Bound To The Stars

Rock & Bottoms.

I stared at my result for almost an hour. I didn't even know why the heck I was surprised.

I mean, I didn't give my studies any attention this semester so.

I didn't even want to imagine my parents' face when they saw this result. They'd be so disappointed and there's no way I could hide it cause our school always sends a message to our parents whenever our results were released.

I was in deep bull poop.

As I walked to my car ( yeah! I got my driver's licence last month) thinking of what explanation to give my parents when I got home, I spotted Soffie coming out of our faculty.

We started going home together when Layla stopped hanging out with us.

I waited for her to come in so I could drop her off at home. She got into the car and turned the music on.

She noticed my sullen expression and asked what's wrong.

I shrugged her off and continued driving.

"Did Amir hit you again?" She asked.

I didn't answer.

"Oh come on! I've told you, just do what he wants and he'll stop hitting you."

I pressed the brakes so hard she slammed her forehead on the dashboard.

"What was that for?" She cried rubbing her forehead.

"I've had enough of you Soffie!" I said. "just shut up!"

I ignored her rants and drove like someone was chasing me. I ended up getting pulled over by the Road Safety and had to pay a fine of Five thousand.

I dropped her off at home and without sparing her a glance, I sped off.

I arrived home and crashed on my bed. I didn't even have the strength to take a shower nor did i eat dinner. It was already eight p.m and I hadn't even gone to greet Ma or Daddy. I knew if I didn't do this now, later it'll be worse.

I put on my hijab and moved to daddy's room.

I greeted him and handed the result.

I waited for the ground to open up and swallow me. I've never been in this situation before. I didn't know what daddy was going to do. The anxiety was killing me. Then he cleared his throat.

"What happened?" he asked in a quiet tone he uses whenever he was upset.

"I'm sorry." was all I could I say before the tears ran freely from my eyes.

"That's not the question I asked." he said "how can you drop from a 4.50 GPA to 1.50? Haba Hanan! do you have any problem? You can talk your mom and I, we're here for you. Is it the lecturers? Or what's distracting you?"

I couldn't even answer him. I knew he was very disappointed from his looks.

In my life, one of things I dreaded was my father's disappointment.

When he didn't receive an answer he continued.

"I know you Hanan, you're better than this. This is the first result you've brought home that was bad, not bad actually but terrible. I want you go and think about how you'll improve this result. In the meantime, I think I'd have your car keys. You can have it back when I see the improvement."

He stood up and left the room. I knew he was going to have a talk with Ma and I was going to get round 2. I preferred Daddy's scolding to Maa's because he'd only talk to you once and that's it. But Maa! That was a different case, she'll always look for an opportunity to bring up the issue.