King & Queen of Shadows

Chapter 5

      My room is the one thing that I actually like. It's bigger than my room in New York. But a lot of things in this house is bigger than our place in the city. We were living in a shoe box.  

      The only window I have faces the front lawn and most of the view of the sky is blocked by the large Oak tree out font. Like the rest of the house it's filled with dust, dirt and other things that shouldn't be in a house when you first walk inside of it.

      I can't put words to how wrong it feels to be in here. Like it's not mine, like I've been kidnapped by people who claim to be my parents, but in reality my parents live out in Hawaii or some place that's calm and peaceful, away from this dirt and dust. I thought about painting over the dull brown and tan wallpaper, but I decide against it, mainly because I'm too lazy to do such a thing.

      I start to unpack, but stop myself. I think, honestly that I will get to it in the morning, but I highly doubt I will. I'll just end up never unpacking it, in the hopes that my parent get the message and we move back home. Our real home.

***

A couple of days past and by the time we finish unpacking and semi-cleaning the house, Mom suggest we do some shopping because school will be starting for Renwood in two days. I'm less then excited to start school in a town that people already knew each other from Middle School, and the year before. Everyone's already knows each other, and they were more than comfortable with each other.

      I throw on the first pair of blue jeans I find and put on a random T-shirt I grab from on my bed. Not looking at what it says- not really caring -I put on my shoes and run to the car.

      We drive down a street Mom says she remembers seeing a mall of some sort. I wouldn't be surprised if we get lost, Mom might be a scary driver, but she gets lost so easily that it worries me sometimes. Her sense of direction is so bad that she once got us lost getting me to school one day.

      "Here we are," she parks in front of a store entitled: Betties Bargain Store. The word "cheap" screams at me when I see the racks of clothes they have hanging out on display. If this is the best they've got, then my chances of getting something I like are at an all-time low.

      Once we're inside, I see that the old grandma apparel they have makes Mom gasp at almost everything-and I mean in the good way. There aren't just clothes here, there's pretty much anything you can get at a low price crammed into one place, and this is the place if you need anything at a decent cost next to retail prices. Do they even have one of those around here? I doubt it.

      "Look at this," she holds up a button down pink turtle neck with pink and red flowers plastered all over it. "Isn't it cute?" she smiles with excitement. "If you pair it with that nice floral skirt you have, you could wear it to jumma namaz next Friday."

      "Put it down," I snort.

      "What's wrong with it?" she puts her hand on her hip and wait's for my answer.

      "It's too..." I point at it, trying very hard not to hurt her feeling in the process, "pink."

      "Pink?" she looks back at the rack of clothes. "How about this, Amina?" she lifts up an identical top, but in a creamy peach color.

      I try to hold back the gagging sound that I want to make when I see it. You know, the second you see something and all of a sudden you get the urge to regurgitate-not meaning to though, just a reaction.

      "No thanks. I'm going to my first day of Junior high, not preschool," I gait over to another rack away from the painfully ugly attempts at teen clothes. Eventually, I find a pile that isn't that bad to look at and I begin to explore what kind of things I can find. I pick up a white and gray flannel plaited button down shirt.

      I can hear Mom behind me huffing at this, "Amina."

      I glance over my shoulder, "What?"

      "It's not that colorful," she notes.

     "May I please choose what I want?"

     She sighs again-louder this time, "Fine," she mutters something under her breath as she walks away, leaving me at once.

     "Moms, huh?"

     I try to find the person who has just said this and see an employee putting prices on mugs. He's on a ladder with his back to me, but from what I can see, which isn't a lot, is that he's tall and has pitch black hair.

      "Tell me about it," I look through the pile again.

     I listen to him step of the latter and I glance up for a quick second. When I do I have to do a double take. I can't quite see his eyes since his liquid black bangs cover them as he looks down at the shelves near his feet. He doesn't seem older than me, maybe the same exact age. He rises up from the tiled floor and faces me. He moves his hand over his blemish free copper toned forehead and glares at me like I've just said something awful to him.

      "Do you need any help?" he says with a scowl.

      I don't notice it until that second that we are the only ones in the aisle.