Dandelioness

Two

"So I heard from someone that you are Omar’s sister. Why didn’t you say so?” Chloe asked me as I took the seat beside her.

No greeting whatsoever.

"And hello to you too. Ugh what difference does it make?”

“All the difference! He is the Troy Bolton of this place!” Tess inputted excitedly. 

“What is he like at home?” Chloe asked.

“He's as cool as an older brother can get, I mean he looks after me well,” I replied unsurely.

She blew air out of her mouth impatiently.

"No, I mean what does he do? Like where does he hang out and stuff? No offense or anything, but I honestly don’t care about your relationship with him," she flipped her sleek black hair over her shoulder.

It was lunchtime.  I had just come back from midday prayers. The weather was very nice, so I had taken my prayer mat to an isolated spot outside, under a tree, and prayed there. The girls were still quite distant and rude around me, with the exception of Jasmine; she was an angel. Every time they would imply something remotely discriminatory about me, she would change the conversation topic. It was very comforting.

"Uh well he goes soccer training, and has been for about 3 years. He usually hangs out with the guys on his team,"

"I knew it! That gorgeous body doesn’t just come naturally……...Nora you've got to invite me to your place sometime. Your brother must hang out with hot guys too," Chloe chirped. 

Inside, I felt very used and hurt. My brother had always attracted female attention, since he started soccer. The girls were just manipulating me to get information about my brother and I knew it. But I also knew that as long as I kept talking about him, they would warm up to me.

"Totally! He has this one friend, Aaron, who is absolutely drool-worthy. A total- bomb,”

 These words were completely unlike me. I sounded very fake. I tried using words I heard the popular girls using, at my old school. Apparently, I had worked it nicely because all four girls had their eyes on me, eager for more gossip.

I wasn’t really lying, Aaron was good looking. But all that time, I had only really considered him a friend.

"So this one time, I walked in on him changing, in Omar's room………." I stopped, realizing that I was not comfortable with the subject.

"Girl you're killing me! What happened? 6 Pack or 6 Flab?" Tess exclaimed.

I ceased my internal battle immediately.

"Not just any 6 pack. I swear Cristiano Ronaldo would cry have cried if he be me," I continued.

"Omigosh! Ronaldo," Jasmine cried, clutching her chest dramatically. 

"What school does he go to?" Chloe interrogated.

"Aston Sports Academy" I responded.

"FACEBOOK SEARCH HIM!!"

And so it went on; we conversed about celebrities, movies, school kids and boys until the bell rang to signal 'Time to visit lockers'. The whole time, I felt very unnerved. Something was stirring in the pit of my stomach. I tried not to acknowledge it.

I walked to Biology with a frown on my face, despite the fact that I had friends now. I think it is safe to call them that.

The workbenches were still filling up in the classroom.

"Hi Nora,” I heard a deep voice say.

I looked around. It was Isaac.