Light Upon Light

#8 The Family Council

Assalamualaikum!!

Let's pray to die in our Sajdah, shall we?! Best possible way to die if you ask me, unless we're talking about dying as shaheed.

Also, I hope you're reading this after you're done with all your duties and prayers :)

So here's the next chapter in the life of Junaina Ali.

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#8 The Family Council

For the rest of the school day all I could think of was that senior. Azza told me his name's Zaid Hashim and that he's my cousin's best bud. I then figured out that he's Sidra's brother, the one whom Samar was asking about in the morning. I couldn't get him out my system.

How could I? Nobody has ever ignored me like him. I was a bit miffed.

But also very very intrigued.

At the end of the school Samar actually came to get me from my class. I knew it was his protectiveness and nothing else, but it annoyed me. Especially since some of the girls in my class were checking him out brazenly. So much for their high morals.

"Are you okay? Heard that scum Azhar troubled you?" He asked as we walked down the corridor towards the stairs.

"I'm fine. You know I can handle myself. Plus, I took a leaf out of your book and used the family name," I said winking.

"Hey! That's my trademark! You don't get to copy my moves!" He exclaimed.

I giggled.

"Oh please! I have some standards," I remarked.

"Yeah right," Samar said and we both burst out laughing.

We did grab quite a lot of attention from the moment he came to my class and all the way to the bus. On the way, a lot of kids stopped to talk to Samar or just convey their salam to him. I admit, I was a little impressed. Especially with Samar's down to earth nature. He responded to everyone and didn't leave anyone without a smile. He even spoke to the girls who were throwing themselves at him nicely, although he had his gaze lowered.

That's a thing he did whenever he encountered girls, and when I thought of it, he never maintained propose eye contact with me too. It was puzzling. I thought of asking Ayesha di about it later.

Back in my school in Dubai, I was just as popular if not more. But I never interacted with my fellow students the way Samar did. It opened out a new perspective to popularity for me. I kind of felt a little bad on remembering how I used to dismiss the people who wanted my attention. I was haughty and proud and enjoyed being so.

But seeing Samar interact with his schoolmates showed me that I could be popular and nice while I'm at it. It's probably why everyone loved him here.

When we got to the bus I saw Zaid standing by the door along with some other boys who looked like seniors. On seeing Samar he waved him over. Yet again he did not even spare a glance on me. I wondered if I had something on my face that made me look repulsive. I took a quick look around and my fears were calmed when I saw guys checking me out. Including that git Azhar. He actually had the nerve to smirk at me. I rolled my eyes in response.

I turned back to look at Zaid. He still did not look at me once.

I didn't have time to be frustrated as I was called out by Sidra. She beckoned me to sit by her in the bus and I gladly did so. Better her as seat mate then Baseera (who I discovered was in the other division of X grade) or some of my other classmates. Their awkwardness in interacting with me was bothering me. I almost felt like I was being an intruder.