And He Created Them In Pairs

C H A P T E R 1

c h a p t e r   o n e

{ introduction } 

I woke as my alarm clock blared through my ears.

7:30 AM

"Oh Shit!" I quickly got up and ran to the bathroom and began to wash my face and brush my teeth. I can't believe I'm going to be late on my first day at my new University. Good thing I had my outfit picked out from last night. 

I quickly put on my outfit and wore my normal black hijab. I was wearing my favorite skinny jeans with a full sleeves green top. I thought I'd skip breakfast and apply some makeup. I curled my lashes and applied mascara and some concealer as well as blush. 

Looking at myself in the mirror made me realize that I actually looked really nice for waking up half an hour late. I put on my converse and grabbed my bag and headed out the door. 

"Hey Mom, its me. I just wanted to let you know I've left for school, I'll talk to you tonight!" I said into my phone. My parents live in the suburbs, and I go to school in the city. So I saved up and got an apartment, and my parents also help my pay the rent. 

I'm actually excited about my first day here. I transferred here for my second year of college. I've heard great things about this University! But unfortunately, I have no friends. 

My old college had all my high school friends and we would always go out to eat or study together. Hopefully, I'll make some new friends. 

I finally made it to campus and found my building where my class is being held. I walked into an empty classroom and sat down in the back of the class. I don't like getting attention from teachers, it makes me really nervous. Slowly, people started to walk into class. Some other girls wearing the hijab came in and they noticed me. Five seconds later, the group of three girls came and sat down next to my seat. 

"Hi, I'm Saima" the cute girl in the white hijab said with a smile. 

"Salam, I'm Laila!" I replied with a smile. The other girls began to introduce themselves. There was one in a green hijab, whose name was Arwah and one in a gray hijab named Isra. Isra seemed kind of shy, she kept looking at me weirdly. 

"So are you new here?" Arwah asked.

"Yeah I am, I just transferred." I replied "What're your guys' major?" I asked the three of them. 

"Business" They all said in unison. 

"Me too!" I was so glad I've found some people who have the same major as me! Eventually, the teacher began talking about the class. The class was Business 203, and now that I noticed there were actually a lot of South Asian kids in this class. Weird. The stench of biryani and masala was filling up my nostrils, making me really hungry. Eventually, our professor let us go after 50 minutes, and the four of us began to walk out of class. 

"So, did you guys notice everyone in the class was South Asian?" I asked them. They looked at each other. 

"Yeah the  MSA president is in this class, and he's so cute! A lot of the people were either his friends or girls who have crushes on him." Saima replied, indicating towards Isra when she finished her sentence. 

"Yeah, Isra along with all the other girls in the University have a crush on him. Good luck." Arwah said, teasingly. 

"Oh, I didn't notice anyone that cute. But then again, I only saw the back of their heads." I said. "Anyway, I'm going to head back to my apartment, this was my only class of the day." I explained. 

"Oh my god, you have an apartment here?" Arwah and Isra asked. "We commute, most of us are not allowed to live here. Strict parents and all." 

"Aw that sucks. But you guys can come over whenever! I live 5 minutes away!" I tell them. We all exchanged numbers and I headed home. 

After changing into my PJs I began to work on the assignment we were given by professor Ahseem. He assigned like three pages of work to do by tomorrow. 

After 6 hours, I was finally finished with the assignment. I looked to my phone and saw about a hundred messages from Zainab, Ayesha and Fatima. They were all making plans about going out to eat this Friday after the MSA event. 

Saima

Hey Guys! Lets go out to eat on Friday!

Arwah

Yeah lets!

Isra

What about the MSA introductory event?? I really wanted to gooo

Arwah

Oh yeah, we can go after that 

Saima

Yeah, okay Fatima! We have to go see your man right? Lol

'Okay, I'm down!' I quickly text them. I notice that I also received another couple of text messages. I groaned internally when I read the contact name. 

Ahmed 

Hey Laila! 

Ahmed 

Um this is random, but I think I saw you in my business class today?

Ahmed

Yeah I Know it's unlikely but I swear I thought it was you. Anyway, if you're here on campus let me know! I can take you to the MSA event I'm hosting this friday. 

Wait what? He's in my class? He's hosting an MSA event? Why would he be hosting an MSA event, unless he's...the president?

Great, my cousin in the guy all my new friends have a crush on. Just great.