BROKEN

The New Tasneem

We went to class and sat at a table. I could tell that Bayden was waiting for Ahmed to enter. He walked in a few minutes after us and sat across from us at the table.

"Hey guys." he said.

"Shut up you're fake." she said with her hand up to dismiss him.

"How?" he asked.

"Does Hakeem know you're messing with his ex?" she asked.

His facial expression changed. "Nope and I don't think he would care if he knew."

"Really? Because I'm going to tell him."

"Why do you care? He's happy in his relationship and they both moved on."

"I don't care. If they just talked it would have been different. But they dated and they were serious. You're his best friend, you should know she's off limits."

"Guys are different, we don't care about that stuff." he explained.

"Ahmed you were with him through the whole relationship and through the whole breakup. Anybody with some sense would know that this is something he would care about. Do you think she really likes you? She's using you to get back at Hakeem. Don't be dumb."

"Of course you would say that. You hate her."

"We all hate her for a reason." Their conversation was interrupted by the teacher. The teacher kept talking but I couldn't help but look at Ahmed. He looked so annoyed. I thought about the night he confronted me for kissing Hakeem, now he knows how it feels.

"Listen, I won't tell him if you just stay away from her." she whispered over the teacher. Ahmed acted like he didn't hear. Nobody talked for the rest of the class. The bell rang and we headed to our last class, I had a study hall with Hakeem. We sat next to each other and talked about our day. I wasn't sure if I should have told him about what me and Bayden saw, but I decided that it would be best if I waited for one of them to tell.

"So what do you think of this place?" Hakeem asked me.

"It's very different from my old school."

"How so?" he asked.

"It's a lot more interesting for sure."

He laughed. "You'll get used to it. How do you like Bayden?"

"I don't know. I like her so far but I don't really know her too well."

"She's a nice girl. I've known her for a while now."

"Why do her and Naima hate each other?" I asked.

"Naima hates everybody." he laughed.

"Why did you date her? Bayden made her sound so evil."

"She was new and I didn't know the kind of person she was."

"Why did you break up?" I asked.

"Whenever she got in some trouble she would tell her parents it was all me. They slowly started hating me and started asking around about me. As soon as they heard my mom's name, it was over. They already hated me but that just made it all worse. They told her to never talk to me again." he explained.

"That's messed up." I said. "Now I can see why everybody hates her. Do you think she still likes you?" I asked.

"I don't know. People tell me that she does but I don't go looking for answers. I really don't care. I've moved on to something better. But hey, I care about you so I have to warn you about something."

"What's up?" I asked.

"This school has a lot of drama and fights. I want you to stay away from all of that. Don't get involved in problems that don't have anything to do with you and try to stay away from girls like Naima. They'll drag you down with them and I don't want them messing up your name."

"I got it. Thank you baby." I said. I put my head down on my desk and started wondering how Tasneem's first day at school without me had gone. Had she talked to Hanan, Fatuma, and Ali? I would ask them when I saw them after school. The final bell rang and I saw Bayden and Faisal in the parking lot.

"I'll see you tomorrow love. It was really nice meeting you." she gave me another hug.

"It was nice meeting you too." I said. We exchanged numbers and she got in the car with Faisal. Hakeem, Ahmed, and I got in the car. This time he sat in the back, he was probably trying to avoid annoying me so that I wouldn't tell. That wasn't a problem I wanted to get involved in anyway. I wasn't going to be the one to ruin Ahmed and Hakeem's friendship. We got to the apartment complex and I immediately said goodbye to both of them, my head was exhausted from today. I went into my apartment. My mom wasn't home yet but I was supposed to wait for my dad to come pick me up and take me to his place. I sat on the couch and thought about the crazy day that I had. I guess my senior year wasn't going to be so calm after all. I thought about all of the things Bayden told me. It was weird to me that Naima had her own group of mean girls. At my old school I never had that problem. Everybody was friendly and kept to themselves. The only person that I was close to was Tasneem. I already missed the simpler days. I was deep in thought when I heard the sound of keys opening the door, my mom came inside.

"How was your first day at school baby?" she asked.

"It was good."

"Did you make any new friends?" she asked.

"Yeah just one. Her name is Bayden."

"That's nice, will she be the new Tasneem?" she laughed. I laughed along but I already knew that she could never replace Tasneem. It was impossible to build that kind of bond with someone that I only met this year.

"I'm outside." a text from my dad read.

"Aabo's here." I told my mom.

"Okay love have fun."

I grabbed my bag and ran outside to the parking lot. My dad was waiting for me.

"Where's the other kids?" I asked.

"I don't know they called me and told me that a friend from school took them home."

"Wow, they're making friends already. That's great."

He asked me about my day at school and I told him that it went good. He made small talk and told me about work and he lectured me on staying away from boys and focusing on school but I zoned him out like always. We pulled up to the house and I saw Ali, Fatuma, and Hanan sitting at the dinner table.

"Hey guys how was school?" I asked.

"It was amazing." said Fatuma. "Everybody there was really nice."

"Yeah, it's a really friendly school." I said. I missed it already.

"Guys, who drove you home?" my dad asked.

"A nice Somali girl from school. She told us that she lived close to here and that we didn't have to ride the bus." explained Hanan.

"Be careful of riding with strangers." my dad said. "You never know what someone can do once you get in their car.

"Who was the girl?" I asked.

"I think she said her name was Tasneem." said Fatuma. I had forgotten that Tasneem was planning on getting her license before school started.

"Yeah there was a second girl too. We picked her up from your school." said Ali. Who could Tasneem possibly know from Northpointe? There were a lot of Somali girls at our school, it could have been any of them.

"Who was the second girl?" I asked.

"I think her name was Naima."