Converting the Bad Boy ✔

Chapter 36

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(Edited)

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"I'm so hungry," Yasmine groaned, eyeing Theo's souvlaki hungrily.

"No, you're not, Yaz," I nudged her with a smile.

Yasmine scowled. "Don't you dare try your reverse psychology bull crap on me, Mims."

"Oh, come on! It totally works," I cried in protest.

"No, it doesn't," Yasmine huffed, crossing her arms. "And I am not going to pretend to eat an invisible sandwich like you made us do last year."

"That was hilarious," Denise recalled with a smirk.

"People were giving us looks," Yasmine moaned.

"Sometimes that's a good thing," Theo shrugged, chomping on his souvlaki as if he were in an advertisement. I ignored the meaty smell that wafted from his lunch and focused on anything but the hollow emptiness in my stomach.

It was Ramadan. That joyful time of year where we abstain from food and water from sunrise to sunset and slowly starve ourselves until we can feast for Iftar. I tried not to think about the food Immi would be making tonight for dinner and instead thought of all the impoverished people in the world, who had so little, while we had so much...

"I don't know how you do this," Damian lay on the grass clutching his stomach and closing his eyes, trying to 'hibernate.' "I'm dying."

"Oh, stop being such a drama queen," I chided teasingly. "We're only halfway through the day."

"Exactly," Damian groaned. I was quite impressed how determined he was on fasting every day for his first Ramadan. And because Yasmine had bet that he couldn't last a whole day without giving up, Damian was even more insistent on winning. That was his motivation anyway.

"You can give up, if you like," I poked him with a twig, and Damian flinched.

"Never," he mumbled.

"We won't judge you if you decide to call it quits now," Yasmine added. "It's totally understandable, since it's your first Ramadan and all."

"No, I want to do this!" Damian raised a fist to the sky, eyes still closed but eyebrows pinched with determination. "I'm going to prove how dedicated I am to Islam, even if it kills me!"

"It probably will," Theo chuckled.

"I admire your determination," I said, and Damian opened one eye to look at me.

"You do?"

I laughed at how child-like he sounded. "I remember my first Ramadan, I totally bailed after three hours and ate my friend's chips," I recalled wistfully. "You're doing well."

Damian straightened up, leaning on his palm. "Of course I'm doing well," he said a little cockily, before sheepishly adding, "Alhamdulillah."

I exchanged a smile with Yasmine. It had been around three weeks since Damian had converted, and he was a regular at the mosque, going there every Friday and Saturday to learn more about Islam. In those three weeks he had been hanging out with my friends and I, always asking me questions about religion. When his friends found out he was a Muslim they were surprised, and that was an understatement. It looked like Sam was going to pass out when he declared his new identity. But his mates were totally supportive, though they were a little disappointed to discover that he could no longer party or drink and hook up with girls like he used to. Damian's reply to this was simply that he didn't care about all those things anymore, which probably shocked them more than his confession.