Alina Kanaan

Chapter 21

"Your Lord has not forsaken you, nor does He hate you." (Quran 93:3)

I made it through another week of American Idol. There are only about six people left in the competition including Mason, Audrey, and I.

In sha Allah, I make it further and further in the competition. I am so excited to be this far, but also nervous at the same time because the competition is tough now. Every single person who is left is an amazing singer.

Aman picks me up after the show is over and we go to his house.

We lay on his bed and we cuddle.

"Just think, soon we'll be married," Aman says. We've already set the month to August for sure. We're going to get married in Egypt with Salma and then have another wedding in India for Aman's family.

"I know and then we can do whatever we want," I say.

"I know!" Aman's phone starts to ring.

"I have to take this. I'll be right back," he says as he gets up and leaves the room. He closes the door behind him.

I stare at the room. This will be my future bedroom. We're going to live in LA, eight hours away from my parents. I shudder at the thought of living so far away from my parents. I could take living an hour or two away, but eight hours! I have absolutely no one in LA or even near.

Then I realize, my parents made the decision to move miles and miles away from their families in order to come here. They wanted to give all of us a better life. I'm so thankful for that.

I feel tired so I quickly fall asleep. I have a dream about something Francisco did for me a while ago.

I was walking home from school one day during sophomore year. Francisco had to stay at school to do something for wood shop, so I walked home without him. We lived near each other, so we always walked home together. But not that day.

I was walking through a park that was a block behind the school. I noticed that a guy from school was walking a distance behind me. I didn't know him, but I saw him around school.

I didn't think anything of it until he got closer to me. I thought that he would pass me, but he walked beside me. I was unsure of what to do. I slowly increased my walking speed.

"You're pretty," he said to me. He kept staring at me.

"Thanks," I said while looking to the ground, avoiding his stare.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" He asked me in a voice as if he were trying to seduce me or something.

"No. My religion doesn't allow it," I said, still looking at the ground.

"So? I'll give you the whole world, more than God can give you," he whispered in my ear. I moved away from him, but he moved closer.

"No one is greater than God."

"Maybe you're right, but your eyes are the best creation He's made if He's real."

I started to run, but he quickly caught up with me and pushed me in a side street with no one there. He began to hug me and put his hands everywhere. He kept kissing me on my cheeks and my neck. I prayed that he wouldn't kiss me on my lips. I wanted to save it for my future husband.

I squirmed to get away. I felt helpless because his grip was too strong to get out of.

Then, I saw Francisco. He punched the guy. The guy got out a knife and threatened to stab Francisco if he didn't leave. At this point, I had tears streaming down my face. The last thing I wanted was to see Francisco die in front of me. It reminded me of Hassan getting shot right in front of my years ago in Palestine all because of me. I would be the cause of this accident too. I didn't want that at all because Francisco was and is one of my best friends.