A Thing, Beyond Forever

4.

I unlocked the door of my house as I announced my arrival. "Asalamu Alaikum mumma!" Peace be upon you. A greeting that is taught to every kid in a Muslim household and to be told whenever we entered the house after returning from another place. At other times it is used to greet everyone else we meet. Even if it is a stranger you sit next to at a place. 

"Walaikum salaam", she said, distractedly. 

like other mothers, my mum wasn't the one who'd ask me about my day and what did I do on the first day of senior high. Nothing. And over time I became habituated to this routine so I never expected her to ask me how my day went. I think I also started to appreciate the fact that I was not asked to say anything that happened during the day, it saved me from lying to her.  

I kept my shoes on the shoe rack. Dressed in my comfy pyjamas and laid on my bed giggling to myself thinking about the events of the day.

Poor Yazan, he did as I instructed him to. He went and sat in girls' class and when he heard the bell he walked towards the door but to his surprise, even before he could get out, he was pushed back into the class with girls arriving and screaming on the top of their lungs as if they had seen a cockroach in class. With that, the teacher came in, who is known to be the most strict teacher in the high school and the thing that annoys her the most is the mingling of boys and girls.

Now you can estimate what Yazan might have gone through.

The teacher got raged and started shouting not even considering a moment that he might be a new student who had no idea about the classes. 

"Who are you? Where is your uniform and what are you doing in a girl's section? ANSWER ME! RIGHT NOW!" She banged her hand on the table. All girls seated in their places quietly witnessing the scene unfolding before them. 

I could hear her shouting as my class was just beside the class in which he was getting scolded. I sat near the window to have a look at the poor guy's face and when the drama started, I had no interest in whatsoever going in my class.

I saw Yazan standing in utter shock. Not able to understand what to say, he stood still, the teacher kept screaming, "Tell me or else I'll take you to the principal!" She held him by his wrist. 

Yazan spoke, gulping the lump in his throat, his voice came out shaky. It seemed like he was scared. "Ma'am, I'm a new student and since there were no class boards I got confused & I asked a girl she told me this was the right class."

I wasn't able to control the laugh that was building up on my cheeks. I covered my mouth as I giggled. I didn't want to get noticed by my teacher at that moment. I knew no matter what Yazan would say, she was not the one who was going to listen to him.

"Shut up! I know you all boys very well. Why would a girl show you the way to the girls' section? You think you can fool me? I have seen you children grew up in front of my eyes. Don't play with me!",She scolded and there I was, laughing in hysterics.

I looked up to see where my teacher was, everybody turned around to see me. Luckily the teacher wasn't present at the moment and I just continued to watch the scene as if I was not being a clown a few moments ago.

"I'm sorry ma'am. You won't get any complaints from my side ever again", He said. His ears were red because of embarrassment and that's when I realised he might have been a very obedient student in his school. 

"W-okay w-okay, now go to your respective class", she said with a disgusted look at him. Her  'wokay'  was 'okay' but with a South Indian accent. 

He took his belongings and was moving towards the door making sure to get out of the class as soon as he could but she interrupted him.

"Listen boy! This. is. my. first. and. last. warning. if. I. see. you. anytime. here. on. this. floor. at. that. moment. itself. you. are. out. of. the. school! Understand?", she said emphasising each word & pointing a finger at him. He nodded and moved out, his face red in anger or embarrassment. I didn't know but, what I knew was that I had fun in teaching him a lesson. After that, the events of the day went in a blink of an eye.