A few weeks down the road, Hussein finally gathered up enough courage, a calculator, his math book and a pen and made his way to Aliyah's desk.
"Assalamu Aleikum Sameerah!" That was the name she had told him and he referred to her as that even though he knew oh so well that her name was Aliyah! Who didn't!? She was talkative, noisy and very social around everyone - but him!
"Waaleikum Salaam Hussein!" For a minute, she didn't think he was talking to her for she had forgotten about the little lie she'd told! "How May I help you!?"
He waved the calculator and his book in her face and she smiled, remembering her promise to help him with the bare minimum math that she knew! She asked her friends to excuse her from the conversation as she turned and faced Hussein, offering him the chair that was right next to her!
For the next 30 minutes, they did random sums that they had tackled in class that Hussein just hadn't understood!
"I don't get why you're staying behind for remedial classes if you understand these sums this well! Personally, if I was this good Masha Allaah, I'd be walking on water!"
Aliyah couldn't help but laugh! Math was her favorite subject hands down but she also knew it was because her dad was so good at it there was no way those genes were skipping her!
"Math is actually really easy. If you get the basics I promise you everything else will seem like a walkover! Anyway," she decided to change the topic because too much small talk would lead to too many conversation starters the next time they met, "You then proceed to add these two, multiple the result by K and divide it by two as directed by the formula. And that's the final answer!"
Hussein looked content! So Aliyah excused herself and turned back to the conversation she was having with her mates as Hussein stood to go back to his seat!
"Thank you," he whispered, to which she smiled and nodded back.
