Chapter 9

    About a week has passed since Abdulrahman was sent to the hospital. There’s still no progress with his situation, but at least he’s still breathing, so there is hope that he will wake up soon. I can’t stop feeling guilty, I know who caused all of this, but it does not matter. Even if I do report Fahad to the police they won’t believe me especially since I don’t have any evidence. Besides, Fahad and the rest don’t even matter to me and they seldom cross my mind, because my whole life has changed.

    Ever since that day, I have been praying for Abdulraham to wake up day and night. I stopped going to places besides the hospital, school and home, of course. Even my wardrobe has changed; I only wore either black, or white. My friends didn’t matter that much to me, I only talked to them when I found them in the hospital. During school I’d always be sitting alone reading some of the books he gave me last summer. I stopped replying to my calls and texts; I only kept my phone on hoping that I would get a call saying that Haman has woken up.

    When I was at the hospital alone, Noor finally decided to show up, after not visiting for three days. I couldn’t help but notice how destroyed she looked, and how red her eyes were from crying, however I decided to just ignore her presence completely and continued praying by Haman’s side.

    “He’s gone.” Noor whispered.

    “He’s right in front of you, and thank you for finally deciding to come visit.” I replied coldly, without making any eye contact with her.

    “No, I mean Adam, he left.” She said, as she took a seat by the bed. I wanted to scream at her; I couldn’t believe her, Adam? What about the guy lying in front of you? The one who has been in a comma for the past week? The guy you dare and call your best friend? You finally come here, but instead of checking up on him, you come here and cry about your stupid boyfriend? However, I didn’t find any good from that, so I just kept my anger in, hoping that she’ll leave if I continued ignoring her.

    “Malak, what’s wrong, why aren’t you talking to me?” She nagged.

    I shot a dirty look at her, “I’m too busy praying for my best friend. You know him right? He’s the one who’s fighting to stay alive? The one you forgot even existed?”

    She shot up from the chair, but forced her anger to stay in for a while, “Look, I know you are upset, and want to take your anger out because you can’t find a reasonable reason for all of that to happen to a good guy like him. However, you can’t just dis people like that, and say false things about us.”

    “I didn’t ‘dis’ anyone besides you. That’s what you get for coming here to complain about your boyfriend, instead of coming to check up on Abdulrahman. I thought you were supposed to be his friend!”

    “I am his friend, but you-“

    I couldn’t hold the anger in any longer, “If you are his friend, then where were you for the past three days? If you are his friend, you would have been shattered by the news that Abdulrahman is in a coma! Instead of feeling sad for yourself that Adam is no longer with you!”

    She took some time to grasp my words, and then she replied in a light voice, “Do you really think that I haven’t been crying myself to bed every night because someone else might be leaving my life? But I learned from past experience that if I put on a brave face and have faith in God, things might actually turn around, and go the way we want it to. I know Abdulrahman, and he will wake up, if God wanted to.” She stopped for a second, and continued in a sweet tone, “Malak, you are right, I shouldn’t have came in here to complain, but look at yourself. You’ve been coming here everyday, and you stopped caring about your own life! Do you really think Abdulrahman would want you to just throw your life away so you could stay by his bedside? You cant just ignore your life like that, what about your family and school? You can’t just leave them, you need to include those in your life as well.”

    Her words were soothing, but I couldn’t hold the pain and tears, “You said that something similar happened to you; what happened?” I asked, hoping that her story will make me feel better.

    She sighed, closed the door, and then sat beside me. “It’s a complicated story, but my Dad could have been sent to jail if it wasn’t for Adam’s and his Dad.”

    “What do you mean?”

    “Well, my Dad was the cause for a woman’s death. He was driving in front of a red light, and when he tried to stop, the breaks didn’t respond. At that moment, a woman was driving right in front of him. His car continued racing ahead, and hit the top left corner of her car, causing her car to crash. However, that contact wasn’t enough to stop his own car, so the car continued driving away, until it crashed a few kilometers away from the accident.

    The court didn’t believe his story, but thanks to Adam’s father –who was my Dad’s lawyer-, he managed to prove that the breaks didn’t work. That is what Adam gave me the first time we talked; it was evidence that my father didn’t intend to harm anyone.”

    “Weird.” That was all I said after her complicated story.

    “What is?” She asked.

    “You’re story was supposed to make me feel better. However, that car accident sounds very familiar to the one Abulrahman’s mom was in. Your Father was the one who caused his Mother’s death.”

    She stayed quite, until I realized what I said was wrong, “Noor, I’m sorry I didn’t mean it like that…”

    “It wasn’t his fault,” her voice was shrieking, “he didn’t mean for it to happen.”

    I took her hands, and put them between mine, “Noor, I am sorry. You’re right it wasn’t his fault. Things like that just happen and we can’t always control what happens.”

    “That is why I didn’t visit often. It is my fault that he’s here. The doctor said that someone probably attacked him, and if that was true, then it was probably Fahad and Faisal. If I didn’t interfere with his life, they would have never attacked him.” I felt her tear drip on my hand.

    I was shocked at how easily she figured out it was him, and me wonder if others figured it out as well, but I decided to play dumb, “I’m the one who asked you to help him. Besides, we don’t really know if he was attacked by anyone.”

    Abdulrahman’s perspective

 

    I was laying in a bed somewhere, hearing people talking, and a sound of a beep going off every few seconds. I wasn’t able to open my eyes, and I was too comfortable to move from my place. I tried to listen to the voices besides me, but the words weren’t clear. I waited a few minutes for my ears to catch at least a single word, but there was no use. I decided to at least open my eyes, to see my surroundings. It was a little hard, as if I didn’t have control over my own body, but then I finally managed to open them. I was in a closed room. I looked in front of me, and I saw a TV. Then I looked a little lower, and found wires, and tubes, all of which were attached to my body. I didn’t understand what was going on. I tried pushing myself up using my right hand, but I was only able to raise it for a second, and it fell right back where it was. Then I started hearing two girls gasping. I finally got my hearing back, I thought.

    “Haman, you’re finally awake! How are you feeling? We should go call everybody else!”

    I was confused about the whole situation, “Who are you?” I asked the two excited girls.

    

Chapter 8

    I wasn’t able to talk to Manal the whole day, so I had enough time to think about the whole thing during and between classes. I couldn’t understand her, we just officially met each other, and that was the second real conversation we have with each other, so what gives her the right to speak to me like that? Why does it matter to her if I smoke? She said herself that a lot of guys smoke at our school! Besides, when did it become appropriate to talk to someone you just became friends with like that, and treat them this way

   I looked for her afterschool so we could talk or shout about all of this. When I saw her, I could tell just by her fast pace, and the way she wrapped her arms tight around her books that she was still upset, “Manal, wait!” when she turned around, all my anger washed away. She looked very crossed and her face begged for answers, “I’m sorry.” The words just slipped out of my mouth. I didn’t plan on apologizing to her; in fact I was looking for an apology from her.

    Her face expression changed, she actually smiled for a second, but then forced that smile off her face, “I thought you were a decent guy, but it doesn’t matter now so just tell me the truth about the cigarettes.”

    I motioned her to follow me towards the library, because I knew I wouldn’t find the guys there, “I’ll tell you the truth, but you have to promise to never speak to me in public again, and to never tell anyone about this.” I said quietly, remembering Faris’s words, ‘Now your new girlfriend knows? It's okay, don't worry about her we'll fix that problem’. He could hurt her, or constantly threaten her if she ever even thinks about making the situation between us two and the cigarettes go public. He couldn’t afford anyone knowing about me smoking, because if more people find out about me, they could find out about him and the rest, and believe it or not, their families’ reputation is pretty good here.

    “Go on…” she said, her eyes not meeting mine.

    “I only started smoking because I thought it would help the pain I got from my Mom’s death, but it didn’t help. Now I just smoke because I cant stop, and these cigarettes were given to me by Faisal, and I actually forgot about them.”

    “Now was that so hard to say?” She smiled.

    “So all is forgiven and forgotten?”

    “Ask me that question when you stop for good.”

    After Manal left, I went behind the school to smoke, and luckily no one was there. I got the box that Manal found, but when I opened the box, I found that she ruined all the cigarettes, but one when she stepped on the box. I lit up the cigarette and started remembering the girl with the dark green eyes. I always do that, when I live a perfect moment, I always tend to imagine what could have happened after, if I just said something instead of sitting there like an idiot. I could have at least said thank you, maybe we would have talked a little, became really good friends, and then who knows, we might have even get married someday, but I will never know her, because I probably wont see her again. I know it’s stupid to even think about marrying a girl I don’t know, but it’s not like I really mean it, it’s just a story I make up in my mind to kill time.

    “You know I’m really bored right now.” Said a familiar, deep voice.

    “Yeah, me too.” Replied another voice.

    “What do you think we should do?”

    “Well, I have always been a fan of teaching; how about we teach that boy with the cigarette over there a lesson.”

    When I turned around, I was stunned to see Faisal and Fahad. I got up to my feet as fast as possible, but I had nowhere to go but through them. I took a couple of steps back to think of a way out.

    “You should have never left us like that.” Said Fahad grimly, “You know, my fist really misses that pretty face of yours.” He continued.

    “Since when did you start flirting with boys?” Said Faisal to Fahad.

    Knowing that a short fight is going to start between them, I took that chance to grab the disconnected pipe, and to use it as a weapon. However, the moment my fingertips made contact with the pipe, Faisal’s foot was already moving at high speed across my jaw, making me roll over to the school’s wall. I gradually picked myself up, and stood in a fighting stance. Fahad swung the pipe, but missed me, so I moved fast and caught him with a jab on his nose. I tried sealing that moment, and ran, but Faisal was too alert, and tackled me onto the ground.

    “Leave him, he’s mine now!” Said Fahad, as he wiped his blood with his left sleeve.

    He approached me slowly, and picked me off the ground with one hand. When I was on both feet, I swung a right hook, forcing him to let me go, but Faisal was there again to stop me from running away. He held me from the back, and paralyzed my whole body. Then Fahad faced me with a devilish smile, and dug the pipe into my stomach as hard as could, which made me drop to my knees. I started coughing out blood now; my brain couldn’t find a way out, “Please, I won’t tell.” I forced the words out.

    “Let’s go, he got the message.” Said Faisal, pulling Fahad away.

    “Just one more thing.” He said, as he hit the tip of the pipe on the ground a couple of times.

    “He had enough, lets go!” Faisal pulled Fahad even harder, forcing his feet to move.

    “Let me go!” Fahad dropped the pipe and pushed Faisal onto the ground. Then he picked the pipe again, and wrapped his hands around it as if he was holding baseball bat, “This is for almost breaking my nose!” He swung the pipe onto my head, my head hit the floor hard as it went down, and everything went blank.

    Malak’s perspective

    Faisal kicked the door of the abandoned house open, as Fahad came running in behind him, “He’s knocked out!” Barked Faisal breathlessly.

    “He’s fine, he is probably on his way home right now!” Shouted Fahad at Faisal.

    “No! You probably killed him!” Faisal replied, his eyes almost as red as fahads’.

    “I did not, he is fine!”

    “What happened?” Shouted Faris, demanding a straight answer.

    “We just did as you told us to; we made sure Abdulrahamn wouldn’t say anything.” Replied Fahad.

    “So you killed him? What did you do to him?” I demanded.

    “It was Fahad – he hit Abdulrahman with a pipe on his head, and now Abdulrahman won’t wake up!” Said Faisal to Faris, and ignoring me presents.

    “You said if I stay with you, and ignored him, that you wouldn’t harm him!” I cried.

    “Malak, shut up!” Said Faris, “Now where is he?” Faris continued.

    “We didn’t know what do to, so we just left him.” Said Faisal.

    “You are supposed to be the responsible one, Fahad! Did anyone see you guys?” Barked Faris.

    “No, no one saw us.” Murmured Fahad.

    “What are we going to do about it?” Whispered Faisal.

    “Well, you guys are going back to the school and make sure you didn’t leave any evidence that will get you caught, and pray that he doesn’t say anything.” Ordered Firas, and then he faced me, “And you, if you say anything to anyone about this, you’ll wish you were in that boy’s place!”

    I swallowed hard, my eyes were filled with fear, “I won’t say anything, I swear.”

    “Get the hell out, I need to think of a way to fix all of this.”

    The moment I left the house, I ran to Abdulrahman’s home. When I got there, I rang the doorbell at least five times, but no one answered. I picked up my phone and called him. On the forth ring, I heard his sister’s voice, Maryam, at the other end of the line, “Malak, Abdulrahman was found knocked out on the school’s ground, and he is at the hospital right now.” She said with a teary voice, and hung up the phone immediately.

   

    When I got to the hospital, only Maryam and her Father were there by his bedside. I walked into the room with startled eyes at the sight of my best friend having wires all over his body, bandages around his head and an oxygen mask over his face. Maryam rose from her chair, and wrapped her arms around my frozen body, “A teacher found him, and he was brought here immediately. The doctor said he has severed damage in his abdominal, and his skull. He doesn’t know when my brother will wake up…. The doctor doesn’t know even know if Haman will ever wake up.” She whispered, her tears that were dropping on my shoulder like rain, forced her voice to break every couple of seconds.

Chapter 7

I was on the ground, with food all over my shirt, in the middle of the cafeteria. Everyone has stopped eating to see what have happened. I was shocked because of Adam's surprising action. When I thought he was actually looking to make me happy, right before when I thought I've made a decent friend, he goes and does something like this. What will he even gain? He will be gone next week, so why would he even do this if he's leaving soon? Why make a bad name for yourself right before you leave? Hatred started to grow in me. Was Fahad talking about Adam in the cold store when he said “your angel could be the complete opposite.”? I looked up and Saw Manal's face shocked for what just happened, her eyes on her stained clothes, then she looked at me, and saw how even worse I was.
“Are you okay?” Whispered Manal sweetly.
“Yeah,” I got on both feet to face her, ignoring all the yes that were tracing every inch of me, “I'm sorry, I think I tripped over something.” I said giving Adam a quick look. He gave me a quick wink right before he left my sight as I turned back to face Manal.
“I think we should get cleaned up before the bell rings.” She whispered as she ushered me towards the exit door.

We were alone now, I started recapping what just happened, then it hit me. That was Adam's plan, that's why he wished me good luck, and that wink wasn't a teasing wink, it was him saying “You are welcome”! He wanted me to be alone with Manal so we could talk freely!
“Do you have anything to wear?” I said trying to sound as casual as I could.
“Umm, I'm not sure, oh y-”
“Don't worry I've got a sweater in my locker that you could borrow. ” I cut her off.
“Really?” She blossomed like a rose, “But what about you? The spaghetti sauce style is no longer in.” She joked, reminding me of my own shirt.
I laughed, “I've got a spare.” I lied.
As we were walking towards the building, I saw Malak from a distance. I waved to her, trying to grab her attention, but her eyes were aimed on something else, I followed her gaze and found that she was looking towards Faisal, Fahad, and Faris. Faris was the oldest one of them, and it was his final year at the school. He was the brightest one of them, in fact he scored one of the highest GPA's in his class, so he was defiantly going to graduate in a couple of months. He is the one who provides the cigarets when he is around, because he could even pass for a twenty two year old from his great build.
“I still don't get why she's been hanging out with them so much these past few days.” Manal said asking the question in my head, except for one detail I didn't know.
“What do you mean for the past few days? When did you see her with them before?” I was surprised. Malak never liked hanging out with them, she just did it for me, she wanted me to stop going out with them because of their bad influences, and now when I finally stopped going with them, she starts ignoring me and decides to go see them? That doesn't make any sense! Why wouldn't she at least tell me?
“Aren't they your friends too?”
“Right, but you didn't answer my question.”
“So you fought with them? Well, ever since you stopped hanging out with them, I have been seeing her with them almost all the time.”
WHAT?
“What's wrong? Only Faisal is the stupid jerk, but the rest seem decent, despite all their secretive actions.”
“It's nothing that matters really, it's just that we haven't talked in a while.”
“These things happen, sometimes people leave for others to enter.” She hinted. I didn't like what she said, how could she possibly think that she could replace my best friend since childhood?
“Forget about this, let's get cleaned up.”

We made our way through the hallway, trying to avoid the teachers so we wouldn't get any questions about why we're like this, because none of us felt like remembering the embarrassing scene. When we finally reached the locker, I gave her my dark blue hoody, with the deep pockets. She looked at it smiling, but then her smile flipped when she looked inside my locker.
“You said you have another one.”
I hesitated for a second, because I haven't thought of a lie to back up the previous one, “I- it's in class... I forgot it there, I'll get it later.”
“I'll go change, will you wait for me?”

She came back, looking great, and comfortable, even though it was too big for her small body. “Why do you have a box of cards in your hoody?” She laughed.
My eyes froze, locked on the box that she got out of the pockets of my hoody. This box didn't have any cards in it, but it contained my cigarets. I broke out a smile at her and extended my arm towards her, with an open palm.
“Come on, don't be like that, let's play a game.” She said, sliding the tip of her finger over the top of the box, then she opened the box, and her eyes were startled, and confused. She shot a furious look at me, demanding an explanation. I thought fast, and acted as if I was confused myself, “I don't know where these came from.” I said.
“So you are telling me that somehow these cigarets magically replaced the cards in the box?”
“No, I'm saying that maybe someone put them there!” That wasn't a lie, because I've had this pack for quite a while, and it was given to me from Fahad.
“Why do you have to lie? Okay, so you smoke, there are probably dozens of guys who smoke at this school only, but why are you lying to me?”
“I'm telling you, I didn't put these here!” I shouted.
“But they are yours aren't they?” Just five seconds after she finished her sentence, the bell rang, “Saved by the bell.” Manal said coldly, as she stepped on the box, and kicked it away, “You should go pick it up.” She finished, and then she left.

I hurried towards the box, picking it up as if I was a dog fetching his food. I felt humiliated when I was down on my knees, shuffling about, trying to get it before anyone could see me. Just when I was about to push myself off the floor, a foot stomped on my chest threw me back on the ground, “Now your new girlfriend knows? It's okay, don't worry about her we'll fix that problem, but you should be much more worried about yourself.”Faris threatened me, as he walked away, making sure to step on my hand before the hallways get crowded.
I held the pain in, knowing this is nothing compared to what will come from them. Just Faris himself can send me to the hospital. I did not understand what was going on my life, everything was happening too fast. I lost my old friends, my best friend, my dignity, and now Manal. It doesn't make sense, why do people enter our lives if they aren't willing to accept us and stay with us? Is this is why the word 'friend' finishes with the word 'end'? Is it just a warning that these friendship will never last? Then again, does anything last? My
Mom's life didn't last long, and none of us is going to live forever. Maybe that's why everything ends, so we cherish and appreciate everything that happens in our lives, including the bad things that happen, because without the bad things we'll never know how great the taste of happiness is. So I decided I'll face them, I'll fight them and I'll take the beating if I have to, at least they can't take my life away if they wanted theirs. I'll also fight with myself, harder and harder everyday, until I stop smoking, so I'd deserve to have great friends in my life.

Ch 6

    The following week passed by fast and had a routine rhythm.  I'd go to school, try my best to avoid Faisal, Fahad, and the rest. I tried hard to spend time with Malak, however she seemed a bit off. I never found her between breaks, except for one time, but she said she had to finish her work so she wouldn't have much to do for the spring break, even though we've been working on that from a much earlier time and made a schedule to make sure we would have a stress-free holiday, yet she still excused herself. She wouldn't talk to me in class and she only said hello back to me twice when I passed her in the hallway. 
    When my Dad came back from holiday he announced that he will be able to spend more time with us since his job no longer requires him to go on so many business trips. This has given my sister and I a more positive atmosphere at home and kept her a bit more grounded, but she still got out a lot, and still doesn't like the memories our house brought of my Mom. 
    The down side in that is smoking isn't as free as it used to be for me and I need to be more careful with the whole thing with my Dad being around more often.  Another bad news is that it will be harder for me to get cigaret packs now that I'm detached from my old group. 
    I've been spending a lot of time with Adam since he is leaving soon, and of course I've asked him what it was that he gave Noor; the thing that was in the box that Noor told me to ask him about:
    “I can't tell you what it was. It's a little secret Noor and I share, but I'll tell you that meeting her for the first time wasn't an accident like Noor portrayed it.” He smiled as he was staring into Noors' eyes who was standing at the other side of the cafeteria.
    “How? Was it 'destiny'.” I smirked. 
    “Isn't everything that happens to us was destined from before?”
    “I guess you are right, there is a reason behind everything that happens to us.”
    He smiled, and looked at Noor again, this time his eyes not leaving hers, “That's why I'm not worried about ever losing her, despite me going away. I told her that, but for some reason she was only convinced when she heard it from you.” He looked back at me and continued, “thank you for making my White Apple happy.”
    “Your white apple?” I laughed. 
    “I know it sounds cheesy and stupid, but yeah, my White Apple. It looks pure, clean, flawless, symbolises honesty and trust and it's eye catching. It is also is sweet, good, rare, unique and special from the inside,” He paused between every quality, grinning as he said his words,  “just like my favourite girl over there.” His lips stretched further, and his cheekbones became even clearer when Noor blushed and smiled because she caught his eyes admiring hers. 
    It amazed me how much he loves, and how  he isn't shy to show his love for her, but I still wanted to test his love, “But there is no such thing as a white apple.” I challenged. 
     He laughed, “That's the thing, what I've just described -the white apple- is something perfect, and there is no perfection in this world.”
    “You are just contradicting yourself now.”
    “No, I said from this world, but in my eyes she is out of this whole universe. Yeah I may be just fifteen, but I mean what I'm saying, I managed to look through all her flaws, and learned to actually love them. Some people might find the way Noor texts a bit annoying, but I actually find it a great way to save time. Or how some people complain about how she is sometimes mean when people ask her for her opinion on something; I find it amazing how honest she could be, and how she is not afraid to speak her mind, we need honesty in this world, you know, we have way too many fake people! Or her 'imperfect' teeth, these are one of the most adorable features I find in her.” He smiled, as was talking about her. I could see nothing but honesty and love in his eyes, I really couldn't believe that he was just a few months older than me, and managed to love someone this much.
    “You're lucky. You know who you'll hopefully spend your whole life with, you no longer need to worry about the whole marriage business like the rest of us.” I said, as I was staring blankly at the table, remembering the green-eyed girl. 
    “Not really, I'm missing out on the thrill. All the questions that make you wonder about the future. Thinking late at night about your day and what could have happened with that girl, or what you could have said to her. You get to experience more and learn from your mistakes, and live like most of guys our age.”
    “So do you wish you weren't with her right now?” I asked, shocked.
    He laughed, “I never said that, I love her and I don't want anyone besides her,” He paused for a while, his eyes showing pain and regret, “but I wish I have more experience so I could treat her better, but we're learning together I guess. Besides we got used to each other and love each others company. We can't seem to be able to go a day without talking to each other. Even talking about the most boring things with her is always entertaining; hearing about the simple things that made her smile, or what she has done during the day, these became one of my favourite things to hear.”
    I took a look over at Noor and caught her looking at Adam as she was talking to one of her friends, “It's nice, knowing that someone cares about you this much though.”
    “Is there someone in your mind?” He asked.
    “No.” I lied. I saw the green-eyed girl once, it was a movie moment, but it didn't mean anything. I don't even know her name, which school she goes to, or anything. 
    “What if I tell you there's been a girl at the table behind you who's been taking short glances at you for the last ten minutes?” He said, but just before I was going to look at who it is, he stopped me, “ Don't look back, follow me.”
    
    We rose from the table, and headed to the table behind. I shot a quick look at the table, she was a girl who attends most the classes I attend. I only knew her a little though, she is one of the smartest students in our grade, and I've only had a one on one conversation with her a couple of weeks ago. 

                                                          *

    It was a bit late after school, I was smoking behind the school building with the guys, but I decided to leave a bit early because I had some work to do. As I was walking towards our building, I saw her through the door window holding her books with both hands. I rushed towards the door to open it for her. 
    “Hey, could I help you there?” I asked. 
    “Sure.” As she was handing me some of her books, one of the books fell on the ground. I reached down to get it, but I froze when I saw the book, my hand hanging a couple of centimetres away from it.
    “What's wrong, you can't pick it up?” She giggled
    “Sorry, I was just surprised.” I mumbled. I handed her the book, ‘Pros Of Smoking?’ I continued talking, “Do you smoke?”
    Her eyes widened and she just stared at me for a couple of second then laughed, “Disgusting, no way! I absolutely hate people who smoke, they're probably one of the dumbest people on this Earth!”
    “Well, you can't blame all of them, some of them can't control it.” I said defensively.
     “They are still stupid enough to even start smoking knowing all the risks they are endangering themselves to by starting.” I admired that about her, she was challenging, and wouldn't argue about something she couldn't prove or didn't really believe in, I especially knew that fact from class. 
    “Some of them don't have the choice, don't you agree?”
    “How? Why are we blessed with brains? Aren't they used to think and know the difference from wrong and right?”
     “Sometimes our feelings take over, you know. I read a story once about a guy who started smoking, because he wanted to show his friend that it is possible to stop. He did it out of love for his friend. They did struggle for a long time, but in the end they managed to stop. Logically he shouldn't have started because the odds in stopping were against him, but his love for his friend got the better of him, and led him to smoke.”
     “That is stupid. He could have got help from others, doing the first thing that pops into your mind is always the wrong thing to do.” She argued. 
    “Well, the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw you holding these books was to help you.” I winked
    She blushed, “That's because you're not stupid, unlike most guys, you're actually sweet.”
    I smiled, “Thank you, Manal, you're not so bad yourself.” I replied, as I elbowed her on the shoulder lightly. 

                                                             *
     
    As we were approaching the table, I saw her looking at the ground shyly, her face red. Manal stood up, carrying her tray with her. Just when I was about to call her name to stop her from walking past us, Adam whispered to me, “Good luck.” And he stuck his foot in front of me, causing me to trip over, and spill Manal's tray all over my clothes, and a bit on hers.

Chapter 5

    I woke up the next morning at 6:21 am feeling fresh due to the early time I went to bed last night.  Before getting out of bed I looked for my phone, which I found under the pillow. I had two missed calls and two messages, one message from my sister informing me that my Dad is going to be away for a few more days because his business trip got extended. She also told me that she'll be sleeping over at one of her friends' house and she'll be back the next day. Great, I'm home alone. Again. 
The other message was from Noor:

Is everything ok w/ u? Adam told me that he never saw u yesterday is everything ok?

I checked the two missed calls and to my surprise they were also from Noor, I guess she really was worried. There was something about her that made me feel strange. Not bad strange, but in a good way. Even before we became friends she was caring towards me. She looked through my flaws, and probably is the reason why everybody else is so nice to me; she probably talked them into becoming friends with me as well. Especially yesterday she was very friendly with me; she actually showed me that she cared about me when she told me to meet her at the park. She's not the type of person who would just tell you they care about you, but she shows it. Sure anyone can say I love you, or I care about you, but not many can show their love and care. Not many are like Noor. She is understanding and knows what I'm going through. I decided to assure her that everything is alright before doing my morning routine.

I'm sorry for the late reply, but I came home late and tired last night and I guess I forgot, but thanks a lot for checking up on me! ^^

After that I washed up, drank a bottle of water, and had a banana as a light breakfast. Yesterday's events were still scrambled, I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I no longer have anything to threaten the guys with, and since the action I've taken yesterday, they'll probably come hunt me down, meaning I'll have to be careful when and where I go out. But for now I had to clear my mind, and since it's still not even 7:00 am, I don't think any of the guys will be awake, so I don't have to worry about them now.
I wrapped my iPhone around my arm with a band I had and plugged my headphones in. I also got a couple of cigarettes and a lighter and stuffed them in my pockets. Then I opened the doors, made sure to lock the door before I left and went for a run. 
I've been running since I was twelve, it was the one thing - besides cigarets - that allowed me to get my thoughts straight and think of what I wanted , instead of having multiples of thought popping up in my head. My running habit was one of the few things that neither cigarets nor the death of my Mother managed to change.
Running gives me freedom. It allows me to go where I want, I don't have people telling me what to do, I choose my own paths, my own directions to travel.  I had no one ordering me about and telling me what's right and what's wrong.
When I got outside under the rising sun, I started remembering yesterday's events. For some reason the first thought that came into my mind was Noor. Despite her being depressed because Adam is leaving soon, she was still really worried about me and tried contacting me multiples of times to check up on me. Then I remembered Adam, he's leaving, a friend of mine is leaving my life. He is leaving my life, just like how my Mom did. No, I'll still be able to contact him, his situation is completely different from my Mom's. I wanted to see her more than anything. My brain started collecting memories and pictures of her from the past. I couldn't stand recalling these memories, I had to block them out.
I increased my speed trying to get the negative thoughts out of my mind. I changed my direction; I just started running with no idea where I was heading to. My heart started pounding faster, pumping the blood through my veins, my breathing became heavier, my head started aching, and I started coughing, but my legs refused to stop moving and continued marching cluelessly. Then I started stumbling over my own feet, I felt my legs turning into noodle legs, and I started wobbling. My vision started getting cloudy and I saw everything shaking and moving around. I fell to my knees, and the last thing I saw was an empty alley, and then everything went blank.

“Wake up!” I heard someone shout over my head, and shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes slowly, I saw something in front of me, maybe someone's head, but the sun rays managed to escape through their hair and blocked my vision.
“Are you okay?” the same voice asked. I still couldn't make out the features of the person in front of me, “I'll get you some water, be back in a minute.” the voice said, as the person stood up, I heard the person take one step back, then paused for a few seconds, and then sprinted away.
I gradually tried picking myself up.  I put one hand vertically on the ground to see my surroundings. I was still at the same alley, and the sun was still escalating, meaning I haven't been out for a long time. My headphones were on the ground, but my phone was still strapped around my arm. I turned around to see the streets, I've only saw a few people passing by, some didn't even notice me, and the couple who did just gave me a pitty look, and went on their way. I tried picking myself up, I tried pushing harder off the ground. I rose a bit, but I was still dizzy and my arm was shaking, causing me to fall back onto the ground, and for the lighter to slip out of my pocket. I  put it back in and decided to just wait for the person to come back.

It wasn't long until I saw a girl with long, dark Arabian hair, with slight curls at the end of it running towards me with a bottle of water in one hand. Her maple green-coloured eyes were shinning under the hot sun. Her skin was slightly too dark to be called tanned, but still complemented her features and her outfit. She was wearing a white shirt, with a big pink heart in the middle, paired with light, summer, dark, navy-blue pants.
She came next to me, reached out to give me the bottle, and when I wrapped my hand around the bottle, our eyes locked for a few seconds, and our bodies froze as if time itself refused to move. Neither of us wanted to stare away. There was something about her eyes, besides their mesmerising beauty, that was special. When I was staring into them, I found something familiar in them, a sight that felt like home, a piece of the past, or maybe also a gaze into a beautiful future. The longer I looked into them, the more comfortable I felt. I felt like I could stare into these jewels for hours, because I wasn't just staring into some girls' eyes, but there was something about them; about her, that brought a piece of me that I lost along the way of growing up. I saw the world in a better way, as if I saw everything from her perspective.
TING TING!
We both looked away when the sound of my phone brought us back to Earth, “I'm sorry, I hope you feel good soon.” She mumbled as she stumbled away.
My tongue was tied, all I was able to do was stare at her back with lost eyes as she disappeared into the distance. I kept replying the last couple of minutes dozens of times in my head, not wanting to ever forget it. I wanted to save it in my head somehow, so whenever I felt cross or mad, I would just remember the most beautiful view I caught sight of, and smile. It was the simplest way for finding happiness; look into the most gorgeous eyes in this world, but I didn't even know her name, or anything. The only thing I had was the bottle of water she got me.

I drank the water slowly, enjoying every drop of it. Then I looked at my phone, it was almost 11:00 am, I looked into the sky and saw that somehow the sun almost made it to it's peak. I had no idea where all that time went, those five minutes somehow turned into an hour. I looked at my phone, and found a text from Noor. How did I forget about her? When I looked at the time I received it, I found out that it was almost 20 minutes ago! 
Noor:
I'm glad ur alright don't ever worry me lke this again! I cant wait 2 see u tmrw.

I thanked her and went to the cold store to get myself more cold water and to get air conditioned. When I got myself a bottle, someone came in. Stupid! I'm such an idiot! I tried hiding behind the long shelves so Fahad wouldn't see me. As I was looking at him I noticed that he had a bandage wrapped around his right hand. I sighed in relief, he wouldn't dare approaching me with an injured hand. Wrong. He heard my sigh and marched towards me with a rather proud smile on his face.
“You're quite smart, you know that?” He smirked, “I still can't believe that you managed to scare Faisal, and get away without a single scratch. I wish I was as lucky as you.” He finished, showing me his injured hand. 
“What happened?” I asked casually.
“I got mad at him for letting you go so easily and for allowing you to play with him like that. But now I realise that all the credit goes to you, once again the human managed to tame the beast.” 
“Thanks for the credit.”
Just as I turned away, he grabbed me by the shoulder and whispered in my ear, “Don't think any of this is over. Yeah maybe I fought with Faisal but that didn't mean anything, you better watch your back, not only from us, but your angel could be the complete opposite.” He pushed me towards the counter to show me that he wasn't going to say anything more, leaving me completely frightened and confused.

When I finished the bottle I just got, I reached into my pocket and got out my cigaret, to help me think. How am I going to get rid of them? How will any of this end? What angel was who talking about? Could the person he was talking about the same girl I met today? Could she be the angel... Or demon?