Jewels to Forever

CHAPTER FOUR

  The truck skidded to a stop in front of the famous Luigi Grande high school. Bilal muttered under his breath as his brother's palm met with the back of his head.
"I told you not to take the truck. It's an embarrassment for Sarah." Muhammad joked.
"And it's an embarrassment that your brother just found out about your wedding." Bilal grumbled, pulling out the keys.
"What did you say?" Muhammad asked, smilingly.
  The rickety door slammed shut as Bilal rounded the truck to the entrance of the school.
"Nothing." Bilal snapped. They walked in silence before Muhammad said; "You know, your truck will be towed, right?"
   Bilal's glare shut Muhammad up and they continued up the stairs and into the building. Earlier that day, Muhammad had phoned Bilal to accompany him to see his fiancee who would be graduating high school. Bilal had refused before but since he was simply bored, he decided to do it, now here they were, Muhammad just reminding him about where he would have parked his car.
   The two brothers walked in silence into the hallways of the school and taking directions from a student walked towards the school garden behind the building. It was decorated beautifully. A podium was placed in the middle and graduating students sat on arranged chairs on both side of the podium.
"Sarah Sidiq".

"That's my girl." Muhammad smiled. "We're just in time."
  Bilal rolled his eyes and searched for an empty seat. He plopped on one at the back and watched everything with a look of boredom. His interest sparked when a familiar lady was called, the valedictorian.
"Salaam wa'alaykum and hello to y'all." Bilal recognized her as the lady from the bus stop. Her smile was as pretty as her voice. "Alhamdulilah. We all got this far and by God's will, we all will be meeting at the top. Thank y'all for making my days spent in Luigi Grande high school worth it. I love you all."
   Bilal watched her dress swish as she came off the podium with a large smile on her face. The graduating students rose and on the count of three, they all threw their caps into the air.
   Everywhere was abuzz as students hugged one another and placed kisses on their cheeks. Bilal sighed in annoyance when Muhammad tapped his shoulder.
"Let's go say hi to Sarah."

What annoyed Bilal was how his brother was acting like a love sick puppy when some years ago he swore to never love again. With a groan, he stood from his seat and followed behind Muhammad.
  The girl's family were really nice and it seemed she was the only child because she was treated like a princess. She wore a pink dress and white shimmery hijab and it seemed to put Bilal in a sour mood. Bilal blended well in the background as Muhammad spoke with Sarah's father while Sarah's cheek turned deep red as she watched her fiance.

"Sarah Sidiq." A soft voice called out with firmness. Bilal's eyes moved to the brown skinned girl who had on a blue dress and dark denim jacket. Her combat boots made his eyes pop out. It was the valedictorian, the lady from the bus stop.
"Take a look at the smart pant of the year." The Sarah girl boomed and hugged her.
   Bilal watched the girls whisper and giggle, their eyes looking towards Muhammad's direction. He watched the sneakers girl smile at something her friend said, a dimple forming beside her lips. His own smile dropped when she turned to look at him.
  He blinked a few times wanting her to look away but she stared at him, and into his eyes without blinking. And before he could label her creepy, she smiled sweetly at him before looking away. That was weird!
"Bilal son." Sarah's father slapped his back, laughing at whatever joke his brother must have said. Haha!
   Bilal mustered a fake smile at the old man and stepped back when he called out to the girls.
"Salaam wa'alaykum baba." The valedictorian said.
"Sumama." The man pulled her to the side and hugged her. He placed a wrapped gift in her palms and prayed for her. "How about your mum?" He asked.
  Her smile dropped before coming up again. "She's busy." She stated. The man nodded his head in understanding. "Please chaperone Sarah and her fiance while they walk to the car park, we'll be going home."
"I will baba."

   Some minutes later, and Bilal had the name of the lady - Sumayyah. His truck was towed and she had to escort him to the tow yard. She was extremely quiet and he wanted to hear her voice.

"Thanks." She spoke up.

"For what?"

"Helping me. I recognized you."

"Oh." Bilal scratched the back of his head.

"Did you enjoy the book?" She asked eagerly staring at his face.

"I did. Although, the girl was too in love. She deserved what she got."

  Bilal noticed she had stopped and dramatically gasped loudly. She looked surprised.

"She didn't deserve any of it. It wasn't her fault she fell in love with him. I would have preferred if she had kept on being rude and hateful."

"I still feel she deserved it. She felt obsessive with him. It was better he left her."

"Puhlease. I can't believe you're saying this. Wait till you fall in love and let's see if you'll still be saying this." Sumayyah huffed.

"And you've fallen in love?" He didn't know what prompted him to ask.

  Sumayyah stared down at her sneakers before looking up. She pointed at a large garage.
"That's it. Go get your car. I'll be waiting."

  Later that night, as Bilal laid down on his bed, hair dripping wet onto the pillow, his mind wandered to the lady with the most mesmerizing voice. She was beautiful in every sense of the word. Her humility was truly inspirational and her smile. Bilal shut his eyes tight and forced himself to sleep without thinking of her.

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  Sumayyah had a really good day save for the fact that her own mother couldn't make time for her graduation. She ignored the panging feeling in her heart.
  She slipped into her pyjamas and tied her hair in a ponytail. Her sister, Salma was waiting for her on the bed.
"It's time you open it." She groaned.

"Salma it's my gift. Hold your horses gurl." Sumayyah laughed.

"Okay okay."

  Sumayyah had lots of gifts to open. Her eyes moved towards the new shelf she had bought. It proudly held her awards and medals. She pushed one of the wrapped gifts to Salma.
"Do the honour of opening the first one." She gave an encouraging smile and happiness bloomed in her heart. A tear escaped her eyes and at that moment she wished her elder sister was here with them.

"It's a golden silk scarf. From aunty Humaira." Salma gasped.

"You can have it."

"Nope. It's yours. I certainly cannot have it."

"I want you to. Please."

"Cos you begged me."

The girl's giggled as they tore more wrappings. Sumayyah cried when she opened Sarah's gift for her. It was a framed picture of both of them with Salma and her late sister. They had crazy faces on and they were happy. A butterfly hijab pin that they had exchanged as kids was part of it. Salma had to pat her back more than once to get her to stop.

The last gift got them jumping on her bed. It was an iPhone 7, from Mr Sidiq. Sumayyah was extremely happy she fell in sujud. The next hour was used in talking about how she didn't deserve that much love.

  Sumayyah finally laid in bed and listened to Salma talk about her dreams and how she wished to be as good as sumayyah. She spoke about her fears and depression. Sumayyah listened carefully and praised her when she was done. She told her how much she loved her and how proud she was of her. Then she spoke about the guy she met and how she thought she was falling for him.

The girl's slept together on the bed curled up and cuddling against each other. Acting as rocks and comforters for one another.