Survival

Chapter 2

I woke up in the late afternoon. It seemed I had been sleeping for a while. My phone kept creeping up with notifications. I lazily dragged myself to the side drawer and pulled the phone. Three were from Ibraheem, one from Mariyam and four from Drew. They were all informing me of our meeting at the cafe. Oh my, I said aloud. I had completely forgotten about it. Nina had also sent a voice note telling me to go to the cafe without waiting for her because she had to escort her mom to the dentist before heading there. I prayed Asr before rushing downstairs to take a bus. The school was less than thirty minutes away from my house and the cafe was located just behind the school. I was taking driving lessons during the weekends, but I was still scared to be behind a wheel. The feeling, while driving a car gave me goosebumps, so I delayed my driving lessons. Sometimes, Ibraheem would give me a drive to school.

By the time I arrived, my friends Mariyam and Jamie were already there. They were both seated outside the café sipping their drinks. I already knew what our discussion would be about - our sleepaway camp.

"Hey." We greeted each other. I found a chair next to Jamie and sat. A waitress immediately came and I ordered a strawberry juice.

"Tomorrow, I'm going to buy some few items for Saturday," I told them.

"I have been feeling out of everything lately. I don't know why. Actually, I even took my pills before coming here." Mariyam blew air loudly.

"That's sad. But aren't you taking them a bit too much?" I asked. Mariyam was bipolar. She took pills every day, but lately I noticed that she had been taking them a bit too often.

"Nah, I'm taking them normal. Besides, sometimes I have these flashes that disrupt my brain. I can't do anything when I'm having them. The pills calm me," She explained.

"Don't worry. Camp will take everything out of your system. You will be refreshed. You'll see," Jamie reassured her.

"Yeah, he's right. But does your aunt know? I'm sure she would persuade your parents not to let you go." I said, remembering her aunt. Aunt Faridah was a very strict lady, who had a strong say in Mariyam's family. Her knowing about the pills, would just be enough for Mariyam's trip to be cancelled.

"Nah. She doesn't know. I mean, you know how she can get. I begged Mom and Dad not to tell her." We laughed relating experiences we had with Aunt Faridah. She was the toughest lady I had ever seen. Always wanting to be in control of everything. I admired her strong willed attitude and doing whatever she wanted. But her controlling everything? Nah. It's wasn't right. We were created to have our own unique thoughts, different from others. Allah SWT created us that way. No one has the right to forcefully make another do what they didn't want.

At that moment, our other friends - Nina, and Natalya made their way towards the cafe. Nina was the same height as I was. I weighed a bit more than, but we still borrowed each others' clothes. Natalya, on the other hand, was quite skinny and tall. Had blue eyes, shallowed cheeks, and pale skin. I teased her a lot about how she should model for Victoria's Secret. Nina, being the most talkative of us all, began bombarding us with stories.

"I was washing a rug. Johnny spilled milk on it and Mom being mom, insisted I wash it. Ugh. So tiring and boring." She began, removing her blue striped coat and placing it on the chair.

I smirked, "You are so lazy. Who did you want to clean it?"

"Him of course. He makes a mess. He cleans it. Simple. That's how it should be. He makes so much mess that I'm just so tired. And why do I have to always be the one? Thank God, we are going away for a while. You don't know how happy I am. At least for the time being, Kenny and Jennifer will clean his mess." She laughed, "Oh, how I wish I would be there to see how their faces will shrink and burn." She laughed again.