Zahra

27: I never said I was an angel

In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful

He created the heavens and the earth with profound truth. He winds the night about the daylight. And He winds the daylight about the night. For He subjugated the sun and the moon to a fixed order, each one running its course for a stated term preordained Him. Most surely, He alone is the Overpowering One, the Most Forgiving (Q: 39 V: 5)

Aunt Melanie didn't ask any questions, which I was grateful for. She took one look at me, standing all drenched in the foyer, and ushered me in silently. She led me to Hannah's room and turned on the heater, and left after leaving dry clothes for me on the bed, promising to come back with warm soup.

A while later after I had taken a warm bath and was wearing Hannah's college sweater and a pair of trousers, I was sitting on the bed, willing myself not to burst into tears when Brian entered. He opened the door before knocking on it and I rolled my eyes, typical Brian.

"Hey", a half smile tugged at his lips, "can I come in?"

"Sure", I motioned for him to sit on the bed.

He came inside and sat down after shutting the door, he was silent for a while, puffing out his cheeks and looking around the room. Then he said, "how long?"

I looked up from where I was playing with the sleeves of the sweater, "how long what?"

"How long has she...", he paused, a guilty look crossing his face, "how long has Valerie been bullying you?"

"I wouldn't call it bullying exactly", I shrugged, "she didn't really do anything to me, her friends are the more terrible ones, she just didn't like seeing me with you"

Brian's face grew tense, "so, her friends have been bullying you then?"

"Kind of"

"Dammit Zahra", he sighed and clasped his hands behind his head, I bit the inside of my lower lip and looked down. He didn't call me by my name unless he was really serious or pissed, "why didn't you tell me about it? About Valerie, I could have cleared things with her"

"I thought I could handle it", I protested, "besides I have my friends, and I actually tried to tell you about Valerie one time"

"Well why didn't you?"

"I missed the opportunity, and then it didn't come up again"

Brian exhaled loudly and ran a hand down his face, he looked frustrated and was quiet for s while, "I'm sorry", he said finally.

"For what?"

"For how Valerie treated you, I should have noticed", his face twisted in guilt, "I should kept a closer eye on you in school"

I frowned, "hey it's not your fault", I told him, "besides if you were constantly checking up on me I probably would have told you to buzz off", I added with a chuckle.

"Guess so", he chuckled, "does Zayd know about this?"

My already bad mood deflated further at the mention of Zayd's name and I frowned, "he knows a bit"

"And he didn't do anything?", he frowned, a tinge of annoyance in his voice.

"Like I said, it's not that bad", I said, "besides I barely see him in school"

"I'm sorry", Brian apologized again, "I'll make sure this doesn't happen again"

"It's fine, thanks", I smiled gratefully at him, Brian had been more of a brother to me in the past few hours than Zayd had been in the last two weeks, "also, you really didn't have to break up with Valerie", I told him, "I mean I know what she did was wrong, but was that really enough to end your relationship with her?"