BROKEN

Back to School

Weeks went by and I still had not heard from Tasneem or Fuad. I had assumed that Fuad had gone back to school in New York by now. A part of me still felt kind of bad about how things went down with Fuad and Tasneem. On a happier note, my relationship with Hakeem was going great. We spent most of our time together and I was slowly beginning to like him more and more. I still hadn't told Hakeem that I was wrong about Fuad cheating on me with Tasneem so he never bothered to ask why she wasn't around anymore. My family had asked me why Tasneem wasn't coming over for a while but after weeks of not getting answers, they finally accepted that me and her weren't friends anymore. School was starting tomorrow and I had decided to transfer to Hakeem's school, Northpointe. Since Tasneem was out of my life, I really had no reason not to transfer. I also figured that I wanted to start fresh at a new school with new people. I wanted a clean slate. After the hectic summer that I had, all I wanted was a calm school year. Things were finally actually starting to look good for me. I had a great relationship with my dad and my step-siblings. I had even grown to like my step mother, Sumaya. We all went out to dinner the night before school started.

"Are you nervous about going to a new school?" asked my step sister Hanan.

"Not really. Are you?"

"Normally I would be, but I'll have Ali and Fatuma with me so I'm not too worried." Ali and Fatuma were my other two step siblings. They were all a year apart so Hanan would be going into her senior year, Ali would be going into his junior year, and Fatuma would be going into her sophomore year.

"When are you going to start applying to colleges?" asked Sumaya.

"I'll start once school starts back up."

"Do you know where you'll be applying?" my father asked.

"So far I've only though of Ohio State." I was originally supposed to apply to NYU too so that I could be with Fuad, but that dream was long gone. I couldn't help but worry about him. I was happy with Hakeem but I just wanted to know if Fuad was feeling better or if I had actually made his case worse.

"Do you have any advice for Hanan, Ali, and Fatuma?" Sumaya asked. They would be starting at my old school. I hoped that they would see Tasneem and tell me how she had been doing.

"Stay away from unnecessary drama and focus on your work. Colleges will look heavily at your grades."

"Are there a lot of Somalis?" asked Ali.

"Not really, there's only a couple of them."

"I heard there's a lot at your new school." said my dad. It was true, Hakeem had told me that there were all types of Somali people at Northpointe. He also promised to introduce me to them and to show me around on the first day. We finished dinner and my dad dropped me off at home. My mom was waiting up for me on the couch.

"Did you have fun?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"You should go to bed. It's already late and tomorrow is your first day of school."

"Okay goodnight hooyo." I said and went to my room. I tossed and turned in my bed until my phone vibrated. It was a text from Hakeem.

"Are you nervous?" he asked.

"Kinda."

"Don't stress..me and Ahmed will be with you the whole day."

"Okay I'm going to get some rest, goodnight love." I turned my phone off and tossed and turn until I drifted off into sleep.

---

I woke up in the morning and got ready. I did my makeup and tried on what felt like a million outfits until found one that I was satisfied with. I went out into the kitchen and my mom was dressed. Today was her first day back to work at the elementary school.

"Are you excited?" I asked.

"Yes actually. I missed working a lot." she said. "I'm about to head out. You know how to get to school right?" she asked.

"Yeah." I said. I was planning on riding with Ahmed and Hakeem anyway. She kissed me on the cheek and headed out of the door. I waited a few minutes to be safe and then grabbed my bag and headed out too. I banged on Hakeem's door, Ahmed opened it.

"Are you guys ready?" I asked.

"Yeah we were waiting on you." said Ahmed. "You girls take way too long to get ready. Do we have time to stop for breakfast?" Ahmed asked Hakeem. Hakeem walked up to me and pulled me into a hug.

"Yeah we'll have time." he responded to Ahmed. "Are you still nervous?" he asked me.

"Not really."

"Good." he said without letting go.

"Can you guys save that for when you're alone?" Ahmed asked. "We really need to go."

Hakeem let go and we went out into the parking lot.

"What do you guys want?" asked Hakeem.

"Tim Hortons." said Ahmed.

"I want Starbucks." I said.

"Starbucks it is then." said Hakeem with a smile. I looked at Ahmed, he was already getting annoyed.

"I'm sitting in front." he grabbed the door handle before I could protest. I sat in the back and didn't argue. We got our drinks and pulled up to the front of the school. There were a lot of people standing outside and I suddenly felt overwhelmed.

"Let me see your schedule." said Hakeem. I reached in my bag and handed it to him. "Your first class is close to mine, I'll take you there." We walked inside and were automatically approached by a group of Somali girls. The girls all ran to Hakeem excitedly and desperately tried to make conversation with him.

"Are they always like this?" I whispered to Ahmed.

"Yeah the girls love Hakeem."

"I heard you got a new girl." one of the girls said to Hakeem.

"Yeah here she is." Hakeem said. "Her name is Warsan."

"Hi Warsan, it's nice to meet you. I'm Bayden." she attacked me with a hug.

"It's nice to meet you too." I said. She pulled away and ran to Ahmed.

"How are you Ahmed?" she asked excitedly. "I missed you so much!"

"I've been good Bayden." he said. "You got even prettier over summer break."

She laughed out loud. "Don't get me in trouble with my boyfriend."

"Where is he?" asked Hakeem.

"I don't know. I don't think he's coming to school anymore." she shrugged.

"He dropped out? He only has one year left." said Ahmed.

"I don't know, you know how he is. He doesn't listen to anybody." she said. The bell rang and I followed Hakeem. He lead me into a crowded hallway and stopped to face me.

"Here's your class." he pointed at one of the classrooms next to us. "Meet me out here when the bell rings and I'll show you where your next one is." I nodded my head. "I would kiss you but there's too many people around." he laughed.

"It's okay we wouldn't want to be one of those couples that make out in the hallway." I said. The bell rang again and he waved and went into his class. I went into mine and sat down in the back left corner nearest to the door.

"Welcome to United States Government!" the teacher said excitedly. "My name is Miss. Matthews and this is my first year teaching." I could tell, didn't look any older than twenty two. "I'm going to start with attendance. Hailey Adams?"

"Here."

"Maria Alexander?"

"Here."

The list went on and on and I stopped paying attention until I heard a name that caught my attention.

"Naima Omar?"

"Here."