Mutuals

[7]

TO ALL THOSE TIRED OF FEELING TOO MUCH: THERES NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU. ALLAH CREATED YOU THIS WAY FOR A PURPOSE AND HE DOESN'T MAKE MISTAKES. YOU ARE A BEAUTIFUL PART OF HIS DIVINE PLAN.

~~~~~

I stand in the same spot for ten minutes watching as people come in, greeting them with a smile, however completely ignoring Harris.
I mean I have no idea why I'm not talking to him and I said hello to Naz but that was when he came up to me.

Jason gestures that we have five minutes until we move into the hall, by putting up five fingers. I nod my head trying to stop being so awkward everytime I see Harris

The first time I met him I didn't really think much of him but ever since that day we stopped on the street and it started snowing, I see him in a different light?
I don't know but he just seems more attractive to me and now I feel like I'm a teenager back in high school all over again

"Hey, you purposely trying to avoid me?" Harris pops up in front of me and I smile nervously
"What? No" I laugh and he smiles
"You look... good" he nods his head
"Thanks you look good too" I return the compliment

"Zara we need to go" Farhan comes to call me, half concentrating on what is being said in his ear piece
"Bye" I sat turning to Harris briefly before following Farhan

I walk through the corridor into the hall I first went into, but now the lights were down low and the fairy lights had been turned on.
Each table had a small tube of sparkly lights and the YouTube live was ready to go.

"Zara, hi I'm Zack" I get distracted from the hall decoration
I look next to me and see Zack Knight smiling at me
"Oh hi Zack" I say shaking his hand
"You know, I really like what you done here it's great" he says and I smile
I'm not used to this praise it's weird for me

"Thanks, hey I have to go but thank you for opening and closing my show" I say and he nods his head
"No worries, see you later"
I turn on my heel and make my way to the stage as everyone piles in, sitting in the assigned seats.

Once every one has found their seats and sat down, Jason gestures for me to start speaking. The YouTube live is switched on and everyone's eyes are on me

"Hello and welcome to the first ever Muslim awards" I start off and everyone claps, with Adam, Slim and Naz cheering loudly
I smile before carrying on,
"Just before we start the ceremony, I want to speak a little about why I decided to do this. I feel like, in today's society, Muslims and the work they do is not nearly as much appreciated as other people and the things they do for society. I wanted the people who do all these amazing things to know that they're being recognised so this is for you"

I smile, making eye contact with a few people from the audience who smile and clap along with the rest
"Thank you, for now welcome to the stage, Zack Knight!" I clap and everyone cheers him onto the stage

The music for Thumka begins and I walked off the stage, out of the spotlight.
"Okay so the first award a going to be Dina, for the 'Best Modest Influencer', give her time to do her speech too" Jason explains and I nod my head in understanding

Once Zack has sung his two songs and the crowd is a little more alive, I walk back onto stage
"Thank you Zack for opening the show, I'm going to go straight in and present the first award for the 'Best Modern Influencer', the nominees are.."

The video of nominees begins to play;
Dina Tokio
Habiba Da Silva
Sabina Hannan
'Saima's Corner'
SaimaSmilesLike

"Okay, so the 'Best Modern Influencer' winner is..." I open the envelope as if I don't know who's won
...

[I'm gonna skip the awards ceremony because I cba writing about it cause iss boring🤷🏻‍♀️]

"Okay so a quick change of plan, Harris is closing the show because Zack had to leave" Jason says and I nod my head not completely listening
"Wait Harris? Why not someone else" I say and he shrugs
"He has the best performance" he pushes me onto the stage

I walk back onto the stage and grab my microphone
"Okay so to end the show we have a performance by Harris J but before we get to that, I just want to thank you all for coming. I feel like the media still has a wrong, negative perception of Muslims and us being here together celebrating our achievements is showing them that what they think of us is actually very different to what we're actually like"

Everyone claps and I smile,
"Thank you, so without further ado, Harris J everyone!"

"Thank you Zara" he says smiling and my heart jumps but I ignore it and sit down at the side of the stage where I can enjoy the show

🕒

The doors close for the last time and I take a huge sigh of relief, I have been so busy for the past three to four hours and I'm so tired now
"Hey" Harris says sitting down next to me
"Hey" I say yawning
"It was a good show" he fiddles with his tie struggling to take it off
"Here let me" I say reaching over and easily sliding it off

"Thanks, Adam tied it some next level way" he laughs and I smile
"I'm gonna go now, I'll see you around?" He says after a few seconds and I nod my head

He walks away leaving me alone with Jason and Alice who are currently cleaning up our equipment

...