Zara Ahmed is your ordinary girl, or so she thinks. She wants nothing more than to make her parents proud and to just be happy, for once. She is focusing on her first year of university, and is keeping herself busy. She just wants to forget everythi...
"Zara, wake up dear! You're going to be late for university again! Breakfast is ready!" I hear Mum call from downstairs. I groan, slowly sitting up and holding my head in my hands. I'm so tired. I'm definitely not a morning person. Monday mornings are the worst.
Today is the 6th of October. It has been 2 weeks since I've started my first year at university studying psychology, but I still hate getting up early for 9am lectures. I always will. I never get enough sleep for Monday mornings. I only have to go in two days a week (Mondays and Tuesdays) this term though, thankfully. Today, though, me and my best friend Hafsa, who studies the same course as me and has all the same classes as me, are in until 6pm.
I glance at the large silver clock on the wall opposite me and my eyes widen in shock. 8am! I jump out of bed and run into the shower, taking the quickest shower ever. I'm definitely going to be late again. I quickly dry my hair and change into a pair of black skinny jeans, a maroon coloured full-sleeved top and a black leather jacket. I slip on my new maroon heels and grab my favourite black tote bag which contains my mobile phone, wallet, headphones, a writing pad, some pens, and a small cosmetics bag which holds my essential makeup items. I glance at the clock again. 8:15am. There's no time for makeup now, I'll do it in Hafsa's car on the way to university.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I head downstairs, into the dining room. Mum has breakfast laid out on the table. Hafsa and my younger sister Maryam are there too.
'Hey, Hafsa!' I greet her, smiling.
"Hey babe! You look good!" She says to me.
I roll my eyes. 'I'm gonna do my makeup in the car, I woke up late.'
Hafsa snickers. I hear mum and Maryam also laugh. "About that, Zara. We...." Mum starts, Hafsa still laughing.
'Not again, mum! You changed the time on my bedroom clock again?!' I ask, reading the time on the dining room clock. It's 8am. Mum did this last week too! It's not my fault I have difficulty waking up so early. If it was up to me, I would sleep until 11am everyday.
"Yes, Zara. I did it. You're so bad at waking up on time, it will affect your studies. You should get to sleep on time, that way you will wake up on time too." She's right, I guess. I'm still annoyed, though. I could have got 20 minutes of extra sleep.
'Exactly, Zara! I've been awake since 6:30am!' Hafsa tells me. I laugh. How did she wake up so early? Hafsa is usually worse at waking up early than me. But these days we go to university together in her car, so she wakes up earlier than usual as she comes to my house to pick me up.
"Okay, can we leave after 15-20 minutes then? Lecture starts after an hour, and it takes only about 10 minutes to reach. I don't want to reach too early," I ask Hafsa.
She nods, smiling. Our university is only about a 10-12 drive away from my home. I take out my cosmetics bag from my purse and start to apply a small amount of makeup. Natural, of course.
