SarahWolverine wrote this amazing short story about racism that raises some really interesting questions, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Author's Note: Hi! My name is Bea and this is a short story I wrote inspired by our current topic in English class. I used characters of mine to explore an rather heavy topic, but I hope you can still take something from it - Whether if it makes you think or you just enjoy it for being an interesting story. The story's theme is racist language and racism in britain, so I want to include a warning for racist language. And swearing in general, but nothing too bad

'You say I should go to my roots
You say I should adhere to my roots
But with the feelings betwixt and between, this was expected
Where my roots lie is the problem'
- Broilers "Zu den Wurzeln"

The sight of someone storming into the office wasn't an unusual one. This job had a lot of anger potential.

Tahir Rashid, however, was not only one of the company's two superiors, but also known for his composure. So of course it raised a few eyebrows when he, out of all people, marched in as if he was on a mission to kill someone.
Some subordinates, who were afraid that he was out to kill someone, tried to sneak away or look busy.

Navjot Varsani wasn't one of them. When Tahir stopped in the office's kitchen, she peeked through the door.

"Sir, may I ask what's wrong?"

"Oh, Miss Varsani, if I had the time to list all the things," he said and slammed his cup down a little too harshly. "First and foremost the nerve of some people."

She could hear that his teeth were grit a little too tight.

Some braver—or simply more curious—colleagues of Navjot had gathered around the kitchen door as well, but none of them stood as close as her.
Tahir turned the coffee machine on and while the water started to boil, he looked over his shoulder. Those who stood within his sight, cringed upon being caught.

To their surprise, there was no harshness, not even annoyance, in his voice. "Go to work. Don't mind me."

"Yes, sir!" they replied diligently, but scattered only reluctantly.

When the doorbell rang, one of them called Adam King took the chance and went to answer it.

Navjot hadn't said replied with "Yes, sir". She was still standing in the doorway when Adam came back a few minutes later.

"Sir, there's a man out there with another two blokes who wants to talk to you."

Tahir's fingers cramped around his cup, but his face didn't change a shade. He put the cup aside instead of under the coffee machine's spout and went downstairs to the front door.

As if they had only waited for it, which was most likely true in some cases, the eyes of almost all subordinates lingered on Tahir until he was out of sight.
The second they couldn't see him anymore, they gathered around the windows from which one could see the office's lawn.

Navjot was watching with them and stood next Eliza Jones, who opened a window when Tahir stepped outside.
Three men were waiting for him, dressed in worn-out jeans and hoodies. As far as Navjot could judge from her position, none of them looked older than 25. They were all white.

"There he is, there's my posh boy," one of them said, speaking loud enough to be understood by Navjot on the first floor. Flanked by the other two, he seemed to be the leader of the little group. "I wasn't finished with you."

She was barely able to hear Tahir's answer. "I noticed, Mister Hardy, but I was finished with you the second I walked out of your place."

The subordinates were shortly interrupted in their observation of the conversation when their second superior Robert Bailey and their CEO Arthur Kirkland walked in. Some of them noticed their steps earlier, but most became aware of them when Robert asked "What in the hell is going on here?"

Some cringed again upon being caught, but in the end, not a single one of them moved away from the windows.

"Of course you were finished with me, you were done fucking me over," said the man Tahir had called Mister Hardy. "But I'm not going to let anyone fuck me over."

"If you didn't want to be 'fucked over', you should have tried to fool us more professionally," Tahir said. "Or choose another profession in first place. Which, I know, is kind of hard when one was too stupid to only earn his GCSE."

While Navjot and Eliza made space for Robert and Arthur, she noticed how her colleague Edward Taylor signalled Adam to come with him. The two men quickly headed for the stairs when her attention was caught by happenings outside again.

"I didn't came here for any more of your snarky bullshit! You said you would strike a deal with us, then you fucking tell me my contract isn't working for you and piss off!"

"Your 'deal' was not a contract but a summary of loophole exploitations, loopholes that don't even exist!"

Despite raising his voice, Tahir was still a sharp contrast to the yelling Hardy. Still in perfect posture, his chin slightly jutted forwards, he seemed less than threatened by the puffed up man in front of him.

"As if! What does a Paki cunt like you know of law!"

Sounds of shock and outrage filled the office and suddenly, the next things started to happen very fast.

Tahir took a quick step towards Hardy and shouted right into his face: "I've studied law for six years and passed every exam with flying colours, that is what I know of law! While you and your friends here failed secondary school, I became a certified lawyer and you're asking me what I know of law?!"

Navjot squeezed herself next to Robert to lean out of the window and shouted: "Oi, you asshole!"

They all looked up to her and one of Hardy's friends said: "Oh look, there's another Paki bitch."

"I'm Indian, you ignorant white cunt! Piss off before I get downstairs and beat some respect for other people into you!"

"You deserve a sound beating for your loose tongue, you Bindi bitch!" Hardy answered her. "And I thought in India women still knew their their place!"
Navjot was petrified for a second, but then immediately poised to run downstairs and beat Hardy's smug grin until he choked on his teeth.

Tahir held her back by acting first. He stepped closer to him barely after he finished his sentence and now stood so close the tips of their feet almost touched.

"If you have enough time," he started speaking, calling Hardy's attention to him again, who shrieked and stumbled backwards at the sudden proximity, "to insult someone this lengthily and pettily because of the way they look, because of the colour of their skin, because of their gender, you have enough time for two more syllables. I'm English and I'm Pakistani! And she's an Indian lady and the only bitches around here are you three!"

There was a moment of relief, of satisfaction for Navjot; then Hardy laughed into Tahir's face and she felt like someone had just thrusted their fist in hers.

Too paralyzed with the overwhelming feeling of sickness, she didn't even flinch when Robert shouted right next to her: "Oi, fuck off you wankers! Otherwise I'll make you and then you're leaving in an ambulance!"
"Or in a hearse, who knows," Arthur added. "If you treat other people's existence with no respect, we are not going to have any for yours."

Hardy put his hands up. "Woah there – "
"Move it."

Navjot had no idea for how long Adam and Edward had stood on the porch already and noticed them after Adam had spoken up.

"We're not going to tell you twice," Edward said.

Hardy snorted but then signalled his friends to leave.

"If I see your racist arses here again, I'm going to kick them so hard you'll kiss the asphalt on the other end of the street!" Robert shouted once more while Navjot watched Tahir.

He kept looking at Hardy and his friends, but after they had thrown him more than one amused look over their shoulders – she could see their shiteating grins from all the way down – he turned around and walked back to the porch.

Navjot closed her eyes and concentrated solely on breathing for a moment.

Then she turned around and frowned upon the view; many of her colleagues were staring at the stairs, anticipating Tahir's return.

Arthur was having none of it. "Leave him alone now and go back to work. The last thing he needs is you acting like a bunch of vultures."

This time, they scattered quickly, hurried either into separate office rooms or sat down in groups at the conference table.

Only Navjot didn't move, but Arthur didn't seem to mind.

Robert even asked her: "Are you alright?"

Navjot refrained from rolling her eyes.

"Yes, sir."

"Don't worry, we'll take care of this thing" he said and Navjot was very glad for the interruption in form of Tahir coming upstairs.

He stopped and took a look around the room, specifically at the people in it, who either avoided or met his gaze. Adam and Edward had followed him upstairs and stopped behind him.

As Tahir headed for the kitchen, most people looked at these two now, but Edward shook his head when he joined the others at the table and Adam disappeared whistling in the corridor.
In the meantime, Robert and Arthur had gone into the kitchen and Navjot was standing alone at the window.
What she should have done now was to get to work like all of her colleagues. What she did instead was to walk over to the kitchen door, leaning onto the wall next to it and eavesdropped.
She wasn't the only one who had wanted to do that, the looks the others threw her told her that and yes, she listened because she was curious as well.

What she presumed to think was that for her most of the curiosity of her colleagues was for the sheer sensation. They could pretend to work or in some cases actually work after all, but for Navjot it was already an accomplishment if she could refrain from throwing up.

She couldn't brush this affair aside yet and would not let her bosses discuss how to handle it all in private.

"So this Hardy was the one who called us a few days ago and said they wanted to expand their business and asked for a partnership," Arthur said.

"Exactly," Tahir said. "I have no idea just what they thought they were doing but apparently they were convinced we would take them on. I already told you about it after the meeting, really, there was nothing more to it. They wanted protection and commission in
exchange for 'dangerous' services no one else could provide." The coffee machine started to buzz. "Pah! Not only that I highly doubt they'd be able to do some of the promised things, the only thing they would have done was getting us all in jail."

"And if they really thought they've been wronged, they would have tried to get in contact with me," Arthur said.

"Instead of coming here and outing themselves as complete wankers."

"No, they only have a bone to pick with me," Tahir said.

"And they wouldn't have the guts to actually try and pull their shit with all of us," Robert said. "Fucking poofs, all bark and no fucking bite."

"Robert, I appreciate that you are just as enraged as the rest about the entire deal." Tahir's voice had an edge to it.
"But I have enough of a headache today as it is, so stick your casual homophobia elsewhere."

"What, just cause I called them poofs? Someone with no spine like them is a poof, what's so – "

"Robert," Arthur cut him off. "Tahir's right, but that's not the topic right now. So, they just showed up this morning to ..."

"They already followed me on my way to work," Tahir said. Navjot hadn't thought her stomach ache could get any worse. "I don't know since when, but I took the underground this morning and noticed them at one point. They didn't follow me into the street, but they've just been waiting for me."

"That is much worse than I thought!" Arthur said.

"That's fucking creepy, bloody hell," Robert said.

"Isn't racism always? It's always creepy and it's always much worse than everyone who doesn't experience it thinks it is." Tahir said. A spoon clinked in a mug, the sound of stirring followed. "But don't worry about it, I'll handle it myself."

"Don't worry about it, my arse, Tahir, they could know where you live," Arthur said.

"They can't break in. If they try anything, I'll call the police. Besides, sir, I know how to defend myself."

"They shouldn't get away with this" Robert said.

"You're right. But I've got better things to spend my time on than planning revenge. I've got better things to think about than people like them."

After saying that, Tahir walked out with a coffee in his hand. Despite his brisk way of walking, he spotted Navjot almost immediately after leaving the kitchen.

"Go to work Navjot." He said. It was an order, but there was no harshness in his voice.

"Yes Sir," she said, but didn't immediately get up and moving.
She couldn't swallow her anger as well as he did, no matter how much she wished she could.

Hours passed, evening rolled in and at first glance, the turmoil of the morning seemed forgotten.

Yet, even when no one talked about it, they didn't act the same around their superiors - around Arthur and Robert to be more accurate. Tahir was always only seen for seconds, when he left his own office for Robert's or Arthur's.
Navjot had been able to get to work at last, but lost herself in thoughts every now and then. Right now she was sitting at the conference table with most of the other employees. Physically at least, mentally she was miles away again.

"Take away!" Nazir Miah suddenly said and thus jolted Navjot out of her thoughts. She frowned at him, but he didn't notice. "I think we should get take away! I mean, we're going to be here for a while longer anyways, why not make the best of it?"

"Food!" Eliza cheered and Adam laughed.

"Well, if no one at this table has any complaints about that," Edward said and looked around one, "we should maybe ask the bosses first if they're okay with it."

He put both of his hands on the table to stand up but Nazir was faster and when he rushed off together with Eliza, Edward sat down again.

The two had disappeared into the next hallway, but the rest could still hear them knocking on Arthur's door.

"Dear gracious sir, the whole company lets us ask on their behalf if we – ", Nazir started.

"Oh, what do you two want now?!" Arthur asked.

"- If we might get take away, sir!"

"'Dear gracious sir', my arse, do you always have to make a show out of everything?"

"We wanted to make sure you'd be in the best of spirits before we make a request, sir!" Eliza said.

"I'll be in the best of spirits the day you two finally stop acting like a bad comedy duo" Arthur answered.

"We'll start right away, sir, if you allow us to get take away!" Nazir said.

"Yes, alright! Go and get some bloody food! God be with ye, but ye be gone!"

"Thank you, sir!"

Some people chuckled and even Navjot's heart felt lighter for the first time in today. It was ironic, since she usually shared her bosses' opinions on Eliza's and Nazir's antics and the two in most cases drove her up the wall instead of making her laugh. But in comparison to the three guys this morning, who kept haunting her, and the things they had considered as funny, Navjot had never been more thankful for these two dorks.

As they went on asking their other bosses if they wanted take away, the rest of the subordinates started to make a list with their orders. Immersed in this task and questions of "What does that cost again?", "Are you sure they didn't raise their prices?" and "What's that one dish called again?", they paid no attention anymore to their surroundings.

So almost everyone was surprised when Nazir and Eliza returned with Tahir in tow.

"We're gonna get take away!" Nazir announced.

"Sup losers, have you all decided what you want yet?" Eliza asked while Navjot watched Tahir, who headed for the coatrack.

"You're going with them, sir?" she asked.

"Yes, I think it's a good idea to get some fresh air," he said while he put his coat on. "After hours of poring over law books, you get tired."

Eliza, who had proceeded to collect everyone's dinner money, just wanted to pick up Navjot's pound bill when she snatched it herself. "I'm coming with you."

"But then there'll be only one person left here who I can actually trust to do their work," Tahir said but didn't oppose any further.

"Don't worry, sir," Edward said. "I'll do my best, so Navjot can go with you without anyone here having a bad feeling."

"Well, some people here should have a bad feeling regardless," Tahir said.

"Instead that any of you protest that only one person here is working, you just accept your laziness."

"We love to make people like Navjot and Edward look better," Eliza said. "They deserve it, sir."

Tahir's dangerously disappointed look changed nothing about her smile. "Go and get your coat Jones."

"Yes, sir!"

Navjot headed for the coatrack together with Eliza.

The sun had set already and only artificial light lit the way as the four made it down the street. They passed a fair share of people on the sidewalk, but it wasn't as crowded as it could be. Most of the people who worked at some place in this district had either left their office an hour or were still at work.

"It's still cold," Eliza said. "I can't wait for spring."

"Me neither," Navjot buzzed into her scarf. "I'd rather have rain than biting cold."

"Say Navjot, don't you have heat and rain seasons instead of the real seasons back in India?" Nazir asked.

"It's not that simple! But yes, the weather ... works differently than it does in England."

"Rad," Nazir said. "Wonder what the weather in Bangladesh's like."

"Did you never ask your parents?" Eliza asked him. "Looked it up at some point?"

"Nah, I never thought about it until now. And I didn't ask my parents either, I never really cared for that place as a child."

"Me neither," Tahir said. "The most I knew about the country of my parents during my first few years was its mother tongue. Well, one of its mother tongues, my mother tongue."

"There are more than one?" Eliza asked, before she hastily added a "Sir!"

"There are. I speak Urdu, which is also the official language of the country, but most people speak Punjabi. I also know that a lot speak Pashto, but honestly, there are as many languages as there are ethnicities in Pakistan" Tahir explained.

"Rad," Nazir said again. "I wish I knew that much about my home country."

"You can always find out, Miah, I didn't just magically know it, either."

"Besides, you do know a lot about Manchester, I think that's cool, too,"
Eliza said. "That's where you were born after all, not some village in Bangladesh."

"But every Englishman knows England, I want bonus points," Nazir said.
The other three laughed and went on with their way and conversation.
After they had purchased their dinner however and set out for the office again, Eliza's mood dropped.

"I don't wanna walk around the entire block again," she lamented. "Can't we just take the shortcut through the two alleys?"

"It's pitch black in there, if you stumble and spill your food all over you, I won't lift a finger to help you," Navjot said.

"It's barely half a mile you're saving like this, don't be so lazy," Tahir said.

"Yeah sir, but now it's half a mile I have to walk carrying two bags full with food, while you carry nothing but the responsibility, as you put it," Eliza gave back.

"It is pretty heavy, to be honest," Nazir said.

"For you and your stick arms maybe," Navjot retorted, but Tahir only sighed.
"Alright, let's take the shortcut."

"Yays!" said Eliza and disappeared into the alley, only lit by windows from above. The others followed her and Nazir walked in front with her until Eliza almost stumbled.

Navjot passed her with a "Told you so" and now Eliza and Nazir, carefully watching their step, followed her and Tahir.

"My, I hope that Robert and Arthur have a better grip on the rest of this madhouse," Tahir said. "It's bad enough I let you all slack off like that."

"You make it sound like we're a bunch of kids you're chaperoning, sir," Navjot said.

"What, is that not the case?" Tahir said and glanced at her from the side of his eye.

Navjot looked over her shoulder. Eliza and Nazir were just trying to balance on the edge of some houses' steps and visibly staggered.

"When it comes to some people, it is" she said.

In front of them, their alley cut into another and they turned left.
What they should have seen at the end of the alley was the main street, well lit by lamps and the lights of the office windows. What they did see was the silhouette of a group of people. As they came closer, she realized it were only three. She also realized they hadn't changed their clothes since this morning, only that now they had put their hoods on.

"What a bunch of creepers," Navjot said.

"Oi, would you look at this," Hardy said. "The gang's all here."

Tahir simply sped his pace up and roughly shoved one of Hardy's friends aside when they tried to block his way. The other, however, stepped in front of him and pushed him back. Navjot rushed at his side, but he straightened himself and shook his head. Then he fixed his gaze on Hardy. "Don't you have better things to do all day than waiting for a chance to harass people?" As soon as the words left him, his jaw tightly clenched shut.

"It'd be easier than following you home," Hardy replied. "You would have looked out for us the whole time. Plus, now I've got the rest of you criminals in one spot." He looked at Eliza. "What's a good girl like you doing with a bunch of camel jockeys though?"

"Putting my foot up your white ass," Eliza said, thrusted her bags into

Nazir's hands and stormed past Navjot, who gleefully awaited the impact.
"Jones!" Tahir admonished her and she stopped. "Don't be so rash. Nothing good ever comes from that."

Eliza still threw Hardy an evil glare.
"Ah, so that's what you are. Into those Pakis, eh? What a sick little fetish", he said into her face.

It happened too fast for Tahir to say anything. Eliza's fist kissed Hardy's nose and his head jerked sideways before he could even let out a cry.

"Those are my English friends, get over it you bastard" she spat while he was holding his nose with both hands. "It's not like any woman likes to hang with you and your pig boys."

"You bloody bitch!" one of Hardy's friends hissed and was already striding towards her with his flat hand raised, when Hardy pushed him back.

"Forget the fucking girl!" he snapped at him. There was something disgustingly nasally about his voice now. He looked at Tahir as he carried on: "It's not about them, it's about hi-"

"Also, it's two more syllables," Nazir said.

Hardy stared at him dumbstruck.

"What?"

"It's two more syllables. You don't say Paki, it's Pakistani. I know you're probably too stupid to spell words this long, but it's true."

It took him one second to process and get angry. "Oh shut up you fucking Paki" he said. "I've had enough of your bullshit. I just wanted to show this bitch you can't fuck with me!" He jumped towards Tahir.

And maybe he would have been able to punch him if Navjot hadn't stepped in.
She pressed her own arm under his and swiftly forced it upwards. Hardy staggered and she landed one swift hit against the underside of his jaw. The bag she had been holding slipped out her hand, Hardy fell and was covered in seafood just a second later.

"Awww man, that was Edward's dinner ..." Nazir whined.

"I'll share mine with him," Navjot said.

"And pay him back for it."

"I'm going to beat you black and blue, you Bindi bitch," Hardy said while his friend helped him up.

"It's not funny anymore," Navjot told him. "Never was. Come on, let's go, the food is getting cold." She strode past the two and Tahir followed her; when Hardy's second friend tried to grab her, she kicked him in the shin and punched him in the cheek.

"Varsani," Tahir said. "It's alright. No more damage than necessary."

"Well, sir, it's not like they only insulted you and we're all just here to defend you," Navjot said and Tahir slouched a little.

"I'm so-" he started but Hardy didn't let him finish:

"Hey, you coward!" he yelled and Tahir stopped. He glanced at Hardy from the side of his eye. "You think you're such a gentleman when you hide behind your fucking friends – "

"Like you?" he said completely calm.

Hardy bristled with rage, his chest heaved up and down and Navjot turned around shield Tahir if necessary.

"You're trying to fit in, with no beard 'n your perfect English!" he shouted instead. "But newsflash, you're still a dirty fucking Paki cunt, no matter how hard you try to be white!"

Navjot felt as if he had just punched her in the stomach. Tahir's jaw was as tense as a bow when he swallowed. Eliza stared at Hardy with a look of irritation. Nazir's mouth hung open and his eyebrows furrowed as if he was about to cry.

"And I've had it with your callcenter bitch here too! Thinks she can do what she wants here in England, but we've got rules here, unlike you cow fuckers! This isn't the third world, this is a civilised country!"

"I'd like to hear you tell me those rules," Tahir said. "I don't expect much from someone who doesn't even know India isn't a third world country, but maybe you can fail hard enough to make me laugh for once."

One second passed in completely silence.

Then Hardy stormed at him with growl and grabbed him by the collar. He opened his mouth to yell once more, but before Navjot or Eliza could get a hold of either of the two, the yell died in Hardy's throat.

While he was sinking to the floor, his hands on his balls, in which Tahir had rammed his knee, Tahir stroke a rather clumsy blow to his jaw.

It was enough to do its job and Hardy was lying on the floor, surrounded by his two friends.

"Fucking ... Paki cunt" he squealed in pain.

Tahir fixed his collar. "I might indeed be a cunt, but not even half the one that you are. And it's still Pakistani. I'm Pakistani, Englishman, lawyer and gentleman because I don't kick people on the floor even if you deserved a few more kicks. I just hope you've learnt your lesson."

"Lawyer! Gentleman! Don't make me laugh! You're all a bunch of terrorists! Go back to your fucking wog countries, if you're so proud of being from there!"
"You know, people like you are the reason I can't be fully satisfied with being just a proud Englishman, even when I was born here," Tahir said. "You're right, I'll never be white. And who would want to be white? What's so great about being white? What's so great about always being associated with people like you? I don't care how much you hate the colour of my skin or the country of my parents, but the angrier people like you get, the prouder I'll be of being myself." He turned away from Hardy, straightened himself and announced: "Alright, let's get going, Miss Jones, Mister Miah. The food's not getting any warmer."

"Yes, sir!" Eliza and Nazir cheered before they followed him.

Navjot was right at his side and he looked down to her. "I'm sorry, that was what I wanted to say before they interrupted me. Sorry for – "

"Sir?! Proud to be a terrorist?! A sand nigger?! You're sick! You're a fucking Paki, there's nothing to be proud of!" Hardy yelled.

Tahir sighed deeply but did not turn around.

Eliza and Nazir did however.

"Are you proud of not being able to spell?!" she shouted back.

"Because Pakistani still has four syllables! F-O-U-R!" Nazir added.

"Two more than your racist slurs! T-W-O!"

"Two! More! Syllables!"

Navjot laughed and even Tahir couldn't help but grin, as they reached the main street and left the alley behind them.

"As I was going to say," Tahir said to Navjot then, "I'm sorry for fighting your battles, it would have been your good right to defend yourself. I shouldn't have taken those chances from you. Because, as you said, they didn't just insult me."

"It's alright, sir," Navjot answered. "I've jumped to your defense as well, and that's how it should be." She smiled at Nazir and Eliza over her shoulder, who were grinning from one ear to the other anyways. "We all got each other's back."

'You say I should go to my roots...
You say I should adhere to my roots...
You say I should go to my roots
You say I should adhere to my roots
But with the feelings betwixt and between, this was expected
Where exactly my roots lie is your problem!'
- Broilers "Zu den Wurzeln"