CHAPTER | NINE | ALIZA | POV

You know that when you've hit the snooze button three times already on your phone that it's time to get up from bed and stop being so lazy about going to school on Monday.

My eyes unwillingly peeled open and tried to adjust to the brightness of the room since the curtains were pulled back and letting the sunshine to flood inside the room. Stretching while I was still in bed I realised that it was empty apart from me. Instead of waiting in bed for a few minutes like I usually do before school, I decided to sit up and look around the room if Isa was there. He wasn't. 

I didn't even have time to go look for him right now since I already wasted an extra fifteen minutes in bed this morning by not wanting to get up. Hastily I pulled the covers off and let my feet touch the cold floor boards as I got out of bed. It was a bright sunny day today which meant that I could walk it to school as the house was just in the neighbourhood of the school. 

Today also felt different in the sense that I now was going to high school as a married woman and to be honest I have no idea what that would be like. Because our town is also small, a lot of people knew when such events like a wedding or birthday was happening so I wouldn't be surprised if people at school knew. 

I knew I was just wasting time by thinking about this right now so taking out my clothes for the day I set it out on the bed and went to have my shower. About fifteen minutes later I was done and ready to go downstairs to have some breakfast before leaving.

As I reached to the kitchen door I could hear some sizzling so when I opened the door I was very surprised to see that Isa was actually standing by the stove turning something around in the frying pan. That wasn't the only thing that surprised me though; he was currently standing there shirtless with his back to me and by gut reaction I gulped. Still standing still by the door I figured I might as well get his attention or he probably wouldn't ever realise I was standing here, or that he needed to get a shirt on him. Right now.

"Morning." I said out to him and swiftly he turned around to see me standing by the door. 

"Morning. I figured I'd make you breakfast. Hope you like pancakes." He smiled and continued to take the perfect round shaped pancake out from the pan and in to the plate in his out stretched hands. I admit that was pretty nice of him to make breakfast for me and I really did love eating pancakes too. 

"Thanks. By the way can you do me a favour?" I had already began walking to get out two plates since I couldn't eat all those pancakes that hes already stacked on the plates; no matter how much I love food. 

"Sure, what do you need?" I set the plates out on the dining table and Isa was already there too so I pointed to his bare chest hoping he would understand to go put a shirt on or anything to cover his chest. He raised his eyebrows at me but his face was amused.

"Too soon?" He asked and I nodded while watching him shake his head and walk out the kitchen. It wasn't that the whole idea of him being shirtless that got me worried because when you've lived with a bunch of boys your whole life you'll occasionally walk into their room while they were still shirtless. It was the idea of who the person was that was shirtless. 

I may have seen his abs while his shirt was off but I didn't want to see them again until I was ready to. Grabbing a plate I sat down and began piling a few pancakes on my plate and began eating. It was until I was on my third pancake that Isa had come down but now in a pair of jeans, sweatshirt and vans. Was he going out somewhere? 

He smiled at me and took his seat next to me as he began eating the pancakes, however I on the other hand was still staring at him like he grew another head. "Going somewhere?" I finally asked and stopped staring.

 I couldn't think of anywhere that he could be going today really since he told me he has the week off work to stay with me which is a shame because I still had school to go to for the majority of the day.

"I want to walk with you to school. I can right?" What he said caught me off guard. I didn't expect him to walk to school with me when he could have other things he might want to do.

"Yeah sure. Don't need to ask." I say back to him and got up to put my dishes back in the sink and I let the water run for me to wash the plates and frying pan. I was humming along to a random tune while washing when I heard Isa walk up to me, probably to put his plate in the sink. 

All of a sudden a pair of arms were wrapped around my wait and Isa began whispering in ny ears, "Thanks." I twirled round after he let go of me and saw him walking out of the kitchen.

Him wrapping his arms around was something he did quite a lot and I was getting used to it but that doesn't mean that my heart didn't accelerate everytime he did it. The tap was still running and I remembered that I still had some dishes to wash yet. Turning around I went back to work.

 Finally finishing with the dishes I glanced at the clock and school was about to start in about fifteen minutes so I suppose I should get going now. I grabbed my bag and called down Isa at the same time since we were going to be walking together. 

"Isa, its time to go!" I shouted from the bottom of the stairs knowing that he would hear that from up there. A second later he began coming down to where I was standing waiting for him. He was texting something on his phone but as soon as he got to me he held the phone out to me. I just stared at him, yet again. 

"I already have a phone?" My statement became a question and my question became awkward because I had no idea what he was doing.

"I'm not telling you take it. I just want you to choose a password so that you don't think I'm doing anything wrong." This confused me as to why I would even think he was doing anything wrong. I shook my head at him to say no I didn't want to but he still has his hands stretched out for me to take the phone. 

I rolled my eyes at him and took the phone out of his hands to change the password. He moved behind me and his head was now on my shoulder seeing what I was typing in and without even thinking I just put it in the numbers 3693, it was easy enough to remember. 

"There. Happy?" I gave the phone back to him and opened the front door to step outside in the hot day. He followed behind me and closed the door, "Yeah. Now lets go." I waited for him to come by my side before I started walking away from the house alongside him. 

His hand found its way to mine and he intertwined them together and smiled at me. It was simple gestures like this that I didn't mind and was getting used to so I didn't panic like I would have a couple of days ago if he had done that. 

"You space out a lot don't you?" His voice rang in ny ears and I turned to face him with an apologetic look. 

"Sorry. What were you saying?" I was now focused on him and to what he was saying before he started thinking that I was purposely ignoring him. Which I wasn't. 

"I was saying how nice today is and whether you wanted to go out tonight." He was now playing with my fingers which did distract me a little.

"Yeah it is and I don't mind. But after school I have to go help Farahs Mom at her bakery since she asked yesterday. You don't mind right?" I had completely forgotten to tell him that me and Farah were going to help her Mom after school today but its a good thing I remembered now. 

"No I don't mind. What time will you be home?" I thought about it and I suppose it would only take an hour and a half or so since Mrs Abdi, Farahs Mom, liked to serve us some tea and just sit down to have a chat when she would close the bakery. 

"About five." I confirmed and he nodded at me. The school entrance was coming to view now and I could see groups of people going inside with their friends. We walked in silence up until the gate when he bent down and gave me a quick peck on the lips. I blinked for a few seconds which made me look completely bonkers and Isa must have thought that too because he was laughing at me. I scowled and whacked his arm, not caring when girls were passing by and smiling flirtatiously at him. 

It did bother me a little though that they were doing that but not much since Isa didn't pay them any attention. "Its not funny!" My arms were now crossed and I was still looking at Isa laughing. It wasn't that funny. 

"Okay, okay. Sorry maybe I should ask you first next time. Anyway have fun at school." He said the last part in mock enthusiasm which made me roll my eyes and whack his arm again. He chuckled and left to turn around when he suddenly stopped and turned back to face me.

 "Can I kiss you?" He asked me and I furiously shook my head at him as if it was on fire. My eyes were wide now but he didn't even care because once again he began laughing at me. The few people who had been looking at us while passing by were chuckling about the situation and I thought to myself, how nosy of them.

 "Alright, but you owe me one. Salaam." He waved to me and set off back from the way we came and since he was gone I quietly said Walaikumasalaam under my breath and began walking inside the gates of the school. As I walked by the students in the car park with mt head raised I could see my ring glistening in the sunlight and that made me smile knowing it caught peoples eyes.

 My eyes scanned the hallway around me when I reaches my locker because I knew Farah was always there in the morning waiting for me. Though today I hadn't even seen a glimpse of her or heard her voice shouting through the hallways. Just on queue my phone beeped in my hand and looking at it I saw it was a text from Farah herself saying that she was sorry and wouldn't be able to come school today, but she would be at ger Moms bakery after school.

I sighed knowing that today would go extremely slow without my best friend but it happens so instead of flipping out in my head, I got my English and history textbook out for period one and two from my locker and saw there was exactly 3 minutes before the bell rang. 

Slamming my locker shut I made my way to the second floor occasionally saying hello to people on the way. I wasn't exactly the popular type even though I'm the sister of two jocks in the school, well three last year when Adam was here. But people still liked saying hello to me and vice versa. 

I reached the top of the second floor just to enter the English classroom and take my seat at the corner at the back near the window. As soon as I took my seat the bell rang and students flew in class, some sitting down and some chatting to their friends meanwhile I just doodled at the back of my notebook. 

"Settle down class. Today we will be starting our literature project and before you ask I have assigned your partners already. No moaning or complaining now." Mr Harris was always blunt from ever since I remember starting high school and being in his class. While he talked I zoned out until I hears my name being called out along with my partner for the next two weeks. 

"Aliza and Zack." Sure enough the pen I was doodling with fell back down on the notebook leaving my sketch of angry birds unfinished. The whole class was in shock by the announcement of my partner and I didn't blame them. Zack didn't really have the best reputation around school nor town and even if I had never interacted with the boy, I still heard stories about him.

 Looking to my right the sight of Zack came into view as he shot me a smirk which caught me off guard that he even knew who I was. He was the delinquent, bad boy, rebel and the way he dressed in his jeans and white shirt with his infamous leather jacket, anyone could tell he caused trouble. 

Zack wasn't somebody I ever thought I would have anything to do with but I guess I was wrong. The desk next to mine seemed to scraped closer to mine and when I looked up, Alice who usually sat next to me was standing frightened next to her partner while Zack took her space. Mr Harris seemed oblivious to the fact of who he has just paired me up with though the entire class seemed to be aware. 

"Well hey there." His voice was rough like he had just woken up and he might as well have. 

"Hey. So what do you want to do the project about then?" I was always thought if I talked to Zack I would be somewhat scared but my voice was calm and even he looked surprise at that as his eyebrow arches up to send me a silent question. 

"I don't really care. Whatever we've been learning this year I suppose." He leaned back on his chair, sorry Alice's chair, and looked at me expectantly. Rolling my eyes at him I pushed the chair back down to the floor which caused him to stumble and mutter something incoherent. 

"How about we do our project on sitting properly on chairs, since your intelligence of that seems to be thick as water." I suggested sarcastically. I expected some kind of comeback from him but instead got a look that said he was impressed by what I had just said. 

"That was a good one, I'll give you that. How about Jody Austen? We studied her this year didn't we?" I had to chuckle at his suggestion and Dave in front of me looked back at me in fright that I had just actually laughed at the bad boy. 

"Don't you mean Jane Austen?" I must admit even though he got the name wrong, he was pretty close the the actual name, which I guess for somebody who rarely showed up at school was pretty impressive.

"Same difference. What's with the ring? Married already?" He chuckled at his question but little did he know that I actually was now married. 

"Yeah I am actually." I could see by the way he looked at me with slightly wide eyes that he didn't expect me saying that. There was a lot of things he had been surprised about me since he became my partner. 

"Well congratulations then." I smiled at him and took out a page from my notebook and wrote down Jane Austen at the top of the page. The task was to look at a literary author we have studied this year and explain the significance of learning literature.

"You know you're different. Everyone would usually be scared of me but here you are being witty and actually smiling at me. You may be one of the few people I actually like here." I looked towards him to see if he was joking or not but it was hard to tell since hr had that signature smirk on his face.

"I don't know whether to say thanks or buy you ten packets of skittles to show my appreciation." This time he chuckled at me and my sarcastic answer. I wasn't used to talking to boys that wasn't family but Isa really was changing that even though I did have no intention of talking to any other boy in the way I did with Isa.

Throughout the lesson it was pretty much the same with the snide comments, sarcastic answers but it was actually fun in a sense to show you really shouldn't judge and Zack here was the perfect example for that. Funny enough he happened to be in my next two lessons though we didn't talk he did acknowledge my presence at the beginning and ending if the classes with a smirk and nod. 

I worry if the boy even knew how to smile properly or whether that smirk was somehow planted there from his trip to the circus by an evil clown. The day also to my surprise went really quick and now I was stuffing my textbooks in my locker before I had to set out to Mrs Abdi's bakery. 

It want that far of a walk, only about ten minutes so I didn't mind walking there. Today had been weird with my brothers but in a good way, I thought as I exited the school grounds. I would have gone to say bye to the twins but they had football practice right now and I wasn't one to be disturbing them.

 Making it out of the school gates, I walked along the sidewalk to get to the bakery. I hadn't gone far when a hand had been placed on my shoulder making me stop walking and widening my eyes. 

"Chill. Its me Zack." I breathed out a sigh of relief when he made his way in front of me and dropping his hand back to his sides. I already explained to him how he couldn't really be touching me in English already and he seemed to remember it now when the apologetic face came up. 

"You shouldn't scare people like that. They're already scared of you in the first place." I say to him as I carry on walking with him by my side. I didn't particularly understand why he was walking with me but I will soon. 

"True. But you're not." I suppose the truth was that there wasn't anything particular to be afraid about with him. Everyone portrayed him as someone mean and violent and he could be if he was tempted to but right now he was nice and nothing stopped from not being afraid of him. 

"Hmm." Was all I said to him before glancing up to see the bakery up the road. 

"How do you do it?" I couldn't understand what he meant by the question but he wasn't exactly finished either, "How do you cope bring married already? You must really love him." The thought of Isa made me miss him and I couldn't quite think of an answer to tell him that would satisfy him, but I tried anyway.

"I only got married to him on Saturday and if I didn't think he was a good enough person to help me cope then I wouldn't have got married to him. And if I love him its for the sake of Allah and to be honest that love is somehow getting stronger." My mini speech ended and the bakery was just two doors down. 

Zack seemed to be processing what I had just said to him and after a minute he smiled down at me. 

"Hmm, well I have to go. I'll see you at school." I waved at him as he stalked off to a figure in the distance by an alley. Sighing I opened the door to the bakery thinking why I had even told him that but it was all forgotten as soon as I was pulled into a massive near hug making me squeal in surprise. 

"Ali how are you? Hows Isa? Everything okay? Am I going to be an Aunt soon?!" All these questions were thrown at me by Farah herself as she dragged me to the other side of the counter and we both sat down on the stools.

 "I'm okay Alhamdulilah and so Isa. And I doubt you're going to be an Aunt soon yet Fars." The last part I mentioned in amusement as I saw her face fall but just then Mrs Abdi came out.

"Asalaamalaikum ya habibti. How is the married life coming along?" I got up and greeted Mrs Abdi but didn't have time to say anything because of the door opening which meant they had customers. She smiled sheepishly at me and decided that I would eventually tell her later when the store is closed.

 I admit that it was actually quite fun helping out at the bakery like we rarely do. A lot of the customers who saw my ring congratulated me and it felt good to be able to smile at them and appreciating them. By the time the clock had ticked half four, the bakery closed and me and Farah were chilling in the back room on one of the plump velvet sofa's. 

"It felt good to be here again." I said absentmindedly to Farah and she agrees with me by nodding her head. Just then her Mom came in with a tray of teas and some cakes we had just helped to bake. 

"Aliza eat up habibti." I didn't bother arguing with her because they both knew I was going to end up stuffing my face with the cakes anyway without anyone telling me. Truth be told, Mrs Abdi was one of the best bakers in this town and had even got the title for best baker eleven years in a row which proves to point peoples judgement about how women are oppressed on our religion. 

"Mrs Abdi, these are delicious Mashallah." I complimented here as a faint blush began to appear on her cheeks. Both me and Farah laughed at this which earned us a playful scowl from her Mom.

"Shokran. Now tell me how the married life is going along? We expecting children soon?" Farah sent me a playful wink and her Mom sat there with a warm smile on her face.

"Its going good alhamdulilah but I doubt the children would be coming soon." It felt sad to say the last part and that was mostly because I really did want children but the process of it scared me a little. 

"That's a shame. I really know you love children. Tell me though, is it because you're scared to sleep with him?" It didn't feel uncomfortable to sit here talking to her about this just like it wouldn't with Ma, but its like I was an open book and she just read what I had thought.

"Yes." Was my answer and I sipped on my tea looking between mother and daughter who seemed to be having some sort of mental discussion going on.

"Aliza habibti I'm going to tell you something which I know for sure I would tell Farah if she was in the same situation as you." I sat up a little because her advice was just as important as all my elders were. "I understand that you're scared of doing this and honestly so was I. The outcome of it though made me forget those fears though because starting a family with someone you love is a chance that not everybody gets. I'm not saying that you should go do it straightaway, but just think about it because you both have needs and considering Isa is a man, he will have far greater ones than you."

I let what she said sink in and I understood what she meant. He does have needs but he doesn't push me for it. Standing up, I abandoned my tea and looked down at them. 

"Thanks Mrs Abdi, you've really helped. I think I'll go now though." They both stood and greeted out till the front door from where I started to walk home where I knew Isa would be right now. 

I know she didn't mean to push me into doing it right now but this is what I feel is right for me to do and to be honest, out of all the books I've read in Islam about this, its meant to be a pleasure doing it the halal way and we do earn rewards in Jannah but that's not the only reason I've decided on doing this. I am ready to do this. 

It wasn't until Mrs Abdi told me about it that I knew what my feelings were and that I was in fact ready to lose my virginity because Isa is the one I'm married to and he's the one I'm getting these strong feelings for. By the time I had reached the front door of our house, I took a deep breath and opened the door. 

"Isa?" I shouted for him and I heard his muffle hello coming from upstairs. I dumped my bag by the stairs and slowly made my way upstairs whilst taking my hijab off at the same time. 

"You're early." He noticed when I walked in but I didn't bother replying, instead I went up to him and kissed him full on the lips bringing him closer. He seemed surprise but didn't object. I pulled back for breath and stared up at him. 

"I'm ready." I whispered to him and knowing he heard me he brought me closer and kissed my forehead. 

"Are you sure?" I nodded my head to him and closed my eyes as he leaned in. Only one thought was going through my head this time: tonight I'm losing my virginity. To someone I love.

***

Asalaamalikum, this is another important chapter even though it's not that long and for the record this isn't a Bad Boy story. Zack was just my example of how you shouldn't judge really so don't think otherwise. Yes she is losing her virginity that night and it's important as you can probably tell what will happen.

Dedicated to @mayas_13 for being such an awesome person Mashallah and make sure to check out her book!

Have a Good Day and May God Bless You All.