Salman's POV

Anna brought forward the iced coffee from the fridge and we cut the cake and served ourselves. We couldn't eat much of the cake since we were too tired, half of a cake remained and we placed it in the fridge. Our tummies were filled after drinking huge glasses of iced coffee and we needed rest.

But before that, we divided the work amongst us and cleaned up the mess we made in the kitchen. The cleaning finished sooner than we expected and the kitchen looked like no one had used it after Anna's parents left home. Wow! For once we've done a good job. 

We went to Anna's room to have a rest as we lied down on her bed. As Anna shared her room with her older sister, there were two double beds, which was enough for all ten of us.

Soon we fell asleep unexpectedly.

I woke up when I heard a knock and found out it was from the window which was by the bed. I was the only person who heard it maybe because I was sleeping at the corner of the bed near the window. I turned around and saw the rest sleeping.

I quickly walked up to the switches near the door and tried switching on the balcony light. After I did it successfully I went to window and moved the curtain slowly and saw a man standing by the window which I didn't recognize at first. I saw a woman standing behind him and three other figures quite away from them which looked like a boy and two girls.

After a few glances I assumed that it should be Anna's dad. I then walked through the hallway and reached the front door. The keys were on the keyhole and I opened it easily. I allowed them inside as Anna's mom told that they had been waiting here since half an hour ago. They had been ringing the bell many a times and banging on the door. They had phoned too, finally after thirty minutes of waiting they got an idea to knock the window at Anna's room. Its then when I woke up and opened the door for them. 

I felt bad for them and apologized on behalf of all of us, but Anna's family was sweet so they didn't mind it. They were kind of annoyed with Anna and not us definitely. But she escaped from getting scolded because she was sleeping. Anna is so deep in her sleep, she knows nothing, not only her everyone else too.

I explained to Anna's parents all what happened shortly, what we did, about the baking and then how tired we were and we only wanted to rest but unexpectedly we all had fallen asleep, and I asked them if I can wake the others up and go back home, but they refused saying that it was too late now and they permitted us to sleep at their place and go home when its morning.

I thanked them and went back to the place where I was sleeping before and when I saw my phone I just clicked the home button to check the time, it was almost twelve in the midnight and I've got around six missed calls from mom and five from dad. 

They must've surely got afraid, but I hope they remember me telling them that I'm at Anna's place and not anywhere else. I didn't call back because they might be sleeping, so I decided to send a message.

"Mom, I'm extremely sorry that I couldn't tell you, I fell asleep at Anna's place, and I'll tell everything what happened once I get back there tomorrow morning". 

I thought, my friends' parents too might've got scared, so, rather than waking everyone up, I dug into their bags, took their phones and texted the same as mine to their parents after finding lots of missed calls from their parents. I know my friends wouldn't mind me doing this.

It took around fifteen minutes and then I went to bed again.

*next day*

Thank God it's a Sunday and we have no school. We woke up early in the morning and went to our respective homes with the same clothes we came the previous day. All of us smelled like rotten onions. 

                     I didn't see mom or dad until I had a long shower and freshened myself. I went to the kitchen where mom was making tea and greeted her with a smile. She replied to me and continued her work without gazing at me but she didn't seem like she was angry. I was actually afraid of coming home in the morning because I thought I would surely get whacked or something. Because sleepovers normally are quite risky according to our parents. 

I told her everything what happened just like how I told Anna's parents and she informed me that she had already called Anna's mom after trying calling me. She knew I was at Anna's place with my friends so she was satisfied.

I don't hide anything from mom about my friends, she knows very well about all nine of them, about their families, background and stuffs, she trusts me with them. She knows with whom I move the most and yes she knows that I am not very friendly with Juliet. But, of course, she doesn't know about my feelings for Juliet, I would be dead then. 

I asked mom where dad was because I wasn't ready to face him after last night's incident. I fear dad than mom because he's quite strict. Mom told me that dad had already gone to his office. 

I asked her if he was angry at me and she said at first he was angry and after mom phoned Anna's mom he was fine. I hope he doesn't remember anything about this once he returns home at night. 

And I hope everything is fine with the rest of my colleagues and they don't get scolded.I waited to go to school the next day to ask them if everything was alright.

..........

As I entered the school I met Aliza and Juliet quite away from the entrance of the school.

"Hey! Good Morning!" I greeted them.

"Hi Salman! Good Morning" replied Aliza and I heard Juliet muttering a good morning too.

"How was yesterday? Did you girls get scolded?"

"Uh.. Not very much though"

Aliza laughed and continued

"Mom had received a message from my phone, so she was kind of contended. I have no idea who sent it. I waited to come to school to ask you'll. I guess its Anna"

"Ha-ha I was the one who sent it. I wanted to tell you about it in the morning, but we were all rushing to go home so I couldn't tell"

                        We started walking to our building while I told them all what happened that night, how Anna's parents came and how I opened the door and so on. 

The whole time Juliet was quiet and only listening to what we were speaking and I wanted to know if she got scolded from her parents, so I asked her,

"What about you Juliet?"

"What do you mean?" Maybe she didn't know what I meant because I asked it suddenly. 

"I mean, how was yesterday?"

"Same like Allie"

I didn't expect her to give this short answer. I wanted her to keep on telling so that I can listen to her, I can listen to her speaking because I love to, since she doesn't talk much in my presence.

I like when she looks uncomfortable, so sometimes I purposely talk to her just to irritate her. I love to irritate the people I love.  

Hi, As i promised a monthly update, here's one for you guys. Enjoy! 

It's already 2k19 and I hope, so far you guys are enjoying this new year. A new year, a new beginning, start fresh and don't go back to the past [if it was a bad one :)]. A belated New Year wish to all of my lovely readers!! Stay blessed throughout the year and ahead! 

With Luv,

Blessed Muslimah.