Memories turned to dust - A Zion Kuwonu Fanfic

Eff the Media, Eff Stereotypes

(unedited)

I slammed my books on the desk and slumped down onto my chair. Everyone was settling in and people were quietly talking and laughing. I pulled out my phone and began texted Elom, who had another class. I heard the classroom door open and the class got quieter. The teacher slowly walked in and placed his books on the desk. 

I put my phone away and sat up straighter. Mr. Lin cleared his throat.

"class today we have a new student coming. I want you to be on your best behaviour when she walks in. I will not tolerate any comments" Mr Lin turned around and began scribbling the title of today's lesson.

 Just the the door opened and a short girl walks in, the headmaster trailing behind her. He smiles at the class and leaves after giving the girl a nod. She turns around and smiles weakly at the class. 

She wore a coffee brown hijab and an oversized beige sweater with navy green jeans. Every on in the class grew quieter and Mr. Lin put his markers down. He gave her a smile.

"hello, I'm Mr Lin, And you are?" He said, gesturing her to come closer to the centre. He walked over hugging her notebooks and turned to face the class.

"My name's Ayesha" she said, her voice low.

"Hey, Ayesha. Where are you from?" Mr. Lin said.

"United Kingdom" She said. Thats when I noticed her British accent. 

"I think he meant originally" A guy named Chris yelled from the back.

Mr. Lin gave him a hard stare and turned back to Ayesha. 

"you can take a seat where ever you want" he said, pointing to the only seat available, which was beside me.

She walked over, keeping her head up. She gently placed her books down and gracefully sitting onto the seat. She glanced over and smiled at me. I smiled back and leaned over.

"my names Aaliyah" I whispered.

"That's my little sisters name" she whispered, leaning towards me a bit. We smiled at each other for a bit then she turned and looked at the board. I heard a few whispers coming from the back and turn to see Chris, who was sitting right behind her, lean forward and place a note on her desk. She frowned and picked it up, slowly unfolding it.

Her face darkens and she reads the note. I caught a glimpse of dark permanent marker on the piece of paper, but I didn't see the words. Ayesha slowly folded it up and placed it on the corner of her desk. She opened her note book and began taking notes. 

I turned to look at Chris, who was staring at me. 

"what was that?" I whispered to her. She looked up and shook her head.

"It's ok" she whispered. She continued scribbling her notes.

The class passed smoothly after that. When the bell rang, I started to pack up and watched Chris carefully. He finished packing and got up to leave. He passed Ayesha and purposely bumped her. Her books fell from her hands. She glanced at his back and sighed. She bend down and began picking things up. I followed her and began picking up the papers that fell from her binder. I picked up the note Chris gave her. I opened it and gasped.

"GO BACK TO YOUR COUNTRY TERRORIST" Black marker wrote these words in bold. Ayesha leaned down and took the paper from my hand. She crumbled it up and threw it in the recycling. It landed in gracefully even though she threw it from half the class. 

"I do basketball" she said, laughing at my face. She extended her hand and I let her help me up.

"thanks" she said, smiling.