Awakening Encounter

Chapter 6~ Skies of Smiles Rivers of Tears

"Pain changes people, some for the worse, others for the better. And then there's those that get lost within themselves because of it" -Sabirah Sayyef

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I groggily carried myself to English, wishing I could be anywhere but here. That was it, the last straw, the pain of seeing someone who betrayed you, just left your heart aching and wondering why. I scurried the thoughts away knowing the pain it would reimburse if I gave it a second longer to dwell in my mind. When I reached American Lit, I slid into my seat with a sigh knowing today would be a long day. As usual, Mr. Campbell's voice boomed thorough out the class.

"Juniors, Juniors, please settle down and settle into your assigned seats." A hush started plagued over the class. I looked over to where Savera was supposed to sit, but to my dissapointmemt it was still empty. She hasn't come for a good week now and she didn't have a phone number to contact her. I prayed to Allah she was safe

"Today I will be assigning you a project in which you will work with another classmate for a whole month. This project is about the Novel you all chose to read at the beginning of the year. For some, it may be Wuthering Heights, others it may be To kill a Mockingbird. But whatever it is, you will analyze it, create a presentation, connect it your life and present it. And don't come up to me to tell me that you can't relate, because that means you didn't live life up until this point properly. Each of you will be responsible for a portion of the task given, as I am passing out the rubric. As of the partners issue, I chose assigned partners, I don't care if you don't like them, deal with it. In life you will always work with people you don't like, so learn to respect." Opposing opinions started going around the class before Mr. Campbell raised his hand for a stop. "Now, I will put the pairs of people over on the smartboard, find your name and who you're working with and you have the rest of class to get a good start on the analyzation." With that said, Mr. Campbell put on the smart board. People started huddling closer to the board to see who fate brought their names next to. I quietly scanned my name before seeing it.

Sabirah Sayyef and Samatar Ahmed

Yaa Allah! Why oh why oh why? I sank into my chair covering my face with my hands, only to be startled by that one kid.

"So looks like I got my Duaa accepted" Samatar said with a wink. I rolled my eyes in disgust

"Ok let me get a couple of rules straight with you before we get down to work. No flirting, no pick up lines, no player moves and no talk about anything other than the task we're assigned. Got it? Good" I huffed as I finished saying that. My patience these days was wearing thin, and this kid was really about to cut the string. But of course this to him was funny

"You think it's funny? Of course, nothing is serious for you in life, and maybe that's what you need to fix" I spat with anger. To my surprise, Samatar stopped laughing. And his face dropped the jolly expression it once held before

"When you feel like you can't do anything anymore, nothing really does matter" He said with a sad tone looking away. I felt guilt eating away at my heart. So he did have feelings after all.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Forgive me, I'm not the nicest person nowadays and I'm sorry about last time when I blew up on you" I said Halfheartedly. I was honestly tired of everything.

"It's alright, I didn't take it to heart. And you know, hiding pain isn't good.. You may think you're protecting the ones you love, but in reality, you're only hurting yourself." He said looking at me.

"Why are you telling me that?" I asked him. Feeling as if I just got caught red handed

"Because that's what you're doing, you think I don't know? I saw you run out of the school the other day crying Sabirah. I tried to look for when you ran towards but I couldn't find you. And then the next day I saw you acting all normal and happy, but that didn't fool me to know what you were doing."