Choosing The Right Path

14)~📚The Project📚~

"Good morning, class."

"Good morning, Mrs. Jacobs."

Mrs. Jacobs is our registration teacher, as well as our Life Orientation teacher. This morning, she wasted no time in getting straight down to business. She took the register and then waited for the bell, signalling the first lesson, to ring. I looked around me. Azlan was not in his seat today and I hadn't seen him this morning. What was it with teens of today and not coming home in the evenings? Daniel and his friends threw balls of paper at each other on the right side of the classroom and Raeesa and another girl chattered quietly on the left. Despite being seated in the middle of the classroom, I still felt lonely. The bell went and another day of lessons began.

"Right, ladies and gents. Today our lessons are shortened so we are going to have to work really fast and I am going to take a bit of time explaining your next task and its requirements to you..."

Our class groaned at the thought of yet another project on top of all the assignments that we already had.

"Daniel and company, please be quiet. Yes, Carl and David, that means you too. Good. Now, this task should be something that you enjoy doing. It's for your own benefit. You are going to be interviewing someone that inspires you. It can be anyone, your parents, a sibling, even a teacher or friend. This project counts sixty percent towards your term mark which means that it could easily be the difference between a pass and a fail. You are going to be working in groups of two or three but you will be marked individually. Yes Julie?" Mrs. Jacobs pointed to a thin girl with light brown, plaited hair, who had her hand in the air for a while.

"What if our partner wants to interview a different person?"

"Good question, Julie. This task also requires you to work around your differences. Who you want to interview is, like I said, ultimately up to you. You kids can get into your groups and start planning. I don't want any noise. Daniel, I'm warning you, for the last time, or you can take yourself to the principles office and talk there, is that understood?"

Daniel's friends snickered at this. I glanced at Raeesa. For group projects, we were usually each other's partners. Raeesa smirked at me and we giggled from afar. We just knew that we'd choose each other. Raeesa came over to my desk because there were fewer people here. She grinned at me and I grinned back at her.

"This is so much better than a normal lesson."

"True," I replied, "Now we have to think of someone to interview."

"Oh yeah... We could make things easy and interview your... Oh never mind, they're in Everson."

"Yeah... What about your parents?"

"My parents don't really inspire me that much. I mean, I want to be an artist and they're both surgeons and if we want to get really good marks, we're gonna have to interview someone who really inspires us."

Mrs. Jacobs was right about today's lessons being shortened. Just as Raeesa and I had started to think about who we were going to interview, the bell went for the next lesson. Since Raeesa and I would part ways now, we decided that we would discuss our project at lunch time. I waved goodbye to my best friend as she left for art class and I left for biology.

》》》

It was a beautiful day. The sun streamed through the trees on the playground, illuminating what would normally be, very dull scenery. The breeze in it's gentle demure, blew past me, causing the material of my hijab to flutter lightly along with it. While the majority of Delphia High's students were indoors, in the cafeteria wreaking havoc, or in the school library just to enjoy the air-conditioning, Raeesa and I were going to enjoy the great outdoors: The School Yard.

I know, I know, really grand.

"Hey, so who are we interviewing? Any ideas?" Raeesa sat beside me under the large oak tree that shielded us from the blazing sun. I remember when we were younger and used to play under the trees at Raeesa's house. To the far left side of the house, was a little pathway that led to the front yard, where a sparkling blue pool surrounded by thin, delicate ferns and tall, woody trees stood, over looking its sapphire blue beauty.

"I've been thinking... On my side, I don't have anyone inspirational that I really think would be worth interviewing... How about you?"

"No ideas. Why don't we just sleep on this and come up with more ideas tomorrow? Frankly, I don't mind who we interview. Just tell me when and where and I'll be there."

"Uh... Okay... You have to help out with the actual interview, though." I gave Raeesa a mock stern look.

"Of course I will."

"Great. Thinking caps on. Let's get to work."

》》》

I arrived home and marched straight to my room. I left my bags next to my study desk and grabbed comfy clothes to change into after I showered.

Once I showered, I grabbed a quick snack and since I didn't have any homework, besides the project, which I only needed to think about, I was going to organize my room that yearned for attention. Over the last few weeks, it had turned into a disaster area. My only excuse? I keep my room untidy and my stuff scattered over the floor so that if a serial killer walks in on me while I'm asleep, he or she will trip and die. Unfortunately, like most people, I have a bit of an OCD. I picked up loose papers and tossed them into the waste paper basket, threw any clothes straight into the wash and separated hijab pins from office pins. The last thing I had left to sort, was my satchel. I emptied its contents onto my newly neatened bed and sighed. Make-up, jewellery and other girls' stuff that just took up space in my average-sized, black satchel, were removed and put away into safer, better places. The only things left for me to sort out were those contents that didn't have a specific place to go to, or that usually stayed in my bag. I left my compact mirror on my dresser and my mini emergency kit of you-know-what in my school bag...

Till I remembered...

TOMORROW WAS THE GRADE GET TOGETHER!!!

I shoved my emergency girl kit back into my satchel for tomorrow although I knew I wouldn't need it.

I hadn't even decided what I was gonna wear for the get together... Oh well. I would have to think about that later. I had more important things to do at the moment. So, I grabbed my phone and set a reminder to look for something to wear. Knowing me, I would easily lose my head anywhere without constant reminders to keep it on my shoulders. I went back to organizing my bag. The last thing left to put away was my handy notepad and pen. I flipped through the pages and looked at the notes I had made over time; Raeesa's address, her mother's phone number, the halal butchery (Saqqaf's Butchery) down the street's number and names of different plants and trees that I'd learned earilier in the year from our field trip to The Bontany Centre. I smiled at these memories and continued to flip through the pages. I stopped at one particular page.

Mr. Ali's phone number!!!

I quickly called Raeesa. "Hello?"

"Salam, Raeesa. I know who we can interview!"

"Who?"

"Let's meet up at Seaview Center. I'll tell you there."

"Okay sure, at what time?"

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

I've just finished Chapter 14 and I feel like the plot's going really well. 😌

I was actually looking forward to getting to this part of the story because I always imagined what the book would be like, especially up till now.

Comment your thoughts and hit that vote button!💕

Enjoy Reading!!😆💞