Making the turn

The perfect fit

Salma and I were puzzle pieces, we weren't perfect, we had imperfections and in many ways incomplete which was the very reason we fit perfectly, we connected. she filled the void inside of me that l longed for to be filled just by looking at me and the sight of me would instantly change the shape of her mouth into an upward curve, probably because of my constant goofs.

Our heartbeats filled the cracks in side each other's hearts and I could only wish for her to realize, we were meant to be. The connection between us was manifest at least it was evident to me, it was so static and constant, I would often contemplate the orange flames in her eyes whenever our's met. What I feared at times was the chance of it being only the reflection of the fire she set in mine.

Even then, when she had turned, we were interconnected. Her eyes, which were a wide pool of satiny black still preserved the same innocence and vibrance they had when I first laid eyes on her. No one could've recognized her if they had seen her 3 years before, physically she had transformed competely but from the inside she remained utterly the same, you could tell just by looking into those deep jet black eyes.

*****

I first saw her in the summer of 2013. As I recall it, it was an annual sports camp for the students of our school . I applied for football while she had applied for basketball. I wasn't bad at the sport but whenever I catched a glimpse of her, she would have either just missed a shot or would be sitting alone because no one would be willing to put her on their team, well that and the sports sir wasn't very keen on helping her practice.

I found her awkward and a little over weight for which I gave credit to her 3 sizes small sports kit because the discomfort she felt was apparent. All of her peers were comparatively thin and much more focused, which is why they always found her a bit of an annoyance. Salma would always be laughing and smiling even when she would have embarrassed her self completely, she took life easy unlike the rest of us, which irritated people because they envied her non-chalance but I for one did not, I adored it. As much as my findings of her at the time should have drifted me away from her (which they initially did), they soon became the reason I found her so intriguing.

One of the biggest ironies of life has always been that it takes a person to enter into your life to realize you've been lonely all along. I had spent all those years yearning for something I couldn't pin down, till that time but I soon realized it was her.

It was during that time, That I really got to notice her for she reminded me of my old self. If it weren't for Ali I would've still been that fleshy child absorbed into the world of another book. Me and Ali worked like a team, I helped him study and up his grades while he would improve my game and motivated me to work out once in a while.

I was bullied for being a bookworm, during gym class I'd be seen reading instead of playing football or any other sport that my classmates used to play. Not practicing any sport meant that I lacked skill during P.E, during physical tests I'd either fall down and start crying or pretend that I was sick because of which the bullying just got worse. Even Ali bullied me for we weren't best friends back then, I might have known him since grade one but it wasn't until we were in 5th grade that we developed the strong bond of friendship that has only grown stronger.

Ali and I bonded because of the very reason I read books all the time, which itself was another story...