CHAPTER | NINE | UMAYMAH | POV

The next morning came by too quickly for my liking considering I had school to go to. This week had definitely been interesting as word had gone round that I was to get married off to Shoaib. Some looked scared at the sight of me, some confused and some even jealous that I had gotten the 'good looking' boy of the town to myself. Little did they know I wasn't bothered by the way he looked - what he acted like was more of my concern than anything else.

Right now in class Maryam had been glaring at me non stop for five minutes. I didn't know what her problem was but it was starting to annoy me. A lot. It was her luck that the teacher still hasn't come in class but that didn't mean I wouldn't use it to my advantage either.

"Can I help you? Or are you just trying to take in what it looks like to be naturally beautiful?" Because she was at the other side of the class to me, I had to raise my voice just a bit so she could hear. The problem with that was everyone in the class had heard too and the conversation they were once engaged in had stopped.

I could see her fists were clenched as if trying to stop herself from pouncing on me though I knew she wouldn't anyway. Wouldn't want to get those fake nails of her damaged.

"I suggest you shut up and go back to thinking of ways to steal others' mans." She looked proud of herself and the cronies she called 'friends' gave her a pat on the back as a well done. Her little comeback didn't phase me.

"And whose man have I stolen?" I was testing her and I knew it. Like myself, Maryam too had a short temper and the reason I knew this was because she had once been the girl I willingly spent my free time with and got to know.

"Mine; that's who! Back off Shoaib, you understand?" She was now standing up, rage clearly evident on her face, but unlike some around me, I found the situation all too funny.

"He's not 'yours'. Never was, never is and never will be." Everyone knew what I said was true. Although girls would kill to be with him, he avoided every girl in this school like a plague. Just because he did that though, didn't mean he wasn't used to having girls. So, it would have been hard for Maryam to even claim that he's hers.

Silence. Nothing else came out of her mouth but she was still giving me dirty looks. Oh if looks could kill, I wouldn't ever want to see that face of hers again. Except her disturbingly angered face expression changed as soon as the door opened to reveal Mr Joinson walking in followed by an irritated looking Shoaib.

My face must have been etched out in surprise to see the boy even come to school. A month had passed and he didn't show as well as this week - a bit unusual though to come back on a Thursday. Just as quick as my head whipped to see who had come in, it was back down staring at the empty desk I was sat at.

"Maryam why are you up from your seat?" I stifled a laugh at Mr Joinson's question because I knew she wouldn't dare to say what had just happened. I didn't hear her say anything but the scraping of chairs told me that she had sat down again.

"Aside of my lateness I would like someone to give Shoaib their notes as he has missed a large amount of work from his absence." Uh oh. I was the only person who ever bothered to take notes but I am not sharing notes with him.

I looked around the room and everyone was copying my actions knowing they were guilty of not having notes in the first place. Rolling my eyes at how lazy seniors could be, I looked down on my desk again.

"Come on, are you saying no one here has been taking notes?" Silence. I didn't want sir to feel bad and think he didn't have good enough lessons to take notes on, but if I admitted I had notes then me and Shoaib would have to share. Those actions will then lead to a fight and there was no denying that. "Wait Umaymah I always see you writing things. Shoaib take a seat next to her please."

The pencil that was on the edge of my desk was now clattered on the floor, making a loud noise as it did. I couldn't believe that my concentration in class would lead to this. Next time I just wouldn't take notes and sleep like half the class does; maybe then I wouldn't get stuck with Shoaib. Hesitantly I bent over to grab the pencil from the floor but I could also see Shoaib's figure taking a seat next to me.

"I don't want any talking apart from you two at the back, and whisper please." He pointed at us two and carried on ahead with his teaching, unaware he had brought a death trap to sit next to me.

"Okay, well here's the notes for the past month and you know, just copy them." I broke the silence between us and handed him my notebook where the pages were filled with notes on about Romeo and Juliet.

This wasn't my favourite topic to learn about in English but to make it even worse, we all had to act out a scene from the play before Christmas. And the scene the class wanted was the balcony scene. I could have cringed knowing I'd have to be watching people act out such a loving scene; it was too loving. But I would rather be watching that right now than have Shoaib stare at me and not toke the notebook in my hand.

"You're not going to copy notes are you?" It was silly to even think he would but seeing as he came to school, he might have wanted to catch up and actually learn a couple things before disappearing again.

"No point. I pretty much know everything in this topic." Surprise flooded through me when he spoke with no anger and instead he was calm.

"How could you? You're hardly here." I stated. He honestly couldn't afford to know everything in this topic by just being in the lesson twice, including today, since school had started.

"Dad makes me catch up on work I miss from school." He gave me a shrug but took the notebook from me since sir was watching us from the front.

Again there was the surprise after knowing a little more about him. Obviously he was smart, which is why he hasn't got expelled yet and even though his dad was the richest man in the city, I doubt he would cover up for his son at school. And by getting him to catch up on work rather than him not learning anything at all proves that.

Still I wasn't sure whether he was telling the truth or feeding me some excuse just to not do any work. He sounded sincere but I knew he was just as skilled with lying as probably a gun.

"In that case, who do you think is the cause for the lovers' death at the end?" He eyed at me, seeing if I was serious or not and I simply raised an eyebrow to show I was waiting. I didn't want to to stare at his face for too long like always - I'd have time to sink in his features after we got married.

"In my opinion Lord Capulet is to be blamed. He starts off in the play being considerate towards Juliet and says she's too young to get married; she's inexperienced in life. But then in a matter of days when he changes his mind, making Juliet rebel, he calls her a 'disobedient wretch' which obviously makes her think of a plan to escape the marriage. If he had just listened to her then nothing would've got mixed up to an extent where Romeo thought Juliet was dead and kill himself, thus Juliet grieving and following his actions."

Dumbfounded was the correct term to express my state of mind at this moment. It had merely been a challenge to see if he actually knew the play, but what he came out with was more than I could expect, let alone think about. Yet when I snuck a glance at him, he seemed unfazed by what he had just said, as if this was way too easy for him.

"Erm, that was impressive. Mash'Allah." I didn't know what else to say apart from that but it seemed like any sort of conversation had died down now when the bell rang.

I watched his retreating figure go out the door before picking my own things and exiting as well. I still couldn't understand how he was so smart and not to show that side of him. Perhaps it was me challenging him that he actually spoke some words of wisdom about the play. My head started to throb a little now by thinking about it too much. It shouldn't be my problem if he showed his intellect or not, but there was no doubt after being married I would encourage him to show more of that side to others. He could amaze others like he did to me just a few minutes ago.

Glad that English was the last lesson of the day, I made my way to my locker and stuffed everything inside of it that I didn't need to take home. I was more than happy to head home but just like the week has passed, I'd probably be ordered to stay home and not think of Saturday.

It was annoying to say the least that I had to be home while they were all laughing away but all I could do was mentally moan about it. Which is what I was doing now, heading home from school and mentally moaning that I was a loner.

The sun was still bright in the sky and in a way it did lessen the mood I was in. At least something about today had been good. From having a little vocal fight with Maryam to being astounded at Shoaib's opinions and now getting home only to know that I would be there alone until about nine. To me that was a pretty long time to leave me alone for - who knows the amount of food I could consume in that time?

However there was a part of that was glad no one was going to be home, and the reason for that was because I could sneak a glance at the dress with hung in my parents wardrobe. Mom didn't mention anything about the dress last night or this morning, but maybe it was because she was trying to separate my brothers from a fight over the last piece of pop tart.

Then again I didn't want to go behind everyone's back like that after I specifically made a deal that I wouldn't look at it till the actual day I had to wear it. Shoaib's choice of my wedding dress sparked an interest in me as well as wanting to know why he out of all people would choose my gown. I tried not to think that he was playing some nasty trick on me and on the day of the wedding to find the dress was hideous. His mom would surely throw a few hits before he could do that to me. Right?

Turning the corner I instantly became sad that my house was just a few yards away. Ignoring the mental side of my brain that thought I could actually run to somewhere else and have fun, I opened the door of my house and went in knowing that I had to go upstairs.

"Where do you think you're going?" The voice startled me making me almost lose my balance on the stairs. Turning around, I saw my future in laws smiling at me, waiting for me to come meet them.

"Uh I didn't know you guys were here." I admitted but still made way to them and greeted everyone. I was glad Shoaib wasn't there though.

"Well we came to give you something. Just in case you want to use it in the future." Baffled, I watched my future in laws go back out the house after handing me something in my hands. What could possibly be in here?

No one else seemed to be home so it was pointless to stick around downstairs. In my room I got out some sweats and a shirt and changed into them, tying my hair up in a bun. It was time to open the little parcel I'd just been given to see what was inside.

The pair seemed giddy when handing it over which made me even more curious than ever. I picked it up, analysing the weight of it and it seems quite bulky but not too heavy. There was paper wrapped around it and I carefully tore it off revealing a scrap book.

My eyebrows furrowed together but once I opened it I couldn't help the little 'aww' that left my mouth. A bunch of baby pictures and hand written letters in different coloured crayons were neatly stuck on the pieces of paper inside the book. It didn't take long to figure out these were a collection of Shoaib's childhood stuck down to look at. There were quite a few letters he has written but the one I liked so far was this:

'Mommy and daddy were a gift by Allah. One day I want to be like daddy and have someone like mommy who I will love, love, love forever!'

Instantly my heart warmed by this and realised just how cute eight year old Shoaib was as he had signed his name and age at the bottom of the note like all the rest. Again, confusion struck me. What could I possibly need this for? I shrugged it off grateful that I'd gotten a chance to see it.

I was sure that Shoaib didn't know about this either and seeing as I was alone, I let out a giggle by how cunning his parents were to have brought this to me. If I mentioned this to him he would obviously want it back; so maybe for now I'll kept it safe till it comes in handy.

Opening up a drawer I placed the book inside, mentally reminding myself to pack it in my suitcase so it wouldn't be left here. That was another thing on my mind and I was glad I had packing to do which would keep me busy for a while. Aunty and uncle took the liberty of even buying us a house, much to my protest - they said I would be more comfortable there rather than living with them and having to cover my hair every time I would step out our room.

So here I was cross legged on the floor trying to sort out the mass of clothing I own into suitcases. Honestly there were things in here I didn't even need so I had to make the decision of giving them to Jasmine or handing them to charity. In the end I decided I should donate them seeing as Jasmine hates my choice of clothing. Rude indeed.

I had forced myself to two suitcases only as I could always buy new clothes. Two suitcases was still a lot though and I surprised myself to see I had that many clothes. Funny how I just wear the same things over again.

An hour and a half later, majority of my clothes were either in suitcases or plastic bags ready to be donated to the less fortunate. The minority that was left was needed as I still had two days left here and I couldn't possibly go around with no clothes on. I didn't dwell on that fact because I knew I would be able to visit whenever I wanted which also made my parents happy.

I gave out a sigh of relief as I stood up and looked around my room. Most of my possessions, which weren't a lot, was also packed away, ready to go to the new house. Aunty Aliza promised to take me down there tomorrow to see if I was happy with it; I guess I wasn't going to be clueless about everything.

After having a quick look and content with myself organising my things, I hopped in the bathroom hoping to relax my muscles under a hot shower and focus on getting through till Saturday.

***

Umaymah on the side in case you're wondering what she looks like.