Not My Boyfriend

13. Annoyed Nerves

13. Annoyed Nerves

Learning to laugh at yourself is harder than learning to laugh at others.

In the morning, Mulki was running late. She had stayed up crying like she always did, since she had become unhappy. Luckily, a noise had woken her up. Quickly, she put on makeup to hide it, put on her book bag, holding her purse in one hand and keys in the other then ran out the door.

As soon as she stepped out the door, she felt so relieved not to see Mohamed. It was so awful that she had to be his neighbor of all the people in the world. If she could just avoid him then she would not have any more problems. Mulki would pretend that she did not know him. Mohamed was too much trouble.

Enough. She was going to put Mohamed out of her mind. Her heart was already broken, so she needed to take care of herself and stay out of trouble. She was going to get better. She had promised herself.

Smiling when she saw the beautiful sunrise.

Until someone pulled her hair.

Screaming, she turned around to see Mohamed laughing at her.

"Mohamed! Leave me alone!"

"I thought we were going to walk to school together. I had knocked on your door forever. Why didn't anyone open it?"

Mulki froze in shock until she recovered, "You were the one making all that noise! Why are you knocking on my door? My father will kill me!" She said with conviction, hoping that he could not tell that she was lying.

"Idiot! Remember the teacher was mad at you for being late? Why are you waiting until the last minute? Now we have to run to catch the bus. Let's go!" Mohamed pulled her arm. "I swear if you make me late that I will kill you! Look! Now the bus is leaving us!"

Mulki and Mohamed chased after the moving bus.

By the time, that they had gotten to school Mohamed had made fun of Mulki so much that she was now angry. Mulki stomped out of the bus. He followed her.

"Mulki, I was just joking. Relax." Mohamed said and she could see that he was holding in his laughter.

She narrowed her eyes and pointed her finger at his face, "You are very annoying."

Mohamed collapsed in laughter and Mulki walked away.

By then end of the day. Mulki was very sure that she hated Mohamed. She hated him so much. There was no one as annoying as him. He was the worst. The most annoying guy that she had ever met.

She snuck out the back door of the school as soon as class was over.

She went to the girl track team club. She needed to run. That would make her feel better. Why was she thinking about that horrible guy?

She stretched her arms as she waited for the practice to began.

"Mulki!"

It was Naciima. "I did not know that you were in the track club."

Naciima gave her a hug, "Sister, nice to see you. Welcome. I am the captain here. It is always good to get another member here."

"Really? You are the captain. Wow."

Naciima blushed and her dimples showed. "I am not the fastest runner, but I am the highest jumper. Do you want to see?"

Mulki nodded. Although, she was skeptical that the short cute girl could jump over that bar. But she followed behind her.

Naciima went to the bars. She adjusted her hijab and rubbed her hands together then she ran and her feet sprung from the ground as she arched her back and landed perfectly on the other side of the bar.

Mulki clapped her hands together. "You are so awesome!"

Naciima winked and went to gather all the girls. "Welcome everyone. It it wonderful to see a few new faces. We must practice hard this year. We must become the best track team in Somalia. One day I want to go to the Olympics. Who is coming with me?"

The girls cheered and clapped.

"We must work hard so we can get there. We will show everyone that we are the best team in Somalia! And in the world! No one is better than the Blue Ocean Girls!"

Naciima raised her fist in the air.

"So let's start practice! Everyone do your best! We have a competition against 15th May High School that we must get ready for. Sisters do your best!"

After practice Mulki could barely walk. Naciima's idea of hard work made Mulki feel like her legs has become spaghetti.

Mulki went to drank water and never appreciated water so much. She saw Mohamed and his friends standing outside before they saw her, so she tried to hide. But Naciima linked her arm with her and dragged her. Mulki could not say a thing to Naciima, so she kept walking. But to her surprise, Mohamed did not tease her at all. Instead, he was acting so serious with his friends. Acting as if he was so cool. He was actually handsome when he was not being annoying.

Mulki's nerves were so tight as she waited for him to tease and embarrass her. But he said nothing to her.

They walked together to the bus stop. The boys talked about soccer while the girls talked about their favorite songs.

Finally, the bus reached Mohamed and Mulki's stop. They said goodbye to everyone and got off the bus.

When the bus left, Mohamed stared at her strangely.

"What?" she asked.

Then Mohamed raised his eyebrow, "There is a bug on your hair. Hold still while I get it."

"Ahhhhh!" Mulki screamed as she frantically ran her fingers through her hair. "Get it out!"

Then she realized that Mohamed was laughing and holding his stomach.

He tricked her.

Mulki shoved him and Mohamed stumbled back but did not stop laughing.

Mulki turned around and stomped back home with Mohamed following her with a big grin on his face.