmly. "I'm Sara."

Zayn smiles at her. "Hello, Sara."

"Zara, why don't you and Zayn go out to the backyard and play?" Trisha suggests.

Zayn and I nod. He then takes hold of my hand and leads me through the house and out into the backyard. I close the door behind me and turn to find Zayn, only to see him climbing up a tree. I run over to the tree and stand at the base, staring up at him. Zayn looks down at me and motions for me to climb up. I climb up the tree and see that there is a small structure built in the middle of it, hidden by the branches and leaves.

"I'm Zayn," Zayn says. "But you can call me 'Zee' if you want to."

I smile. "Okay. I'm Zara, and I have no idea what you can call me."

He laughs. "I'll just call you 'Zara' until I can think of something unique to call you."

"That's fine with me."

Zayn crawls over to a wooden chest and opens it. He pulls out a sketch pad and a pencil. He opens the book and my jaw drops when I see how good his drawings are. I crawl over to him and he lets me flip through the pages. When I get to the last one my eyes widen further. It's a picture of me in my bedroom. I look up at Zayn and see that his cheeks are bright red.

"You drew?" I ask.

"You're cute," Zayn murmurs. "I needed new stuff to draw."

I go bright red and am about to respond when Mother calls me. I say goodbye to Zayn and climb down from the tree. I go back through Trisha's house and find Mother and Trisha still standing on the front porch, talking about Zayn and I. Mother then says goodbye to Trisha and I do the same. Mother then takes me back home and I go back up to my room. I look out my window and see Zayn sitting on his bed, drawing in his sketch pad.

"Hey, Zayn," I say. "Whatcha drawing?"

"The tree house," Zayn says, half aware of me.

"Can I see?"

"When it's done."

"Okay."

"Zayn!" Trisha calls. "Dinner!"

Zayn puts his book away. "I'll see you later, Zara."

I smile. "Okay. Bye, Zayn."

"Bye, Zara."

Zayn runs out of his room and down the stairs. I then hear more thundering footsteps and the sound of three girls. Trisha yells for quiet and I catch three new names; Doniya, Waliyha and Safaa. Zayn isn't an only child like me; he has three sisters. I close my window and go back downstairs to see Mother setting out food for dinner.

Mother looks at me. "I was just about to call you down, Zare Bear."

"I smelled food," I giggle. "So I came down."

"Oh, you hungry girl."

I sit down in my seat and Mother sits across from me. There are still two empty seats at the table, and they make Mother sad to talk about, so I don't ask her where Daddy and Austin are. Austin is only my step-brother, so he isn't actually my brother. I am not going to have brothers and sisters to play with. Mother doesn't want any more kids. It makes me sad but I know that it is hard to lose kids when they have been with you their whole lives.

"What do you think of Zayn, Zara?" Mother asks me.

"I think he's funny," I say. "And amazing."

"Are you going to be friends with him?"

I nod frantically.

Mother laughs. "Calm down, honey."

"Can I see him tomorrow?"

"Maybe. You have school tomorrow remember?"

Sadness fills me. "Oh..."

"Who knows, Zayn might be going to the same school as you."

Just as Mother says that my happiness and joy return. I can't wait to find out whether Zayn is going to be going to the same school as me. I need to know if I am going to finally have someone to hang out with at school instead of switching between groups. Switching between groups is fun, but I really want a friend that I can always sit with and not have to move around when someone in the group doesn't want me to be there.

I wash up my plate when I have finished dinner and run back upstairs to my room. I run over to my window and sigh when I see that Zayn's light isn't on and his window is shut. Mother tells me to have a bath and get into bed. I do as she says and stare at the roof, excitement flowing through me. I can't wait for tomorrow.