ONE

Amna

Waking up on my praying mat is becoming a daily occurrence. With me being in my last year of secondary school I had to buckle up if I want to study abroad. Although I had excellent grades, I still had to take some extra courses before I applied to the university I dream of going, where my dad studied. I sat up and stretched my arms murmuring duas under my breath. I folded my hijab and praying mat before I took a shower. 

After finishing my morning routine and tiding up my room, I brought out my school uniform, and arranged my bag getting everything ready for school. I plugged out my phone from the charging spot on my desk and walked out. 

I knocked on Mama’s room and entered with salaam. As I already know she’s still on her praying mat doing her morning dhkir.

“Ina Kwana,”good morning, she smiled and patted my head. 

“I’ll go make breakfast,” I told her and went to do just that. I switched on all the hallway lights and the ones around the house. 

Breakfast meals are my favourite meals to cook, because they are fast and easy to do. Twenty minutes later, I covered the pan of scrambled eggs and plantain to keep it warm and went to wake up my nine and seven year old sisters.

"Za Ku tashi ko sai na zuba muku ruwan sanyi yan zunnan," wake up before I pour cold water on you right now, barging into their room. If I don’t threaten them, they will be dragging it until they’re late to school.

"Haba Yaya ke dan barmu mu yi bacci kadan mana," come on big sister, let us sleep a little, grumbled Intisar. I told you they will try to convince me to let them sleep more. She’s the grumpiest girl ever, but she’s still a kid.

"Will you get up and take your bath? Kun san abunda zai faru in kuka makara," You know what will happen if you are late.

Intisar grumbled some more but I just glared at her. Islaha on the other hand, gave me her sleepy smile that will melt anyone’s heart which I returned and entered their bathroom, Intisar right behind her. I made sure to check if they’re doing what I asked and reminded them to pray the Fajr prayer.

Mama will soon be ready for work so I went and made some oats and packed some leftover dinner for her which i prayed she eats. I also packed some for my sisters. By the time I got everything ready, it was 6:30 a.m. and I needed to get ready as well. I plated my sister’s breakfast as I heard the muffled opening and closing of their bathroom. I went to get ready as I have to be in school by 7 o’clock.  

A new term started earlier in the week, that's why I’m dedicating my time to pray Tahajjud now before things get more serious and I don’t have the time. Quickly gathering my things, I won’t have time for breakfast so I decided to skip it but Mama has already packed it for me. 

“I knew you would forget to eat,” I grinned and thanked her.

“Take care, Allah ya kiyaye hanya,” May Allah protect you on the road.

I waved and pulled Islaha’s hand. The driver dropped them at their school first and they both hugged me before going. I told the driver to speed up, its 5 minutes to seven. Luckily, I made it on time. After the assembly was conducted, I searched the crowd, looking for my best friend. 

As if she sensed I was looking for her, I saw a hand waving at my direction and I knew it was her, she came to me with a wide grin. A typical bubbly girl who might be a bit crazy and wild sometimes but I love her nevertheless.

"Hey bestie," Khadija, my best friend, greeted.

"Hey you," I returned her smile with one of my own.

We linked our hands and walked to class, sitting in our individual seats. I brought out my books and got ready for our first lesson of the day, Mathematics. 

My phone vibrated and pulled it out of my bag. Checking for any notifications and seeing only spam, so I switched it to silent mode and put it in my pocket. The teacher entered and started explaining the topic of the day. He didn’t even allow us to greet him properly before he gave us some examples and worksheets to do.

“Everyone should open to page 233 of your textbooks and start solving the question on exercise 15c,” Mr. Saleh announced. After a few minutes, he asked.

"Who has finished solving question number 1?" Nobody answered.

"Does anybody know the answer?" The class became silent. He knows nobody will answer him but he still asks again.

I knew the answer off-hand, but I didn't want to answer him. Because he’ll ask me to come and solve it on the board and then he will give me another question to answer and another. In the end, I’ll teach everyone the whole topic. He started walking around the class, stopping at each desk to see what the person was doing. When he stopped at my desk, he looked at me,

"Why aren't you doing the work?" 

"I've finished solving them," I replied. This man thinks he can push me to the limit but I am way ahead of him in this, but I just humble him because he is older than me and my teacher. He collected my notebook and checked. He walked back to the board.

"Since somebody has already solved the questions,” 

“Let's move on to another lesson."

The lesson ended before he finished the topic so he gave us a bunch of assignments despite other students complaining it was too much. I closed the textbook and went for the next class which was physics. Yay! Can you feel the excitement? 

As science students, we usually take our classes in SS3A, while the arts and humanities student held theirs in SS3B, which is my class by the way, and the commerce students take theirs in the library. Once I settled on a desk near the back of the class where I wouldn’t be disturbed much. Not long after the class started, Khadija which i mostly call Deedee, passed me a note; 

There's a new boy in SS3, and he's cute.

I shook my head at her words. Typical Deedee. 

Ke da maganar maza. You and the talk of boys. 

I passed it to her and she sent another one: 

Karki damu, zan hada ki da shi. Don't worry, I will set you up with him. 

Allah! this girl will kill me before my time.

Ki kiyaye ni fa. I'm warning you. 

After some time, we both got tired. I started feeling light-headed. Physics always makes me sleepy. I hid a yawn and continue to stare at the teacher not understanding anything he’s saying. I brought my phone wanting to play a game to distract myself when a WhatsApp message from an unknown number popped up.

Unknown: Hey Amna 

Me: Who are you? and how do u know my name, and where did u get my number?

Unknown: Chill, it's just me, Ammar

I looked up and found him staring at me. He then typed on his phone under the desk. A message popped up again.

Unknown: can we talk??

Me: we are talking

Unknown: I mean face-to-face. 

I saved his number.

Ammar: Please, darling kin San Bama haka dake. You know I don't joke like this with you.

Me: Don't you ever call me darling; if not, I'm not coming.

Ammar: Sorry, Dan Allah kizo yanzu. please come right now.

Me: Okay.

I dislike it when people stare at me. It gives me the creeps. Grabbing my book, I slipped my phone into my pocket. I decided to go sit next to him.

"As salaam alaiki," giving me his million-dollar smile. But I’m not overly affected by it but I smiled back. 

"Wa alaikum as salaam wa rahmatullah." 

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

I went straight to the point because in as much as we are in school right now I don’t want to be too comfortable with him. He was staring at me again and it is starting to annoy me by the second. He became quiet. I opened my notebook to start writing because the teacher was done writing on the board. He started to walk around the class checking on some students work. Stopping in front of us, he asked.

"Why aren't you taking notes?"

"Sir, my notebook is with Moha," Ammar pointed at Moha behind us.

"Mahmud, where is your notebook?" 

"Why are you writing for him? Doesn't he have hands?"

"Give him his book now," he voiced boomed, clearly annoyed.

"Sorry, sir," Moha replied, handing Ammar his notebook. He started writing, too.

I checked the time and realized it was almost the end of the period. I let out a breath and closed my book, turning to face Ammar, who was engrossed in his notes now.

"Ammar, you wanted to say something earlier," I reminded him. 

He looked up and asked, "Where should I start from?"

"Spill!" I replied. After a few seconds, he said. "I like you, Amna."