Beautiful Things (A Muslim Love Story)

Chapter One: Getting Accepted

Asiyah's POV:

My family sat silently, staring at their empty dinner plates. We were all gathered at my favorite restaurant, Moon Sushi, and I had to be the one to break the silence.

I cleared my throat. "Um, so, you all know why I brought you here."

"No we don't."

I kicked my sister under the table. Now that she's officially a teenager, that automatically gives her all the attitude in the world.

"Um, yes. Well, no. Well we all know it's something great, right?" I tried to laugh, but it must of been pathetic because no one answered. My sister snickered.

I cleared my throat again. "I got accepted into Darius!"

That wiped the smile off of her evil little face. My parents were delighted.

"Well good then!" my mother smiled. "There's nothing like a daughter who got into one of the best schools in the country. On scholarship, too."

"So does this mean I can use all of the university money you and dad saved up for me and and use it as shopping money?" I asked eagerly.

Mom looked at me with I-am-your-mother eyes. "No."

My sister, Emmatullah, better known as Emma, grinned. "How about we use it to get Asiyah an apartment across Darius, and I can use her room as a party room for my friends?"

I snickered. "As if, Emma. And don't you already have a party room?" My family is really rich. My dad is a cooperate lawyer and my mother is a bio medical engineer. We have a really big house with lots of rooms, but lately Emma has been hogging them all. Attack of the newly born teenager.

"No, I have a sleepover room, where my friends my friends sleep. We can't party and sleep in the same room! Plus, even if i COULDN'T use that as a party room, I would need it as another room for my friends to sleep in. I have a lot of friends, Asiyah. I'm popular."

"A popular snob," I shot back.

"Well you're a jerk."

"You mean a junior educated rich kid that just got accepted into one of the best collages in the country by scholarship?" I couldn't help but to smile.

"Whatever."

While the waiter arrived with our food, my mom leaned over and whispered, "Good one". That's what I love about my mom. She's not all strict about sibling disagreements, considering she had an older sister herself. I mean, I hate when adults expect siblings to be best friends. It's really annoying.

"Thanks."

My dad was silent the whole time, which surprised me. He's usually a really big talker. Did he like that I was accepted into Darius? Why wouldn't he?

After dinner, we expected the waiter to bring the bill. Instead, he and some other waiters came over with a large chocolate cake that had sparklers and the words "Congratulations Asiyah".

My dad! Who else?

"You?" I asked, pointing to my dad. "But how did you know?"

"You need to stop leaving your mail on the kitchen table, Asiyah," he smiled.

My mom patted him on the hand. "Very thoughtful of you, Chad." My dad, Chadwick Sloane converted to Islam when he married my mother. His family is originally from England, which is awesome. My mother, Layla Ahmed was born in Canada, but her parents are from Syria.

After we finished our cake, my dad checked his cell and said, "Well, we better be headed home. It's Maghrib time."

When we got home, I lay in bed, wondering. How would Darius be like? Would my friends be there? would boys be there?

I hated boys. For some reason, they all loved me. My parents said it was because I was drop dead beautiful. At first I thought they were just saying it as loving parents, but then my sister said it was true. My sister usually never compliments me.

Why do I hate boys? Well, I had a little, let's say, dirty past. I was obsessed with boys. In junior high I liked all the boys except for one. And all those other boys were gorgeous.

And, well, I don't want to talk about it.

Six years ago, if you asked me friends to describe me, they'd describe me to be boy-crazy, dirty-minded Asiyah.

Now, they would describe me as a modest, strict Islamic Muslim.

I changed a lot.