She Believed

Chapter 1

Salam!
This photo is what Adeeba would pretty much look like.
ENJOY!

"Adu! Wake up! You are getting late!" 

Groaning, I search for my phone. Hurrah! It's only 8:35 yet, I still have 55 minutes to go. "Just ten minutes more, Mama! I'll wake up exactly at 8:45, there's no point in waking up at an asymmetrical time like 8:35. Besides, you know it takes me only 15 minutes to get ready."

With that I fall into a deep, blissful slumber once again dreaming about my future. Come to think of it, the only time that I am truly stress-free is the time that I sleep. Suddenly, the warmth of my bed disappears and Mama starts yelling that if I don't get up this moment, I'll be disowned. I rush out of my bed, straight to the bathroom. I take a shower and brush my teeth.  Now for the outfit of the day, well there's not much to chose from, so I take my purple Pheran with Kashmiri embroidery and wrap my black and white hijab. It takes me exactly 15 minutes to do all of this, what can I say, I am as fast as one could get.

I pack my bag, HC Verma, Check. One Pen, check. One notebook, check. Wallet, check.  Off I go to the kitchen. I finish my breakfast - an egg and a cup of Lipton tea in  five minutes. I kiss my mama goodbye and rush to the door. I wear my blue shoes, which is the only pair I own right now and leave. I shut the door a little too hard and my uncle starts yelling behind me, ''You should have brought a bulldozer instead to bring the whole house down! Learn to be more ladylike!" Well that's nothing new.

Well, that was a hell of a morning routine. While I reach my destination, that is my coaching classes, let me give a brief introduction. I am Adeeba Chirag, a 17 year old girl who is introvert, ambitious and a nerd. I recently took my 12th grade examinations and this year I am taking all the college entrance examinations that a human can possibly take. The thing is that I belong to a financially weak family, and my parents have struggled a lot to educate me and my sister. Now, I want to ensure that I start financially supporting them as soon as I can. I have been on the top of my game for these 17 years: first in class, student's secretary, topper in Olympiads, aptitude tests, debate competitions, science projects, etc etc. So, I am a major geek- no friends, studying all the time, any time that I can, a teacher's pet...the basic nerd character in every high school movie. 

I reach my coaching center and I meet Rasik Sir, my Physics teacher, at the door. "Assalamualaikum, Sir", I say. "WailaikumSalam, Adeeba. I wanted to talk to you about something, meet me in my office after today's class", with that he starts walking towards the lecture room and I follow him into the classroom for a 3 hour brainstorming lecture.

Rasik Sir is my mentor- he has been supporting me for the two years that I have known him for. He knows about my financial condition and my undying love for engineering and keeps me aware of every educational opportunity out there.

After class, I go to his office. I knock at the door. 'Come in', comes his voice.

 "Oh Adeeba, please be seated" 

I do as I am asked to.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about the college applications. Since your SAT and TOEFL scores and your academic record is great, I want you to apply to the best colleges, that is- MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Caltech, Yale, Cornell and UCLA. You can chose a few more colleges but they have to be your safety schools. You have a month till the last date and you have to make sure your applications are perfect."

"Okay Sir. I'll do a bit of research about these colleges and also chose a few more. I'll tell you about my final selections a day after tomorrow"

With that I leave his office and start walking towards my home, well, actually my uncle's home. We had to shift to a different city from my hometown because of studies and my uncle(Mama's brother) was kind enough to provide me and my mama some space to live in, but his behavior is as rude as it can get. He criticizes everything me and mama do and always keeps yelling at me; but we ignore it as we get to live in his house for free and Papa can't earn enough money, from his small shop in my hometown, for rental accommodation in the city.

I board a bus and start thinking about my college life, my future. My goal is the only thing that is left in me. Neither am I obsessed about anything like a normal teenager should be nor do I  have a crush. I have not been asked out a single time in my life, even though I believe that I am pretty good looking. Sometimes I think it's because I've really low maintenance. I very rarely buy new clothes or shoes or hijabs because I think I should save money for my college. It's always my mama who does all the shopping for me after she has convinced me for about a month to get a new hijab or a new pheran. 

I reached home and prayed Asr and Maghrib. "Ya Allah! I am doing all I can to help my parents, please help me achieve my goals''

After dinner I talk to mama for a bit and then we called it a night. I open my laptop and logged in to my common app account, well this is going to be a long night.