The Size of our hearts

15

I adjusted my school bag on my shoulders and stepped into the school. Kiyana was over by her locker. I took a deep breath and walked towards her. "Hey" I smiled quickly. She closed her locker door and stared at me for a long second. I grew uncomfortable and averted my gaze to the ground. "Hey" she smiled back. "I'm sorry" We both started then stopped. I kept quiet and let her speak. "I'm sorry about Saturday, It's okay you don't understand my situation, I need to be okay with that."

I tried to speak but she told me I didn't need to apologize. "Well, we have art now" I sighed with relief and made a comment about the day starting off well. I looked over at her, but she seemed like she was in a completely different world. "Hey, what about Davis?"

"He's not coming back to school, well for now he says, but I'm happy. He's not on drugs or just lying around. He's gotten a job, It's not much but he's gotten a job" She shrugged

"It's a good thing he wants to be a man to his family, he's a good brother," I said as we stopped in front of the door of the Art Lab.

I was about to open the door. When some students came rushing out of the Lab. I jerked back to avoid being pushed. Lastly the art teacher, Mr. David came out of the art Lab with his cane supporting his right leg. "Come on Ladies, emergency assembly" I gave Kiyana a confused look as she returned a mutual gesture as we quickly followed Mr. David to the Assembly Hall.

I shuffled in and took a seat beside Kiyana. I looked down and saw the same old woman standing beside the principal, holding a picture of Hamid. He looked younger and he was wearing a red and white checkered cloth on his head and t was held down by two black rings. 

I looked at the picture then back at the old woman. 

"Hamid Salem has been reported missing, this poor woman beside me is his Grandma so if you have any knowledge about his whereabouts please speak up. I tried my best to look normal but Kiyana noticed how shaky I was.  She looked at me for a while before looking back at the principal. 

"Uh hey, Neveah why is Hamid's Grandma staring at you like that" Kiyana whispered to me. I looked down to see the old woman glaring at me. I looked back at her and tried my best to look nonchalant. 

My phone vibrated, I pulled it out and saw a message from an unknown number. 'Meet me at the bus stop this evening at 6, I need your help -Hamid'. I didn't want to be drawn into this any further but I didn't want to leave him. I sent 'ok' and looked back up to see the old woman limping out with a security guard helping her out. 

Kiyana was already suspecting that something was up and I wasn't very good at hiding stuff. The principal rang the bell to signify that assembly was over. I grabbed my bag and hurried out, unfortunately Kiyana was one step behind me. 

"Neveah, what's going on" She said as she looked at my face and grew more worried as the seconds passed.

I looked at her and shut my eyes, I opened them quickly and decided I could trust her. 

"It's Hamid he's in trouble, he's not safe.. he's running from someone and that woman is not his Grandma"

I took a deep breath and looked over at Kiyana, she didn't look surprised or interested. 

"I suspected it at first but I wasn't sure, but now it all makes sense" She began to ramble.""

"What are you talking about" I urged her as I pushed my braids back to fall behind my ears.

"A year ago, Hamid came to Simul and there were these newspapers going around about a run-away prince. "

My eyes opened as I remembered what I saw when I searched up Hamid's full name.