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.
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