Diamonds And Pearls *New & Improved* *CURRENTLY EDITING*

Chapter 4(REVISED)-Saving The New Girl

"Whoever is present while a Muslim is humiliated before him, and is able to assist him [and yet does not], Allah will humiliate him before [all of] creation." [Ahmad in al-Musnad, 3/487; Suyuti in Al-Jami' As-Saghir, 2/510, #8375]

"Whoever protects a believer from a hypocrite, Allah will send to him an angel to protect him from the Fire of Hell on the Day of Arising. [Abu Dawud in al-Adab, 4/272, #4883]

"Whoever averts [an attack] from the honor of his brother, Allah will avert the fire from his face on the Day of Arising." [Tirmidhi (hasan)]

CHAPTER FOUR- Saving the New Girl

To my surprise, life wasn't so bad with my sister gone. Of course I missed her like crazy but I knew she was in good hands. From the way she went on and on about him, Noor had been doing a pretty good job. Plus, I got to talk to her every other day. Zayan was actually being an awesome brother to me. We were starting to become a lot closer with my sister gone. I liked him most days. Well, except for when he's yanking the covers off me in the morning and interrupting my precious sleep. At that point he's usually always the enemy. I was not a morning person in any shape, form, or fashion.

"Daleela, wake up!" Zayan shouted, shaking me urgently. "The bus comes in fifteen minutes."

"Give me twenty more minutes." I mumbled, not listening to him and turning over. Then my brain processed what he'd said.

My eyes popped open and I jumped out of bed. "Zayan please be joking!" I begged as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. He shook his head with a disapproving look. I ran to the bathroom like the house was on fire.

"I'm not joking," Zayan said, annoyance laced in his tone. He followed behind me while pulling a shirt over his head.

"But why are you getting dressed?" I asked while brushing my teeth with inhuman speed. My question came out muffled by toothpaste foam and spit.

"I have to help out at your school today." He replied casually as he brushed his coily low-cut hair.

"Oh no," I groaned after I had rinsed my mouth. He placed the brush back onto the bathroom counter.

"What?" He asked as I ran back to my room.

"Nothing," I replied hastily as I searched for an abaya and hijab. After a few seconds I found what I needed to wear. It was a black abaya with roses on it and a draping hood. I pulled it on over my pajamas. I mean, it wasn't like anyone would see them anyway.

"Wait a minute, let me get this straight." I pondered as I paused in dressing myself to look him dead in the eye. "You're rushing me to catch a bus when I could just ride with you?"

"Hey, don't judge me. I'm kind of sleepy and I didn't think of it that way." He said with a shrug. I gave him a look and then rolled my eyes.

"I'll be in the car," I huffed angrily and hurried down the stairs with my book bag. I could hear him chuckling softly and I thought about chucking the bag up the stairs and knocking him upside the head. I waited in the car patiently and Zayan finally came out.

We finally made it to the school and actually got there before the bus did. I hopped out of the car, dreading the day to come. We walked up to the school together and then went our separate ways. I would see him later because he would be the math substitute. Oh Allah, help me get through this day without knocking someone out.

Before I knew it, I was lost in my thoughts going over how many ways today could go wrong. Then I realized I was going to be late to class if I didn't hurry. Luckily my Qur'an class hadn't started just yet. One thing I knew for sure is that if I wasted a dime of the money that went into my private Islamic school tuition, my parents would end me.