Remembering Shauqina

Chapter 9: Dare

CHAPTER 9 : Dare

 I was walking with Zafirah and the whole lot of captain balls girls when we happened to pass by Zak and his friends, taking a break from their basketball practice. It was after school and the day was hot but perfect for sports activities. I felt a slight hotness to my cheeks as we walked across the court, with the boys sitting down and I felt like flying right away out of their sight. Then, a familiar voice rang out.

 " Can you play basketball?" :

 I turned, and immediately saw Zak looking at me, at ease with his friends, but his eyes were teasing. My cheeks went a shade redder - anger, embarrassment - I don't know - but I sure was dumbfounded. My friends and I stopped dead in our tracks. Zak stood up to his full height and went up to me. Such insolence! When did he become this bold?!! As he came nearer, I suddenly felt smaller and I clenched my fists hard. He came up right to me and for a moment, I thought I saw the tease in his eyes flicker a bit - only a bit. Then he smiled that stupid winsome smile and stopped pretty close – he looked down (yeah, he had grown that tall) and looked at me squarely in the eyes. I searched into his eyes and saw only bemusement.

 " I know you play fantastic hockey..But can you play basketball?"

 "Can birds fly?" that was the most intelligent answer I could find, hiding the dismay at such a lame answer.

 Zak turned to look at his friends, both arms raised. Zainal, the self-styled best pal of Zak, was clenching his fists and the rest of them were smirking at him. If Zak was the joker, than Zainal was surely the clown and looked like one too. His hair was past wavy, it was in small curls, and worst, he wore it Afro-style. The ustazs have given up ever of seeing him with short, neat hair. So, that was it. A dare. A silly boy's dare. Well, this is one dare he is NOT going to win! They picked the wrong girl for this dare! A basketball conveniently was thrown and it landed at my feet. I took it, without losing my gaze at Zack. He then came so close; his whisper was audible only to me.

 " I don't care about them....I'll let you win, ok?"

 “Don’t dream of it! These hockey feet have basketball hands attached to them!!!"

 I immediately bounced the ball and was racing down the basketball court, towards the net. Zak misjudged my speed and he came in too late, as I had jumped and threw the ball into the net. A perfect throw. My friends clapped and cheered wildly, and suddenly, my adrenaline was going full-blown and I was caught up in the excitement of the dare. Zak too seemed to be enjoying himself, for basketball was his passion. The second score belonged to him, for he hit the ball squarely out of my clasp and running, easily threw the ball from out of the circle itself. It was his friends turn to go wild. As the game proceeded, it was clear that where I lacked the skill, I make it up more with my speed. Zak was actually panting, trying to keep up with me. I was the first to reach the 15 score and my friends went absolutely berserk. They were surrounding me and slapping my back so hard, I thought my already pounding heart was going to fall out. Out of the bodies of my friends, I saw Zak walked nonchalantly towards his friends. He too was surrounded by his friends, but I thought he had a good 'beating' from the wounded egos of his friends. I must have been frowning as I looked up, but Zak's expression was still nonchalant. He managed to extricate himself away from his friends and made his way towards me. He smiled. God! That smile can melt any girl's heart.....

 "That was a good game...congratulations...now everybody will know that the mighty Zak was defeated by a girl...."

 I smiled back, giggled, then suddenly laughed out loud. Couldn't help it – he looked so comical when he said 'mighty zak', and crossed-out his eyes. Have never seen him do that before! I think he really has never done that before, for all my friends started laughing too. Well, what do you know...he's a clown too....?

 "Them?"

 "Ah....' He sighed. "Looks like the whole gang are getting dinner for free tonight. And I'll be fasting for the rest of the month!!! See ya!"

 As he turned to join his friends, breaking into a small run, the bright evening sun caught the waves in his hair and at that point, I thought nobody else looked as good as he did, sweat and all. I quickly averted my gaze down, smiled softly to myself, and turned to join my friends, who looked frantic because none of them, including me, would want to miss our family's curfew.

 (P.S. We were called up by Ustazah Ruby the next day. She admonished us on the evils of falling into the temptation of free interactions with the opposite gender. We listened to her two hour sermon, bow headed. We were to clean the toilets for the whole week! I tried very hard, really, to understand, to feel remorse, but all I could picture was a lovely, cheeky curl that clung to a sweaty forehead. God forgive me.)