Guarding My Faith

three

"The Head brought his girlfriend over!" Yasmin screams in my ear, jolting me awake. I've been daydreaming fantasies for the last hour and didn't notice Yasmin walked into the room.

"His girlfriend?" She nods. I adjust my headscarf and follow her downstairs into the living room. To my right, I take a glimpse of the kitchen and notice a girl who's standing inside with her arms around Adam's waist. Oh my God.

It's Jenny Falcon. She used to tutor me when I was a freshman in high school.

"Jenny?" She takes a step away from Adam and turns around, squinting at me.

"Alexis Renald? No way, is it really you?" She runs to me and gives me a hug. I smile widely and hug her back. Adam pulls on her sleeve, pulling her flush against his chest and stares at me. "You look so different now!"

I look down and pull on the edge of my headscarf. "I became a Muslim." She laughs and smiles, softly pulling on the fabric. "It suits you," she says, carefully eyeing my face.

Adam, clearly disagreeing, frowns at my scarf. I roll my eyes, ignoring his weird looks like I already have done a million times.

He throws his arm affectionately around Jenny and coughs into his arm. Jenny gives him a disapproving look, causing him to turn red.

Cute. Wait, what.

Suddenly I turn red from my absurd thoughts and look away. "Then, I'll leave you two alone," I say, walking back upstairs to get to my room. Jenny grabs my arm to stop me from leaving.

"I'd like to talk with you," she says, quickly glancing at Adam. When he just stares back blankly, she huffs and pushes him away. "Alone."

We watch him get pulled away by Yasmin, who's been standing off to the side, watching the scene unfold with her arms crossed. Her demeanor reminds me of a policeman.

"So," she says, turning to me. "What the hell are you doing at my boyfriend's house?" It's as if a light switch went on and changed her entire mood.

"Why do I need to tell you?" I question. She bitterly laughs and clenches her jaw. I roll my eyes and look at her, annoyed.

Guess her true colors decided to show. I should've known she still acted like this.

"Because I'm his girlfriend and I deserve to know," she argues.

"Are you jealous?" I ask.

She scoffs. "Jealous? Why would I be jealous of you? Are you insane?"

She looks like she's about to pop a vessel and she's asking if I'm insane.

I remember how jealous I felt after my ex-boyfriend held a girl's hand in front of me. Turned out he was trying to make me jealous and we broke up. The moment I came back to school with a headscarf, he looked at me with disgust, probably thinking to himself if I was really the person he dated for three months.

"I was kicked out of my own home and Sara told me to come live with her since I had nowhere to live."

"Who's that?"

"Sara?" She nods. "She's Adam's sister."

Jenny stares at me with wide eyes and an open mouth. "Adam has another sister?" She's shocked, as if it's her first time hearing that.

I smirk, using it to my advantage. "Guess Adam doesn't tell you everything."

She huffs and flips her hair over her shoulder. She whips around and walks straight into Adam's room.

A few seconds later, Yasmin is pushed out of the room by Jenny. She shuts the door and locks it, leaving me and Yasmin speechless.

"Whatever you're doing in that room, let's keep it PG!" Yasmin yells, pounding on the door. I laugh loudly, gathering the attention of Sara who just came through the door, returning from the grocery store. I run over to her and help her carry the bags into the kitchen. She looks stressed and worried about something. I decide to confront her later.