Believe Me

Zaria

We get everything set up as more and more people arrive. We have Jamal stand by the front to alert us if my mom comes. We all hide waiting for her to arrive. Jamal runs back and hides she's coming. "What is going on here?" I hear my mom say. We all jump out and yell surprise. My mom breaks out in tears of happiness. I go up to her wishing her a happy birthday.

My mom cuts the cake and is distributed to everyone. I grab a bag of hot cheetos and open it dumping it into my mouth from the bag. "Why are you such a boy," Hasna says sitting next to me. "How?" I ask in between chewing. "That's how," she says. I shake my head. "So who's that boy?" She questions. "What boy, there's a lot," I smirk. "The one that I don't know," she says pointing. "Xavier, that's my mom's friend's son," I tell her. "He's hot," she says. "Hasna astaghfirullah," I say playfully punching her. She just laughs "he is...like damn," she says staring at him. "Lower your gaze," I tell her. "He's coming here," she says

"Hey," he says pulling a chair. "This is my cousin Hasna," I introduce. "Hi, I'm Xavier Daniels," he introduces himself. I laugh "Why do you introduce yourself with your full name?" I question. "Cause it's important," he says. "You should go around introducing yourself as Zaria Salim," he says. I roll my eyes. "Hey, Zaria," Samir says pulling up a chair. Hasna pokes me in the side giggling. Xavier looks at us confused and I roll my eyes at Hasna.

Jamal pulls a chair and all of a sudden all the teenage were in a circle. "Zari," Amir calls me. "What?" I ask not getting up. "Come here," he says. I sigh getting up and walking up to him. "Get the mic we need a performance," he says. "Now?" I ask. "Dad insisted," he says. I groan dragging myself to get the mic and set it up. "Can I get your attention please," Amir says speaking through the mic. "We have a special performance from my one and only sister Zaria Salim," Amir says. I look over my dad with a smirk.

"I may be a little rusty maybe a lot but this is for my mom," I say. I start singing Maher Zain Number One. "Happy birthday Ma," I say after I finish. "Shukraan (thank you)," she says giving me a hug. I sit back down. Xavier was staring at me. He seem to do that a lot which makes me uncomfortable. It was like he was hoping to get answers just by staring.

"Since when can you sing," a boy named Ali says, he was one of my mom's friend's son. "Since, God knows when..." I say. "You have a great voice," Xavier says. I nod "thanks," I say awkwardly. Hasna looks at Xavier then me and keeps doing that. "What are you doing?" I ask. She shrug "we are going to talk," she says. "No we are not," I say. "Yes we are," she says.

"Let's play Dare," Jamal says sitting down on the floor. I join in on the floor. Everyone else that wanted to play joined except for Samir, Virginia (my mom's worker friend's daughter), and Karen (my cousin, Hasna's brother). They just watch us. "Zari, get a cup and fill it with water and try to balance it... on your nose," Amir says. "You are goofy," I say getting up. I get a plastic cup and fill it up. I got back to the group and try to balance it. Right away it spilled on me. I wipe my face and sit down.

Everyone starts laughing and I notice they were recording. "Hasna... chicken dance time," I laugh. I play it for her. Her face turned red and she refused to finish the dance. "You are mean," Hasna says splashing water in my face. I stare at her in disbelief. "Wow," I say wiping my face with my hand. "Thanks for doing that... payback from you dumping water on me," Xavier says. I stick out my tongue and take a cup and throw the water at him. "I should have saw that coming," he says. Before anyone can react it turns into a water war.

Most people went home and changed and came back and some couldn't. It was my family of course, Hasna's family, Xavier's family, and Samir's family. We all gather around in a bonfire. Xavier came back with his guitar. He starts playing it which made the mood great. Alhamdulillah today was a good day. "Zaria why don't you bless us with your singing," Xavier says beside me. I just smile but I don't sing.

He then start singing Spongebob campfire song. I break out laughing. "You are goofy," I say in the middle of laughing. Hasna was laughing as well. Jamal sings along with him. "Omg you cause are funny," I laugh. "May I see your guitar please?" I ask. "Yeah," he says handing it to me. I start playing Main Rang Sharbaton ka (an awesome Hindi song) I didn't know what the lyrics meant until a couple of weeks ago when I searched it up. I sing to it.